Twin10G 10GBASE-T PCIe Card Support Library

Description: This is a unified driver for all Twin10G models and dual-port 10GbE (Intel) PCIe cards (except Twin10G SFP28 Thunderbolt adapter and PCIe card), plus Solo10G SFP+ V2 PCIe Card for Windows computers.

Description: This is a unified driver for all Twin10G models and dual-port 10GbE (Intel) PCIe cards (except Twin10G SFP28 Thunderbolt adapter and PCIe card), plus Solo10G SFP+ V2 PCIe Card for Linux computers.

Description: This is a unified driver for all Twin10G models and dual-port 10GbE (Intel) PCIe cards (except Twin10G SFP28 Thunderbolt adapter and PCIe card), plus Solo10G SFP+ V2 PCIe Card with Intel and M series Mac computers using macOS 15+.

Notes

• This version adds support for Intel x520.

Description: English quick start guide for Sonnet's Presto 10GbE 10GBASE-T PCIe 3.0 adapter card.

This is revision H of the document.

Sonnet has completed the Apple and Intel certification tests and is compatible with all mainstream 10GBASE-T switches and PCIe cards.

Sonnet has found the 10GBASE-T NETGEAR ProSAFE XS708E 8-port, and ProSAFE XS712T 12-Port 10-Gigabit Smart Switches to be a cost-effective, yet high-performance switches. They supports comprehensive networking features such as VLAN, QoS, IGMP and MLD snooping, L2+ Static Routing, Link Aggregation, ACL, and IPv6 management. The ProSAFE series has an easy-to-use web management GUI, and can be daisy-chained for expansion.

You may need to set a few parameters to enable higher performance at 10Gb/s.

1) Set the mode to full-duplex, which allows the adapter to send and receive at the same time.

To set full-duplex on macOS, go into the System Preferences->Network and select the Twin10G interfaces. Click the "Advanced..." button in the lower right. In the Advanced window select the "Hardware" tab and set "Configure:" to "Manually". Set duplex to "full-duplex".

2) If your entire network will support it, set packet size to jumbo frames which pack six times as many bytes per packet.

For a large frame to be transmitted intact from end to end, every component on the path must support that frame size. The switches, routers, and NICs from one end to the other must all support the same size of jumbo frame transmission for a successful jumbo frame communication session. Switches that don't support jumbo frames will drop jumbo frames. In the event that both ends agree to jumbo frame transmission, there still needs to be end-to-end support for jumbo frames, meaning all the switches and routers must be jumbo frame enabled. At Layer 2, not all gigabit switches support jumbo frames. Those that do will forward the jumbo frames. Those that don't will drop the frames. For a jumbo packet to pass through a router, both the ingress and egress interfaces must support the larger packet size. Otherwise, the packets will be dropped or fragmented. If the size of the data payload can't be negotiated (this is known as PMTUD, packet MTU discovery) due to firewalls, the data will be dropped with no warning, or "blackholed". And if the MTU isn't supported, the data will have to be fragmented to a supported size and retransmitted, reducing throughput.

To set Jumbo frames on macOS, go into the System Preferences->Network and select the Twin10G interfaces. Click the "Advanced..." button in the lower right. In the Advanced window select the "Hardware" tab and set "Configure:" to "Manually". Set MTU to "Custom" and enter "9000".

3) Not all devices support flow control, or the absence of flow control. If Flow Control is off, turn it on; if it is on, turn it off.

4) Update your macOS to at least 10.13.6. Earlier versions enable SMB signing by default, which can cripple 10Gb networks. Update your macOS, or disable SMB signing. (You can Google how to do this.)

5) If you're in a macOS server environment:

If your Server is running 10.13.6+ enable SMB protocol, and disable AFP protocol.

If your Server is running 10.12.6- enable AFP protocol, and disable SMB protocol.

If your Server is running 10.13.6+, update your clients to 10.13.6+ for a significant performance boost.

If you have already installed a Sonnet Driver and it is not loading:

1) Restart (forces Mac OS to scan for unloaded drivers).

2) Go to System Preferences...Security & Privacy panel...General tab. You will see a message, "System software from developer "Sonnet Technologies" was blocked from loading." Click Allow. Note that you must have a hard-wired mouse/trackpad to click allow. If you are connecting via Remote Access, then macOS prevents you from clicking Allow.

3) Restart.

We have found that a macOS client just ping-pongs back and forth between the two ports with no increase in performance. There is an increase in performance with only a macOS server that is connected to multiple clients. To get link aggregation to work, the switch must be capable of supporting it and the two switch ports connected to the Twin 10G must be configured as bonded ports.

Go to System Preferences...Network.

Select the 10GbE port and click "Advanced..."

Select the Hardware tab.

If Jumbo packets are on, turn them off, click OK and click Apply.

If that fixes the problem, then stay at Standard (1500), or check the Jumbo packet setting of every switch and device in the path.

If that doesn't fix the problem, check Flow Control.

If Flow Control is off, turn it on; or if it is on, turn it off. Not all devices support flow control, or the absence of flow control.

Check to see whether the driver is loading.

From the Apple Menu, select "About this Mac".

Click "System Report..."

On the left, under Hardware, select "PCI".

At the top, is "Driver Installed" Yes or No?

If No, and you haven't installed the driver, download, install, and authorize it now.

Restart.

If No, and you have installed the driver, you need to authorize the driver.

Restart, which forces macOS to scan for unloaded drivers.

Go to System Preferences...Security & Privacy panel...General tab. You will see a message, "System software from developer "Sonnet Technologies" was blocked from loading." Click Allow. Note that you must have a hard-wired or Bluetooth mouse/trackpad to click allow. If you are connecting via Remote Access, macOS prevents you from clicking Allow.

Restart.

If Yes, on the left under Hardware, select "Ethernet Cards".

At the top, there should be two card ports labeled "ethernet". Select one of them.

In the info below, check the version number. Is it current? (1.7.2 as of Dec 2019)

If not current, download, install, and authorize the current driver.

Restart.

If current, your preferences may be corrupt...

1) Go to System Preference..."Network".

2) Record your Network setups.

3) Select: Locations: Edit Locations.

4) Select each location except Automatic and click "-" to delete.

5) Click Apply.

6) Delete each of your 10GbE Network Ports by selecting each of them and clicking "-".

7) When you see the dialog box asking if you would like the controllers to return, click No.

8) Click Apply.

9) Click + to add your 10GbE networks connections.

10) Set them up from your notes.

11) Click Apply.

12) Wait five minutes for the system to refresh the settings.

If that doesn't work, delete the following two files with the terminal commands:

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkPreferences.plist

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

Restart and recreate your network settings.

If that doesn't work, contact support@sonnettech.com. Be sure to save and send a System Report.

Try to enable the root user on your mac. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012 for how to enable root user.

Original release date: March 19, 2019

All software products have a life-cycle. After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running the Windows 7 operating system. After this date, this product will no longer receive free:

• Technical support for any issues

• Software updates

• Security updates or fixes

Computers running the Windows 7 operating system will continue to work even after support ends. However, using unsupported software may increase the risks from viruses and other security threats.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) encourages users and administrators to upgrade to a currently supported operating system. For more information, see the Microsoft End of Support FAQ.

In macOS 10.11 and 10.12, SMB signing is turned on by default. This is no problem for gigabit ethernet, but SMB Signing severely limits the performance of 10 gigabit ethernet. Apple has published a tech note how to turn off SMB signing:

The Mac Observer's John Martellaro has written an excellent article,

NIC Teaming is available in all editions of Windows Server starting with Windows Server 2012. Windows 10 supports NIC Teaming with the installation of Intel Advanced Network Services (ANS).

My Twin 10G is not working.

Hello,

Thank you for the information. We are sorry to hear this did not help.

We do know that Windows does have additional settings that can be modified, that may help.

1. Update Your Network Drivers

Check on www.aquantia.com under support>drivers. Aquantia was also recently purchased by Marvell. You may also find more up to date driversat www.marvell.com under support>drivers. Look for the aQtion NIC AQC107S as this is the controller used for the Solo 10G

2. Do Not Allow Windows to Power off the Network Adapter

Windows will power down hardware devices in order to save power. Powering down the Ethernet adapter can result in the connection between the Solo and Windows client to lose connection.

• Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager.
• Now expand Network Adapters, right click on the Ethernet device and click Properties.
• In the window that appears, click Power Management and un-check the option Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
3. Green Ethernet or Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)

Consumer Ethernet switches that support EEE will automatically adjust their respective power-saving settings so that they match, but some Ethernet switches do not perform this mutual adjustment properly, resulting in poor throughput performance and dropped packets.

If your Ethernet switch and Ethernet adapter support EEE, turning it off on both the PC NIC and the Ethernet switch has shown to eliminate data errors and occasional device disconnects in some cases.

In Windows, the EEE setting is associated with the network adapter hardware

• Open Device Manager.
• Double-click Network adapters.
• Right-click the network adapter you want, and then click Properties.
• On the Advanced tab, Look for energy-saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.
For changing this setting on an Ethernet switch, refer to the Ethernet switch specific power saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.

4. Ethernet Adapter Performance Settings

There are a variety of settings which may be available for your PC's network adapter that can improve throughput performance. These settings are associated with the network adapter hardware

• Open Device Manager.
• Double-click Network adapters.
• Right-click the network adapter you want, and then click Properties.
• On the Advanced tab, Look for energy-saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.

Below is a description of these options and what they do.

Maximize all adapter buffers and descriptors - Set these values as high as possible for maximum performance. On PCs with limited physical memory, this may have a negative impact as send buffers consume system memory. On most systems, however, the maximum setting can be applied without significantly reducing available memory.

Receive Buffers: The buffer size of system memory that can be used by the adapter for received packets, which can be increased to help improve the performance of outgoing network traffic, but it consumes system memory.

Transmit Buffers: The buffer size of system memory that can be used by the adapter for sending packets, which can be increased to help improve the performance of outgoing network traffic, but it consumes system memory.

Receive Descriptors: Sets the number of Receive Descriptors that are allocated in the host memory and used to store the received packets. This can be increased if performance of received traffic is lacking.

Transmit Descriptors: Sets the number of Transmit Descriptors that enable the adapter to track transmit packets in the system memory. This can be increased if performance of transmission traffic is lacking.

Some options may be enabled or disabled by default.
Additionally, you may need to enable something that is disabled, or disable something that is enabled for best performance.
Try different settings on your devices to increase performance.

Turn all "offload" options OFF - Offloading tasks from the CPU to the network adapter can help lower CPU usage on the PC at the expense of adapter throughput performance. This can be responsible for issues sometimes.

Disable Interrupt Moderation / Set Interrupt Moderation Rate to OFF - This feature groups packets together and sends them as a batch. It can be responsible for sluggish performance sometimes.

Disable Flow Control - It sounds counter-intuitive to disable flow control, but TCP has it's own flow control mechanism and if an occasional UDP packet gets dropped.

Sometimes disabling all settings, then enabling one at a time can help. For example:

Disable Receive Side Scaling
Disable Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing
Set Enable PME to DISABLED
Disable Packet Priority & VLAN
Disable Jumbo Packet

Test, throughput, then enable settings one at a time.

While time consuming, it can help to isolate the issue.

Let us know if any of this helps.

Thank you for your time.

My Sonnet Network device is not working (especially on Windows)!

We do know that some OEM computers can have additional settings that affect connectivity of third-party peripherals.A) Try entering the BIOS/EFI screen of your host computer, then look for settings like 'Thunderbolt Security' 'DMA Kernel Protection' 'DMA Access' 'PCI Security' 'Boot Security' or similar, and set them to 'disable'. Then save and exit, then test the network again.Whereas, other settings like 'PCIe Tunneling' and 'DisplayPort Tunneling' must be set to 'enable'.Seemingly unrelated settings like 'Intel Virtualization', 'Intel VT-d', or the use of a hypervisor can all allocate resources away from the PCIe/Thunderbolt bus, which can cause unusual problems like what you describe.The host computer may also have proprietary software that interferes with the use of third party peripherals such as ours.For example, Dell may have a 'Dell Support Center' application that may need to be disabled, along with the firmware changes mentioned above. Windows (and OEM's like Dell) can also install other applications natively (like Xbox live) which may also automatically enable at startup, but can interfere with Thunderbolt connectivity and other third-party hardware like ours.We also recommend disabling this and similar applications as well.We recommend consulting the host computer manual for additional options. If available, does the same issue occur on other Thunderbolt equipped host-computers, or, with any other operating systems?This can help isolate if the issue is the dock itself, or, a host-computer/operating system setting or similar.B) Although less likely, symptoms like this can sometimes be caused by a faulty Thunderbolt cable, wall-power cable, or network cable.Have you also tried testing new known-good cables with this?Additionally, we have seen similar symptoms occur with debris in the chassis or cable line.We would also recommend removing the cables from the enclosure, cleaning the chassis, cable ports, and cable-plug-ends, with a can of compressed air, re-seating the cables, and testing this again with known-good cables.Also, if available, an application of contact cleaner like this here and using 91% isopropyl alcohol (or higher) and a q-tip on the cable-plug-ends and ports can also help with connectivity issues.C) Settings on the network node (router/switch [firmware/GUI]) may also need to be changed to match the settings in WindowsWe have also seen that a firmware update may occur, which can change or reset settings of these network devices (or both the network device, and Windows) without user-consent, or knowledge.Matching settings helps to ensure the software settings are functioning properly, and helps to isolate problems toward the device.-- Regarding Software on Windows:1. Do Not Allow Windows to Power off the Network AdapterWindows will power down hardware devices in order to save power. Powering down the Ethernet adapter can result in the connection between the Solo and Windows client to lose connection. • Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager. • Now expand Network Adapters, right click on the Ethernet device and click Properties. • In the window that appears, click Power Management and un-check the option Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.2. Green Ethernet or Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)Consumer Ethernet switches that support EEE will automatically adjust their respective power-saving settings so that they match, but some Ethernet switches do not perform this mutual adjustment properly, resulting in poor throughput performance and dropped packets.If your Ethernet switch and Ethernet adapter support EEE, turning it off on both the PC NIC and the Ethernet switch has shown to eliminate data errors and occasional device disconnects in some cases.In Windows, the EEE setting is associated with the network adapter hardware • Open Device Manager. • Double-click Network adapters. • Right-click the network adapter you want, and then click Properties. • On the Advanced tab, Look for energy-saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.For changing this setting on an Ethernet switch, refer to the Ethernet switch specific power saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.3. Ethernet Adapter Performance SettingsThere are a variety of settings which may be available for your PC's network adapter that can improve throughput performance. These settings are associated with the network adapter hardware • Open Device Manager. • Double-click Network adapters. • Right-click the network adapter you want, and then click Properties. • On the Advanced tab, Look for energy-saving options and make the appropriate changes you want.Below is a description of these options and what they do.Maximize all adapter buffers and descriptors - Set these values as high as possible for maximum performance. On PCs with limited physical memory, this may have a negative impact as send buffers consume system memory. On most systems, however, the maximum setting can be applied without significantly reducing available memory.Receive Buffers: The buffer size of system memory that can be used by the adapter for received packets, which can be increased to help improve the performance of outgoing network traffic, but it consumes system memory.Transmit Buffers: The buffer size of system memory that can be used by the adapter for sending packets, which can be increased to help improve the performance of outgoing network traffic, but it consumes system memory.Receive Descriptors: Sets the number of Receive Descriptors that are allocated in the host memory and used to store the received packets. This can be increased if performance of received traffic is lacking.Transmit Descriptors: Sets the number of Transmit Descriptors that enable the adapter to track transmit packets in the system memory. This can be increased if performance of transmission traffic is lacking. -- Regarding PC's Network Firmware options (BIOS/UEFI):Some options may be enabled or disabled by default.Additionally, you may need to enable something that is disabled, or disable something that is enabled for best performance.Try different settings on your devices to increase performance.Turn all "offload" options OFF - Offloading tasks from the CPU to the network adapter can help lower CPU usage on the PC at the expense of adapter throughput performance. This can be responsible for issues sometimes.Disable Interrupt Moderation / Set Interrupt Moderation Rate to OFF - This feature groups packets together and sends them as a batch. It can be responsible for sluggish performance sometimes.Disable Flow Control - It sounds counter-intuitive to disable flow control, but TCP has it's own flow control mechanism and if an occasional UDP packet gets dropped.Sometimes disabling all settings, then enabling one at a time can help. For example:Disable Receive Side ScalingDisable Adaptive Inter-Frame SpacingSet Enable PME to DISABLEDDisable Packet Priority & VLANDisable Jumbo PacketTest, throughput, then enable settings one at a time.While time consuming, it can help to isolate the issue.Let us know more when you can, and if any of this helps or changes results, or if issues persist, and we can proceed from there.Thank you for your patience while we work through this.Regards,Sonnet Team