Hack a Snap Sever 1000?

[re3dyb0y]

If it aint on the adaptec site try here:
***** Down *****

Think it is there also!

[cringer]

Greetings All,
Anyone have a non-functioning SNAP4000 motherboard I can have or buy? I don't need the chassis, drives, or sleds. Just the motherboard.

Many thanks.
chris

[re3dyb0y]

Anyone know how to decompile .sup files?

[tjwillia007]

Does anyone have 3.4.803?

I have searched high and low without success. I have 4.0, though specifically need to get a 4100 from 2.x to 3.4.803 (I can't recell from my last time whether it is two separate steps - first to 3.2 then from 3.2 to 3.4.803?). I moved drives from a 4000 with hardware failures which was running 3.4.803 to this 4100 and it won't see the drives. So I was going to disconnect the drives, upgrade the appliance, then reattach the drives in order to get my data back as my last good backup was 2 weeks ago.

[re3dyb0y]

dvscreen

Has anyone noticed that the .sup files provided by Snap are text files of some kind of Intel Hex dump (starting with colon ?

Can they be used to rebuilt an image without assist?

I have a Snap 1000 that is drive-less and I would like to use it some day and I can't find an image for it.


Ok, got a bit further.

The .SUP file (support files) are some kind of uncompressed archives. Assist uses them to upload to the Snap Server. I have looked at .SUP files for SnapOS V3 and V4.

The files contains 3 areas:

1. Hex dump of binary files .HEX
2. Resource files .RES
3. HTML files (.HTML, .CSS, and .GIF)

The hex section contains one binary file for each model of Snap Server:
MOAI110.HEX
MOAI200.HEX
MOAI300.HEX
MOAI20X.HEX
MOAI400.HEX

Those are Intel HEX records and the clue is that they begin with a colon. There are four types of records, but only 3 are used here. Here's how each row is decoded:

:nnaaaattdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ... cc

Where:
- nn is the record-length field that represents the number of data bytes (dd) in the record.

- aaaa is the address field that represents the starting address for subsequent data in the record.

- tt is the field that represents the HEX record type, which may be one of the following:
00 - data record
01 - end-of-file record
02 - extended segment address record
04 - extended linear address record

- dd is a data field that represents one byte of data. A record may have multiple data bytes. The number of data bytes in the record must match the number specified by the ll field.

- cc is the checksum field that represents the checksum of the record. The checksum is calculated by summing the values of all hexadecimal digit pairs in the record modulo 256 and taking the two's complement.

Example: in the SnapOS v3 file, the first two lines are:

:02 0000 04 0004 F6
:nn aaaa tt dddd cc

0x02 + 0x00 + 0x00 + 0x04 + 0x00 + 0x04 = 0x0A
0x100 - 0x0A = F6 (ok)

:20 0000 00 2600B0C1870070912D00FF0770892D001800FFFFFFFF300010 00236B10006092 84
:nn aaaa tt dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd dddddddddddddd cc

0x20 + 0x00 + 0x00 + 0x00 + 0x26 + 0x00 + 0xB0 + 0xC1 + 0x87 + 0x00 + 0x70 + 0x91 + 0x2D + 0x00 + 0xFF + 0x07 + 0x70 + 0x89 + 0x2D + 0x00 + 0x18 + 0x00 + 0xFF + 0xFF + 0xFF + 0xFF + 0x30 + 0x00 + 0x10 + 0x00 + 0x23 + 0x6B + 0x10 + 0x00 + 0x60 + 0x92 = 0xB7C

0x100 - 0x7C = 0x84 (ok)

Note: you can cut and paste the equation (before the =) in Google if you don't have a Hex calculator.

The records used are:
- 1 Type 04 record (address).
- 2048 Type 00 records (data).
(this sequence of two is repeated repeated 25 to 30 times)
- 1 Type 01 record (EOF) with data.

This file is quite small, around 1.7 MB once converted to binary.

I can not read any ASCII text after converting the dump to a binary. However, I don't believe these are from compressed files because they are padded with hundreds zeroes. The last character, after the zeroes, is 0xEB.

Then the resource files are:
UK\Snap_00_UK.Res
Fr\Snap_00_Fr.Res
Ge\Snap_00_Ge.Res
Sp\Snap_00_Sp.Res

There is no US file, so the resource must be contained in the .RES files. I can read ASCII text in these files, but some binary data is also present. It must be possible to compare the .RES to the .HEX to find if any binary shit has been used to hide the OS in the .HEX file.

Finally, the html files follow:
US\AccessGuideFolderSend.html
US\AccessGuideDriveSend.html
US\AccessGuideMenu.html
etc.

Some .GIFs are present and a single .CSS file.

Conclusions:
1. Most of the OS must be in the .HEX files and that's where we need to investigate.
2. The .CSS could be easily modified and uploaded to customize the look of the server.
3. Same is true with the .HTML files to change the layout and the functions.
4. There must be a reason why the .HEX files are not in plain binary. Possible clues are: the need to hide the OS, the need to upload the data to the Snap Server in a special way.
5. My findings supports other poster's observations that one .SUP file contains all server models and all supported languages.

Requests:
1. I would need an ISO file from a Snap 1000 or 1100 to go any further. Mine is toasted, and that is why I am doing this work. I would love to run the SnapOS on a regular PC.
2. Has anyone found information about hardware? I know it revolves around an embedded x86 compatible "PC on a chip" and that has a built-in video card. It would be great to put Linux on it and to attach monitor.


scottz

Nice to see someone is thinking along the same line.
I went through the same manuvers last month but had to give up on it due to time.

What I found:

It looks like after the .SUP file is uploaded it is broken out by the SnapOS upgrade process.

If you look at the end of the .sup file you will find html code for minimal help screens. So there are sections to the .sup file that the upgrade process knows how to break out.

From what I found, the .HEX file seems to be either:

1) a Patch (not a full image) for the current BIOS/OS and isn't in a contigious format.

2) a compressed image.

3) Combination of both.

With the padded 0's being there, it could be a section that isn't being used, OR what I'm guessing is that these are sections that is used for saving settings when you switch off the power (i.e. you need some room in flash to store IP address, disk shares, passwords, etc) so you don't want to put code there. They could be ignored by the upgrade utility, but are there for continuity.

I started going through some of the PC BIOS and Flash utils/hacks to see if there is any related format that has a similar process and can give us a clue as to how this one maybe setup. I did find a case where a flash was upgraded with a .HEX file where the data was compressed and then decompressed on the fly during the upgrade process, so one theory is there.

The E28F016S5 Intel Chip is a 16Mbit (2MB) Flash Memory though, so I'm leaning towards it being a compressed image that decompresses on boot. Gives more room for the modified BSD OS to to fit in memory rather than disk.

Again, on the 4100 the majority of the OS lives on the Flash rather than disk.
You can boot up a 4100 with no disks installed and it will function.
Java and help/language files live on the disks, but it doesn't need them to operate.

If I could get my hands on a boot partition from a system that has it's OS on the drives, then I could do some comparisons to how the 4100 is broken out and how to modify it.

Scott

I found these posts about decompiling sups, anyone know how they did it?

I believe 3.4.830 also works for upgrading from v2. Look on the snap ftp site above

[stav99]

Please check the ftp site. There is copy of the files for 3.4.803 upgrade there now. Let me know if there are any problems opening the zip. Hope it works for you.

PS: see the SnapServerUpgrd_Notes3.4.803 file as well for some advice from an old SnapAppliance page talking about 2.x upgrades.

Originally Posted by tjwillia007

Does anyone have 3.4.803?

I have searched high and low without success. I have 4.0, though specifically need to get a 4100 from 2.x to 3.4.803 (I can't recell from my last time whether it is two separate steps - first to 3.2 then from 3.2 to 3.4.803?). I moved drives from a 4000 with hardware failures which was running 3.4.803 to this 4100 and it won't see the drives. So I was going to disconnect the drives, upgrade the appliance, then reattach the drives in order to get my data back as my last good backup was 2 weeks ago.

[upstech]

I have upgraded several SNAP 1000's from 2x to 3.4.803 without any problems. 3.4.803 is also available from SnapAppliance.

[re3dyb0y]

Where abouts a link would be useful.....

Thanks

Sam

[bumpyone]

I am looking for an bios updates for the Snap 2000. I have a Hardware version of 2.0.0 and my bios is 2.0.282.

I am running 4.0.860 (US) version of the Snap OS, with 2 160 MB WD drives. I have searched through the posts but have not found anything.

Thanks.

[re3dyb0y]

Originally Posted by bumpyone

I am looking for an bios updates for the Snap 2000. I have a Hardware version of 2.0.0 and my bios is 2.0.282.

I am running 4.0.860 (US) version of the Snap OS, with 2 160 MB WD drives. I have searched through the posts but have not found anything.

Thanks.

All that people seem to have worked out is that some os's seem to include a bios update, so you may have a new version.

There aren't really any files (apart from the really old os v2/early 3) that are specifically for bios updates.

What do you need the bios upgrade for? How much of the hd space on the 2000 do you get?

Thanks

Sam

[bumpyone]

I was just curious if there was a new version. No specific reason. I get 149,688 MB. I have the system set as a mirror. I am going to try and upgrade the ram to 128, 256 or 512, if it will work.

Ray

[re3dyb0y]

If you divide 149,688 MB by 1024 that is 146GB. Which seems a little on the small size. Max you could get is another 10gb possibly on each.

You can only upgrade the ram if it has removable ram, which i think are only the 4000 series. My 2200 has it built onto the board. I think most of the others do

[re3dyb0y]

Anyone changed the fan on one of them yet? What did you do about the special 2 pin connector thing??

[2kcrewcab]

Originally Posted by 2kcrewcab

OK...another question.....

I used the Knoppix method to get the sbin1000.bin loaded on a 30 GB hard drive on my Snap 1000 just to make sure I knew what I was doing. After loading it, SnapAssist could find the server, and give me the option to login. Since I didn't know what the Administrator password was set to, I did a manual reset to clear the settings. SnapAssist then gave me the option to setup the server....which I did with success.....

So now, the goal was to upgrade the HD to a 120 that I just had laying around. It's a Maxtor ATA133 120 GB. I read a couple of posts out here where people are having trouble with those, but I'm not sure if I'm seeing the same problems or not....

Using the same Knoppix method that worked on the 30 GB drive, I was able to get the image installed onto the 120GB drive. I put it in the Snap Server and powered it up. It comes up and Snap Assist can see it. Just like before, since I don't know the Administrator password, I performed the same type of manual reset. Now when the server reboots, the system light blinks twice a second the Disk light stays on solid, and Snap Assist can no longer see the server.

Am I doing something wrong? :shrug:

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Thanks,
Mike W.

I'm finally getting around to playing with this again. Can anyone else confirm that the problem I'm seeing is because of the type of HD I'm trying to use?

Thanks,
Mike W.

[stav99]

Mike,
You mentioned you are trying to copy the bin files. Have you tried using the Knoppix method of copying your 'good' 30GB drive SnapOS over on top the 120GB Maxtor? I realize it may take some time, but maybe something went wrong the one time you tried the Maxtor. Maybe even trying the bin copy again in the same way you got the 30GB to work, just in case something got corrupted the first time. I recently did a Western Digital 80GB (Best Buy special!) successfully and I had seen a post saying someone had trouble with WD drives. I used the Knoppix copy of hda to hdb that is detailed one or more times in earlier posts. (I intend to summarize my steps and post them but haven't done so yet). Anyways, maybe someone can talk to Maxtor issues specifically.

Originally Posted by 2kcrewcab

I'm finally getting around to playing with this again. Can anyone else confirm that the problem I'm seeing is because of the type of HD I'm trying to use?

Thanks,
Mike W.

[re3dyb0y]

Right, another breakthrough by me.

Download it here DOWN

Only 2 problems, when you click close it shows errors, dunno how to get round this, other than you can get out by clicking home in the top right corner. The other is there is no help file.

Will look into these

[re3dyb0y]

Also, another FTP site for you snappers

DOWN

You will have to input the username and password manaully, because there is something that stops it working in the userass format

Please could someone upload all the snap server files to there?

[re3dyb0y]

user : pass format

[re3dyb0y]

Or for uploading you can use this:
*************

file list viewable here:
**************

NOT ALLOWED

[stav99]

Sam,
I can work on some of the transferring this weekend. Do we know the owner of this site? I guess, what I'm getting at, do we know if this site will be around for awhile and have some assurance we can use it?

- Thanks,
- Mark

Originally Posted by poogles_uk

Also, another FTP site for you snappers

***** DOWN ******

You will have to input the username and password manaully, because there is something that stops it working in the userass format

Please could someone upload all the snap server files to there?

[re3dyb0y]

Its my site so feel free, ive got around a 9 month lease left on it, and after that i shall be renewing it.

Theres 30gb of space and around 100gb of bandwith a month. So knock yourselves out

[re3dyb0y]

The zip has been updated to include instructions and the help file.

Thanks

Sam

[edcetera]

Hello, how is this possible this guy has a 2000 with 500 gigs for sale

has screen shots that show its a
2000
3.4xxxx software
2.0.0 Hardware
48xxxx serial number
2.0.282 bios

see it

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ADME:B:SS:US:1

This guy is not forthcoming with info, perhaps one of you can explain this.

/ Ed

[DebonairOne]

Originally Posted by poogles_uk

Again if anyone wants snap os v4 (bought for 2200) ive been told it works on 2000,2200,1000,1100, i can email the file or give the link to the download site.

I am definitely looking for the link to download os v4... please email to jerome.j11@comcast.net...

Thnks...

[re3dyb0y]

Didn't someone else before manage to get the 1000 or the 2000 over 120gb drives?

Im not sure about 250gb drives tho.

He is selling a lot of similiar upgraded items.

He could be lying, but he would get a bad reputation, or he may work at snap and therefore know some tricks to the trade