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Forum Discussion
Announcing a new project
Hi folks,
I'm working on a new readynas related project. Let me start by saying I love these things. I have a bunch of Pro6 and RN516 particularly, but I've worked on lots of different models. I'm passionate about giving them a life, long after Netgear walked away and turned off the lights. The hardware has more to give.
I've tried every series alternative OS that I know about. plain linux, TrueNAS, Unraid, OMV and others. They each have something that puts me off. No RAID, No ZFS, noisy fans, no LCD display, having to boot from USB, having to give over one or more precious bays for an OS disk, etc etc.
With all the constraints around fixed BIOS (some models) and booting from flash, I want something that still operates a bit like an original Readynas. You turn it on. It boots from flash, starts an OS, and the fans and LCD aren't obviously missing. You dont need a keyboard or BIOS access to get the thing going.
So, first, I've been working on creating a 'recipe' or set of instructions for installing plain-jane Debian 13 onto an x64 ReadyNAS box. I manually put GRUB on flash, and then slice my 6 disks thus:-
Partition 1 - /boot - 2GB. /dev/md0 RAID1 mirror across 6 disks
Partition 2 - swap - 2GB. /dev/md1 RAID10 across 6 disks (so swap = 6GB/more with more bays)
Partition 3 - / - 8GB. /dev/md3 RAID10 across 6 disks (so root = 21GB/more with more bays)
Partition 4 - rest of disk
I then use ZFS to make a storage pool across the 6 disks /dev/sdX4.
If you are interested in reviewing the rough notes for how to build a Debian 13 ReadyNAS, I can share them. But beware, blanking your flash is a one-way operation, unless you've taken an image - which is a fairly expert thing to do.
All this is working fine. But I wanted the ReadyNAS experience. Quiet fans. LCD display. RAID rebuilds. Drive issue alerts via email.
So, second, I started working on something else, a new project called RaidyNAS. A project to put back the missing ReadyNAS features.
At the moment, I'm not covering users, shares, protocols etc. For that, I've simply installed OMV on top of Debian 13.
But RaidyNAS is what I'm now developing. I'm looking to hear from interested parties who might like to contribute, or to test elements of it. I'm actually doing a bunch of testing from a Debian 13 live boot USB stick, in order to avoid blanking the flash on every single one of my NASs, just yet!
So, if you're a bit of an expert with ReadyNAS hardware/OS, and like me, want something future proof, get in touch.
If you're a decent coder and want to contribute, get in touch.
Basically I'm at the early stages. I have an architecture framework, installer, start-up daemon, alerting, emails, hot plug detection, degrading detection alerts, auto rejoin upon re-presentaton of the same disc, guided partitioning and RAID rejoin for new drives, fan control, and LCD display (part complete).
So far this has been tested on Pro6, with some elements in preparation for RN516 also (specific fan profile, LCD display, drive LEDs and front menu buttons). Other RN models can be added.
I'm not looking to profit from this. At some point the code will be up on a public repo.
So, thoughts, volunteers... go go go. Post below or direct message me.
Cheers
24 Replies
Pro6 support is done. Fan control, LCD display, backup button used for LCD wake after dim. Disks have hotplug monitoring in/out, and automatic and guided disk set rebuilds are done.
RN516 testing underway.
Bit disappointed that nobody seems interested in this. If this is something that only I use, it will be a shame, as I think it's got legs.
516 support is done. Fan control, LCD display, LCD wake triggered by any button press. Need to re-test the RAID operations from Pro6, and regression test that adding 516 support hasn't broken anything on the Pro6.
Then, the initial daemon version of RaidyNAS is DONE. The decision then comes whether to continue and add a full blow admin UI via http, or whether to rely on OMV or similar for users/shares/protocols.
I may plan it out and see how much work it is.
So far on the 516, I've not found a use for the buttons on the front. They are only used to wake the display from dim/sleep. I've already got a rotating RaidyNAS display showing IP, errors, root % used, zfs % used. Didn't bother with temperatures for now. I guess it could be a configurable list.... On the ReadyNAS OS, the buttons are used to navigate through a series of data points, but my approach is to cycle them on the display anyway.
Have you tried this on an RN52x or RN62x?
I am wondering if there are any boot-menu options in your plan?
I don’t have either of those on which to test I’m afraid.
I’ve not thought about a boot menu because I’m just deploying base Debian 13 at the moment.
that said at some point I may try to understand the magic on that in the RN flash.
I note those models don’t have any HDMI (no point as originally shipped with CPUs without built in graphics support). That would make the Debian install trickier.
im considering making some images that can be sprayed on and grown.
First generation web UI done
Note change of direction. I’m not going to use OMV anymore. Have implemented what I need in my own UI.
working through the features and services one by one.
at some point I will need to merge the RaidyNAS daemon project (which manages disk state, rebuilds, fans, lcd, buttons) and the ui project.
It looks like you are way ahead of where I had to stop in this project: omv-on-proultra-series----a-project. My personal matter is going to take away a lot of my free time (at the age of 70, I have become the single parent of my 8-year-old granddaughter for at least 2 years), so I'm going to bow to you. The models you've used have the advantage of having a display (though the Pro6 requires the addition of the cable) and also expandable memory. I wanted to keep it capable of running on lower-end units.
To get around the lack of a display without having to use the TTL console (which can be daunting to novice users, especially on legacy units without the USB-C connection), I was going to use FAI (Fully Automated Install) or GRML with SSH enabled to do the generic Debian install and partitioning then install OMV over it. FAI was preferred because it can do the GRUB installation, all of the initial partitioning, and the Debian installation without user intervention. I got bogged down with GRML because I couldn't repeat a previous success, but I've not gone back since you pointed out that I may need to use the last 2025 version (which may well be what I used initially). I never got far with FAI because I needed to first verify the GRUB and partitioning would work at all, but you've done that.
I was going to partition the drives almost as you did. The difference was that I intended to make root also a RAID0 across all drives. For the file system for main, I was going to use BTRFS on MDADM because I'm more familiar with it but also because I understand ZFS takes a lot of RAM and likely wouldn't perform well on units limited to 2GB. Both of these are as Netgear did with OS6 -- we just need the addition of boot because the flash is too small for it.
Because I wanted to support all the Intel 64-bit models, including 2-drive, but without having to build in a lot of if-then-else in the install, my approach was going to be to set up with just two drives on every system and then expand. My main test bed is a 312 because it does have an HDMI display so I can use it to fix any screw-ups but it's limited to 2 drives and 2GB of RAM as are a lot of other unit types.
I don't have the experience to work on my own GUI, so that's where OMV came in. But even if I did, I'm not sure I'd want to burden myself with having to do any updates that Debian updates might require, so I left that to OMV.
Though my time will be limited, I can offer a lot of unit types for testing. I basically have most everything covered. Most are in storage and would have to be pulled out, but they are readily accessible there. I don't have all the unit types, but have some covered by other models with just a CPU or drive backplane difference.
Also, it's not actually all that hard to back up the flash so you can go back to ReadyNAS OS if you need to. It actually shouldn't be necessary, though. USB recovery should do it. On legacy units, though, you will need a VPD backup -- see Backup-and-restore-of-VPD-file-for-legacy-ReadyNAS-running-OS6. But if you feel you need a full backup, just do a Linux dd image while you are there and have the USB drive mounted on which to put the image. Once the alternate OS is installed, I don't think the flash will be disabled (though you may want to look into that), so it should be easy to restore. GRML can also be used, as the flash is active when you boot it.
Yeah you and I know that. But I don't want amateur users wading into this without knowing it's destructive and a one-way trip, UNLESS they've taken a backup of the FLASH. We take for granted that we now how to do it. 99% of readynas users dont, and majority have never used a linux CLI, let alone DD, booted an alternative OS etc.
I just want to be clear - just because it looks 'something' like a polished UI, doesn't make it suitable for everyone.
99% of readynas users dont, and majority have never used a linux CLI, let alone DD, booted an alternative OS etc.
Precisely why I wanted to use FAI. Once the drives are partitioned and formatted, and GRUB and generic Linux are installed, it'll be easier to either make unit-specific scripts that do the rest or even then go with if-then-else in just a couple (I'm guessing legacy and native OS6 units would be more difficult to do in a single script).
I’ve now begun to start design on a bootable usb with a single function - factory reset. To build a Debian 13 install from an image and install my bespoke tools. Let’s see it if I can make it work.
You may want to look into FAI as a mechanism to do that.
I'm currently looking at a different way. I've used an AI agent to reverse engineer the ReadyNAS flash contents. My plan to is use something similar, but deployed to a USB stick. It will have one 'boot mode' only - factory reset. It will blat the disks, set up partitions and RAID, copy on /boot and / from images, and install grub.
Baby steps at the moment. UI is almost done. Lots of testing to do. And it's all quite high risk stuff.
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