Rocky Linux Devs Hack Around Flaky Realtek NICs: DKMS r8168 Swap on ELRepo Kernel-LT Ends Link-Drop Nightmares (No More SSH Panic!)

Rocky Linux users experiencing issues with their onboard Realtek NIC, such as link drops and unstable autoneg, can resolve the problem by switching to Realtek's out-of-tree r8168 driver. This driver can be installed via DKMS, allowing it to automatically rebuild whenever the kernel-lt updates. To do this, users must first download the r8168 Linux driver tarball from Realtek's official website and install the ELRepo and EPEL repositories. They must then install the kernel-lt headers and devel packages, as well as DKMS and its dependencies. After configuring the DKMS module, users can add and build the r8168 driver, and blacklist the in-kernel r8169 driver to avoid conflicts. With AUTOINSTALL enabled, DKMS will automatically rebuild the module when a new kernel is installed, ensuring the driver remains up-to-date. This solution is particularly useful for users running ELRepo's kernel-lt, which is not the stock kernel stream for Rocky Linux, and provides a clean and repeatable approach to installing the r8168 driver.