Minecraft Linux on ReadyNas Pro Pioneer

I upgraded the Minecraft server jar in the directory mentioned above and still nothing was working.
Running the command from the shell revealed the problem:

# java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar /etc/frontview/addons/bin/MINECRAFT/minecraft_server.jar nogui
[02:26:55] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting minecraft server version 1.7.10
[02:26:55] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading properties
[02:26:55] [Server thread/WARN]: server.properties does not exist
[02:26:55] [Server thread/INFO]: Generating new properties file
[02:26:55] [Server thread/WARN]: Failed to load eula.txt
[02:26:55] [Server thread/INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info.
[02:26:55] [Server thread/INFO]: Stopping server
[02:26:55] [Server Shutdown Thread/INFO]: Stopping server

All the instructions I found online kept referencing an existing eula.txt file to edit. There was none, so I made one and stuck

eula=true

as a single line. Re-ran the Minecraft_server.jar and it started fine.

Now my desktop Client 1.7 can see the ReadyNAS MC server and I can connect fine, however i'm now greeted with an authentication problem. Hopefully at the Mojang end?

[02:40:13] [User Authenticator #1/INFO]: Disconnecting com.mojang.authlib.GameProfile@XYZXYZ[id=<null>,name=XYZXYZ,properties={},legacy=false] (/192.168.88.108:51300): Authentication servers are down. Please try again later, sorry!
[02:40:13] [User Authenticator #1/ERROR]: Couldn't verify username because servers are unavailable
[02:40:13] [Server thread/INFO]: com.mojang.authlib.GameProfile@XYZXYZ[id=<null>,name=XYZXYZ,properties={},legacy=false] (/192.168.88.108:51300) lost connection: Authentication servers are down. Please try again later, sorry!

Any ideas on the cause ?