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Proxmox on a Dell R720 with X520 rNDC: ixgbe allow_unsupported_sfp=1 does not take effect for Cisco SR modules

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A Dell R720 with the integrated i350/X520 daughter card ran Proxmox VE; Cisco-branded 10G multimode LC SFP+ modules that worked elsewhere were rejected as unsupported. Adding options ixgbe allow_unsupported_sfp=1 to the module options had no visible effect. Respondents walked through GRUB kernel parameters (/etc/default/grub plus grub-mkconfig), checking for EFI boot with fdisk -l, and the systemd-boot path (/etc/kernel/cmdline with ixgbe.allow_unsupported_sfp=1 followed by pve-efiboot-tool refresh), but the poster reported none of it worked.

  • Hardware: Dell PowerEdge R720, Intel X520 rNDC (i350/X520)
  • Transceivers: Cisco 10G SR SFP+, Intel 10G SR SFP+
  • Form factor: SFP+

Symptoms / messages:

unsupported SFP+ module type detected
interface absent
allow-unsupported-sfp dell-r720 intel-x520 ixgbe proxmox
port_bear20 AR

Comments 3

Accepted answer

The poster finally bought Intel-branded 10G transceivers, which worked immediately.

lan_byte59

Pass the option on the kernel command line (GRUB or /etc/kernel/cmdline for EFI/systemd-boot) and refresh the boot loader; this did not resolve the poster's case.

lan_tech

A later reply pointed to the ServeTheHome EEPROM patch that unlocks X520 cards permanently.

net_admin
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