AFP Out Of Date In OS X Lion

flamesong wrote:
I am pretty sure that most ReadyNAS owning Mac users would be reassured to know that a fix to this issue was at least in development.

First off, the Netgear unit responsible for the Router/Modem business is a totally different entity than the one responsible for the ReadyNAS line. Unfortunately shortcomings of the former tend to bleed over to the latter at least in the public view.
As to the part quoted, I'm not sure I really understand your problem. The software that is responsible for the Mac connectivity on the ReadyNAS is developed by a third party. This software already supports Lion, which btw is not a "fix" for a "bug" but an added feature instead, and is licensed by Netgear. So there's already proof for "a fix being in development". If you want to stir this storm in a water glass further, don't let me stop you. But with the ReadyNAS I'd say your chances to get working OS X Lion support are way better than with most if not all of the other vendors. And even if for some reason Netgear doesn't deliver an update as timely as I expect them to do, there are alternatives in the form of an add-on that could be provided easily.

-Stefan

Hi Stefan.

I'm not sure I understand your response to flamesong.

AFP access to a ReadyNAS is not possible currently from 10.7 clients because the version of Netatalk used by current ReadyNAS firmware doesn't support the default AFP connection settings baked into 10.7. As things stand currently, anyone who relies on AFP access to a ReadyNAS box cannot upgrade to 10.7 when it comes available. This is a serious limitation. Whilst accepting that Netgear can do what it likes with regard to this problem, and its communications with its customers about this response, why do you see one of those customers observing that it would be helpful for Netgear to make some announcement about it as "stirring this storm in a water glass"?

Recently a host of software vendors have released statements about steps they are taking to prepare their products to be compatible with 10.7 - many have released code that is compatible with 10.7 ahead of its release. It think it is disappointing that Netgear has chosen to remain mute on this topic: I don't understand what is gained by not acknowledging the (well reported) problem. Further, I concur with flamesong that to do so would helpfully position them in the minds of their current and potential customers - particularly if (as you suggest) Netgear is best placed among the NAS vendors to provide a speedy fix to this problem.

All legal testers of Mac OS X Lion are under a NDA and so NetGear probably would prefer not to risk inadvertently breaking the NDA in speaking about it. NetGear tends not to announce major updates before they hit beta testing, one reason being that unexpected delays can lead to disappointment and also that for obvious reasons they don't want to let their competitors know what they are doing and when they're doing it before absolutely necessary.

As 10.7 is not available yet the lack of support for Time Machine from Mac OS X Lion clients isn't an issue at this time. Being on the bleeding edge updating to a new OS ASAP does have its drawbacks. It's best to wait a little while for companies like NetGear to properly test updates that address compatibility issues against a production OS. Waiting also has the benefit that you shouldn't experience any of the major bugs that may be present in a major OS update.

Hopefully it won't be that long after Lion is released before there's an update. Personally I'll probably wait a while to update most of my machines.

mdgm wrote:
It's best to wait a little while for companies like NetGear to properly test updates that address compatibility issues against a production OS. Waiting also has the benefit that you shouldn't experience any of the major bugs that may be present in a major OS update.

So now you are suggesting that Netgear being mute on this issue is actually a benefit to me... by making sure I cannot upgrade to 10.7. Well I suppose that is one way of looking at it... Hilarious in itself, but it misses the point rather. The comments flamesong made are not about requiring Netgear to release anything, just suggesting that people who use their equipment might get some value from them acknowledging whether or not they plan to. I really can't see why that's such a problematic thing to do in your world-view.

They may well make comments about this at some point. I don't think they need to make a comment before releasing a public beta, but if they do I think it could come after a production Mac OS X Lion is released possibly as early as next week. It's pretty clear that over the years of ReadyNAS history NetGear does all the updates it reasonably can to NAS devices to keep them compatible with newer OSes, add new features etc. The current firmware for Sparc devices works with the very first ReadyNAS devices released several years ago.

WhoCares?'s comments make it pretty clear there isn't a hardware limitation so I see no reason why they wouldn't want to add Mac OS X Lion support to the Sparc devices.

You may well find that you use software, peripherals etc. that aren't updated for Mac OS X Lion support yet. It's not unreasonable for there to be some delay after a major OS update before support is added. Anyone using their computer for business (apart from IT work that requires testing/work on the latest and greatest OS) would want to wait a little while for issues not picked up by beta testers to be sorted out and stability of the OS to improve.

If you choose to run Lion now, you can still access files on the NAS over CIFS.

mdgm wrote:
WhoCares?'s comments make it pretty clear there isn't a hardware limitation so I see no reason why they wouldn't want to add Mac OS X Lion support to the Sparc devices.

On that subject (and with apologies for dragging up something that was already pointed out as being off-topic) I thought it pertinent to point out that the NIC hardware isn't incompatible with IPv6 (as mentioned by someone earlier), that's just not possible. An ethernet frame carrying an IPv6 packet is identical to an ethernet frame carrying an IPv4 packet. It's all down to the NIC driver software and the kernel. If someone put in the effort to update those two you'd have the support. Don't blame it on the hardware, I've got decades old Sun SPARC kit here quite happily running IPv6...

The logo on the front of my ReadyNAS Duo says, quite clearly, 'Netgear', this has been verified by an independent expert.

But I'm not an expert, which is one of the reasons why I'm returning to this forum and this thread in particular. It matters not to me which unit does what and how, that's a matter for Netgear management.

However, if the unit which deals with the ReadyNAS marque does not want to be tarred with the same brush as the folk who neglect the modems and routers, it is their responsibility not to behave ion the same manner.

Apple has released developer previews of OS X 10.7 over the past several months and responsible developers who want to keep their customers seamlessly up and running have been busy updating their software and releasing beta versions for testing for months. Apart from reading about it all over the place, I know this because I have been beta testing myself.

I am grateful for the posts from members who could understand my point and I'm somewhat mystified by the indignance from somebody who evidently is not as concerned that they cannot connect to their ReadyNAS Time Machine volume, as I am. Yes, I am aware that you have posted an add-on but when somebody adds the caveat, 'use at your own risk', I am not a cornucopia of confidence.

flamesong wrote:
However, if the unit which deals with the ReadyNAS marque does not want to be tarred with the same brush as the folk who neglect the modems and routers, it is their responsibility not to behave ion the same manner.

Well, I think it's pretty clear from NetGear still providing firmware updates to long discontinued Infrant ReadyNAS products that they don't neglect their ReadyNAS products.

flamesong wrote:
Apple has released developer previews of OS X 10.7 over the past several months and responsible developers who want to keep their customers seamlessly up and running have been busy updating their software and releasing beta versions for testing for months. Apart from reading about it all over the place, I know this because I have been beta testing myself.

The 2.2 update to the 3rd party Netatalk project has received much testing from the Linux community. There's no need for NetGear to push out public betas addressing compatibility issues with a beta OS when the Linux community does a fine job addressing those issues themselves. It should be fairly easy for NetGear to begin pushing out public betas with Lion support after a production Lion is released. If your clients use their Macs for business you shouldn't encourage them to upgrade to Lion as soon as its released anyway.

flamesong wrote:
I am grateful for the posts from members who could understand my point and I'm somewhat mystified by the indignance from somebody who evidently is not as concerned that they cannot connect to their ReadyNAS Time Machine volume, as I am.

If you choose to run a beta Operating System you should not be surprised if you have compatibility issues and if an update addressing those issues is not pushed out till after the Operating System goes production. The ReadyNAS does much more than a piece of software you run on your Mac.

flamesong wrote:
Yes, I am aware that you have posted an add-on but when somebody adds the caveat, 'use at your own risk', I am not a cornucopia of confidence.

WhoCares? add-on was demonstrating what was possible. His add-on is obviously not supported by NetGear and though it should work fine should only be installed on non-production systems.

I tried the WhoCares add-on, through the UI, but it said wrong hardware "Update file is not valid for this architecture."

I have a readynas pro pioneer - might it not work with what i have?

The Pro Pioneer is an x86 ReadyNAS. The add-on is for Sparc ReadyNAS. x86 ReadyNAS already should have AFP support for Mac OS X Lion just not Time Machine support (WhoCares?'s addon doesn't address Time Machine support anyway).