NASLite Network Attached Storage

This thread is for posting ideas for the next release of the OS. Ideally, most here are on board with the basic driving ideas behind the OS. That being a simple to configure and robust NAS with only basic function for use in the home/SOHO environment. No user level security. A wide array of hardware support.

Tony says:
CORE3 will be the base for all future SE development. Immediate plans (Over the next few months) are as follows - in this order:

- NASLite-2 v2.6 (released)
- NASLite-M2 v1.6

- NASLite64-2 v2.6
- NASLite64-M2 v1.6

- SANLite v1.0
- SANLite64 v1.0

So here is how it works. I started with a list of things I would like to see in future releases. I being the first post will also keep track of posts from others and add them to the list below to create a comprehensive features wish list we all would like to see in the future product/s.

For starters:

1. An Uber kernel at build option IE: a 64bit multicore Kernel with support for more than 4GB of memory and file systems larger than 4TB. This would give those with big hardware the ability to use it and enjoy the performance increase it brings to the table.

2. Software RAID support. Being that there are allot of fast machines out there that have the needed horse power, and the fact that Linux has a robust soft RAID it is about time to take a good look at this for a future release.

3. Multi-NIC support. Again with some of the boards and processors in play now and the fact that hardware based arrays are more than capable of flooding a single Gigabit Ethernet connection it makes sense to have this capability for the high performance implementations. Another option would be support for 2Gb or 4Gb FC-AL HBA, 3Gb or 6Gb SAS target, Infiniband, or 10Gb Ethernet.

4. International keyboard support.

5. internationalization (translation) of all the program menus. (This option will likely require the help of those multi lingual users to make this happen. You might contact Tony or Ralph if you think you are able to help here.)

6. Add option to do file system check at power up or power down.

7. UPS (Uninterpretable power supply) support via the USB or serial port to facilitate automated shutdowns.

8. Better support for Time Synchronization; the current method or approach works inconsistently. (may or may not be an issue, more research into this is needed)

9. Link bonding or aggregating of Ethernet links.

10. I would like is to be able to change the shared names for the disks (instead of disk-0, disk-1 etc)

11. The ability to manage raid arrays with a simple form of course.


More to come as I and others post up.

Mike

Hi Mike.

Add: international keyboard support

Add (less urgent): internationalization (translation) of all the program

Regards

add option to do filesystem check at power up or power down

i was hoping this would be in this release?

I vote for this option too . When a poweroff is requested, NL can check if the fs check time is almost due (fs check number - 1) and send a message "Do you want to execute fs check now or at reboot?" If the answer is "now" then do a fs check.

BUT (if not, it would be too easy ) the fs check should be done when the drives are NOT mounted so I don't see how it can be achieved at poweroff. You cannot unmount without rebooting.

Maybe, if the answer is "now" then instead of poweroff, NL reboots and does the fc check "at boot" as usual. Then, the problem would be how to poweroff when the reboot (and fs check) is finished...

Any solutions ?

Regards

Actually ... the drives could be unmounted (by the O/S not the user) without reboot, then checked, then power off. And the new additional login (telnet) could be "checkoff" (and operate the way robrub suggests) instead of simply "poweroff". Unfortunately a power-button off signal would be somewhat too complicated -- if it allowed user input -- but that could be solved too via a new preset Storage Disk option (a default setting for all drives and an overriding individual setting for each drive) to perform disk check at poweroff.

So to summarize: a] an explicit "checkoff" login forces a check NOW on each drive which has the option turned on; b] a normal shutdown performs check if the drives (with the option) have reached their "time" per tune2fs; c] retain the "poweroff" login, and it works like b]; and option d] retain the "reboot" login, and it works like b] during shutdown for drives (if time has come) with the option ON, and checks the other drives during reboot.

(Note that "poweroff" is just the existing remote login option of b].)

Edit (after tony_a comment below) to clarify some of the options. Hopefully it does not add confusion ...

b would suit me fine - it does all that a filecheck at boot does - it just means you are not waiting an hour for a filecheck before being able to use the system - that hour when you have finished is of no importance to usage

i thought we had discussed this a while ago and expected/hoped it would be in the latest release

let's say it is set to check at shutdown and not at startup. Let's also say that you have a power outage and the drive needs a scan since it was not unmounted. When you boot and get into your files you are now running the risk of messing up your filesystem because it did forgo the check. That is not good at all and i'd think such option is dangerous. Kind of leaves you blind that you are running with a damaged filesystem.

I think checking at boot is just fine. The only thing that needs to change is a way to set the interval to something high like 6 or 12 months instead of what it's now.

That way if there is a problem it will check and not let you to go in an mess things up. The timed maintenance check will happen only once every 6 or 12 months and I know all of you can handle that.

I think you guys miss the basics of this thread. That it's a place to simply post what you would like to see implemented in the next iteration of the OS in the way of function and/or support. Details of, and the how of them are better discussed in other and future threads specific to that topic or function. Lets stay on track here.

So again, other than what I have distilled above from all the posts what else would we like to see in next step of the OS? Look at this as a wish list for Tony and Ralph to choose from. This will help them to direct their efforts to that which the used base would like to have in the OS. Also keep in mind the attraction of other customers to the OS as well.

Mike

I got that Mike. All i'm saying is some of the things people are asking for may not be appropriate. Disks should be checked at init time since that's when the system needs to make sure all resources are sane. No OS checks at shutdown for a reason. Just up the maintenance check interval and everyone will be happy.

And yes, i agree on the software raid, 64bit and all that.

The features I asked for are all for maintenance checks if the "time" has come (tune2fs parameter), except that the "checkoff" feature allows user to force a check at shutdown. Your concern is valid, and a check forced at startup (due to inconsistent fs) is not prevented by any of my suggestions.

I'd like to see perhaps some kind of way to include virus scanning with Naslite.

I know we can currently scan the mapped drives. But I feel this is only good if you have another PC on at the time to scan your Nasbox. I think if Naslite had someway to run its own virus scans, you wouldn't be required to boot up another machine to run scans.

I'd be happy with just the ability to add/buy a 3rd party virus scanned into Naslite, but at current, Naslite doesn't allow any 3rd party addon's correct?

a. UPS (Uninterruptible power supply) support via the USB or serial port to facilitate automated shutdowns.

b. Better support for Time Synchronization; the current method or approach works inconsistenly.

Hi

Change your time server. Mine is working like a charme and making the time updates evrery night.

Regards

Hi,

all of them great but plz consider about LAN-bonding so we can increase the network transfers.
my 15k raid10 disks are almost flooding the gigaNIC.

Thank you.

Added, but keep in mind that Bonding of Ethernet channels is usually between core and edge switch's.

Mike