I recently spent a bunch of time messing with thunderbolt, here are some notes I took.
In theory, Thunderbolt as a connectivity standard is great! There are a couple of things that are confusing!
Platform specific issues
On Linux, devices are not authorized when connected. To "authorize" the connection, you have to set up dev rules.
However, I found it easier to disable thunderbolt security in the bios. This only leaves you vulnerable to physical attacks, where someone can plug something into your device.
Another thing, is that hot plugging might not work, this issue turns out to be a firmware issue, so always update your thunderbolt controller using either
sudo fwupdmgr get-devices or by going to your manufacture's website and looking for firmware updates.
On Mac, it just works™️.
What's the big deal with Thunderbolt networking?
20 GB!
Hardware
Opinion: Why are people not considering Thunderbolt as an alternative to 10GbE? 10GbE is still an unusually expensive/premium add-on for desktop computers/Macs, despite its age.
10 GB can be cheap, if all you only work off a desktop with 10 GBe or SFP+.
If not, you will have to buy a dongle to connect your server. A 10GBe dongle is around 200 dollars: ubiquiti usb-c 10gbe
For my specific scenario, I wanted to build on AM4, as the cost/price performance made the most sense for me. The cheapest motherboard with 10GBe was 400 dollars(!!).
My alternative was a cost-effective AM4 microATX motherboard compatible with a thunderbolt add-in card!
- asus pro b550m - 80 USD
- thunderboltex4 add-in - 100 USD
- thunderbolt 4 cable - 15 USD
If you want to learn more about my new server, wait for my next post
For the add-in card, I would wait to find an open box/return, since many people don't do the research on what motherboards are compatible. There wasn't any AM4 micro-atx boards with built-in USB4, typically on high-end ATX boards have it and I wanted to build in a small case.
Left-overs
My fixation on micro-atx is because I have a case sitting around that only fits microATX!
Reduce reuse recycle
Debugging tools:
- udevadm monitor
- bolt
- tbtools
I am aware of 10GB(refers to gigabit) networking is 1,250 Megabytes, which most HDD can only write at 150 MB/s.
On TrueNas, I was not able to install tbtools. I was in developer mode and I ran the installation script from a data drive. Oh well, I figured it out.
generic truenas is an appliance comment
USB4 != Thunderbolt 4