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Network Interfaces lower than minimum required

Hello,

Very basic question here that I've been unable to get to the bottom of. I have an Intel-based Dell XPS tower (XPS 8930) with a built-in NIC. I purchased a second NIC. I downloaded the ISO free trial (SW-18.0.5_MR-5-586.iso), put it on a thumbdrive and ran the install, but after installation, it doesn't detect either of my NICs and goes into failsafe mode, with the reason being "Network Interfaces lower than minimum required". I CANNOT find any information on the required hardware.

This page doesn't help me, and I find it strange the title is Installing on Windows when you're just wiping out the entire installation / OS when booting to the thumb drive and installing. The title should be "how to download and flash the ISO image on a thumbdrive using Windows" (https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/18.0/Help/en-us/webhelp/virtual-software-appliance/nsg/sfos/tasks/vs_SoftAppInstallationWindows.html)

Am I missing something? All the documentation I'm finding is very old, and when I do find something, it already assumes you've installed the ISO onto your hardware and jumps right in to configuring the firewall with the GUI.

Intel Core i7-8700 @ 3.20 GHz
16 GB RAM



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  • that is one, what about the other one? The killer chip is proprietary, so I would not expect it to be supported either.

    Ian

  • Oops, forgot to add the 2nd NIC that I added. It's a EDUP  EP-9602GS: https://www.szedup.com/product-item/ep-9602gs/

    Is there any documentation for what NICs are supported? I seem to be going in loops with Sophos and cannot find anything on this page: https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/18.5/Help/en-us/webhelp/onlinehelp/index.html

    Thanks for your help!

  • It is safe to stick with intel, Broadcom and if really desperate Realtek.

    there is a hardware comparability list, which I can’t find due to this iPad not playing fair.

    ian

  • Well, two "Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Network Adapter 1 x RJ45" adapters just arrived. I shut down the server and installed. I still got the "Network Interfaces lower than minimum required: 2" error. So, I left the NICs in and re-installed Sophos. I'm still getting the same error. I contacted Sophos (prior to ordering the two NICs) and they said:

    =======================================================================================
    I have received some info from our sales engineer. His is response is as follows:

    “We don’t publish a hardware compatibility list for software firewalls, unfortunately. Guidelines are as follows:

    • Software appliance can be installed on a dedicated Intel - compatible PC
    • Intel compatible computer with dual network interfaces

    In general, any intel based NICs should work.

    He could create a virtual XG instead through something like Hyper-V or ESXi if the NICs still aren’t detected.”
    =======================================================================================


    Any other suggestions? I feel like I'm at a loss here, especially if a company the size as Sophos doesn't even have a hardware compatibility list.....

  • The chip is a supported type after investigation and that 'killer' chip also an intel but I suspect the XG does not have a driver for it.

    Now the next issue is the motherboard is it setup to use the PCI slots or are there other devices assigned to those spots?

    Might be time to try a motherboard reset to defaults and see what happens.

    Ian

  • Thanks for replying all this time. I finally got it to work. For some reason I wasn't able to use both of the "small" PCIe ports on my motherboard, only the "top" one (SLOT2) worked. So I decided to put the NIC in the bottom small PCIe port (SLOT3), into the larger PCIe port below it (PCIE x4 - SLOT4)... and it worked (picture attached). I didn't realize you could do that. For all I know you can only use one of the two SMALL PCIe ports at a time, and not both simultaneously. All I care is that it works. For the first time in a month and a half I am now at the Main Menu where I can configure Network, System, Routes, VPN settings!!! SunglassesThumbsupNerd