search

alf45tar / ix4-300d

Installing Debian 12 on Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d NAS
15 stars 4 forks source link
debian iomega ix4-300d lenovo

readme

Installing Debian 12 on Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d

The scope of this tutorial is to revamp a Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d NAS installing the last version of Debian and potentially any recent software.

Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d is a NAS released in late 2012 equipped with:

The latest firmware update Version 4.1.414.34909 can be found here:

http://download.lenovo.com/nas/lifeline/h4c-4.1.414.34909.tgz

The latest imager with that version can be found here:

https://download.lenovo.com/nasupdate/asgimage/h4c-4.1.414.34909.zip

The original firmware is based on Debian 7 (wheezy) and it is stored into a flash memory. NAS can boot without any disk if the flash is ok. If the flash is corrupted the above imager must be used.

Open source code components for LifeLine-based network devices running version 4.1.414 can be downloade from

https://download.lenovo.com/lenovoemc/na/en/app/answers/detail/a_id/34437.html

BootROM 1.15
Booting from NAND flash
DDR3 Training Sequence - Ver 2.3.4
DDR3 Training Sequence - Ended Successfully
BootROM: Image checksum verification PASSED

 __   __                      _ _
|  \/  | __ _ _ ____   _____| | |
| |\/| |/ _` | '__\ \ / / _ \ | |
| |  | | (_| | |   \ V /  __/ | |
|_|  |_|\__,_|_|    \_/ \___|_|_|
         _   _     ____              _
        | | | |   | __ )  ___   ___ | |_
        | | | |___|  _ \ / _ \ / _ \| __|
        | |_| |___| |_) | (_) | (_) | |_
         \___/    |____/ \___/ \___/ \__|
 ** LOADER 2.3.2.6  **

U-Boot 2009.08 (Mar 04 2013 - 11:13:04) Marvell version:  2.3.2 PQ
U-Boot Addressing:
       Code:            00600000:006BFFF0
       BSS:             00708EC0
       Stack:           0x5fff70
       PageTable:       0x8e0000
       Heap address:    0x900000:0xe00000
Board: DB-78230-BP rev 2.0 Wistron
SoC:   MV78230 A0
       running 2 CPUs
       Custom configuration
CPU:   Marvell PJ4B (584) v7 (Rev 2) LE
       CPU # 0
       CPU @ 1333Mhz, L2 @ 667Mhz
       DDR @ 667Mhz, TClock @ 250Mhz
       DDR 32Bit Width, FastPath Memory Access
       DDR ECC Disabled
PEX 0.0(0): Root Complex Interface, Detected Link X4, GEN 1.1
PEX 1.0(1): Root Complex Interface, Detected Link X1, GEN 2.0
DRAM:  512 MB
       CS 0: base 0x00000000 size 512 MB
       Addresses 14M - 0M are saved for the U-Boot usage.
NAND:  1024 MiB
Bad block table found at page 524224, version 0x01
Bad block table found at page 524160, version 0x01
nand_read_bbt: Bad block at 0x000003c60000
FPU initialized to Run Fast Mode.
USB 0: Host Mode
USB 1: Host Mode
USB 2: Device Mode
Modules Detected:
MMC:   MRVL_MMC: 0
Net:   egiga0 [PRIME], egiga1
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x120000, size 0x400000
 4194304 bytes read: OK

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x520000, size 0x400000
 4194304 bytes read: OK
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00040000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-3.2.40
   Created:      2020-01-02  11:18:50 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    3656376 Bytes =  3.5 MB
   Load Address: 00008000
   Entry Point:  00008000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 02000000 ...
   Image Name:
   Created:      2020-01-14  10:40:35 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (bzip2 compressed)
   Data Size:    3012478 Bytes =  2.9 MB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Starting kernel ...

Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.

Welcome to CenterPoint.
ix4-300d login:
root@ix4-300d:/# cat /etc/debian_version
7.11
root@ix4-300d:/# cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.2.40 (soho@bsoho083.iomegacorp.com) (gcc version 4.7.2 (crosstool-NG 1.20.0) ) #1 SMP Thu Jan 2 06:18:39 EST 2020 v2.1.1.1
root@ix4-300d:/# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 000e0000 00020000 "uboot"
mtd1: 00020000 00020000 "env"
mtd2: 00020000 00020000 "env2"
mtd3: 00400000 00020000 "zImage"
mtd4: 00400000 00020000 "initrd"
mtd5: 3f200000 00020000 "boot"
mtd6: 40000000 00020000 "flash"
root@ix4-300d:/# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor       : Marvell PJ4Bv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
processor       : 0
BogoMIPS        : 1332.01

processor       : 1
BogoMIPS        : 1332.01

Features        : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp vfpv3 tls
CPU implementer : 0x56
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant     : 0x2
CPU part        : 0x584
CPU revision    : 2

Hardware        : Marvell Armada XP Development Board
Revision        : 0000
Serial          : 0000000000000000
Marvell>> printenv
baudrate=115200
loads_echo=0
rootpath=/mnt/ARM_FS/
console=console=ttyS0,115200
mtdids=nand0=armada-nand
CASset=min
sata_delay_reset=0
MALLOC_len=5
ethprime=egiga0
bootargs_root=root=/dev/ram rw
bootargs_end=:::DB88FXX81:eth0:none
image_name=uImage
loadpath=initrd.img
ramdisk_size=4194304
ramdisk_size_f=12582912
ramdisk_name=initrd.img
uver=v2.3.2.6
mfgmodel=IX4-300D
autoload=yes
ubin=0301
env_off=0xe0000
env1_off=0x100000
kernel_start=0x120000
initrd_start=0x520000
kernel_size=0x400000
initrd_size=0x400000
mtdparts=mtdparts=armada-nand:0xe0000@0x0(uboot),0x20000@0xe0000(env),0x20000@0x100000(env2),0x400000@0x120000(zImage),0x400000@0x520000(initrd),0x3F200000@0xE00000(boot),0x40000000@0x0(flash)
standalone=fsload 0x2000000 $image_name;setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=/dev/mtdblock0 rw ip=$ipaddr:$serverip$bootargs_end; bootm 0x2000000;
eth2addr=00:50:43:00:00:02
eth3addr=00:50:43:02:00:00
mv_pon_addr=00:50:43:02:00:00
ethmtu=1500
eth1mtu=1500
eth2mtu=1500
eth3mtu=1500
mvNetConfig=mv_net_config=2,(00:50:43:11:11:11,0:1),mtu=1500
usb0Mode=host
usb1Mode=host
usb2Mode=device
usbActive=0
yuk_ethaddr=00:00:00:EE:51:81
nandEcc=1bit
netretry=yes
rcvrip=169.254.100.100
loadaddr=0x02000000
eeeEnable=no
lcd0_enable=0
lcd0_params=640x480-16@60
lcd_panel=0
filesize=2D8971
fileaddr=2000000
netmask=255.255.255.0
ipaddr=192.168.1.2
serverip=192.168.1.100
serial_number=5565U01001G41300161J0L1
opid=Z12091539
ethaddr=00:D0:B8:2A:05:21
serialNo=EUE140GRA1
eth1addr=00:D0:B8:2A:05:22
modelname=32042301
serialno=0,01ykeRfmL2nC/Bbt9GQqCO2HuoUyGg5SIX5PpVPbMexFXYaDKL6guFVvUh/DOXHIMq,EUE140GRA1,
mfgtest_state=final_tested_ok
runintime=14400
ftp_serverip=192.168.32.4
ftp_log_user=runinlog
ftp_log_password=123
ftp_log_dir=storagelogs/soclogs/partlogs/IX4-300D/runin
ftp_pass_user=qrypass
ftp_pass_password=123
ftp_pass_dir=socquery
ftp_qry_user=qrypass
ftp_qry_password=123
ftp_qry_dir=socquery
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial
enaMonExt=no
enaCpuStream=no
enaClockGating=no
enaWrAllo=no
pexMode=RC
disL2Cache=yes
MPmode=SMP
cacheShare=no
setL2CacheWT=no
disL2Prefetch=yes
enaICPref=yes
enaDCPref=yes
enaFPU=yes
sata_dma_mode=yes
netbsd_en=no
vxworks_en=no
amp_enable=no
bootdelay=3
bootcmd=nand read 0x40000 $kernel_start $kernel_size;nand read 0x2000000 $initrd_start $initrd_size;setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts $bootargs_root mem=512M  ramdisk_size=$ramdisk_size ramdisk_blocksize=1024 ip=$bootargs_end $mvNetConfig; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000;
disaMvPnp=no
enaAutoRecovery=yes
pcieTune=no
ethact=egiga0

Environment size: 2525/131067 bytes

The bootloader is Marvell U-Boot. My NAS has the following signature:

U-Boot 2009.08 (Mar 04 2013 - 11:13:04) Marvell version: 2.3.2 PQ.

The End Of Service Life (EOSL) was March 31, 2020.

Index

Prerequisites

Preparing the files

On a Linux box:

  1. Download vmlinuz, initrd.gz and armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb files from the Debian website:

    wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-armhf/current/images/netboot/vmlinuz
wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-armhf/current/images/netboot/initrd.gz
wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-armhf/current/images/device-tree/armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb

  2. Append dtb file to the kernel:

    cat vmlinuz armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb > vmlinuz_ix4_300d

  3. Create an uImage with appended init ramdisk for TFTP boot:

    mkimage -A arm -O linux -T multi -C none -a 0x04000000 -e 0x04000000 -n "Debian armhf installer" -d vmlinuz_ix4_300d:initrd.gz uImage_di_ix4_300d_bookworm

  4. Create separate uImage and uInitrd for USB boot:

    mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel  -C none -a 0x04000000 -e 0x04000000  -n "Debian armhf installer" -d vmlinuz_ix4_300d uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm
mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0x2000000  -e 0x2000000   -n "Debian armhf installer" -d initrd.gz        uInitrd_ix4_300d_bookworm

    [!NOTE] The mkimage command is used to create images for use with the U-Boot boot loader. Thes images can contain the linux kernel, device tree blob, root file system image, firmware images etc., either separate or combined.

    mkimage supports many image formats. Some of these formats may be used by embedded boot firmware to load U-Boot. Others may be used by U-Boot to load Linux (or some other kernel):

    The legacy image format concatenates the individual parts (for example, kernel image, device tree blob and ramdisk image) and adds a 64 byte header containing information about the target architecture, operating system, image type, compression method, entry points, time stamp, checksums, etc.

For smart people the files are available here ready to download. TFTP boot USB boot
uImage_di_ix4_300d_bookworm uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm
uInitrd_ix4_300d_bookwom
We provide files for installing Debian 11 too. The tutorial remains valid just replacing bookworm with bullseye. TFTP boot USB boot
uImage_di_ix4_300d_bullseye uImage_ix4_300d_bullseye
uInitrd_ix4_300d_bullseye

Preparing the TFTP server

Skip it if you want to proceed with an USB stick.

  1. Copy the uImage_di_ix4_300d_bookworm file prepared above into /private/tftpboot folder of macOS.

    [!NOTE] By default the built in macOS TFTP server uses the folder /private/tftpboot which is hidden in Finder, but can be accessed by using “Go to Folder” or hitting Command+Shift+G and entering /private/tftpboot

  2. Open a Terminal an execute the following commands: 
    sudo launchctl load -F /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist
sudo launchctl start com.apple.tftpd

Preparing the USB stick

Skip it if you prepared a TFTP server.

  1. Create an USB stick with an ext2 partition as first partition. Marvell U-Boot can only boot from the first partition.
  2. Copy uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm and uinitrd_ix4_300d_bookworm into it.

    [!NOTE] We do not need a bootable USB stick.

Connecting the USB-to-TTL adapter

UART is on connector CN9 (four pins). Connection parameters are 115200/8N1.

Pin Function Description
1 VCC VCC can be controlled by the adjacent JP1: bridging 1 and 2 provides 3V3, bridging 2 and 3 provides 5V - but beware that this does NOT change the TX/RX voltage which is 3V3 max. VCC is not used here.
2 TX Connect to the RX pin of your USB-to-TTL adapter
3 GND Connect to GND of your USB-to-TTL adapter
4 RX Connect to the TX pin of your USB-to-TTL adapter
  1. Connect the USB-to-TTL adapter to an USB port of your PC.

  2. On macOS Open a Terminal and execute

    screen /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART 115200

    Your serial port can be different from /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART because it depends by USB-to-TTL adapter used.

  3. Power on the Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d

  4. Press any key to stop the booting process and receive the Marvell U-Boot prompt

    BootROM 1.15
Booting from NAND flash
DDR3 Training Sequence - Ver 2.3.4
DDR3 Training Sequence - Ended Successfully
BootROM: Image checksum verification PASSED

__   __                      _ _
|  \/  | __ _ _ ____   _____| | |
| |\/| |/ _` | '__\ \ / / _ \ | |
| |  | | (_| | |   \ V /  __/ | |
|_|  |_|\__,_|_|    \_/ \___|_|_|
        _   _     ____              _
       | | | |   | __ )  ___   ___ | |_
       | | | |___|  _ \ / _ \ / _ \| __|
       | |_| |___| |_) | (_) | (_) | |_
        \___/    |____/ \___/ \___/ \__|
** LOADER 2.3.2.6  **

U-Boot 2009.08 (Mar 04 2013 - 11:13:04) Marvell version:  2.3.2 PQ
U-Boot Addressing:
      Code:            00600000:006BFFF0
      BSS:             00708EC0
      Stack:           0x5fff70
      PageTable:       0x8e0000
      Heap address:    0x900000:0xe00000
Board: DB-78230-BP rev 2.0 Wistron
SoC:   MV78230 A0
   running 2 CPUs
   Custom configuration
CPU:   Marvell PJ4B (584) v7 (Rev 2) LE
      CPU # 0
      CPU @ 1333Mhz, L2 @ 667Mhz
      DDR @ 667Mhz, TClock @ 250Mhz
      DDR 32Bit Width, FastPath Memory Access
      DDR ECC Disabled
PEX 0.0(0): Root Complex Interface, Detected Link X4, GEN 1.1
PEX 1.0(1): Root Complex Interface, Detected Link X1, GEN 2.0
DRAM:  512 MB
      CS 0: base 0x00000000 size 512 MB
      Addresses 14M - 0M are saved for the U-Boot usage.
NAND:  1024 MiB
Bad block table found at page 524224, version 0x01
Bad block table found at page 524160, version 0x01
nand_read_bbt: Bad block at 0x000003c60000
FPU initialized to Run Fast Mode.
USB 0: Host Mode
USB 1: Host Mode
USB 2: Device Mode
Modules Detected:
MMC:   MRVL_MMC: 0
Net:   egiga0 [PRIME], egiga1
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
Marvell>>

Boot the NAS from TFTP server

Skip it if you prepared the USB stick.

Connect the NAS Ethernet port 1 to your network. In the following we will assume 192.168.1.10 is the macOS IP address (TFTP server) and 192.168.1.111 ia an available IP address in your network not assigned by DHCP. If not ok for you, as should be, replace them with your values.

From Marvell>> prompt enter the following commands:

  1. Set the IP address of the NAS:

    setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.111

  2. Set the IP address of the macOS TFTP server:

    setenv serverip 192.168.1.10

  3. Check if network connection works:

    ping 192.168.1.10

  4. Transfer the Debian installer via TFTP into the NAS RAM:

    tftpboot uImage_di_ix4_300d_bookworm

  5. Boot the Debian installer in RAM:

    bootm 0x2000000

Boot the NAS from USB stick

Skip it if you prepared the TFTP server.

  1. Insert the USB stick into the rear upper USB port. Marvell U-Boot can only boot from the rear upper USB port.

  2. From Marvell>> prompt enter the following commands

    usb start
usb tree
usb info
usb part
usb stop
ext2load usb 0:1 0x0040000 uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm
ext2load usb 0:1 0x2000000 uInitrd_ix4_300d_bookworm
setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=/dev/sda2 rw rootdelay=10
bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

    [!NOTE] usb tree, usb info and usb part are for information only.

The log of previous commands is available in the following

Marvell>> usb start
(Re)start USB...
USB:   Active port:     0
Register 10011 NbrPorts 1
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found
Waiting for storage device(s) to settle before scanning...
       scanning bus for storage devices... 1 Storage Device(s) found
Marvell>> usb tree

Device Tree:
  1  Hub (480 Mb/s, 0mA)
  |  u-boot EHCI Host Controller
  |
  +-2  Mass Storage (480 Mb/s, 200mA)
         13111409002422

Marvell>> usb info
1: Hub,  USB Revision 2.0
 - u-boot EHCI Host Controller
 - Class: Hub
 - PacketSize: 64  Configurations: 1
 - Vendor: 0x0000  Product 0x0000 Version 1.0
   Configuration: 1
   - Interfaces: 1 Self Powered 0mA
     Interface: 0
     - Alternate Setting 0, Endpoints: 1
     - Class Hub
     - Endpoint 1 In Interrupt MaxPacket 8 Interval 255ms

2: Mass Storage,  USB Revision 2.0
 -   13111409002422
 - Class: (from Interface) Mass Storage
 - PacketSize: 64  Configurations: 1
 - Vendor: 0x0718  Product 0x07f0 Version 1.18
   Configuration: 1
   - Interfaces: 1 Bus Powered 200mA
     Interface: 0
     - Alternate Setting 0, Endpoints: 2
     - Class Mass Storage, Transp. SCSI, Bulk only
     - Endpoint 1 Out Bulk MaxPacket 512
     - Endpoint 2 In Bulk MaxPacket 512

Marvell>> usb part

Partition Map for USB device 0  --   Partition Type: DOS

Partition     Start Sector     Num Sectors     Type
    1                 2048         2097152      83

Marvell>> usb stop
stopping USB..
Marvell>> ext2load usb 0:1 0x0040000 uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm
Loading file "uImage_ix4_300d_bookworm" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
5351835 bytes read
Marvell>> ext2load usb 0:1 0x2000000 uInitrd_ix4_300d_bookworm
Loading file "uInitrd_ix4_300d_bookworm" from usb device 0:1 (usbda1)
26337308 bytes read
Marvell>> setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=/dev/sda2 rw rootdelay=10
Marvell>> bootm 0x40000 0x2000000
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 00040000 ...
   Image Name:   Debian armhf installer
   Created:      2023-08-24  21:17:04 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    5351771 Bytes =  5.1 MB
   Load Address: 04000000
   Entry Point:  04000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from Legacy Image at 02000000 ...
   Image Name:   Debian armhf installer
   Created:      2023-08-24  21:14:13 UTC
   Image Type:   ARM Linux RAMDisk Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    26337244 Bytes = 25.1 MB
   Load Address: 02000000
   Entry Point:  02000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK

Starting kernel ...

Debian installation

The Debian installer should start in the serial console window with the following screen

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Aug 24 21:36 ]

  ┌───────────────────────┤ [!!] Select a language ├────────────────────────┐
  │                                                                         │
  │ Choose the language to be used for the installation process. The        │
  │ selected language will also be the default language for the installed   │
  │ system.                                                                 │
  │                                                                         │
  │ Language:                                                               │
  │                                                                         │
  │                               C                                         │
  │                               English                                   │
  │                                                                         │
  │     <Go Back>                                                           │
  │                                                                         │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Go through the process as shown on screen.

Partioning the drives can be a little bit trickly but it depends by number of drives and the planned use of the NAS. My partitioning scheme is explained here.

You will receive an error related to grub installation at the end.

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:48 ]

    ┌────────────────┤ [!!] Install the GRUB boot loader ├────────────────┐
    │                                                                     │
    │                      GRUB installation failed                       │
    │ The 'grub-pc' package failed to install into /target/. Without the  │
    │ GRUB boot loader, the installed system will not boot.               │
    │                                                                     │
    │     <Go Back>                                        <Continue>     │
    │                                                                     │
    └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Continue

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:50 ]

     ┌───────────────┤ [!!] Install the GRUB boot loader ├───────────────┐
     │                                                                   │
     │                     Installation step failed                      │
     │ An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item  │
     │ again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else. The    │
     │ failing step is: Install the GRUB boot loader                     │
     │                                                                   │
     │                            <Continue>                             │
     │                                                                   │
     └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Continue

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:51 ]

             ┌─────────┤ [?] Debian installer main menu ├─────────┐
             │                                                    │
             │ Choose the next step in the install process:       │
             │                                                    │
             │      Set up users and passwords             -      │
             │      Configure the clock                    ▒      │
             │      Detect disks                           ▒      │
             │      Partition disks                        ▒      │
             │      Install the base system                ▒      │
             │      Configure the package manager          ▒      │
             │      Select and install software            ▒      │
             │      Install the GRUB boot loader           ▒      │
             │      Continue without boot loader           ▒      │
             │      Finish the installation                0      │
             │      Change debconf priority                ▒      │
             │      Save debug logs                        ▒      │
             │      Execute a shell                        ▒      │
             │      Abort the installation                 .      │
             │                                                    │
             └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Continue without boot loader

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:53 ]

   ┌─────────────────┤ [!] Continue without boot loader ├──────────────────┐
   │                                                                       │
   │                       No boot loader installed                        │
   │ No boot loader has been installed, either because you chose not to or │
   │ because your specific architecture doesn't support a boot loader yet. │
   │                                                                       │
   │ You will need to boot manually with the /vmlinuz kernel on partition  │
   │ /dev/sda1 and root=/dev/sda2 passed as a kernel argument.             │
   │                                                                       │
   │                              <Continue>                               │
   │                                                                       │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Continue

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:54 ]

   ┌───────────────────┤ [!!] Finish the installation ├────────────────────┐
   │                                                                       │
  ┌│                         Installation complete                         │
  ││ Installation is complete, so it is time to boot into your new system. │
  ││ Make sure to remove the installation media, so that you boot into the │
  ││ new system rather than restarting the installation.                   │
  ││                                                                       │
  ││ Please choose <Continue> to reboot.                                   │
  └│                                                                       │
   │     <Go Back>                                          <Continue>     │
   │                                                                       │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Go Back

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:56 ]

             ┌─────────┤ [?] Debian installer main menu ├─────────┐
             │                                                    │
             │ Choose the next step in the install process:       │
             │                                                    │
             │      Set up users and passwords             -      │
             │      Configure the clock                    ▒      │
             │      Detect disks                           ▒      │
             │      Partition disks                        ▒      │
             │      Install the base system                ▒      │
             │      Configure the package manager          ▒      │
             │      Select and install software            ▒      │
             │      Install the GRUB boot loader           ▒      │
             │      Continue without boot loader           ▒      │
             │      Finish the installation                0      │
             │      Change debconf priority                ▒      │
             │      Save debug logs                        ▒      │
             │      Execute a shell                        ▒      │
             │      Abort the installation                 .      │
             │                                                    │
             └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Execute a shell

[            (1*installer)  2 shell  3 shell  4- log           ][ Sep 09 10:56 ]

   ┌────────────────────────┤ [!] Execute a shell ├────────────────────────┐
   │                                                                       │
   │                           Interactive shell                           │
   │ After this message, you will be running "ash", a Bourne-shell clone.  │
   │                                                                       │
   │ The root file system is a RAM disk. The hard disk file systems are    │
   │ mounted on "/target". The editor available to you is nano. It's very  │
   │ small and easy to figure out. To get an idea of what Unix utilities   │
   │ are available to you, use the "help" command.                         │
   │                                                                       │
   │ Use the "exit" command to return to the installation menu.            │
   │                                                                       │
   │     <Go Back>                                          <Continue>     │
   │                                                                       │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select Continue and at the prompt run the following commands

mount --bind /dev /target/dev
mount -t proc none /target/proc
mount -t sysfs none /target/sys
chroot /target /bin/sh
apt-get update
apt-get install flash-kernel

The following errors are ok

BusyBox v1.35.0 (Debian 1:1.35.0-4+b3) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ # mount --bind /dev /target/dev
~ # mount -t proc none /target/proc
~ # mount -t sysfs none /target/sys
~ # chroot /target /bin/sh
# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
# apt-get install flash-kernel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  device-tree-compiler devio libfdt1 libiniparser1 liblzo2-2 libubootenv-tool
  libubootenv0.1 libyaml-0-2 mtd-utils u-boot-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  device-tree-compiler devio flash-kernel libfdt1 libiniparser1 liblzo2-2
  libubootenv-tool libubootenv0.1 libyaml-0-2 mtd-utils u-boot-tools
0 upgraded, 11 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 810 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5143 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
.....
Creating config file /etc/default/flash-kernel with new version
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/imx/sdma/sdma-imx7d.bin for built-in driver imx_sdma
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/imx/sdma/sdma-imx6q.bin for built-in driver imx_sdma
Unsupported platform 'Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d'.
run-parts: /etc/initramfs/post-update.d//flash-kernel exited with return code 1
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
 installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Replace the content of the flash-kernel database file /etc/flash-kernel/db with the following command:

cat << EOF > /etc/flash-kernel/db
Machine: Lenovo Iomega ix4-300d
Kernel-Flavors: armmp armmp-lpae
DTB-Id: armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb
DTB-Append: yes
U-Boot-Kernel-Address: 0x00008000
U-Boot-Initrd-Address: 0x0
Boot-Kernel-Path: /boot/uImage
Boot-Initrd-Path: /boot/uInitrd
Boot-DTB-Path: /boot/dtb
Required-Packages: u-boot-tools
Bootloader-Sets-Incorrect-Root: no
EOF

Update initramfs and kernel:

update-initramfs -u

Now the errors are gone

update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/imx/sdma/sdma-imx7d.bin for built-in driver imx_sdma
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/imx/sdma/sdma-imx6q.bin for built-in driver imx_sdma
Using DTB: armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb
Installing /usr/lib/linux-image-6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae/armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb into /boot/dtbs/6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae/./armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb
Installing new armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb.
Installing /usr/lib/linux-image-6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae/armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb into /boot/dtbs/6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae/./armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb
Taking backup of armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb.
Installing new armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb.
flash-kernel: installing version 6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae
flash-kernel: appending /usr/lib/linux-image-6.1.0-12-armmp-lpae/armada-xp-lenovo-ix4-300d.dtb to kernel
Generating kernel u-boot image... done.
Installing new uImage.
Generating initramfs u-boot image... done.
Installing new uInitrd.
Taking backup of dtb.
Installing new dtb.

Set label on the rootfs partition:

e2label /dev/sda2 rootfs

Exit chroot and reboot:

exit
reboot

Press any key to stop the booting process again.

Boot from internal disk

Assuming the installation has been completed with the default disk partitioning (/boot on /dev/sda1 and / on /dev/sda2) use the following commands

ide reset
ext2load ide 2:1 0x0040000 uImage
ext2load ide 2:1 0x2000000 uInitrd
setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=/dev/sda2 rw rootdelay=10
bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

Better to boot with label since there is no guarantee that the disk will always sda

ide reset
ext2load ide 2:1 0x0040000 uImage
ext2load ide 2:1 0x2000000 uInitrd
setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5
bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

or even better in a single command line

ide reset; ext2load ide 2:1 0x0040000 uImage; ext2load ide 2:1 0x2000000 uInitrd; setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

Permanent boot from internal disk

setenv bootdebian 'ide reset; ext2load ide 2:1 0x0040000 uImage; ext2load ide 2:1 0x2000000 uInitrd; setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000;'
setenv bootcmd 'run bootdebian; reset;'
saveenv
reset

Improve the experience

Once the Debian installation is completed I suggest to enable root login from network and install some packages to improve the user experience.

To enable root login from network add

PermitRootLogin yes

to file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart service with

systemctl restart ssh.service

It is nice to have the resize command to set environment and terminal settings to current xterm window size. Use resize every time you resize the terminal window.

Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite (a.k.a. Bonjour or Zeroconf).

apt install xterm avahi-daemon smartmontools

Connect temperature sensors and fan control

One way to alter fan speed with temperature is with the package fancontrol. This package includes the bash script fancontrol and a configuration utility called pwmconfig which creates the configuration file /etc/fancontrol which is used by the fancontrol bash script when is starts running. This script runs as a service at startup, checks the temperature sensor of your choice every ten seconds and sets the fan speed accordingly.

[!NOTE] The fancontrol package is not requested because the ADT7475 supports automatic fan control (see below). However, the fancontrol program can use the CPU and HDD temperature as an input whereas the ADT7475 only has access to its three temperature sensors.

Install the following packages

apt install lm-sensors fancontrol

Replace the /etc/modules to load the correct kernel modules:

cat << EOF > /etc/modules
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
# Parameters can be specified after the module name.

# Adapter drivers
i2c_mv64xxx

# Chip drivers
adt7475

# Hard disk temperature
drivetemp
EOF

[!NOTE] The order of listed modules is very important because it determines the numbering of sensors in /sys file system.

[!NOTE] The Marvell mv64[345]6x series of system controller chips contain many of the peripherals needed to implement a complete computer system. For example the Discovery II MV64361 controller offers a 72-bit DDR memory controller with a 183 MHz clock rate (366 MHz data rate), on-board 2 Megabits Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dual 32-bit PCI/ PCI-X interfaces, PCI bridge and arbiter, two 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet controllers, two multi-protocol serial channels, and TWSI and interrupt controllers. The ADT7475 controller is a thermal monitor and multiple PWM fan controller for noise-sensitive or power-sensitive applications requiring active system cooling. The ADT7475 can drive a fan using either a low or high frequency drive signal, monitor the temperature of up to two remote sensor diodes plus its own internal temperature, and measure and control the speed of up to four fans so that they operate at the lowest possible speed for minimum acoustic noise.

Reboot the NAS to load the modules.

reboot

To do yourself use sensors-detect but remember that drivetemp must be added manually.

root@lenovo:~# sensors-detect
# sensors-detect version 3.6.0
# Kernel: 6.1.0-11-armmp-lpae armv7l
# Processor: ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)

This program will help you determine which kernel modules you need
to load to use lm_sensors most effectively. It is generally safe
and recommended to accept the default answers to all questions,
unless you know what you're doing.

Some south bridges, CPUs or memory controllers contain embedded sensors.
Do you want to scan for them? This is totally safe. (YES/no):
modprobe: FATAL: Module cpuid not found in directory /lib/modules/6.1.0-11-armmp-lpae
Failed to load module cpuid.
Silicon Integrated Systems SIS5595...                       No
VIA VT82C686 Integrated Sensors...                          No
VIA VT8231 Integrated Sensors...                            No
AMD K8 thermal sensors...                                   No
AMD Family 10h thermal sensors...                           No
AMD Family 11h thermal sensors...                           No
AMD Family 12h and 14h thermal sensors...                   No
AMD Family 15h thermal sensors...                           No
AMD Family 16h thermal sensors...                           No
AMD Family 17h thermal sensors...                           No
AMD Family 15h power sensors...                             No
AMD Family 16h power sensors...                             No
Hygon Family 18h thermal sensors...                         No
Intel digital thermal sensor...                             No
Intel AMB FB-DIMM thermal sensor...                         No
Intel 5500/5520/X58 thermal sensor...                       No
VIA C7 thermal sensor...                                    No
VIA Nano thermal sensor...                                  No

Lastly, we can probe the I2C/SMBus adapters for connected hardware
monitoring devices. This is the most risky part, and while it works
reasonably well on most systems, it has been reported to cause trouble
on some systems.
Do you want to probe the I2C/SMBus adapters now? (YES/no):
Sorry, no supported PCI bus adapters found.
[10847.429051] i2c_dev: i2c /dev entries driver
Module i2c-dev loaded successfully.

Next adapter: mv64xxx_i2c adapter (i2c-0)
Do you want to scan it? (YES/no/selectively):
Client found at address 0x2e
Handled by driver `adt7475' (already loaded), chip type `adt7473'
Client found at address 0x50
Handled by driver `at24' (already loaded), chip type `24c64'
    (note: this is probably NOT a sensor chip!)
Client found at address 0x51
Handled by driver `rtc-pcf8563' (built-in), chip type `pcf8563'
    (note: this is probably NOT a sensor chip!)

Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done.
Just press ENTER to continue:

Driver `adt7475':
  * Bus `mv64xxx_i2c adapter'
    Busdriver `i2c_mv64xxx', I2C address 0x2e
    Chip `adt7473' (confidence: 6)

To load everything that is needed, add this to /etc/modules:
#----cut here----
# Adapter drivers
i2c_mv64xxx
# Chip drivers
adt7475
#----cut here----
If you have some drivers built into your kernel, the list above will
contain too many modules. Skip the appropriate ones!

Do you want to add these lines automatically to /etc/modules? (yes/NO)

Unloading i2c-dev... OK

Restart the service on changes

systemctl restart lm-sensors.service

The default fan speed is around 1800 rpm and it is quite noisy. Using fan control we can reduce a lot the fan noise using a fan speed around 1400 rpm in normal condition and increase up to 2950 rpm when the temperature increase.

Edit the /etc/fancontrol as follow to control the fan speed using the temperature of hard disk in the second bay

# Configuration file generated by pwmconfig, changes will be lost
INTERVAL=10
DEVPATH=hwmon1=devices/platform/soc/soc:internal-regs/d0011000.i2c/i2c-0/0-002e hwmon3=devices/platform/soc/soc:pcie@82000000/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0/ata2/host1/target1:0:0/1:0:0:0
DEVNAME=hwmon1=adt7473 hwmon3=drivetemp
FCTEMPS= hwmon1/pwm1=hwmon3/temp1_input
FCFANS= hwmon1/pwm1=hwmon1/fan1_input
MINTEMP= hwmon1/pwm1=20
MAXTEMP= hwmon1/pwm1=60
MINSTART= hwmon1/pwm1=150
MINSTOP= hwmon1/pwm1=0

To create your own configuration use pwmconfig

root@lenovo:~# pwmconfig
File /var/run/fancontrol.pid exists. This typically means that the
fancontrol deamon is running. You should stop it before running pwmconfig.
If you are certain that fancontrol is not running, then you can delete
/var/run/fancontrol.pid manually.
root@lenovo:~# systemctl stop fancontrol.service
root@lenovo:~# pwmconfig
# pwmconfig version 3.6.0
This program will search your sensors for pulse width modulation (pwm)
controls, and test each one to see if it controls a fan on
your motherboard. Note that many motherboards do not have pwm
circuitry installed, even if your sensor chip supports pwm.

We will attempt to briefly stop each fan using the pwm controls.
The program will attempt to restore each fan to full speed
after testing. However, it is ** very important ** that you
physically verify that the fans have been to full speed
after the program has completed.

Found the following devices:
   hwmon0 is d00182b0.thermal
   hwmon1 is adt7473
   hwmon2 is drivetemp
   hwmon3 is drivetemp
   hwmon4 is drivetemp

Found the following PWM controls:
   hwmon1/pwm1           current value: 126
hwmon1/pwm1 is currently setup for automatic speed control.
In general, automatic mode is preferred over manual mode, as
it is more efficient and it reacts faster. Are you sure that
you want to setup this output for manual control? (n) y
   hwmon1/pwm2           current value: 255
   hwmon1/pwm3           current value: 255

Giving the fans some time to reach full speed...
Found the following fan sensors:
   hwmon1/fan1_input     current speed: 2973 RPM
   hwmon1/fan2_input     current speed: 0 ... skipping!
   hwmon1/fan3_input     current speed: 0 ... skipping!
   hwmon1/fan4_input     current speed: 0 ... skipping!

Warning!!! This program will stop your fans, one at a time,
for approximately 5 seconds each!!!
This may cause your processor temperature to rise!!!
If you do not want to do this hit control-C now!!!
Hit return to continue:

Testing pwm control hwmon1/pwm1 ...
  hwmon1/fan1_input ... speed was 2973 now 972
    It appears that fan hwmon1/fan1_input
    is controlled by pwm hwmon1/pwm1
Would you like to generate a detailed correlation (y)?
    PWM 255 FAN 2945
    PWM 240 FAN 2971
    PWM 225 FAN 2973
    PWM 210 FAN 2973
    PWM 195 FAN 2975
    PWM 180 FAN 2975
    PWM 165 FAN 2926
    PWM 150 FAN 2591
    PWM 135 FAN 2148
    PWM 120 FAN 1731
    PWM 105 FAN 1333
    PWM 90 FAN 1073
    PWM 75 FAN 950
    PWM 60 FAN 929
    PWM 45 FAN 927
    PWM 30 FAN 927
    PWM 28 FAN 927
    PWM 26 FAN 927
    PWM 24 FAN 927
    PWM 22 FAN 927
    PWM 20 FAN 927
    PWM 18 FAN 928
    PWM 16 FAN 927
    PWM 14 FAN 927
    PWM 12 FAN 928
    PWM 10 FAN 928
    PWM 8 FAN 928
    PWM 6 FAN 928
    PWM 4 FAN 928
    PWM 2 FAN 928
    PWM 0 FAN 928

Testing pwm control hwmon1/pwm2 ...
  hwmon1/fan1_input ... speed was 2973 now 2962
    no correlation

No correlations were detected.
There is either no fan connected to the output of hwmon1/pwm2,
or the connected fan has no rpm-signal connected to one of
the tested fan sensors. (Note: not all motherboards have
the pwm outputs connected to the fan connectors,
check out the hardware database on http://www.almico.com/forumindex.php)

Did you see/hear a fan stopping during the above test (n)?

Testing pwm control hwmon1/pwm3 ...
  hwmon1/fan1_input ... speed was 2968 now 2968
    no correlation

No correlations were detected.
There is either no fan connected to the output of hwmon1/pwm3,
or the connected fan has no rpm-signal connected to one of
the tested fan sensors. (Note: not all motherboards have
the pwm outputs connected to the fan connectors,
check out the hardware database on http://www.almico.com/forumindex.php)

Did you see/hear a fan stopping during the above test (n)?

Testing is complete.
Please verify that all fans have returned to their normal speed.

The fancontrol script can automatically respond to temperature changes
of your system by changing fanspeeds.
Do you want to set up its configuration file now (y)?
What should be the path to your fancontrol config file (/etc/fancontrol)?
Loading configuration from /etc/fancontrol ...

Select fan output to configure, or other action:
1) hwmon1/pwm1
2) Change INTERVAL
3) Just quit
4) Save and quit
5) Show configuration
select (1-n): 1

Devices:
hwmon0 is d00182b0.thermal
hwmon1 is adt7473
hwmon2 is drivetemp
hwmon3 is drivetemp
hwmon4 is drivetemp

Current temperature readings are as follows:
hwmon0/temp1_input      41
hwmon1/temp1_input      39
hwmon1/temp2_input      30
hwmon1/temp3_input      38
hwmon2/temp1_input      32
hwmon3/temp1_input      37
hwmon4/temp1_input      38

Select a temperature sensor as source for hwmon1/pwm1:
1) hwmon0/temp1_input                    4) hwmon1/temp3_input                    7) hwmon4/temp1_input
2) hwmon1/temp1_input                    5) hwmon2/temp1_input                    8) None (Do not affect this PWM output)
3) hwmon1/temp2_input                    6) hwmon3/temp1_input
select (1-n): 6

Enter the low temperature (degree C)
below which the fan should spin at minimum speed (20):

Enter the high temperature (degree C)
over which the fan should spin at maximum speed (60):

Enter the PWM value (0-255) to use when the temperature
is over the high temperature limit (255):

Select fan output to configure, or other action:
1) hwmon1/pwm1
2) Change INTERVAL
3) Just quit
4) Save and quit
5) Show configuration
select (1-n): 5

Common Settings:
INTERVAL=10

Settings of hwmon1/pwm1:
  Depends on hwmon3/temp1_input
  Controls hwmon1/fan1_input
  MINTEMP=20
  MAXTEMP=60
  MINSTART=150
  MINSTOP=0

Select fan output to configure, or other action:
1) hwmon1/pwm1
2) Change INTERVAL
3) Just quit
4) Save and quit
5) Show configuration
select (1-n): 4

Saving configuration to /etc/fancontrol...
Configuration saved

Restart the service on changes

systemctl restart fancontrol.service

To avoid fancontrol use ADT7475 directly. The ADT7475 has two modes of operation: manual and automatic. When the system boots up, the controller is in manual mode and the fan runs at a predefined speed. There is only one fan in the ix400-300d and it is controlled via /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/. In manual mode, the file pwm1 controls the speed of the fan.

For example to switch in manaul mode

echo 1 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_enable

and to reduce the fan speed around to 1145 rpm

echo 100 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1

The default value of pwm1 is 126 (1800 rpm) but it can be set from 0 (920 rpm) to 255 (2900 rpm).

The ADT7475 device driver supports the following "control" values in pwm1_enable:

Value Meaning Command
0 Run fan at full speed echo 0 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_enable
1 Manual mode echo 1 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_enable
2 Automatic mode echo 2 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_enable

In automatic mode you must first select channel (see below).

The ADT7475 data sheet is extremely detailed. The following table shows the correspondence between the kernel sensor names and the ADT names.

Kernel Name ADT7475 Name
temp1 Remote 1
temp2 Local
temp3 Remote 2

In automatic mode, the ADT7475 chip will monitor one or more temperature inputs and adjust the fan speed based on the following properties (the sysfs names are used here):

When the temperature is below tempX_auto_point1_temp, the fan will run at pwm1_auto_point1_pwm. When the temperature is above tempX_auto_point2_temp, the fan will run at pwm1_auto_point2_pwm. If the temperature is above tempX_crit, the fan will be run at maximum speed (255).

For temperatures between tempX_auto_point1_temp and tempX_auto_point2_temp, the fan power is set proportionally between pwm1_auto_point1_pwm and pwm1_auto_point2_pwm. You don't have to set tempX_auto_point2_temp because it will automatically be set 32°C higher than temp1_auto_point1_temp by the kernel driver.

The ADT7475 can be programmed to check one, two or three temperature sensors when determining the current fan speed. When more than one sensor is selected, the highest calculated fan speed is used.

To use automatic mode, you first have to tell the device driver which temperature channel to use. This is done with the pwm1_auto_channels_temp file. The following table maps the kernel values with the ADT7475 data sheet values (page 31) for bits <7:5> (BHVR) of register 0x5C:

Kernel Channel ADT7475 Value Meaning
1 0 Remote 1
2 1 Local
4 2 Remote 2
6 5 Local + Remote 2
7 6 All three sensors

In the last two cases where two or more temperature sensors are used as input, the value that produces the highest fan speed is used to control the fan. To select all three sensors, the following command is used:

echo 7 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_auto_channels_temp

Once the channel has been set, the ADT7475 is put into automatic mode as follows:

echo 2 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm1_enable

I personally use my fan control script fan.py because it has three fan modes. You can switch between these modes by pressing the SCROLL DOWN button: Normal, Fresh, and Quiet.

  1. Download the fan.py script into /opt/ix4-300d folder 
    mkdir /opt/ix4-300d
wget -P /opt/ix4-300d https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alf45tar/ix4-300d/main/fan.py
  2. Create a new file 
    cat << EOF > /etc/systemd/system/fan.service
[Unit]
Description=Fan Control
After=default.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=10min
StartLimitBurst=5
[Service]
ExecStart=python3 /opt/ix4-300d/fan.py
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
  3. Finish the installation with 
    systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable fan.service
systemctl start fan.service

All of the 3 methods must be used alone.

Personalize the LCD display

We can customize the information displayed on the NAS using the lcd.py script. This script updates the display every 60 seconds, cycling between two screens.

The first screen shows important details about the NAS: local name, IP address, CPU and HD temperatures, fan speed, CPU load, and memory usage. CPU load represents the average percentage over the last 60 seconds, while RAM indicates the used percentage of physical RAM, excluding the swap file.

The second screen allows you to monitor the usage of the /boot, /, and /srv partitions. The "four U" indicates the status of the RAID array.

Press the SELECT button to move to the next screen. Press and hold it to adjust the LCD backlight.

Press the SCROLL DOWN button to switch the fan speed mode: N for Normal, F for Fresh, and Q for Quiet.

  1. Install the following packages 
    apt install python3-periphery python3-pil python3-psutil python3-evdev
  2. Download the lcd.py script into /opt/ix4-300d folder 
    mkdir /opt/ix4-300d
wget -P /opt/ix4-300d https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alf45tar/ix4-300d/main/lcd.py
  3. Create a new file 
    cat << EOF > /etc/systemd/system/lcd.service
[Unit]
Description=Manage LCD display
After=default.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=10min
StartLimitBurst=5
[Service]
ExecStart=python3 /opt/ix4-300d/lcd.py
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5s
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
  4. Finish the installation with 
    systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable lcd.service
systemctl start lcd.service

To manually control the backlight of the display, you can write a value between 0 and 255 to the file

/sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/0-002e/hwmon/hwmon1/pwm3

This value determines the brightness level of the backlight. Here are some examples of how to use this command to set different brightness levels:

Using the buttons to trigger actions

The NAS has 4 buttons connected to gpio and supported as gpio-keys.

Button Action
Power Shutdown the system when pressed
Restart Reboot the system when pressed
Select Available to trigger an action
Scroll down Available to trigger an action

They are recognized as keyboard entry. The keyboard device is /dev/input/event0.

You can experiment yourself with buttons (continue below) or simply use the lcd.py script with default assignements.

  1. Install evtest package

    apt install evtest

  2. Run evtest to obtain detailed information

    root@lenovo:~# evtest
No device specified, trying to scan all of /dev/input/event*
Available devices:
/dev/input/event0:      gpio-keys
Select the device event number [0-0]: 0
Input driver version is 1.0.1
Input device ID: bus 0x19 vendor 0x1 product 0x1 version 0x100
Input device name: "gpio-keys"
Supported events:
Event type 0 (EV_SYN)
Event type 1 (EV_KEY)
  Event code 116 (KEY_POWER)
  Event code 178 (KEY_SCROLLDOWN)
  Event code 314 (BTN_SELECT)
  Event code 408 (KEY_RESTART)
Properties:
Testing ... (interrupt to exit)
Event: time 1693054739.406736, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 314 (BTN_SELECT), value 1
Event: time 1693054739.406736, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1693054739.520158, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 314 (BTN_SELECT), value 0
Event: time 1693054739.520158, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1693054740.906984, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 178 (KEY_SCROLLDOWN), value 1
Event: time 1693054740.906984, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1693054741.093218, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 178 (KEY_SCROLLDOWN), value 0
Event: time 1693054741.093218, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
^C
  3. Download the kbdactions.sh file into /opt/ix4-300d folder 
    mkdir /opt/ix4-300d
wget -P /opt/ix4-300d https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alf45tar/ix4-300d/main/kbdactions.sh
chmod 755 /opt/ix4-300d/kbdactions.sh

  4. Customize the file (optional)

    nano /opt/ix4-300d/kbdactions.sh

    The file provided below start/stop webmin interface with Select and restart the lcd.service with Scroll Down

    #!/bin/bash

device='/dev/input/event0'
event_select_press='*code 314 (BTN_SELECT), value 1*'
event_select_release='*code 314 (BTN_SELECT), value 0*'
event_scroll_down_press='*code 178 (KEY_SCROLLDOWN), value 1*'
event_scroll_down_release='*code 178 (KEY_SCROLLDOWN), value 0*'
event_power='*code 116 (KEY_POWER), value 1*'
event_restart='*code 408 (KEY_RESTART), value 1*'

evtest "$device" | while read line; do
  case $line in
     ($event_select_press)        systemctl is-active --quiet webmin.service && systemctl stop webmin.service || systemctl restart webmin.service ;;
     ($event_select_release)      echo "SELECT release" ;;
     ($event_scroll_down_press)   systemctl restart lcd.service ;;
     ($event_scroll_down_release) echo "SCROLl DOWN release" ;;
     ($event_power)               echo "POWER" ;;
     ($event_restart)             echo "RESTART" ;;
  esac
done
  5. Create a new file 
    cat << EOF > /etc/systemd/system/kbdactions.service
[Unit]
Description=Manage keyboard display
After=default.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/opt/ix4-300d/kbdactions.sh
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
  6. Finish the installation with 
    systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable kbdactions.service
systemctl start kbdactions.service

Controlling the leds

Leds are not working with mainline Debian kernel because the armhf kernel is not compiled with

CONFIG_GPIO_74X164=m

I did it for you and here the instruction for installing the new kernel.

wget https://github.com/alf45tar/debian-kernel/raw/main/kernel-packages/linux-image-6.1.0-23-armmp-lpae_6.1.99-1_armhf.deb
dpkg -i linux-image-6.1.0-23-armmp-lpae_6.1.99-1_armhf.deb

After reboot leds are availbale under /sys/class/leds.

The NAS has 3 external leds on front panel connected to 5 internal leds. From top to bottom:

System and HDD leds can be blue, red or magenta (when both red and blue leds are on).

The following led trigger do not require to load a module.

none
usb-gadget
usb-host
kbd-scrolllock
kbd-numlock
kbd-capslock
kbd-kanalock
kbd-shiftlock
kbd-altgrlock
kbd-ctrllock
kbd-altlock
kbd-shiftllock
kbd-shiftrlock
kbd-ctrlllock
kbd-ctrlrlock
disk-activity
disk-read
disk-write
ide-disk
mtd
nand-disk
heartbeat
cpu
cpu0
cpu1
panic
d0072004.mdio-mii:00:link
d0072004.mdio-mii:00:1Gbps
d0072004.mdio-mii:00:100Mbps
d0072004.mdio-mii:00:10Mbps
d0072004.mdio-mii:01:link
d0072004.mdio-mii:01:1Gbps
d0072004.mdio-mii:01:100Mbps
d0072004.mdio-mii:01:10Mbps

The list of ledtrig modules that require modprobe or /etc/modules is

ledtrig-activity
ledtrig-backlight
ledtrig-default-on
ledtrig-netdev
ledtrig-pattern
ledtrig-transient
ledtrig-audio
ledtrig-camera
ledtrig-gpio
ledtrig-oneshot
ledtrig-timer
ledtrig-usbport

To socialize with /sys/class/leds filesystem here in the following some examples.

Interacting with GPIOs

Install tools for interacting with Linux GPIO character device

apt install gpiod

[!NOTE] libgpiod encapsulates the ioctl calls and data structures behind a straightforward API. This new character device interface guarantees all allocated resources are freed after closing the device file descriptor and adds several new features that are not present in the obsolete sysfs interface (like event polling, setting/reading multiple values at once or open-source and open-drain GPIOs).

root@lenovo:~# gpiodetect
gpiochip0 [d0018100.gpio] (32 lines)
gpiochip1 [d0018140.gpio] (17 lines)
gpiochip2 [74hc595] (8 lines)
root@lenovo:~# gpioinfo
gpiochip0 - 32 lines:
        line   0:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   1:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   2:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   3:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   4:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   5:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   6:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   7:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   8:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   9:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  10:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  11:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  12:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  13:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  14:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  15:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  16:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  17:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  18:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  19:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  20:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  21:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  22:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  23:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  24:      unnamed "gpio-poweroff" output active-high [used]
        line  25:      unnamed        "sck"  output   active-low [used]
        line  26:      unnamed "ix4-300d:hdd:blue" output active-high [used]
        line  27:      unnamed   "spi0 CS0"  output   active-low [used]
        line  28:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line  29:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line  30:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line  31:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
gpiochip1 - 17 lines:
        line   0:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   1:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   2:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   3:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   4:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   5:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   6:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   7:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   8:      unnamed      "sysfs"  output  active-high [used]
        line   9:      unnamed "Select Button" input active-low [used]
        line  10:      unnamed "Scroll Button" input active-low [used]
        line  11:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  12:      unnamed "Power Button" input active-high [used]
        line  13:      unnamed "Reset Button" input active-low [used]
        line  14:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line  15:      unnamed       "mosi"  output   active-low [used]
        line  16:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
gpiochip2 - 8 lines:
        line   0:      unnamed       unused  output  active-high
        line   1:      unnamed "ix4-300d:power:white" output active-low [used]
        line   2:      unnamed "ix4-300d:sysfail:red" output active-high [used]
        line   3:      unnamed "ix4-300d:sys:blue" output active-high [used]
        line   4:      unnamed "ix4-300d:hddfail:red" output active-high [used]
        line   5:      unnamed       unused  output  active-high
        line   6:      unnamed       unused  output  active-high
        line   7:      unnamed       unused  output  active-high

[!NOTE] GPIO pins has been assigned to a hardware device driver in kernel device tree. We will not be able to control the pin from user-space as it will forever be "busy". The only solution in this case would be to alter the device tree (likely disabling the HW driver) as to leave the pin unassigned by DTS.

Unload the leds_gpio module to release an output pin

rmmod leds_gpio

Turn on HDD led

gpioset gpiochip0 26=1

Turn off HDD led

gpioset gpiochip0 26=0

Using /sys file system

echo 26 > /sys/class/gpio/export
echo  1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio26/value
echo  0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio26/value
echo 26 > /sys/class/gpio/unexport

Fix the poweroff/reboot issue

With the default network configuration the NAS reboot on poweroff. Both interfaces need to be brought up at boot for poweroff to work correctly.

You need both eth0 and eth1 initialized (i.e having them up does the tweak) for poweroff to shutdown otherwise it reboots.

My preferred solution is to use a bridge or a bond of network ports but the below configuration is a fix too.

Edit /etc/network/interfaces as follows

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.14
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 169.254.1.1
netmask 255.255.0.0
gateway 169.254.1.254

The setup forces eth0 and eth1 to go up at boot even when no cable is plugged in.

Bridging network ports

During Debian installation you selected your primary network interface and the proper configuration file has been created.

If you want to use the second ethernet ports like a LAN port of your switch/router you need a bridge.

The create a bridge between eth0 and eth1:

  1. Install the bridge-utils package

    apt install bridge-utils

  2. Replace your /etc/network/interfaces file with the following one and change address, broadcast, netmask and gateway according your needs

    # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# Set up interfaces manually, avoiding conflicts with, e.g., network manager
iface eth0 inet manual
iface eth1 inet manual
# Bridge setup
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
  bridge_ports eth0 eth1
     address 192.168.1.14
     broadcast 192.168.1.255
     netmask 255.255.255.0
     gateway 192.168.1.1

Restart the service on changes

systemctl restart networking.service

Bonding network ports

For best performance you could create a bonding between eth0 and eth1. You can connect all of them to your switch/router and increase the speed up to 2 Gbit/s and/or add redundancy.

  1. Install the ifenslave package

    apt install ifenslave

  2. Replace your /etc/network/interfaces file with the following one and change address, netmask, network and gateway according your needs

    # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# Bond setup
auto bond0

iface bond0 inet static
  address 192.168.1.14
  netmask 255.255.255.0
  network 192.168.1.0
  gateway 192.168.1.1
  bond-slaves eth0 eth1
  bond-mode balance-rr
  bond-miimon 100
  bond-downdelay 200
  bond-updelay 200

Restart the service on changes

systemctl restart networking.service

Connecting to WiFi

iwd is an all-in-one wireless client, wireless daemon, and even a DHCP client optionally.

iwd is an alternative to wpasupplicant. iwd itself is considered stable since Debian 12 Bookworm. It is much faster to connect to networks than wpa_supplicant, and has better roaming support, among other perceived improvements.

  1. Install the following package 
    apt install iwd
  2. Edit /etc/iwd/main.conf and uncomment the line 
    EnableNetworkConfiguration=true
  3. Restart the service 
    systemctl restart iwd.service
  4. Insert a supported USB WiFi adapter into one of the available USB ports. Here in the following the log for a Linksys WUSB54GC v2 based on Realtek RTL8187B chip. 
    [ 1267.712422] usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[ 1267.874230] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1737, idProduct=0073, bcdDevice= 2.00
[ 1267.882586] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1267.889796] usb 2-1: Product: RTL8187B_WLAN_Adapter
[ 1267.894748] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: Manufacturer_Realtek
[ 1267.900041] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
[ 1268.671137] ieee80211 phy0: hwaddr 00:22:6b:da:ea:cb, RTL8187BvE V0 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[ 1268.719600] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0x00
[ 1268.726537] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[ 1268.732574] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187
[ 1268.950444] rtl8187 2-1:1.0 wlx00226bdaeacb: renamed from wlan0

  5. Configure thw WiFi connection using the interactive mode of iwctl

    root@lenovo:~# iwctl
NetworkConfigurationEnabled: enabled
StateDirectory: /var/lib/iwd
Version: 2.3
[iwd]# device list
                                   Devices                                   *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Name                  Address               Powered     Adapter     Mode
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 wlx00226bdaeacb       00:22:6b:da:ea:cb     on          phy0        station

[iwd]# station wlx00226bdaeacb scan
[iwd]# station wlx00226bdaeacb get-networks
                              Available networks                             *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Network name                      Security            Signal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     MyWireless                        psk                 ****

[iwd]# station wlx00226bdaeacb connect MyWireless
Type the network passphrase for MyWireless psk.
Passphrase: ***********
[iwd]# station wlx00226bdaeacb show
                           Station: wlx00226bdaeacb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Settable  Property              Value
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Scanning              no
           State                 connected
           Connected network     MyWireless
           IPv4 address          192.168.1.192
           ConnectedBss          a4:2b:b0:b9:14:84
           Frequency             2412
           Security              WPA2-Personal
           RSSI                  -31 dBm
           AverageRSSI           -30 dBm
           TxBitrate             54000 Kbit/s
           RxBitrate             54000 Kbit/s
           ExpectedThroughput    19593 Kbit/s

[iwd]# quit

If you have another wired interface on the same LAN (broadcast domain) remember to disable it with

ifdown bond0

Transform the NAS into a AirPlay speaker

  1. Connect a supported USB sound card

    [21652.175526] usb 2-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using orion-ehci
[21652.346344] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=8086, idProduct=0808, bcdDevice= 1.00
[21652.354621] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[21652.361863] usb 2-1: Product: USB PnP Sound Device
[21652.366740] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: C-Media Electronics Inc.
[21652.630390] hid: raw HID events driver (C) Jiri Kosina
[21652.646899] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[21652.652564] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[21652.793898] mc: Linux media interface: v0.10
[21652.976077] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[21653.044913] input: C-Media Electronics Inc.       USB PnP Sound Device as /devices/platform/soc/soc:internal-regs/d0051000.usb/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.3/0003:8086:0808.0001/input/input1
[21653.120228] hid-generic 0003:8086:0808.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.00 Device [C-Media Electronics Inc.       USB PnP Sound Device] on usb-d0051000.usb-1/input3

  2. Install the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)

    apt install libasound2 alsa-utils

  3. Install the AirPlay receiver

    apt install shairport-sync

    [!NOTE] Shairport Sync plays audio streamed from iOS devices and third-party AirPlay sources. Audio played by a Shairport Sync-powered device stays synchronised with the source and hence with similar devices playing the same source. In this way, synchronised multi-room audio is possible without difficulty.

  4. Stream music from your iOS device (don't forget to attach a speaker or headphones to your sound card)

  5. Adjust the volume

    alsamixer

Installing Cockpit

Cockpit is a web-based graphical interface for servers, intended for everyone.

See your server in a web browser and perform system tasks with a mouse. It’s easy to start containers, administer storage, configure networks, and inspect logs. Basically, you can think of Cockpit like a graphical “desktop interface”, but for individual servers.

apt install cockpit

Enable root access deleting it from /etc/cockpit/disallowed-users using

nano /etc/cockpit/disallowed-users

After installing and enabling Cockpit, visit port 9090 on your server (for example: http://192.168.1.14:9090 or http://lenovo.local:9090 but URL can be different in your installation.). Additional plugins can be installed to extend functionalities.

A third-party Cockpit plugin to easily manage Samba and NFS file sharing can be installed using

wget https://github.com/45Drives/cockpit-identities/releases/download/v0.1.12/cockpit-identities_0.1.12-1focal_all.deb
wget https://github.com/45Drives/cockpit-file-sharing/releases/download/v3.2.9/cockpit-file-sharing_3.2.9-2focal_all.deb
apt intall ./cockpit-identities_0.1.12-1focal_all.deb ./cockpit-file-sharing_3.2.9-2focal_all.deb

A file system browser to remotely browse, manage, edit, upload, and download files on your server through your web browser

wget https://github.com/45Drives/cockpit-navigator/releases/download/v0.5.10/cockpit-navigator_0.5.10-1focal_all.deb
apt install ./cockpit-navigator_0.5.10-1focal_all.deb

Installing Webmin

Last but not least we can install Webmin.

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/webmin/webmin/master/setup-repos.sh
chmod 755 setup-repos.sh
./setup-repos.sh
rm setup-repos.sh
apt-get install webmin --install-recommends

Open your browser and connect to http://192.168.1.14:10000 or http://lenovo.local:10000. URL can be different in your installation.

My personal partitioning sheme

My partitioning scheme suits my needs but might not be suitable for everyone. I have four 1 TB hard disks, labeled sda, sdb, sdc, and sdd. Each disk is partitioned into four primary partitions: 512MB, 128MB, 6GB, and the remaining space.

root@lenovo:~# lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sda       8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
|-sda1    8:1    0   487M  0 part  /boot
|-sda2    8:2    0   122M  0 part  [SWAP]
|-sda3    8:3    0   5.6G  0 part
| `-md0   9:1    0  16.7G  0 raid5 /
`-sda4    8:4    0 925.3G  0 part
  `-md1   9:2    0   2.7T  0 raid5 /srv
sdb       8:16   0 931.5G  0 disk
|-sdb1    8:17   0   487M  0 part
|-sdb2    8:18   0   122M  0 part  [SWAP]
|-sdb3    8:19   0   5.6G  0 part
| `-md0   9:1    0  16.7G  0 raid5 /
`-sdb4    8:20   0 925.3G  0 part
  `-md1   9:2    0   2.7T  0 raid5 /srv
sdc       8:32   0 931.5G  0 disk
|-sdc1    8:33   0   487M  0 part
|-sdc2    8:34   0   122M  0 part  [SWAP]
|-sdc3    8:35   0   5.6G  0 part
| `-md0   9:1    0  16.7G  0 raid5 /
`-sdc4    8:36   0 925.3G  0 part
  `-md1   9:2    0   2.7T  0 raid5 /srv
sdd       8:48   0 931.5G  0 disk
|-sdd1    8:49   0   487M  0 part
|-sdd2    8:50   0   122M  0 part  [SWAP]
|-sdd3    8:51   0   5.6G  0 part
| `-md0   9:1    0  16.7G  0 raid5 /
`-sdd4    8:52   0 925.3G  0 part
  `-md1   9:2    0   2.7T  0 raid5 /srv
root@lenovo:~# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10EZEX-75W
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x71da263b

Device     Boot    Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1           2048     999423     997376   487M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2         999424    1249279     249856   122M 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        1249280   12967935   11718656   5.6G fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda4       12967936 1953523711 1940555776 925.3G fd Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdc: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10EZEX-75W
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5d0a1d40

Device     Boot    Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1           2048     999423     997376   487M 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2         999424    1249279     249856   122M 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc3        1249280   12967935   11718656   5.6G fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdc4       12967936 1953523711 1940555776 925.3G fd Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdd: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10EZEX-75W
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa5893513

Device     Boot    Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdd1           2048     999423     997376   487M 83 Linux
/dev/sdd2         999424    1249279     249856   122M 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdd3        1249280   12967935   11718656   5.6G fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdd4       12967936 1953523711 1940555776 925.3G fd Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10EZEX-75W
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xc9e30408

Device     Boot    Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1           2048     999423     997376   487M 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2         999424    1249279     249856   122M 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3        1249280   12967935   11718656   5.6G fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb4       12967936 1953523711 1940555776 925.3G fd Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/md0: 16.75 GiB, 17984126976 bytes, 35125248 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 1572864 bytes

Disk /dev/md1: 2.71 TiB, 2980287873024 bytes, 5820874752 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 524288 bytes / 1572864 bytes
root@lenovo:~# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# systemd generates mount units based on this file, see systemd.mount(5).
# Please run 'systemctl daemon-reload' after making changes here.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/md0 during installation
UUID=f51ea107-ed15-4281-8766-a0b98f4cf057 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=a678599e-8ccc-4765-960e-73c5f710dd01 /boot           ext2    defaults        0       2
# /srv was on /dev/md1 during installation
UUID=8c2a8237-6e3e-47de-a2e7-597022ba2c16 /srv            ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=ee6b8ba7-d0f4-4102-b4a3-21f37658b382 none            swap    sw              0       0
# swap was on /dev/sdb2 during installation
UUID=b88e0c81-5ee3-4b53-869f-490ead4ebfc3 none            swap    sw              0       0
# swap was on /dev/sdc2 during installation
UUID=bd17bce8-1650-4ff5-b719-82303390285e none            swap    sw              0       0
# swap was on /dev/sdd2 during installation
UUID=21c4182d-fcdd-49ec-b291-0aad3ff166b5 none            swap    sw              0       0
root@lenovo:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid10]
md1 : active raid5 sdb4[2] sdc4[3] sda4[1] sdd4[0]
      2910437376 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]
      bitmap: 2/8 pages [8KB], 65536KB chunk

md0 : active raid5 sdc3[3] sdb3[2] sda3[1] sdd3[0]
      17562624 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]

unused devices: <none>

I am using a script for creates a rotating backup scheme of /boot partition. First of all I created a persistent identifier (e2label) which is independent of the physical device name (/dev/sdX). This means if the physical device assignment changes (due to hardware changes, reconfiguration, or other reasons), the label remains consistent.

e2label /dev/sda1 boot1
e2label /dev/sdb1 boot2
e2label /dev/sdc1 boot3
e2label /dev/sdd1 boot4

The following script ensures that the most recent state of /boot partition is propagated through the rest of copies, maintaining the last four backups.

#!/bin/sh

# Get the device paths for the partitions with specific labels
boot1=$(blkid -L boot1)
boot2=$(blkid -L boot2)
boot3=$(blkid -L boot3)
boot4=$(blkid -L boot4)

# Retrieve the current labels and UUIDs of these partitions
label1=$(e2label "$boot1")
label2=$(e2label "$boot2")
label3=$(e2label "$boot3")
label4=$(e2label "$boot4")

uuid1=$(blkid -s UUID -o value "$boot1")
uuid2=$(blkid -s UUID -o value "$boot2")
uuid3=$(blkid -s UUID -o value "$boot3")
uuid4=$(blkid -s UUID -o value "$boot4")

# Copy data from one partition to another
dd if="${boot3}" of="${boot4}" status=progress bs=4M
dd if="${boot2}" of="${boot3}" status=progress bs=4M
dd if="${boot1}" of="${boot2}" status=progress bs=4M

# Restore the labels of the copied partitions
e2label "${boot2}" "${label2}"
e2label "${boot3}" "${label3}"
e2label "${boot4}" "${label4}"

# Restore the UUIDs of the copied partitions
tune2fs -U "${uuid2}" "${boot2}"
tune2fs -U "${uuid3}" "${boot3}"
tune2fs -U "${uuid4}" "${boot4}"

[!NOTE] Ensure your boot1 partition is always mounted as /boot during boot partition update.

When I need to boot from a backup location, I modify the boot command to point to the appropriate backup partition (sdb1, sdc1, or sdd1) by changing the ide 2:1 part of the command to match the correct drive and partition.

For boot from sdb1:

ide reset; ext2load ide 3:1 0x0040000 uImage; ext2load ide 3:1 0x2000000 uInitrd; setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

For boot from sdc1:

ide reset; ext2load ide 4:1 0x0040000 uImage; ext2load ide 4:1 0x2000000 uInitrd; setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

For boot from sdd1:

ide reset; ext2load ide 5:1 0x0040000 uImage; ext2load ide 5:1 0x2000000 uInitrd; setenv bootargs $console $mtdparts root=LABEL=rootfs rw rootdelay=5; bootm 0x40000 0x2000000

This flexibility allows me to quickly switch to a backup if there are any issues with the primary /boot partition on sda1.

In case of disk failure, I use the following script to rebuild the disks configuration:

#!/bin/bash

# Disk to rebuilt
DISK="/dev/sdX"

# Disk used as source of partition table
SOURCE="/dev/sdY"

# Function to display a countdown
function countdown {
    local seconds=$1
    while [ $seconds -gt 0 ]; do
        echo -ne "Continuing in $seconds - Ctrl-C to stop the countdown\033[0K\r"
        sleep 1
        ((seconds--))
    done
    echo ""
}

# Function to prompt the user
function ask_to_continue {
    echo -n "Disk ${DISK} will be WIPED OUT and REBUILT from scratch. Do you want to continue? (yes/[no]) "
    read user_input

    # Convert input to lowercase
    user_input=$(echo "$user_input" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

    # Check if the user wants to continue
    if [[ "$user_input" == "yes" || "$user_input" == "y" ]]; then
        countdown 10
    elif [[ "$user_input" == "no" || "$user_input" == "n" ]]; then
        exit 0
    else
        exit 0
    fi
}

# Ask user to confirm the operation
ask_to_continue

# Umount ${DISK}1 (if mounted)
umount ${DISK}1

# Disable swap partition ${DISK}2 (if in use)
swapoff ${DISK}2

# Remove ${DISK}3 to existing RAID5 array md0
mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --fail   ${DISK}3
mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --remove ${DISK}3
echo "Removed ${DISK}3 to RAID5 array md0."

# Remove ${DISK}4 to existing RAID5 array md1
mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --fail   ${DISK}4
mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --remove ${DISK}4
echo "Removed  ${DISK}3 to RAID5 array md1."

# Copy the partition table from ${SOURCE} disk to ${DISK}
echo "Partitioning $DISK..."
sfdisk -dump ${SOURCE} | sfdisk ${DISK}
echo "Partitioning completed!"

# Format the first partition as ext2
mkfs.ext2 -F ${DISK}1
echo "Formatted ${DISK}1 as ext2."

# Set up the second partition as swap
mkswap ${DISK}2
echo "Set up ${DISK}2 as swap."

# Set the third partition for RAID (no formatting needed as it will be part of a RAID array)
echo "${DISK}3 is set for RAID."

# Set the forth partition for RAID (no formatting needed as it will be part of a RAID array)
echo "${DISK}4 is set for RAID."

# Add ${DISK}3 to existing RAID5 array md0
mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --add    ${DISK}3
echo "Added ${DISK}3 to RAID5 array md0."

# Print RAID1 array details
mdadm --detail /dev/md0

# Add ${DISK}4 to existing RAID array md1
mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --add    ${DISK}4
echo "Added ${DISK}4 to RAID array md1."

# Print RAID2 array details
mdadm --detail /dev/md1

echo "All done!"

To monitor the recovery progress use

watch cat /proc/mdstat

As last step replace the UUID of swap partition in /etc/fstab for the replaced disk.

Useful links

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,131833

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,32146

https://github.com/benoitm974/ix4-300d/wiki

https://github.com/5p0ng3b0b/ix4-300d