Tools for running Debian effectively on Intel-based Buffalo Terastations
If this project helps you click the Star at the top of the page to let me know!
In addition to the Issues and Discussions tabs on GitHub we now also have a Discord channel at https://discord.gg/E88dkcuyW4 or our IRC on Libera.Chat in the #miraheze-buffalonas channel
The installer has been tested directly on:
- V-Series (TS-WVHL/TS-QVHL/TS-RVHL/TS-6VHL/TS-8VHL)
- TS5000 (TS5200DN/TS5400DN/TS5600DN/TS5800DN/TS5400RN)
- WS5020 (WS5220/WS5420)
- TS6000
I've looked at the firmware and GPL source code for the TS4000, WSH5010, TS6000, TS7000/TS-2RZ and WSH and confirmed they should work as well. Please contact me if you get a chance to give them a try.
Buffalo's Intel-based Terastations are very similar to a fairly typical PC with their built in USB and VGA ports. This allows you to Install any operating system you want on them though without some of the features provided by Buffalo's firmware. The goal of this project is to provide tools which can be used to handle some of the features not automatically dealt with by a normal Debian install.
The specific issues I'm currently addressing are:
When these devices startup they scan each drive bay to determine which have drives and enable power for just those bays. Normally the ability to add drives to an empty bay is handled by Buffalo's software. To replicate this behaviour under Debian it is necessary to add a kernel module which allows us to access the GPIO pins used to detect drives and enable power to the bays.
- Source code and dkms configuration for the Intel ICH and Denverton GPIO modules.
- hotswap_enable.sh - A script which calls build-modules.sh to ensure the GPIO driver is loaded then makes sure all the device's drive bays are enabled. This also serves as an example of how to enable/disable bays from userspace.
- hotswap.service - A systemd service which runs hotswap_enable.sh at startup.
- drive_detect_example.sh - A script demonstrating how to detect drives being inserted or removed using the GPIO interface. This could be used to detect when a drive is inserted and then power up the corresponding bay rather than the simple enable script I'm using.
To install these manually:
- Copy hotswap_enable.sh and build-modules.sh to /usr/local/bin/
- Copy hotswap.service to /etc/systemd/system/
- Run systemctl enable hotswap.service
Typically you'll want to have your boot/root partitions replicated across each disk (via RAID1) so that the device can still boot in the event that the first drive fails. Although Debian will automatically update your Grub configuration for you when a configuration change is needed it will only install the updated Grub to boot sector of one drive. I've put together a script that automatically determines which drive(s) contain /boot and installs Grub to the boot sector of each. I set it up to run whenever update-initramfs runs which covers most scenarios where grub needs to be updated (ie kernel updates and filesystem/raid changes). You should run it manually any other time you make a change to the grub configuration.
To install manually:
- Copy update_boot.sh to /usr/local/bin/
- Create the /etc/initramfs/post-update.d/ directory
- Create a symlink of update_boot.sh in /etc/initramfs/post-update.d/
The fan speeds can be monitored/controlled via the IT87 chip. I've made some tweaks to an existing out-of-tree IT87 driver to support all the available fan configurations.
To set it up manually:
- install lm-sensors and fancontrol "apt-get install lm-sensors fancontrol"
- load the it87 kernel module "modprobe it87"
- add the module to /etc/modules "echo it87 >> /etc/modules"
- run "pwmconfig" and follow the prompts to set up a fancontrol config.
- run "sensors" to monitor you temperature and fan speeds
Some of these devices use some spare pins from the IT8721 chip to control the "display" and "function" buttons on the front. The GPIO function of the IT8721 isn't normally supported by the gpio-it87 module so i've included a version which enables it. I've also included a script that demonstrates how to read the GPIO values to determine when one of the buttons is pressed though it's pretty ugly and in need of a re-write.
To use it:
- Copy button_example.sh to /usr/local/bin/ (the installer image will do that automatically if you use it)
- Run button_example.sh, the script will output the GPIO values each time you press/release one of the buttons.
The LCD screen, LEDs and Buzzer are all controlled by an internal micorcontroller connected via an internal serial connection. Due to the complexity of working with chip and because it is used by Intel and non-Intel Terastations I've created a seperate project for those scripts.
For the python library used to communicate with this chip and some example scripts see:
https://github.com/1000001101000/Python_buffalo_libmicon/blob/master/README.md
For the installer I've added micon_boot.service which initializes the LCD display and power LED at startup.
Although you can hook up a USB keyboard and VGA monitor and install Debian using one of the installer images provided by Debian, I've provided and image which allows you to run the install remotely over SSH and automatically installs the tools I listed above. I've included the scripts I use to build the image in the "build" directory.
To use it:
- Download the .iso file from the installer-image directory
- Write the image to a USB drive (dd if=ts-stretch-installer.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=1M)
- Insert the drive into one of the devices USB 2.0 ports
- Flip the switch on the back of the device to "USB" and reboot it.
- After a few minutes; log into the device via SSH, the username is installer and the password is install
- Run through the Debian install like normal.
- When the install finishes flip the switch on the back of the device to "HDD" and reboot it.