Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Netgear Stora 3TB or 4TB drives

I am reapeating this post from the Netgear Stora forums as a backup, the post is copied from http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=72007&page=3 anf here it is:

Since i'm not getting posts from the forum and netgear isn't going to upgrade to support 3tb drives, i'm just going to post it here:

First, you need SSH access to your stora:

SSH Access to a Stora

First you need to get your Stora’s product key, it’s located behind the Stora, close to the ethernet port or may be on the bottom of the device, it’s in the form “XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX”.

Then you just need to SSH to your Stora with a particular user which is just one of the users created through the web interface (the user needs to have the administrator flag selected) concatenated by the string “_hipserv2_netgear_XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX” (where XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX is your product key, ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!), this time you’ll get a password prompt instead of the “connection to x:22 exited: remote closed the connection”, just enter the user password, which is the one you use to access your Stora through the web interface and you’ll get user access. Now to get root access you just need to write “sudo -s” and enter again the user password, every ADMINISTRATOR user is allowed to use the sudo command. You’ll probably get a: “audit_log_user_command(): Connection refused” but it doesn’t matter, you’ll get the root prompt!

Example: if you created a user named “stora”, flagging the “user is administrator” during the Stora setup or through the web interface and your Stora’s product key is “1234-5678-9999-9999? you just need to ssh to your Stora and use “stora_hipserv2_netgear_1234-5678-9999-9999? as user, either using Putty or your favorite SSH client and enter that user’s password, then “sudo -E -s” and you’ll get root access, that’s it!

There’s another way to login concatenating the username with the string “_axsync_” but it allows you to issue only “mkdir” and “rsync” commands.

Explanation:

Basically Netgear, or more probably Axentra, ships his software with a modified version of SSHD that disallows regular user access, except for “root” and “apache” users, what it does is basically changing the logging username by substituting the first character with a “0? so it doesn’t match with the list of allowed users inside the /etc/passwd.

The SSH Deamon leaves a “backdoor” open, which basically is: if your username is appended with the above string, this substitution doesn’t take place, and you can login normally.

p.s. the “hipserv2_netgear” part may be different for some users, although I suppose is the same for everybody, if you already hacked your Stora using other ways I’d ask you to check the “/etc/oe-release” and post here the DistName line and we’ll try to figure it out.

Now to setup your stora to support 3tb drives:

Requirements:

- Any SSH client
- Two 3TB or bigger drives
- Any USB stick inserted in the front of the stora

Log into your device via SSH

Copy every line step by step:

---Get root

sudo -E -s

---Navigate to sbin directory

cd /sbin

---Partition the first drive with GNU parted (to make a GPT file format so that 3TB+ drives work)

./parted /dev/sda
mklabel gpt
yes
[Press Enter]
unit TB
mkpart primary 0.00TB 3.00TB (4.00TB for 4tb but I haven't tried it).
print
quit

---Partition the second drive with GNU parted

./parted /dev/sdb
mklabel gpt
yes
[Press Enter]
unit TB
mkpart primary 0.00TB 3.00TB
print
quit

---Make the raid0 array with a blocksize of 128 (the blocksize is defaulted to 64, but 128 might be more desireable)

./mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --chunk=128 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1

y

or

---Make the raid1 array

./mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --chunk=128 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1

y

--- Wait for sync (also shows in web interface)

watch cat /proc/mdstat

*** Takes Long Time *** Mine took 4 1/2 hours.

---Make the USB Stick a swap partition and mount it as swap drive

./mkswap /dev/sdc
./swapon /dev/sdc

---Then we partition the drives to XFS filesystem

./mkfs.xfs /dev/md0

---Then we are going to text edit the fstab system (this system mounts the drive at startup)

vi /etc/fstab

Remove the # in front of

/dev/md0 /home xfs defaults,bsdgroups,noatime,nodiratime 0 0

Then as a finishing very important touch we make sure that the raid0 array is remembered at startup

./mdadm -Q --detail --brief /dev/md0 > /etc/mdadm.conf

Then reboot the device

./reboot

Wait a few minutes, you should see the device boot. The HDD leds will go from green to orange for a few seconds, don't worry they will become green again and you should hear the HDD's working. This is probably the stora finalizing the partition so that it's ready for use.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

The Machines Will Rise - The Smartphone is Our Demise

They're Getting Smarter

MediaTek has unveiled the world's first true octa-core mobile chip recently. According to media reports and the company's figures, the MT6592 chip manages to beat what appears to be the quad-core Snapdragon 800 in benchmarks, power consumption (as low as 40 percent) and temperature.
This means the chip is doing more with less resources. Just what any cyborg (cybernetic organism) will appreciate. This means we can developer smarter and efficient cyborgs thanks to our pursuit of ever powerful and efficient mobile devices.

All over the world the development of these technologies, like the the LG G Flex self healing phone can be combined to create some advanced machinery. Watching this space.

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Raspberry Pi - The Hardware Equivalent to OSS

Raspberry Pi Anyone?


The Raspberry Pi is a credit card-sized single board computer which can be used for electronics projects. The product can be used for applications such as industrial control systems, security systems, entertainment systems, home automation systems and as a computer for teaching technolgy in schools and universities.

Raspberry Pi Computer
 


For information about the Raspberry Pi please visit the Raspberry Pi org website by clicking here. I have been planning to buy one now for some time. I will think of  project in 2014 before I buy one.

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

It is a Quantum Possibility

Time Travel - Beyond Existence


Dear quantum mechanic, would you for a moment, indulge the naive in the possibilities and implications of time travel.

Could and object or living being travel in time to a point before it existed or after its existence in the normal fabric of time? Would I be able to attend my funeral? Can the time machine travel to a time before it was created?

On a more atomic level, this would mean that the same atoms would exist at the same time at a point in time - time travel would result in the creation of duplicate matter at a moment in time (The Atomic Twins Question). How will it affect that point in time that the object has travelled to? How will if affect the point in time that object has travelled from? How will it affect time and other matter between the two points in time?

Friday, 25 October 2013

Geyser Timer Switch

Geyser Timer Switch - Hot Savings!


Do you hate waking up early in the morning to switch on your geyser? Do you sometimes wake up late and have to bath with cold water? Is your electricity bill driving you up the wall? Relax, get yourself a timer switch like the one in the figure below.

Timer Switches on a Distribution Board

You can programme a timer switch to switch your geyser on/off on your behalf. This means you'll never have a cold bath again (You'll have no choice when there's no power, it can't help you there). The switch also has a manual override. You can keep it in the OFF position when you are going away on holiday, or you can keep it on the ON position when you need lots of hot water all day long. One of the features I have discovered lately is that you can put it manually on ON mode, then put it on AUTO mode. This will force the switch to go into the ON mode, even though it's not supposed to and automatically switch off as per its programmed OFF time.

A timer switch will cost you around R150 in South Africa and these pay for themselves in about 3 months (Just a guess, I did not do proper calculations). Please get e registered electrician to do the installation otherwise your house might go up in flames due to an electrical fire.

Thursday, 24 October 2013

PS3 as a Media Player

PS3 as a Network Media Player - I ain't Playing Playa


I am currently using my PS3 as a network media player. Reasons that you may want to do this are:

1. You don't store any media (pictures, video or music) on your PS3, so it remains fast
2. The media on network attached storage is easier to manage

The setup I have at home is PS3 connected to a Netgear router, a Netgear ReadyNas drive (which is a DLNA certified NAS drive) also connected to the router. The PS3 is connected to my Sony STR-DA3200ES ES 7.1 Channel Surround Sound A/V Receiver via a single HDMI cable. The Sony Receiver sends full high definition (Full HD) images to my Sony Sony KDL46EX500 television.

Sony KDL46EX500


STR-DA3200ES

Netgear Stora 2 Bay NAS Drive
 

 

Wednesday, 23 October 2013