NASLite Network Attached Storage

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:05 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:16 am
Posts: 82
Location: Leicester, UK
When I save the configuration, what's the name and location of the file where is it actually stored? On a USB flash drive from an M2 installation, the only visible files are:

drwx------ 2 ray root 16384 1970-01-01 01:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2009-02-02 17:54 ..
-rwx------ 1 ray root 10835 2009-01-11 10:50 ldlinux.sys
-rwx------ 1 ray root 1779549 2009-01-11 10:50 NASLITE.01
-rwx------ 1 ray root 4050944 2009-01-11 10:50 NASLITE.02
-rwx------ 1 ray root 0 2009-01-11 10:50 NASLITE.MSG
-rwx------ 1 ray root 0 2009-01-11 10:50 NASLITE.SCR
-rwx------ 1 ray root 145 2009-01-11 10:50 SYSLINUX.CFG

A 2-CDD floppy configuration disk shows no files at all. I presume that the configuration data are present somewhere, but hidden.

Perhaps I have just violated the first rule of the NASLite Club: "You don't talk about where the configuration data are stored."


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:17 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:11 pm
Posts: 1771
Location: Server Elements
The configuration is saved in raw right onto the media and not as a file onto a given filesytem.

Originally, when NASLite was a floppy-based distro, the floppy disk did not have enough room on it to support a filesystem as well as a kernel and a root. That is why the entire OS was written raw on the floppy without a filesystem. The kernel started at 0 with a boot sector. The boot code simply reads the media sector by sector and loads the content into RAM. That was the only way to optimise the use of the available media.

With NASLite+ on, the kernel and root as well as other boot-time files were migrated to a FAT or on the CD but the configuration methodology remains.

That approach is well-suited since it eliminates the need to mount the boot filesystem at runtime for reads or writes. That in turn eliminates any chance of damaging the boot filesystem. In the rare event a config gets mangled during saving, the config will fail CRC on reboot and drop down to defaults. That is the most light-weight and robust of an approach we could come up with. I'm sure folks would agree it's proven to work well.

Quote:
Perhaps I have just violated the first rule of the NASLite Club: "You don't talk about where the configuration data are stored."
No such rule as far as I know. :wink:


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