DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

halfsoul · 2008-01-28 08:10:34

Hi all. I'm running 1.03, haven't used any of the 1.04b releases yet because I have yet to backup my data before flashing any firmware (I know, several of you are going to scream BACKUP -- I intend to, just can't afford the $ for external drive big enough right now). Also, I looked through the following URL hoping it would be a decent changelog, but didn't see any mention of what I'd like to discuss:
http://www.dl-support.de/forum/viewtopi … b180770b95

Anyway, there are a couple things I am desperately hoping will be implemented when 1.04 gets its official US release. Anybody have any idea about some of these items? Even if D-Link isn't planning on native support, anyone know of some good solutions?

1. FTP Logging
- If I ran a software FTP server, I could view logs that would identify login attempts, traffic, file activity, errors, etc. Wouldn't it be fairly easy to configure the box to write logs to a file that could be pulled/viewed from time to time?
- Simple solution would be a text log that loses old history after 24 hours (size limit)
- Better solution would be a daily text log (new log for each day) with old logs (>7 days) compressed
- Ideal would be if traffic data could be stored in .CSV to allow for plotting

2. Recycle Bin!
- Again, I know a lot of you will scream backup. But that's not the point.
- I use the DNS as my main fileserver.. almost nothing stored on local computers (desktop, laptops, work laptop)
- How can I get a recycle bin instead of permanent delete??
- Before you backup-junkies regurgitate the b-word, consider the following:
1) I use my computers a lot. It is EASY to go through hundreds if not thousands of file operations in a day. Even if I were doing daily backups, there is still a high probability of the delete key wiping out data permanently
2) My wife also uses the computers. She has messed things up before and no doubt will do so again. Especially since she is so used to the Recycle Bin in Windows.

3. VPN
- I want to run a VPN server, but don't want to do desktop&software-based implementation
- I saw HaydnH's post about OpenVPN, but haven't made the leap yet
- Remote Desktop will not work, because I want to be able to stream video/audio from remote locations
- Would prefer native support. Anyone know if VPN/SSL is on the horizon?

4. Automated/scheduled Synctoy-style backup
- I want to automate backups (nightly? weekly?)
- Ideally, I would plug in an external USB drive and copy changes/additions over to the external drive (no automated deleting)
- If external USB is plugged into Desktop, this will require data to go over network. Easy to implement Microsofts' Synctoy, but I have to trust Windows, leave my computer running, and utilize extra overhead
- If external USB is plugged into DNS-323, I see two problems:
1) Need to get external drive recognized
2) Need to figure out how to implement automated synctoy-like behavior. Thoughts?

Thanks for your time guys. I know there's a lot here, and I also know that there are operator/behavioral ways of overcoming these obstacles. But for reasons of my own (and I'm sure I'm not alone), I want them implemented as above, and these items would make the DNS-323 STELLAR.

gareth · 2008-01-28 11:21:08

halfsoul,

Re. Point 1 i personally cant see this happening as the DNS-323 has been out a while now and I would have thought its in its care and maintainence phase and probably will be superceded at some point.

re. Point 2 have you considered using rsync to replicate one drive to another on a daily basis as detailed in other threads on this forum. It gives you a daily get out of jail card if you accidentally delete something on the primary drive.

re. Point 3 personally I use my adsl router to provide my VPN facilities. I use a draytek vigor 2820n and it works perfectly and allows access to more than just the DNS-323. I dont think its likely to get implemented on the DNS-323 unless a third party does it.

Re. Point 4 I can't comment on this as I use macs and osx leopards time machine to back them up to my second DNS-323.

The primary thing I'd like to see fixed in a f/w release is the jumbo packet support. I know it can be re-enabled manually but I'd like to know why it was pulled.

Also for what its worth both of my DNS-323 are running f/w 1.04b84 downloaded from the official dlink germanys website and both are working perfectly.

regards,
Gareth.

HaydnH · 2008-01-28 13:32:51

Point 1: I haven't looked in to this as I don't use ftp (nfs & scp instead), but I would assume the easiest way to enable logging of the ftp server would be to stop/kill the ftp daemon and restart it (or start a custom ftp server) from within the fun_plug. Re: csv - no chance - this is Linux, flat files all the way!

Point 2: I guess you mean via samba - I don't know enough about smb to say anything about this.

Point 3: Openvpn is easy to setup on the server (basically create certificate & run openvpn) and there is a windows version that can be used as a client which has a gui so should be easy to use (copy certificate to client and run openvpn) - I don't use windows so can't offer a review though.

Point 4: This shouldn't be a problem at all. There's a thread here re: supported external usb drives - I'd like to think almost all would be easily supported although I haven't tried it myself. The only problem will be selecting backup software you like. You could just use something basic like tar, or get something that supports incremental backups (loads of open source stuff out there)... alternatively you could use mdadm to turn the mirror on the dns-323 in to a 3 way mirror and attach/detach it each night for nightly sycns or keep it constantly synced - I'd advise against that though as you may get data corruption which would affect all sides of the mirror.

halfsoul · 2008-01-29 02:55:39

@Gareth:
My router is a DI-524, and does not have hardware-based implementation of VPN. I sure wish it did though. As soon as the 802.11n protocol is finalized, I intend to upgrade my router to a gigabit switch with hardware VPN, but that's been pushed yet again to July '09. ugh.

I'm running both drives as RAID-1. I was not aware of the drive-to-drive backup option, thanks. It seems like a good idea. Sounds like it would take care of Points 2 & 4 actually.

@HaydnH:
How would stopping and restarting the ftp daemon trigger ftp logging?
I agree that the mdadm solution doesn't seem to be the best.

I'm going to see if I can get Chumby's drive-to-drive backup using rsync to work with an external USB drive. Now I just need to get an external drive...

http://dns323.kood.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1150

Big Pete · 2008-01-29 07:09:57

While we're on the "what i'd like to see" wagon, a DNS server would be nice.

mig · 2008-01-29 07:33:24

halfsoul - clearly you are looking for features that are beyond that offered by
the official D-Link firmware. So you will have to identify the software application
(and version), which runs on Linux, and supports those features you want. Once
you know the software application you want to run, you either have to cross-compile
the application from source or install a Linux distribution which runs on the DNS-323
and has a package installation mechanism that would allow you to download pre-compiled
binaries for that software.

There are wiki articles on how-to cross-compile, run Debian in chroot or install Debian
natively. The best choice for you, will also depend on you level of experience with Linux OS.

Issue 1: ftp logging -- Most ftp software applications have a logging capability. The wiki article
http://dns323.kood.org/howto:open_ports_ftpd describes the ftp application in the D-Link firmware
v1.03 WU-FTPD. Do some net searching on how to setup logging with WU-FTPD (I think you have to
re-compile the source with the logging feature turned on) or you can find a different FTP server to run.

Issue 2: recycle bin -- Samba is the software that allows Windows OS computer to read/write to the
Linux filesystem disks in the DNS-323. A recycle bin feature is supported in Samba v3.x (more details
http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Sam … n/VFS.html ) You would have to run
Samba v3.x on the DNS-323 and setup the samba config file to enable recycle bin.

Issue 3: VPN -- OpenVNP is a good VPN package. I use the Linksys RVL-200 for VPN on my network.
However, there are several free firmware packages (openWRT, DD-WRT) available for the Linksys
Belkin and Buffalo routers which have openVPN implemented. I might be easier to purchase a router
and run the third-party firmware for VPN, than to get the DNS-323 to run openVPN.

Issue 4: scheduled bakup -- I use rsnapshot http://www.rsnapshot.org it requires perl, rsync and cron.
I NSF mount my DNS-323 filesystem to a Linkstation Pro (running Debian). The Linkstation Pro has
an external USB hard drive (formated ext3). rsnapshot creates daily, weekely, and monthly snapshots
of the DNS-323 file system on the external USB drive. Since I have the Linkstation Pro setup for rsnapshot,
I did not try to get it running on the DNS-323, but I think perl is all you would need to get running (rsync is
availabe with Fonz's fun_plug).

I think the DNS-323 hardware is GREAT, by installing a linux distrbution like Debian, you should be able
to make a system that meets all your requirements.

blbrown · 2008-01-29 15:48:27

mig wrote:
Issue 4: scheduled bakup -- I use rsnapshot http://www.rsnapshot.org it requires perl, rsync and cron.
I NSF mount my DNS-323 filesystem to a Linkstation Pro (running Debian). The Linkstation Pro has
an external USB hard drive (formated ext3). rsnapshot creates daily, weekely, and monthly snapshots
of the DNS-323 file system on the external USB drive. Since I have the Linkstation Pro setup for rsnapshot,
I did not try to get it running on the DNS-323, but I think perl is all you would need to get running (rsync is
availabe with Fonz's fun_plug).

Just a quick plug for my set of scripts... BackupNetClone (http://backupnetclone.sourceforge.net/) is an alternative to rsnapshot if you want the DNS-323 to do backups.

halfsoul · 2008-01-29 20:59:51

Thanks mig & blbrown. It will take me awhile to research the things you have proposed. I appreciate the suggestions...

DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

Announcement

#1 2008-01-28 08:10:34

Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#2 2008-01-28 11:21:08

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#3 2008-01-28 13:32:51

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#4 2008-01-29 02:55:39

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#5 2008-01-29 07:09:57

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#6 2008-01-29 07:33:24

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

#7 2008-01-29 15:48:27

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

mig wrote:

#8 2008-01-29 20:59:51

Re: Included with (pending) 1.04 US Release?

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