Howto safely dev on a RND Pro?

[WhoCares?]

I believe the reason is the Perl installation on the ReadyNAS Pro - You see the VMWare installer asks only for the perl version - which seams to be 32bit.

Shouldn't matter in any conceivable way. I've been running VMware Server on 64bit systems with 32bit Perl without any problem whatsoever. Must be something else there.

-Stefan

[Dewdman42]

did anyone ever happen to get one of these kernal setups working on a virtualbox VM?

[WhoCares?]

Unless you intend to develop kernel modules or use some kernel modules that aren't available on the ReadyNAS, there's no real need to run your dev system with the same kernel as the one that is running on your ReadyNAS. But to answer your question: Tried for fun but never managed to get it working right.

-Stefan

[Dewdman42]

hehehehe yea. Noted. Mostly I just want to create a debian VM where I can:

1. build binaries that will run on the ReadyNAS, providing I don't accidentlly link in stuff like the new libc. No I would not be doing any kernel stuff, I leave that to you true gurus. I'd love to avoid even installing gcc and libs on my readyNas, I want to avoid accidentally writing over any libraries or tools from some dependency that apt-get picks up.
2. Use it to test out addon bins I make, and make sure they do everything properly. Theoretically I can always create an addon with the VM and when its all working, deliver it with frontview, and never have to SSH into my ReadyNAS while setting things up as root. Basically frontview is like sudo almost.
3. Test out frontview interaction for my addons
4. Test out third party addons to make sure they work as expected before putting onto my ReadyNAS
5. Try out more sophisticated web server scenarios

I already created a VM with Debian Etch, but it ran into a lot of problems during install trying to download updates, all the apt repositories that are normally used to do that are offline now I guess. I guess Etch is too old. Not sure. But just having Etch alone is not enough. the next step will be to install telnetd or sshd so that I can connect to the VM remotely, and then all the build tools. Then I have to first try to find some appropriate repositories to update all the various stuff that's already in there, to whatever version level that is on the readyNAS. I'm not sure which repositories are best for that. Then I have to have a look at the GPL code to see what of that stuff I should bulid and install, but some of that is hit and miss because some of it could be related to hardware and some of it is essential stuff like frontview. Another thing I don't complete understand is the share system they put in place for creating and sharing the user shares, etc.

So getting the system to completely function on that level like a ReadyNAS depends I guess on installing everything from the GPL except for kernel stuff? I don't really need the machine to be bit for bit compatible. What I need is mostly for the frontview stuff and shares to work on the VM the way they work on the ReadyNAS, and even library versions there is a lot of wiggle room there, but ideally if I have same versions of libs that would be best, but that's gonna be hit and miss I think. I can't even imagine trying to sort that out.

[WhoCares?]

Problem is that no matter what you, it will be the Frontview stuff that won't work in a VM. The only way I found to test add-ons reliably is to use a ReadyNAS. The old etch repositories can still be found on http://archive.debian.org, btw.

-Stefan

[Dewdman42]

Is that because Frontview interacts with the hardware for checking the volumes and such? why won't frontview run on vm etch?

[WhoCares?]

Mostly because of what you're mentioned. Also I'm not sure whether the central scripts that drive Frontview and it's actions will work at all. Haven't tried though. But since those scripts are encrypted one can't have a look into those and see what may need to be modified to get them running on (virtual) standard hardware.

-Stefan

[Dewdman42]

ok.... it was a nice dream. hehehe.

[TeknoJnky]

You know, you can always do experimental dev using a single dedicated drive.

just power down and remove and label your existing drives, then factory default with a single spare drive, you can cause all the destruction you want. When you are done, power down and put the original drives back in.

[Dewdman42]

hehehe, really great and obvious idea I didn't even think about. Thanks!

[chirpa]

For committed developers that produce add-ons (like WhoCares and super-poussin, Logitech, etc) we can sometimes provide extra dev hardware. Before I get an onslaught of 'me me me' for hardware, it is on a selective basis after some review, not just free hardware to play around with.

[Dewdman42]

Its nice to hear Netgear's commitment to the cause.

[WhoCares?]

You know, you can always do experimental dev using a single dedicated drive.

Ouch, I've been using exactly that approach for so long now that I didn't even think it was something special to do let alone thought about it as a solution.
And as a sidenote: when doing that, make sure the files you want to test aren't on the original drives only. Been there, done that

-Stefan

[Dewdman42]

Next question, are spare trays available for the Ultra2+? Are they expensive?

one feature that would be really nifty for ReadyNAS would be the ability to boot from a USB drive....including flash drives.

[WhoCares?]

one feature that would be really nifty for ReadyNAS would be the ability to boot from a USB drive....including flash drives.

Actually it does just that

-Stefan