Guide to Native Drivers: DSM 6.2.1 on DS918

[flyride]

Which DSM version shall I use?  This is an oft-repeated question, complicated by the fact that different loaders support different DSM versions AND hardware platforms.

In simple terms, DS3615/DS3617 has the widest support for hardware and packages, and DS916/DS918 has support for newer, low-cost CPU's, transcoding and NVMe cache (DS918 only).

 

But the real questions are, what hardware do you have?  What hardware do you want to buy in order to support what you want to do?  And how does a DSM loader and platform support this? In order to answer, it's useful to understand what hardware is natively supported by DSM.  Each DSM version is different as Synology does not need to support many types of hardware, as they build up a specific DSM for each hardware platform they sell.  Fortunately, the base Linux kernel has much broader support for hardware than they intend.

 

Most of us guessed at the hardware requirements and made (hopefully) intelligent selections on DSM versus hardware.  Some build systems and then are distressed when the hardware isn't fully supported by the DSM platform they choose.  Unfortunately, Synology hardware knowledge is often imperfect, as the main boards are custom designed. Refer to the example below for DS918:

 

DS918	Reference Hardware:
	CPU:	Intel J3455 (Apollo Lake)
	GPU:	Intel HD Graphics 500/505
	Chipset:	Intel SOC
	2x1Gb Ethernet:	Intel i211
	SATA:	88SE9215 PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller

 

With even this information, we can make some good guesses on what hardware might be supported.  Wouldn't it be great if we knew ALL the different drivers that are natively supported?  Unfortunately this is a fairly difficult process if you are not a Linux guru (and a bit laborious even if you are).

 

There are "user-reported" hardware compatibility threads out there, but many don't understand that those reports are both DSM version and platform specific. Furthermore, with the way hardware manufacturers reissue hardware with the same name but new PCI device number (such as the Intel PHYs on desktop motherboards), often not enough information is reported to confirm whether a specific piece of hardware is suitable for use.

 

If you aren't sure if your hardware is supported, this post and the complementary DS3615 driver guide aims to help you. Download the attached Excel spreadsheet to see key driver support in the DS918 6.2.1 Synology custom kernel, and via loadable modules supplied with DSM.  Hopefully it will help you select the best DSM platform for your purposes, and possibly inform your hardware purchases.

 

Certain popular drivers missing from this platform, or newer driver versions that support the latest silicon may be available by installing additional compiled modules.

 

2021-Sep update: Now that folks are testing RedPill loader, they are finding that drivers working in 6.2.3 and earlier are missing in 6.2.4 or 7.0.  This is because many of the drivers are part of the Jun loader and not truly native to DSM.  Yes, the title of this post says NATIVE but for the purposes of the analysis, Jun's injected drivers are considered along with the actual embedded native drivers.

 

DSM 6.2.1 DS918 V1.0 2018-Feb-03.xls

Edited September 7, 2021 by flyride
Discussion of actual native vs. Jun injected drivers

[kazuni]

Much appreciated, now I know I can get a 82599 to work on the new whitebox I am buildling! thanks!

[weberio]

Is Broadcom BCM5751 work in 6.2.2 with boot 1.04b?

[marcos_59143]

hello, intel82576-T2 ?

[Jdw0]

the real 918+ is use 88SE9215 SATA controller , Not the 88SE9125. I trust  your post , and bought a 88SE9125 card. No Disk found! then I check out the real 918+ Motherboard findout 88SE9215 is the native chip up there.

[IG-88]

3 hours ago, Jdw0 said:

, and bought a 88SE9125 card. No Disk found! t

even the 88SE9125 is ahci compatible and should work ootb with dsm as ahci is part of the dsm kernel

i'd guess there are other problems with your system

maybe open a new case in the hardware section?

 

[Jdw0]

7 minutes ago, IG-88 said:

even the 88SE9125 is ahci compatible and should work ootb with dsm as ahci is part of the dsm kernel

i'd guess there are other problems with your system

maybe open a new case in the hardware section?

 

Thanks for your reply ! Ye~! Why not . I had several problems Even though I read all the topics about how to install/update 6.2.x &  your topice "Driver extension series" , repalce the extra.lzma again & again, not working.  

 

now, I'm waiting for 88SE9215 card arrive, make some test, then discuss with everyone.

[flyride]

6 hours ago, Jdw0 said:

the real 918+ is use 88SE9215 SATA controller , Not the 88SE9125. I trust  your post , and bought a 88SE9125 card. No Disk found! then I check out the real 918+ Motherboard findout 88SE9215 is the native chip up there.

 

Of course, this guide does not say "here is a list of the actual hardware devices that are in Synology" - it reports the PCI ID's of all the hardware supported by the drivers that are part of the DSM image.  It is common practice for manufacturers to support several (and sometimes all) versions of their hardware in their drivers.

 

If you want guarantees that hardware will work, you had better go to the User Reported Hardware Compatibility thread and make your decisions there.

 

Now I will make a disclaimer, I have included all Jun's drivers in the list, and we know that those drivers are broken in 6.2.1 and 6.2.2, but again work in 6.2.3.  It's pretty easy to see which drivers are Jun's (look in the update folder).  I'll post an updated document at some point in the future that makes this more clear.

[flyride]

I was able to find a picture of a 88SE9215 chip on a DS918+ motherboard.  I now realize you may have referred to the deliberately incomplete "reference hardware" block at the top of the post, which isn't really the point (did you even open the spreadsheet?) Anyway, Synology does not publish their hardware specs and any factual information comes from postings on the Internet.  I'm not sure where the reference to the 9125 chip came from at the time, but I will update the reference hardware block accordingly. Thank you for contributing to our collective knowledge on the subject.

Edited May 10, 2020 by flyride

[Jdw0]

5 minutes ago, flyride said:

I was able to find a picture of a 88SE9215 chip on a DS918+ motherboard.  I now realize you may have referred to the deliberately incomplete "reference hardware" block at the top of the post, which isn't really the point (did you even open the spreadsheet?) Anyway, Synology does not publish their hardware specs and any factual information comes from postings on the Internet.  I'm not sure where the reference to the 9125 chip came from at the time, but I will update the reference hardware block accordingly. Thank you for contributing to our collective knowledge on the subject.

Yes, I mean the "reference hardware" block post may be can more accurate. I just think if we know the real one hardware specs, There may be some reference.

And I found out real one use WGI211AT chip for LAN ( Intel I211?)

 

 

 

[IG-88]

4 hours ago, Jdw0 said:

Thanks for your reply ! Ye~! Why not . I had several problems Even though I read all the topics about how to install/update 6.2.x &  your topice "Driver extension series" , repalce the extra.lzma again & again, not working.  

 

the driver for 9125 should have nothing to do with a extra.lzma, ahci is fixed part of the kernel, 918+ uses kernel 4.4.59

maybe this is more convincing then my word?

https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=pci:1b4b-9125-1b4b-9125

 

as long as the system (kernel) starts it should detect and use a 9125 with the ahci driver

i dont think anything will change if you replace a 9125 with a 9215 controller  (beside having 4 sata ports on one pcie lane instead of two)

 

[barsovya]

I plan to build on ryzen and AM4 socket, I'm not sure if it will work. There is information about that?

Ryzen 1200, ASUS PRIME A320I-K/CSM.

[Jdw0]

On 5/11/2020 at 1:44 AM, IG-88 said:

 

the driver for 9125 should have nothing to do with a extra.lzma, ahci is fixed part of the kernel, 918+ uses kernel 4.4.59

maybe this is more convincing then my word?

https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=pci:1b4b-9125-1b4b-9125

 

as long as the system (kernel) starts it should detect and use a 9125 with the ahci driver

i dont think anything will change if you replace a 9125 with a 9215 controller  (beside having 4 sata ports on one pcie lane instead of two)

 

miraculous things happen. the 9215 card is accept by the system immediately. installation process perfectly. weird

[armitage59]

Le 04/02/2019 à 00:46, flyride a dit :

Which DSM version shall I use?  This is an oft-repeated question, complicated by the fact that different loaders support different DSM versions AND hardware platforms.

In simple terms, DS3615/DS3617 has the widest support for hardware and packages, and DS916/DS918 has support for newer, low-cost CPU's, transcoding and NVMe cache (DS918 only).

 

But the real questions are, what hardware do you have?  What hardware do you want to buy in order to support what you want to do?  And how does a DSM loader and platform support this? In order to answer, it's useful to understand what hardware is natively supported by DSM.  Each DSM version is different as Synology does not need to support many types of hardware, as they build up a specific DSM for each hardware platform they sell.  Fortunately, the base Linux kernel has much broader support for hardware than they intend.

 

Most of us guessed at the hardware requirements and made (hopefully) intelligent selections on DSM versus hardware.  Some build systems and then are distressed when the hardware isn't fully supported by the DSM platform they choose.  Unfortunately, Synology hardware knowledge is often imperfect, as the main boards are custom designed. Refer to the example below for DS918:

 

DS918	Reference Hardware:
	CPU:	Intel J3455 (Apollo Lake)
	GPU:	Intel HD Graphics 500/505
	Chipset:	Intel SOC
	2x1Gb Ethernet:	Intel i211
	SATA:	88SE9215 PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller

 

With even this information, we can make some good guesses on what hardware might be supported.  Wouldn't it be great if we knew ALL the different drivers that are natively supported?  Unfortunately this is a fairly difficult process if you are not a Linux guru (and a bit laborious even if you are).

 

There are "user-reported" hardware compatibility threads out there, but many don't understand that those reports are both DSM version and platform specific. Furthermore, with the way hardware manufacturers reissue hardware with the same name but new PCI device number (such as the Intel PHYs on desktop motherboards), often not enough information is reported to confirm whether a specific piece of hardware is suitable for use.

 

If you aren't sure if your hardware is supported, this post and the complementary DS3615 driver guide aims to help you. Download the attached Excel spreadsheet to see key driver support in the DS918 6.2.1 Synology custom kernel, and via loadable modules supplied with DSM.  Hopefully it will help you select the best DSM platform for your purposes, and possibly inform your hardware purchases.

 

Certain popular drivers missing from this platform, or newer driver versions that support the latest silicon may be available by installing additional compiled modules.

 

2021-Sep update: Now that folks are testing RedPill loader, they are finding that drivers working in 6.2.3 and earlier are missing in 6.2.4 or 7.0.  This is because many of the drivers are part of the Jun loader and not truly native to DSM.  Yes, the title of this post says NATIVE but for the purposes of the analysis, Jun's injected drivers are considered along with the actual embedded native drivers.

 

DSM 6.2.1 DS918 V1.0 2018-Feb-03.xls 98.5 Ko · 3 014 downloads

Hi

sorry for my english, but I'm french. so, i don't speak english all days.

I would like to know, how i try RedPill loader, they are finding that drivers working in 6.2.3 and earlier are missing in 6.2.4 or 7.0.

I have optiplex 380 with Broadcom x57 in motherbard

 

so i would like try to use it like a nas.

 

best regard.