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A comment on Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt. Parent comment

Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by butvacuum on Sunday February 01, 2026 @12:07PM (#46847560)
The linux implementation is quite poor. Among other issues, your answer is linux treats it as a TCP/IP link- so packets don't have any offloading for checksums, etc. it's also incomplete (ex- you have to physically unplug and replug the cord every time one side loses link- even a reboot).

This is my firsthand experence trying to get some tablet motherboards to link up and work as a proxmox cluster w/ TB3 as the link between nodes.

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Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by sponaugle on Sunday February 01, 2026 @12:39PM (#46847802)
I have a 3 node proxmox setup on MS-01s using a 25G Thunderbolt ring for Ceph, and indeed it took a lot of hoops to get it working correctly and reliably. I did manage to get it such that nodes can go up and down without needing to unplug anything, and the dynamic routing works if a node disappears. Performance is pretty good, with a more realistic 20ish gbit/sec.
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Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by nodesocket on Sunday February 01, 2026 @07:06PM (#46850754)
I figured this was Jeff’s CTO Laboratory. I enjoy your channel. Are you kicking yourself for pulling the trigger on MS-01s now that MS-02 Ultras released?
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Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by sponaugle on Monday February 02, 2026 @12:22AM (#46852725)
Yea! Those MS-O2s look great, so I may need to upgrade! I did get a couple of DGX Sparks to play with.
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Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by butvacuum on Sunday February 01, 2026 @09:17PM (#46851652)
AWESOME!! Do you mind linking references? I put the project aside because of these issues.
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Re:Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt by sponaugle on Monday February 02, 2026 @12:22AM (#46852723)
Yea I'll dig up the link I used - there was a great reference about getting the thunderbolt working after reboots/etc.
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