Thunderbolt Networking Setup

proxmox-tb-net.md

Thunderbolt Networking

this gist is part of this series

NOTE FOR THIS TO BE RELIABLE ON NODE RESTARTS YOU WILL NEED PROXMOX KERNEL 6.2.16-14-pve OR HIGER

This fixes issues i bugged with the thunderbolt / thunderbolt-net maintainers (i will take everyones thanks now, lol)

Install LLDP - this is great to see what nodes can see which.

• install lldpctl with apt install lldpd

Load Kernel Modules

• add thunderbolt and thunderbolt-net kernel modules (this must be done all nodes - yes i know it can sometimes work withoutm but the thuderbolt-net one has interesting behaviou' so do as i say - add both ;-)
  1. nano /etc/modules add modules at bottom of file, one on each line
  2. save using x then y then enter

Prepare /etc/network/interfaces

doing this means we don't have to give each thunderbolt a manual IPv6 addrees and that these addresses stay constant no matter what Add the following to each node using nano /etc/network/interfaces

If you see any sections called thunderbolt0 or thunderbol1 delete them at this point.

Create entries to prepopulate gui with reminder

Doing this means we don't have to give each thunderbolt a manual IPv6 or IPv4 addrees and that these addresses stay constant no matter what.

Add the following to each node using nano /etc/network/interfaces this to remind you not to edit en05 and en06 in the GUI

This fragment should go between the existing auto lo section and adapater sections.

iface en05 inet manual
#do not edit it GUI

iface en06 inet manual
#do not edit in GUI

If you see any thunderbol sections delete them from the file before you save it.

*DO NOT DELETE the source /etc/network/interfaces.d/* this will always exist on the latest versions and should be the last or next to last line in /interfaces file

Rename Thunderbolt Connections

This is needed as proxmox doesn't recognize the thunderbolt interface name. There are various methods to do this. This method was selected after trial and error because:

• the thunderboltX naming is not fixed to a port (it seems to be based on sequence you plug the cables in)
• the MAC address of the interfaces changes with most cable insertion and removale events

1. use udevadm monitor command to find your device IDs when you insert and remove each TB4 cable. Yes you can use other ways to do this, i recommend this one as it is great way to understand what udev does - the command proved more useful to me than the syslog or lspci command for troublehsooting thunderbolt issues and behavious. In my case my two pci paths are 0000:00:0d.2and 0000:00:0d.3 if you bought the same hardware this will be the same on all 3 units. Don't assume your PCI device paths will be the same as mine.

2. create a link file using nano /etc/systemd/network/00-thunderbolt0.link and enter the following content:

[Match]
Path=pci-0000:00:0d.2
Driver=thunderbolt-net
[Link]
MACAddressPolicy=none
Name=en05

3. create a second link file using nano /etc/systemd/network/00-thunderbolt1.link and enter the following content:

[Match]
Path=pci-0000:00:0d.3
Driver=thunderbolt-net
[Link]
MACAddressPolicy=none
Name=en06

Set Interfaces to UP on reboots and cable insertions

This section en sure that the interfaces will be brought up at boot or cable insertion with whatever settings are in /etc/network/interfaces - this shouldn't need to be done, it seems like a bug in the way thunderbolt networking is handled (i assume this is debian wide but haven't checked).

1. create a udev rule to detect for cable insertion using nano /etc/udev/rules.d/10-tb-en.rules with the following content:

ACTION=="move", SUBSYSTEM=="net", KERNEL=="en05", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/pve-en05.sh"
ACTION=="move", SUBSYSTEM=="net", KERNEL=="en06", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/pve-en06.sh"

2. save the file

3. create the first script referenced above using nano /usr/local/bin/pve-en05.sh and with the follwing content:

#!/bin/bash

# this brings the renamed interface up and reprocesses any settings in /etc/network/interfaces for the renamed interface
/usr/sbin/ifup en05

save the file and then

3. create the second script referenced above using nano /usr/local/bin/pve-en06.sh and with the follwing content:

#!/bin/bash

# this brings the renamed interface up and reprocesses any settings in /etc/network/interfaces for the renamed interface
/usr/sbin/ifup en06

and save the file

4. make both scripts executable with chmod +x /usr/local/bin/*.sh
5. run update-initramfs -u -k all to propogate the new link files into initramfs
6. Reboot (restarting networking, init 1 and init 3 are not good enough, so reboot)

Enabling IP Connectivity

proceed to the next gist

Slow thunderbolt perf

if you are having speed issues make sure the following is set on the kernel command line in /etc/default/grub file intel_iommu=on iommu=pt one set be sure to run update-grub and reboot

everyones grub command line is different this is mine because i also have i915 virtualization, if you get this wrong you can break your machine, if you are not doing that you don't need the i915 entries you see below

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on iommu=pt" (note if you have more things in your cmd line DO NOT REMOVE them, just add the two intel ones, doesnt matter where.

Extra Debugging for Thunderbolt

dynamic kernel tracing - adds more info to dmesg, doesn't overhwelm dmesg

I have only tried this on 6.8 kernels, so YMMV If you want more TB messages in dmesg to see why connection might be failing here is how to turn on dynamic tracing

For bootime you will need to add it to the kernel command line by adding thunderbolt.dyndbg=+p to your /etc/default/grub file, running update-grub and rebooting.

To expand the example above"

`GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on iommu=pt thunderbolt.dyndbg=+p"`  

Don't forget to run update-grub after saving the change to the grub file.

For runtime debug you can run the following command (it will revert on next boot) so this cant be used to cpature what happens at boot time.

`echo -n 'module thunderbolt =p' > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control`

install tbtools

these tools can be used to inspect your thundebolt system, note they rely on rust to be installedm you must use the rustup script below and not intsall rust by package manager at this time (9/15/24)

apt install pkg-config libudev-dev git curl
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
git clone https://github.com/intel/tbtools
restart you ssh session
cd tbtools
cargo install --path .

The script doing the job is as follows :

#!/bin/bash

ip link set thunderbolt0 down
ip link set thunderbolt0 name en06
ip link set en06 up

this makes me think your matching rules were not specific, here you are renaming thunderbolt0, thing is which port is thunderbolt0 can and will vary from boot to boot, the PCI matching approach i used means you always know which physical port is en05 and which is en06

the fact you only have to do this one makes me think you have an issue with your original matching rules in some way, infact i strongly suspect you have the wrong dev paths in some way, also you globbing doesn't look right, if you want to think these should work equally as well as what you had (you dont need the /dev and all the man pages show the syntax like this below

path=pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1
path=pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-3

@fesnault this may be the cause of your issue with name not changing with the link file and maybe some of the other issues we see

"All .link files do is to suggest the "best" name which is ignored if
NAME has already been set. They do not really rename anything
themselves. Besides, OP cannot use .link files because there is no
persistent device property that can be matched by them.

It is possible that there are conflicting rules in initrd. It is also
possible that udev races with the networkd."

https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2024-August/050657.html

this would be, for example if you have thunderbolt0 in one of the network interface files or in interfaces.d you may end up in a race condition... make sure thunderbolt0 isn't define anywhere else

i am starting to think we are just hitting inherent timing and race conditions based on poor designs in systemd and networkd, and that is why everyone is seeing something slightly different

Thank you @nickglott ! I did that, with 0-11 as my 3 nodes are using i9 13900H, then I did if down and ifup on both en05 and en06 interfaces. But the results are the same, 16 Gbit/s and high retry count.

root@ms01-01:~# iperf3 -c fc00::83 -bidir
Connecting to host fc00::83, port 5201
[  5] local fc00::81 port 33400 connected to fc00::83 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  1.07 GBytes  9.21 Gbits/sec  264   1.37 MBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  2.17 GBytes  18.6 Gbits/sec  677   1.19 MBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.62 GBytes  13.9 Gbits/sec  517   1.25 MBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  2.19 GBytes  18.8 Gbits/sec  670   1.19 MBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  2.19 GBytes  18.8 Gbits/sec  655   1.25 MBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  2.19 GBytes  18.8 Gbits/sec  619   1.31 MBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.07 GBytes  9.22 Gbits/sec  285   1.62 MBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  2.74 GBytes  23.6 Gbits/sec  677   1.75 MBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.03 GBytes  8.87 Gbits/sec  353   2.12 MBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  2.20 GBytes  18.9 Gbits/sec  676   1.31 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  18.5 GBytes  15.9 Gbits/sec  5393             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  18.5 GBytes  15.9 Gbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.
root@ms01-01:~# iperf3 -c fc00::82 -bidir
Connecting to host fc00::82, port 5201
[  5] local fc00::81 port 49032 connected to fc00::82 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  2.02 GBytes  17.4 Gbits/sec  454   2.31 MBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  1.37 GBytes  11.8 Gbits/sec  341   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.45 GBytes  12.4 Gbits/sec  352   2.00 MBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  2.22 GBytes  19.1 Gbits/sec  529   2.31 MBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  2.20 GBytes  18.9 Gbits/sec  561   1.31 MBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  2.77 GBytes  23.8 Gbits/sec  592   1.37 MBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.58 GBytes  13.6 Gbits/sec  362   2.18 MBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  2.19 GBytes  18.8 Gbits/sec  521   1.81 MBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.90 GBytes  16.3 Gbits/sec  335   2.00 MBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   968 MBytes  8.12 Gbits/sec  193   2.18 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  18.7 GBytes  16.0 Gbits/sec  4240             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  18.7 GBytes  16.0 Gbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Maybe I forgot something ?

Hi @fesnault, i am just curious if you ever got this resolved? When using 3 MS-01's I got the same thing above. One node would hit the 20-22GB/S and the other 2 would only hit 15-16. Never found out why it was like that or spent more time fixing but would interested to know if anyone has found a solution.

For me, I kinda just got 3x 100g Mellanox Connect 2 port cards and called it a day. However, the card is PCIE Gen3x16 and the MS01 is PCIE Gen4x8. I did lose 20gbps and only getting 80 instead of the 100. So if anyways willing to dish the money, it works but at that point probably would be wiser to get the 50gb cards or something.

@uvalleza & all: Quick summary from my last few days using 3 um790 pro from minisforum:

• Context: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on 3 "nuc" with AMD cpu. (I was told: usb-4 doesn't necessary means thunderbolt-3, the spec is a pick & choose; on top of that until recently thunderbolt was a intel only feature)
• The speed i get on direct link is around ~12Gbits like you do
• The frr needs a "reload" after boot (no need to play with the wires, unless the logs shows invalid config for usb port x) see code snipped bellow
• Downgrading the bios/uefi from 1.09 to 1.07 gave me less "invalid config for usb x" kind of errors and more reliability after reboots (i still have to unplug-replug some wires sometimes) also, it seems that my speed went from 10-11gbits to 12-13 gbits, but i can't really confirm. => what bios/uefi version are you running with ?
• I had to stop using encrypted boot drives as it required me to unplug the thunderbolt links to let the hdmi work, then replug it all.
• cables are indeed placed the same way you do
• my frr setup seems to be working, but once I remove 1 of the link, the speed is about 2Mbits (yes mega bits) when it needs to do 1 more hop through the 2 other thunderbolt links => i have yet to figure out that part

To auto-reload the frr configuration after reboot (required otherwise it fails to see the thunderbolt links and I get 3 independent nodes that don't see each other via vtysh -c "show openfabric topology") Requirement: have your interfaces renamed (see "tbt" in script) as explained in the first post by scyto (don't use hyphen in interface names, it wasn't working for me)

#!/bin/sh
# Delayed start script to tell frr to reload ensuring that it sees thunderbolt links towards other nodes.
# condition: is there any tbt network interface and frr service up
COUNTER=0
while [ ${COUNTER} -lt 5 ]; do
	sleep 1;
	TEST=$(ip a | grep ": tbt" | grep "UP" | awk 'BEGIN { ORS=""}; {print $2}')
	if [ ${#TEST} -ge 2 ]; then
		TEST_SVC=$(service frr status | grep "active (running)")
		if [ ${#TEST_SVC} -ge 2 ]; then
			service frr reload;
			echo "frr service reload request sent"
			exit 0;
		fi
	fi
	COUNTER=$((COUNTER+1));
done
echo "Failed to request frr service reload: request NOT sent"
exit 1;

[Unit]
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/restart-frr.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Note: The script is called restart, but after some testing, I realised that reload was enough.
To all: thank you for sharing your experience, its a great help & motivation to figure out what's going sideways 😄

Hey, just wanted to thank you for your input first. I happen to have the same setup as you, only with 5 nodes. Would you be so kind to share your config with this script: https://github.com/Allistah/Get-Proxmox-Thunderbolt-Config/blob/main/get-thunderbolt-config.sh (Thank you Allistah)

Your help is greatly appreciated, I am pretty desperate here lol

Here my output: https://privatebin.net/?04649f34b02189de#57hHKfwusnma1Bre1gSkwm2kMi1rucqe8hpG61GSU1cT

Edit:

Also, do I put these two segments into the same .sh file and make it executable, or do I put them at different places?

#!/bin/sh
# Delayed start script to tell frr to reload ensuring that it sees thunderbolt links towards other nodes.
# condition: is there any tbt network interface and frr service up
COUNTER=0
while [ ${COUNTER} -lt 5 ]; do
	sleep 1;
	TEST=$(ip a | grep ": tbt" | grep "UP" | awk 'BEGIN { ORS=""}; {print $2}')
	if [ ${#TEST} -ge 2 ]; then
		TEST_SVC=$(service frr status | grep "active (running)")
		if [ ${#TEST_SVC} -ge 2 ]; then
			service frr reload;
			echo "frr service reload request sent"
			exit 0;
		fi
	fi
	COUNTER=$((COUNTER+1));
done
echo "Failed to request frr service reload: request NOT sent"
exit 1;

[Unit]
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/restart-frr.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Will share the config once i set this up with a friend. He just happened to buy my last UM790 Pro to complete his 3 node UM790 Pro cluster and will be setting this up for him. Don't really expect much issues on a 3 node but could kinda see why you might have issues on a 5 node cluster.

No expert on this but here's my two cents. You have 5 nodes.

1. How would each node communicate with itself. In a 3 node, you have 2 ports each allowing each one to connect to one another directly. In a 5 node, you only still have 2 ports, unless you're getting 2 more ports. I don't see the above really working unless you're able to jump from one box to another.

Example:
Node 1 is connected to Node 2 and 3.
Node 2 is connected to 4 and 5.

how do you tell Node 1 to go through Node 2 or 3 to get to Node 4/5?

seems like it'll be a routing config.

Anyhow, I'm not sure what your exactly issue is from the above but since I was prepping to use the guide with a friend, figured i chime in the comments :). Will report the results and will share the configs if you still need them.

I didn’t, but I’m not sure if it’s the thunderbolt setup being too complicated or the fact that the MS-01’s shipped with bad CPU’s/firmware. Sent from my way-cooler-than-your-device device!

…

On Sat, Nov 16, 2024 at 5:52 AM Mr. Khachaturov ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.**** commented on this gist. ------------------------------ @uvalleza <https://github.com/uvalleza> I have ordered six Minisforum MS-01 machines and I'm currently exploring options for establishing Thunderbolt connections between them. I'm considering whether there might be a Thunderbolt splitter available, or if we should configure some routing to facilitate the connections. Can you share some details did you succed with your setup? ***@***.*** (view on web) <https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/1ede2986-85f9-4a6c-83fb-0137e9fd42ee> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <https://gist.github.com/scyto/67fdc9a517faefa68f730f82d7fa3570#gistcomment-5287235> or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/APQ6BTYXJA37NEECBPCU2BD2A4WW3BFKMF2HI4TJMJ2XIZLTSKBKK5TBNR2WLJDUOJ2WLJDOMFWWLO3UNBZGKYLEL5YGC4TUNFRWS4DBNZ2F6YLDORUXM2LUPGBKK5TBNR2WLJDHNFZXJJDOMFWWLK3UNBZGKYLEL52HS4DFVRZXKYTKMVRXIX3UPFYGLK2HNFZXIQ3PNVWWK3TUUZ2G64DJMNZZDAVEOR4XAZNEM5UXG5FFOZQWY5LFVEYTENBQGM4DKOJTU52HE2LHM5SXFJTDOJSWC5DF> . You are receiving this email because you commented on the thread. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub> .

There is an issue with ISIS when mtu is set so high like 65520. Many times after reboot, topology is not restored.

Oh snap, I will give that a try and update if this works. Thanks again for your quick response!

Have you ever tried this and confirmed it was working? I have an MS-01 and reading on previous comment understood that many have faced troubles configuring it as the pci address seems to be dynamic.

this is my output from udevadm monitor

KERNEL[7671.190073] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0 (thunderbolt)
KERNEL[7671.190078] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0 (net)
KERNEL[7671.190082] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0/queues/rx-0 (queues)
KERNEL[7671.190086] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0/queues/tx-0 (queues)
KERNEL[7671.190095] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0 (thunderbolt)
KERNEL[7671.190271] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1 (thunderbolt)
KERNEL[7671.190283] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0 (thunderbolt)
KERNEL[7671.190289] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1 (net)
KERNEL[7671.190294] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1/queues/rx-0 (queues)
KERNEL[7671.190297] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1/queues/tx-0 (queues)
KERNEL[7671.190407] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.190432] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.190630] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.190787] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.190913] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.196580] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0 (net)
UDEV  [7671.196604] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1 (net)
UDEV  [7671.196815] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0/queues/tx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [7671.196825] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0/net/thunderbolt0/queues/rx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [7671.196936] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1/queues/rx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [7671.197045] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0 (thunderbolt)
UDEV  [7671.197458] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0/net/thunderbolt1/queues/tx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [7671.197888] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.2/domain0/0-0/0-1/0-1.0 (thunderbolt

and udevadm info

M: 1-1.0
R: 0
U: thunderbolt
T: thunderbolt_service
V: thunderbolt-net
E: DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0
E: SUBSYSTEM=thunderbolt
E: DEVTYPE=thunderbolt_service
E: DRIVER=thunderbolt-net
E: MODALIAS=tbsvc:knetworkp00000001v00000001r00000001

ended up with this config for thunderbolt connection:

Path=pci-0000:00/0000:00:0d.3/domain1/1-0/1-1/1-1.0
Driver=thunderbolt-net
[Link]
MACAddressPolicy=none
Name=en06

Is that correct?

Completed the guide but the interface are not coming up, noticed that as some others i have the thunderbolt0 int coming up when cable is connected.

I've run the script that one of the guy posted in here https://privatebin.net/?84ecb384b1933641#Cii9RD3f4NVPou7wR66FD5oJYsrWTaXZUNH3UPAWZSrN if anyone can have a look would be great as i'm stumped here.
Tried several ways of mapping the path but none of them worked.

Hey @scyto,

I am following up on my earlier question here about adding a fourth node to the cluster/migration network.

Like you, I have also added 2.5Gb expansions to each of the NUCs. I also have two more machines with dedicated NICs that I would like to add to the mesh network and eventual cluster. The goal is 5 nodes, three connected via both thunderbolt and ethernet, and the other two via ethernet only.

The issue I am having is that I can not get the ethernet-only nodes consistently communicating with the other three. The thunderbolt side of the network comes online without issue, but after that it appears to be a crapshoot. Sometimes I can ping between the two categories of node, other times I can't. At time of writing, 4/5 nodes are communicating as intended, but I do not know how to proceed.

Here are my /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/network/interfaced.d/mesh for the three thunderbolt enabled nodes:

# /etc/network/interfaces 

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface en05 inet manual
#do not edit it GUI

iface en06 inet manual
#do not edit in GUI

iface enp87s0 inet manual
#do not edit in GUI

iface enp86s0 inet manual


auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
        address 10.1.10.60/24
        gateway 10.1.10.1
        bridge-ports enp86s0
        bridge-stp off
        bridge-fd 0


iface wlo1 inet manual


source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*


post-up /usr/bin/systemctl restart frr.service

# /etc/network/interfaces.d/mesh

auto lo:6
iface lo:6 inet static
        address fc00::80/128
        
allow-hotplug en05
iface en05 inet manual
        mtu 1500

allow-hotplug en06
iface en06 inet manual
        mtu 1500

allow-hotplug enp87s0
iface enp87s0 inet manual
        mtu 1500

Where enp87s0 is the additional 2.5Gb M.2 expansion.

And here is the frr config

# vtysh -c "show running-config"

!
frr version 8.5.2
frr defaults traditional
hostname homer
log syslog informational
no ip forwarding
service integrated-vtysh-config
!
interface en05
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
exit
!
interface en06
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
exit
!
interface enp87s0
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
exit
!
interface lo
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
 openfabric passive
exit
!
router openfabric 1
 net 49.0000.0000.0000.00
exit
!
end

Here are the same outputs for one of the two ethernet only nodes:

# cat /etc/network/interfaces --

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface net10g1b inet manual
# do not edit in GUI

auto net0
iface net0 inet manual

auto net10g1a
iface net10g1a inet manual

auto bond11
iface bond11 inet manual
        bond-slaves net10g1a net0
        bond-miimon 100
        bond-mode active-backup
        bond-primary net10g1a

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
        address 10.1.10.63/24
        gateway 10.1.10.1
        bridge-ports bond11
        bridge-stp off
        bridge-fd 0


source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

post-up /usr/bin/systemctl restart frr.service

# /etc/network/interfaces.d/mesh 

#auto lo:0
#iface lo:0 inet static
#        address 10.0.0.83/32
        
auto lo:6
iface lo:6 inet static
        address fc00::83/128

allow-hotplug net10g1b
iface net10g1b inet manual
  mtu 1500

And finally the frr config for one of those nodes:

!
frr version 8.5.2
frr defaults traditional
hostname zrouter
log syslog informational
no ip forwarding
service integrated-vtysh-config
!
interface lo
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
 openfabric passive
exit
!
interface net10g1b
 ipv6 router openfabric 1
exit
!
router openfabric 1
 net 49.0000.0000.0003.00
exit
!
end

This is what I am getting currently for my topology

root@zrouter:~# vtysh -c "show openfabric topology"
Area 1:
IS-IS paths to level-2 routers that speak IP
Vertex               Type         Metric Next-Hop             Interface Parent
zrouter                                                               

IS-IS paths to level-2 routers that speak IPv6
Vertex               Type         Metric Next-Hop             Interface Parent
zrouter                                                               
fc00::83/128         IP6 internal 0                                     zrouter(4)
homer                TE-IS        10                                    zrouter(4)
servarr              TE-IS        20                                    homer(4)
worker               TE-IS        20                                    homer(4)
fc00::80/128         IP6 internal 20                                    homer(4)
fc00::81/128         IP6 internal 30                                    servarr(4)
fc00::82/128         IP6 internal 30                                    worker(4)

IS-IS paths to level-2 routers with hop-by-hop metric
Vertex               Type         Metric Next-Hop             Interface Parent
homer                TE-IS        0      

These four are actually behaving correctly. I can ping/ssh both ways. Each time the nodes come online, one of the two non-thunderbolt nodes will configure like this, or close, while the other will basically be completely left out. If I then run a systemctl restart frr on the missing node, it will join the mesh, but kick the other off. At this point I have gotten the connections to work across every combination of nodes, just not at the same time, obviously.

I feel like I must be missing something in my frr config but I am racking my brains. I do not know how to find out if there are MTU's are all configured properly but that is definitely one of my points of worry here.

Am I going about this properly? I have been assuming this entire time that what I am attempting here is feasible, but I am starting to feel like I am running out of options. I also tried setting the l0 MTU to 1500, but that did not help the situation.

I would be most grateful for any input anyone can offer here.

added info on how to turn extra TB4 debugging messages on https://gist.github.com/scyto/67fdc9a517faefa68f730f82d7fa3570#extra-debugging-for-thunderbolt

i will not support this beyond discussing interesting messages you see as i have minimal clue on troubleshooting grub if you mess up beyond format start again.... be warned....

for example dmesg | "connection manager" will show you if you are using software connection manager (this is required to get the 40gbe connection speed) if you see hardware connection manager, sorry you don't have full TB4 / USB-40 support and will seel less than 20gbe perf.

example:

root@pve2:~# dmesg | grep "connection manager"
[    1.675636] thunderbolt 0000:00:0d.2: using software connection manager
[    1.915459] thunderbolt 0000:00:0d.3: using software connection manager

Hello, thanks a lot for your great guides.

Just tested on GMKtec NucBox K8 Plus Mini PCs (AMD 8845HS). I found some reviews tested the USB4 ports with thunderbolt nvme ssd enclosure which able to achieve 3100MB/s. I thought it would also work on thunderbolt nework.

Unfortunately, I cannot get the desired speed (26Gb/s) but only 11.7Gb/s on thunderbolt network.

Seems many people got similar result (11.7Gb/s) on AMD mini PCs, is the 26Gb/s thunderbolt network only work on Intel CPU devices? What components are missing on those devices?
Would you have advice on choosing proper devices with full thunderbolt network support?

root@pve1:~# cat /sys/bus/thunderbolt/devices/0-2/rx_speed 
20.0 Gb/s

root@pve1:~# dmesg | grep "connection manager"
[    0.827555] thunderbolt 0000:c8:00.5: using software connection manager
[    0.870364] thunderbolt 0000:c8:00.6: using software connection manager

root@pve1:~/# iperf3 -c fc00::82 -bidir
Connecting to host fc00::82, port 5201
[  5] local fc00::81 port 52948 connected to fc00::82 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  1.37 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  1.36 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0   2.37 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  13.6 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec    0            sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  13.6 GBytes  11.7 Gbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.