Wow, never seen a multi-port Realtek NIC before. Based on your dmesg and the excerpt above, it looks like the issue starts at ppb1 - a PCI-PCI bridge likely on the quad-port NIC based on the vendor being the same as each one below it and the one above it being an Intel ppb(4) - and then cascades through. Looking at the dmesg excerpt below, looks like your card has four separate Realtek RTL8168 NICs each on a separate PCI-PCI bridge, each of which connects to another PCI-PCI bridge, then another before connecting to the one on the mainboard:
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0 [...] ppb0 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel Bay Trail PCIE" rev 0x0e: msi <-- MAINBOARD pci1 at ppb0 bus 1 ppb1 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00 <-- PCIe card pci2 at ppb1 bus 2 ppb2 at pci2 dev 1 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00: msi pci3 at ppb2 bus 3 re0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8168" rev 0x06: RTL8168E/8111E-VL (0x2c80), msi, address 00:e0:4c:68:1a:ea rgephy0 at re0 phy 7: RTL8169S/8110S/8211 PHY, rev. 5 ppb3 at pci2 dev 3 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00: msi pci4 at ppb3 bus 4 re1 at pci4 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8168" rev 0x06: RTL8168E/8111E-VL (0x2c80), msi, address 00:e0:4c:68:1a:eb rgephy1 at re1 phy 7: RTL8169S/8110S/8211 PHY, rev. 5 ppb4 at pci2 dev 5 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00: msi pci5 at ppb4 bus 5 re2 at pci5 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8168" rev 0x06: RTL8168E/8111E-VL (0x2c80), msi, address 00:e0:4c:68:1a:ec rgephy2 at re2 phy 7: RTL8169S/8110S/8211 PHY, rev. 5 ppb5 at pci2 dev 7 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00: msi pci6 at ppb5 bus 6 re3 at pci6 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8168" rev 0x06: RTL8168E/8111E-VL (0x2c80), msi, address 00:e0:4c:68:1a:ed rgephy3 at re3 phy 7: RTL8169S/8110S/8211 PHY, rev. 5 Here's a diagram of the logical layout based on the above: https://imgur.com/AM1sGr8 Maybe try the card on another motherboard and see if you get the same symptoms. In any case, it's my understanding (and the maintainers of re(4) are free to correct me on this) that Realtek NICs are usually a bad idea for non-desktop applications, since they offload pretty much (if not entirely) all of its functions to the OS - every time something sneezes on the connected network, it raises an interrupt to the CPU. This can lead to pretty craptacular performance and high CPU use under heavy load. I can only imagine the hailstorm that would ensue if all four of your NIC ports were running at full tilt. Your best bet for this would be a used quad-port Intel NIC, which can be had for similar money (but not too much more) and is rather more self-sufficient than the Realtek cards (and the maintainers of em(4) are free to correct me there as well). You'll get better line performance with less CPU stress. On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 11:49 AM Martin Hanson <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, I have one of these 4-port Realtek NIC cards: > https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PCIe-PCI-Express-to-4x-Gigabit-Card-4-Port-Ethernet-Network-Adapter-10-100-1000M/252484240577?epid=505371101 > I > am running OpenBSD 6.3 stable. During boot the card is seen, but it only > works occasionally. When it works I can see all the 4 ports using > "ifconfig" and I can assign IP addresses etc. When it doesn't work > nothing is shown using "ifconfig". As far as I understand from the "re" > manpage RTL8168E/8111E is supported. This is my dmesg: > http://paste.debian.net/1046756/ When > the card isn't working I also get this: +ppb1 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 > vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 rev 0x00 > +pci2 at ppb1 bus 2 > +ppb2 at pci2 dev 1 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 > rev 0x00: not configured by system firmware > +ppb3 at pci2 dev 3 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 > rev 0x00: not configured by system firmware > +ppb4 at pci2 dev 5 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 > rev 0x00: not configured by system firmware > +ppb5 at pci2 dev 7 function 0 vendor "ASMedia", unknown product 0x1184 > rev 0x00: not configured by system firmware >  Is this a driver issue or something else perhaps? Kindest regards -- Aaron Mason - Programmer, open source addict I've taken my software vows - for beta or for worse
