Snapserver 4400 OS Upgrade and Config Overwriting question

[[AfZ]PiMp J]

I recently inherited 2 Snapserver 4400s. One has guardian OS 2.6.x and the other 3.0.x

I have a couple questions i was hoping could be answered, and after searching through the first two pages of the forum, hadn't seen them answered (hope i didnt miss em)

1) On the server with 2.6 Guardian OS, it doesn't seem to register it's hostname (SnapServer2 as i've given it) with either my ISP DNS or the router on my network. The other snapserver DOES register itself. Is there a command i can throw at it to get it to update since nsupdate doesn't exist? Or do i need to upgrade the OS? (see question 2)

2) Wanting to upgrade the OS, does a drive swap trick work? If i were to take the OS drive 1 from the 2.6 Snapserver2 and put it in the 3.0 Snapserver and let it rebuild, then put it back in the 2.6 with another drive and eventually added each other drive one at a time...would it work? (both are raid 5 setups currently) Or is there an easier way to upgrade it? (i haven't found the guardian os for download yet, having done limited torrent searching to be honest)

3) I run an FTP (proftpd) on Snapserver (3.0 Guardian OS), and it seems whenever i powerdown and/or unplug the server and turn it back on later, the config for the FTP is overwritten with the default every time. I have a backup that i replace this default config with, but don't want to have to do this everytime i restart the server..is there a place i can copy my config to besides the /etc/ dir so that it will use my config on bootup?

thanks all in advance, i plan on making great use and contributions to this forum since luckily inheriting these servers

[blue68f100]

There is only 1 thread that has most of the Guardain stuff in it, Sticky. We have just started getting these through here with in the last 6 mo.

You can transfer the OS form one HD to another. It does it automaticly when you cold boot or hot swap. The difference is, if hot swapped will start the resync, on cold boot it only transfer the OS. But for things to work corectly a few things need to be checked.
1. Stop the scheduler for SnapShots.
2. The AV if installed (optional on 4400) must be disabled.
3. The HW stores drive info in flashram, If diaster recovery is active. With snapshots disabled releases this info. Failure to do so will drop you into to recovery mode if you start swapping HD's around.

The os is copied across all HD. Transfer the OS from 1 unit to the other can only be done if all HD are clean on the destination unit.

Procedure.
source (newer os) = snap1
destination = snap2

1. power down both units.
2. remove all hard drives from snap2. You must erase these HDs, a quick format will work. But it can not show any part of the linux file system or it will not work. I recommend using the mfg HD utility. And select any OS but Linux for the quick format.
3. install the clean HD in the snap 1, position 2-4, your choice.
4. Boot snap1. Watch the hd led in front. You will see the new HD led come on a stay on for 15-50 sec depending on the speed of the cpu. This normally happens around the 4-5min mark on my 4500, so yours may take a little longer. This is where the OS is transfered over. Normally after 10 min it has completed. If the diaster recovery page comes up, the diaster recovery was not disabled.
5. Power down snap1, via menu. and remove the HD
6. Remove the rest of the HD's from snap2.
7. Install the HD from snap1 in to drive 1 position on snap2.
8. Boot snap2
9. once it comes up you can hot swap the remaining drives. You must now do the complete setup as a new unit.

I would search the units for the .GSU (OS) files. The OS is supplied on CD with the units. It is required if you have to use diaster recovery, no way around it. There is a HD structure change between some of the OS's . As long as your are doing a clean install you will not have any problem. You are required to have liesen for each NAS. The V4 OS is a lot more refined than v2 or 3. It will also give you full support for Vista and OSX.

Depending on the age of the snaps the cmos battery may be failing. Do not change the battery unless Phoenix32 (Andy) says it needs too. Once removed you will have to setup the BIOS to work correctly. Andy has done this on several units and can assist you if needed. But I think what you were doing was not taking due to the fact that the os resides on all HD. If it sees one different, ir restores from the others.

The FTP Network service is an approved/supported service.

[Phoenix32]

Checking if it needs a CMOS battery is easy. Look at the time/date. If it keeps those, then the battery is fine. If not, then a good chance it needs replaced.

For the 3.x system to create 3.x drives, those drives need to be wiped first (no partitions etc). Then it will work...

[[AfZ]PiMp J]

so based on the replies, is there no command to get snapserver2 to force its hostname to update in the DNS?

and i don't see a definitive answer on the ftp config question? or if i read it right, blue68f100 was saying that since 3 out of 4 drives had the "other / default" config, they overwrote whichever drive ended up having the config i modified?...if so...how would i fix that?

thanks for the drive swapping tip, i think i'll end up waiting until i purchase some new drives here shortly and just build the 3.0 on those for each snapserver

[blue68f100]

The older version of os is not as polished. I think you may have to take it off line with no users, then try the changes. On a lot of the earlier units you had to do some debug cmds using putty. And some commands had to be done through the com port. I was wondering if the problem lies with the DNS server retaining the old info and not the snap. I do not recall any dns settings in my v4.

Are you using yours as a DHCP Server? Is your snap setup with a static IP or uses DHCP to retrieve the info? If static try dhcp and have your router reserve the IP the snap is on.

If you have modified internal files for special settings, these are not supported. The latest versions have really locked the OS down tighter. I think users were trying to run software that was not approved.

On startup looking at the log file is it's reporting any errors? May need to connect via com port and capture the kernel load.

If you have the gsu file you can try reloading the OS.

FTP, I only have 1 setting for my FTP either on or off and allow guest. Nothing else to change. I run mine as a FTP and have no problems with it. This could be a router problem and not snap, since the router points the port to the IP address.

[[AfZ]PiMp J]

I should have specified the network settings before, sorry

the snapservers both are dhcp only and both have their ip reserved in the router. there is no problem with ftp ports, as the ftp runs on the default port 21, and i have this port mapped through the router for a diff external port. connecting to theftp is ok. (i've got custom settings like the welcome message, the specific root directory for logged in users, which users to allow and deny, specific write permissions on directories etc)

the snapservers are not being used as dhcp servers.

i couldn't find the .gsu files in doing a find command (find / -name *gsu* )...are these files typically located in a specific directory?

[blue68f100]

The gsu files are not on the snaps partition reserved for the OS. It the file you have to use for upgrade, os repair and diaster recovery process. So if something goes down you will be in trouble.

All debug cmds can be found by typing help from the debug screen (http://ipaddress/admin/debug.cgi). I did not see any cmds related to the dns.

I do not know of any dns cmds but have not needed them either. I would think it's a problem with the DNS server and not the snap, if the info is not being updated. Then again it may have been a bug that was fixed in the later releases. Under my network port I can add Optional info for these, but have no need to since every thing is supplied through the router to all users. Now if you doing some kind of remap/modified host file I haven't a clue. If you know what file that needs changing you may need to change in on all drives using putty. But you will have to stop the process working inorder to do this.

Sorry I can't help you any more, but still learing as I go. What file did you modify to add a welcome screen to ftp users? and which dir is it located in.

[Phoenix32]

IMHO, and NOT being a software guy, I would not run an older Guardian OS version than 4.2. It seems there are many mysterious "issues"with the older OS versions. Just food for thought.

[[AfZ]PiMp J]

Originally Posted by blue68f100

What file did you modify to add a welcome screen to ftp users? and which dir is it located in.

You would have to use putty as far as i know to connect. then VI the "proftpd.conf" file in your /etc/ directory.

There are two additions you can make to this config:

1) ServerName "Blue68f100's FTP"
--This would show to connecting users as:
Connected to IP.
220 ProFTPD 1.2.9 Server (Blue68f100's FTP) [Hostnamehere]

2) ServerIdent on "Blue68f100's FTP"
--This would show to connecting users as:
Connected to IP.
220 Blue68f100's FTP

This 2nd way is more for the security oriented to be honest (as it doesn't show hostnames and proftpd version)

but as i warned in my first post, if you modify this file, please be sure to back it up to something like proftpd.conf.blue68f100. this (if you're unfamiliar with it) is done via the cp (copy) command.

cp /etc/proftpd.conf /etc/proftpd.conf.blue68f100 -- if you're not in the etc dir...and
cp proftpd.conf proftpd.conf.blue68f100 -- if you are in the etc dir

[blue68f100]

Looking through the .conf file it auto calls a welcome.msg Would be easier to add it to the welcome.msg and not modify a system file. Mine has alot of info in the proftpd.conf file.

[[AfZ]PiMp J]

Originally Posted by blue68f100

Looking through the .conf file it auto calls a welcome.msg Would be easier to add it to the welcome.msg and not modify a system file. Mine has alot of info in the proftpd.conf file.

thanks for the lead on modifying the welcome msg file. After some successful googling for where this file should be stored (not /etc/welcome.msg in my case, since i'm using a DefaultRoot directive to lock all ftp users in a specific directory, the file has to be in that directory for it to show the contents) and also how to hide this file properly so that the user will still be shown the contents when they log in, but cannot see the file to move/modify/delete it...i'm a bit happier in my control over the FTP server

I still had to make some additional modifications to the proftpd.conf file though

[blue68f100]

Hidding root is pretty if you start off right. All you need to do to restrict this is to creat a directory called ftp on the the root (with restricted access) and put all users file in there. And make them (sub folders) the mounting point. Do not use the ftp as a mounting point, if you do you bypass the restricted access because the user has access to a root directory. I use the security guide to do this, for it can step you through all the steps, so it works the first time. As long as a users share is not on the root he can not see any root directories or files. Any user with root access can see files & folders, and allowed to snoop around. Restricting users to mount to a sub folder takes care of this. And yes the Guardian has a feature to hide all contents except the file path you provide to them. Which is a pretty neat feature for providing single file access.