# problem with multiple NICs



## Vibha Tomar (Aug 8, 2016)

Hi!
Experiencing a problem in a FreeBSD 8.3 PC with multiple NICs, which is part of IPv6 test bed.
There are 3 NICs re0, re1 and re2 of Realtek "RTL 8168/8111/8111C". re2 is onboard, whereas re0 and re1 are additional. Sometimes ifconfig(8) is showing re1 as autoselect none and no status is displayed, with other 2 NICs re0 and re2 perfectly OK. Sometimes re1 becoming active, but re2 is not coming up at all. Again after shutdown and restart re2 comes up, but re1 again goes to autoselect none with no status. One observation in dmesg(1) is "ASPM disabled" for all 3 NICs.
Till few days back it was working perfectly fine. Other PCs of the same testbed with same configuration are still working fine.


----------



## SirDice (Aug 8, 2016)

FreeBSD 8.3 has been End-of-Life since April 2014. Please upgrade to a supported version.

https://www.freebsd.org/security/unsupported.html
Topics about unsupported FreeBSD versions


----------



## Vibha Tomar (Aug 9, 2016)

SirDice said:


> FreeBSD 8.3 has been End-of-Life since April 2014. Please upgrade to a supported version.
> 
> https://www.freebsd.org/security/unsupported.html
> Topics about unsupported FreeBSD versions


Can't upgrade due to some constraints. Please suggest a solution, if any for this version.


----------



## SirDice (Aug 9, 2016)

Vibha Tomar said:


> Can't upgrade due to some constraints.


Which ones?


----------



## kira12 (Aug 9, 2016)

Hi,

upgrade to a working Nic, Realtek is known for not correct working Hardware.

regards ré


----------



## SirDice (Aug 9, 2016)

Yeah, the Realteks aren't really good. But if they've worked in the past they should continue to work, unless they're just as end-of-life (as in 'broken') as the OS.

Perhaps if you told us what the "constraints" are that are preventing you from upgrading we might be able to help with that. There's rarely a good excuse to keep running an outdated (and insecure) OS.


----------



## Murph (Aug 9, 2016)

kira12 said:


> upgrade to a working Nic, Realtek is known for not correct working Hardware.



That's a very broad generalisation which isn't entirely true.  I've got a system with a RealTek 8168/8111 which has been running a variety of FreeBSD versions for years and has been 100% reliable.



SirDice said:


> Perhaps if you told us what the "constraints" are that are preventing you from upgrading we might be able to help with that. There's rarely a good excuse to keep running an outdated (and insecure) OS.



It's also worth commenting that 8.x is probably a bad choice for a test bed for IPv6, as IPv6 deployment was much less common when the 8.x branch was first created in 2009.  Although the basic standards for IPv6 have not changed all that much, they have evolved and been refined over the years, so 10.x should be a much improved platform for IPv6 testing.  Some IPv6 behaviour in 8.x is probably not properly compliant / consistent with current IETF standards and best practices, and there are probably numerous relevant bug fixes over 8.x.

This is not something specific to FreeBSD; I would consider all 2009-vintage operating systems to be a bad choice for a current IPv6 testbed (or anything else, really).


----------

