Retiring old Intel NIC for a 2.5gbe Realtek USB to RJ45 NIC RTL8156B? [Solved]

[SkOrPn]

Hello again

Today I want to install this new USB to Ethernet adapter I got from Amazon. Its the Plugable USBC-E2500 adapter with both Type A and C connector. I recently upgraded my entire network to 2.5gbe, including all PC adapters, router and switch. Looking forward to trying 9000K Jumbo frames too.



My questions are, will I need to update the driver? I assume so, and two will my 5th generation Intel NUC run this at full 2.5gbe speeds over to my server?
Also, what would be the proper way to update the driver if necessary? Thanks for any tips on using such a device.

[timkb4cq]

The driver is the r8152 module in the kernel. Support for the USB-C 2.5GBASE-T configuration was added in kernel 5.13 so if you're running the 5.10 LTS series kernel you'll need to upgrade to a newer one.
Your actual speed will depend on the NUC's USB-C chipset and bus structure. Not something I can answer definitively but adapters with that chipset do get mostly good reviews.

[SkOrPn]

OK that is good to hear. Before purchasing the device I did a simple benchmark test (using gnome disks utility) using a fast USB to NVMe device and it was like 500 mib/s, but when I use Thunar to simply transfer a large file it was reporting a measly 115 mib/s for the same exact file and same location. I really want the 280 MB/s that people report for these 2.5gbe adapters because all of my HDD's in my server are fairly new and all run at around that speed. Figuring that a HDD/SSD benchmark (using gnome-disk-utility 43.0) showed over 500 MB/s to the USB NVMe device I figured that meant that my USB was fast enough to take advantage of the new 2.5gbe LAN. I will report back once I get this setup done as I'm not yet finished setting up the switch. Maybe network transfers will give different results.

I have this feeling that my USB ports wont be good enough considering the age of the device. We'll see soon enough.

[davidy]

What wireless router did you use for your 2.5gbe? I'm considering the protectli fw4c to replace one of the asus rtac86u's I have ($350 kitted with opnsense btw-cheap considering the options). It's has 2.4ghz WiFi only which is perfect for me because that's what I use at home. Weirdly if you look at some of their 6port models they won't get wifi with opnsense. $350 plug it in and boot to a new network. I'll put the roku's on their own lan, and I'll use up all the available ports (7 total with my switch) and eventually have to buy another switch just for the one tv I have which is using wifi atm (I need one more roku ultra for that). Not interested in a 6e gaming wifi router at all. Just curious what you have.