Hi folks - I've done quite a bit of searching but just can't quite seem to find the answer I'm looking for.
TL;DR - need a hint on what loader or extras are needed for Connect-X2 10gbe NIC support.
Let me get the basics out of the way:
1 - TYAN SS512 motherboard, E3-1230V2 CPU, 16GB ECC, integrated LSI 2008 SAS, integrated 2 x Intel i350 NICs.
2 - I am a current Synology hardware owner (DS918+) so I know my way around DSM. I'm also an IT professional and know my way around hardware and OS's pretty well.
3 - A week ago, I installed Xpenology via a lot of reading here (thank you all!). Used 1.03b loader for DS3617xs which is practically a direct match for my hardware, and the latest 6.2.3.xxx version of DSM. Absolutely zero issues. Installed right away and ran perfectly for a solid week.
Then my Mellanox Connect-X2 cards came in from Ebay. I installed one into the rig above and Xpenology/DSM would no longer boot. Removed the card and it boots into DSM just fine again.
OK, I think - let me first make sure the card is good, along with the DAC cable, the upstream switch etc. I put the same card back in and installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 on the same exact hardware - works perfectly gets 400 MB/sec of traffic with no tweaks. In short, the card and the upstream infrastructure are fine.
This lead me to believe that the 3617xs image and/or Jun's 1.03b loader for 3617 might be missing the driver for the Mellanox. So I did some more reading and saw that the 3615xs loader is perhaps a bit more lenient on hardware or has more imbedded drivers. So I went through the process of building a 3615xs 1.03b, and that version unfortunately won't go any further. It will boot into the loader screen, but I never see link light come up on the Mellanox. I also went into BIOS and disabled the 2 x existing Intel i350 NICs on the motherboard just to make sure they weren't conflicting.
This tells me it is driver related as the card itself is proven good in the same hardware chassis. So my questions:
1 - Definitively, does the Mellanox Connect-X2 have a driver in one of Jun's prebuilt loaders, or do I need to go hunt up something in an extras.lzma? I see answers that vary wildly on this, which is why I'm trying to get a definitive answer for myself and others who may be searching in the future.
2 - If I don't need any extra drivers, what loader do I need that contains the Mellanox Connect-X2 driver natively? I don't mind going back to DSM 6.1 if needed. I just want to use my extremely standard 10 gig cards but I suppose I can return them and swap for Intel DA-520 versions if needed.
Thank you so much for any help you can offer. I've tried quite a bit on my own but failing. If someone can drop me a hint I'd really appreciate it.
Panoz