6.7.2: options to enable WOL with Asrock MOBO/Atheros NIC

[davegrant85]

Hi, I have recently built a system and got everything up and running, and am now trying to manage sleep/wake.

 

Unraid: v6.7.2

Mobo: Asrock FM2A78M-ITX+

Onboard NIC: Atheros AR8171

CPU: AMD A10 5800K

 

I'm using Dynamix S3 Sleep to sleep my unraid box when not in use and would now like to enable wake on LAN. 

My motherboard (Asrock FM2A78M-ITX+ ) reportedly supports this behaviour and I have enabled this in BIOS, however i cannot enable WOL using ethtool as it is reported as unsupported.

 

root@Bertha:/# ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: 1000Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	MDI-X: Unknown
	Current message level: 0x000060e4 (24804)
			       link ifup rx_err tx_err hw wol
	Link detected: yes

root@Bertha:/# ethtool -i eth0
driver: alx
version:
firmware-version:
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no

root@Bertha:/# ethtool -s eth0 wol g
Cannot get current wake-on-lan settings: Operation not supported
  not setting wol

 

Google points to WOL support having been removed from the alx atheros driver in linux kernel: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61651

 

There's a patch provided to re-enable support in the above thread, however all mentions are more specific to Ubuntu/Debian/Arch (i'm not massively linux fluent).

 

So to questions: 

 

1. Is there a practical way to utilise this patch with Unraid and enable WOL support for my onboard NIC?
2. If not, could I get around this by installing a PCIe NIC with drivers that provide WOL support?
3. Assuming 2: are there any NICs that you could recommended?

 

Aim is to be able to sleep the server when not in use, and be able to wake-on-lan, in order to reduce energy cost. Any more info I can provide, please ask.

 

Thanks

[Frank1940]

My suggestion would be to look for an Intel-based NIC card.  Install it and disable the MB NIC via the BIOS.  A quick search on Amazon found this but there are several other Intel based options.

 

https://www.amazon.com/TOTOVIN-Gigabit-Network-Adapter-EXPI9301CT/dp/B07HGXD4F3/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

[davegrant85]

That's great, thanks @Frank1940