ReadyNAS OS 6.10.9 now available – With almost no info

[eton]

ReadyNAS OS 6.10.9 now available!
https://kb.netgear.com/000065653/ReadyNAS-OS-Software-Version-6-10-9

But there is almost no release information.

What is new?

There is no option to filter by model or CPU microarchitecture on the linked site: https://www.netgear.com/about/security/

[tigerten]

They fixed the readynasos repository. I think that is all they did. I believe the packages in 6.10.9 are exactly the same. However, the two, now defunct debian repo are still not fixed.

The last time Readynas got security update was December 2022.
Migrate the readynasos to the current debian is imperative.



Is there a plan Netgear will ever address this? I am sure all the current users will be grateful the Netgear does not abandon them.

[eton]

In previous security releases they wrote ReadyNAS in the title. But there is no post yet for the latest OS6 release. Sloppy. Netgear is such an underachiever these days.

[eton]

@tigerten 

Only this file?

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb https://apt.readynas.com/packages/readynasos 6.10.8 updates apps main

deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian jessie main
deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main

[tigerten]

yes. 

the two debian sources are dead already. 

We are basically limited to the first Netgear source only, which has about 1000 packages in total. 

@AnishaA 

Is there a plan to fix this? 

[timbck2]

| "I am sure all the current users will be grateful the Netgear does not abandon them."

Are you sure they haven't abandoned us? The ReadyNAS 6.10.9 update does NOT install automatically (or even appear when you click "Check for Updates" in the ReadyNAS interface). Netgear has yet to make an announcement of any kind about the release, nor provide any useful release notes (I'm sorry, but "addresses security vulnerabilities" without saying which security vulnerabilities are addressed, is NOT a release note; it's an insult.)

And they've broken access to this very Community Support Forum so that if you have a bookmark pointing to it (as well as a lot of the links on Netgear's website), you are taken to a version of the support forums that support ONLY Netgear Wifi and Mesh routers (coincidentally the only home products they produce anymore.) It's as if they not only don't want to support their discontinued products anymore, but they don't want users of their products to help each other with community support. I guess they want us all to dump our outdated Netgear products in a landfill, bury them, and pretend they never existed.

[eton]

@timbck2 It usually takes about 2 weeks from that a new update is published until it is available via OS6 web admin update.

They didn't manage to announce here in the forum about the previous update either.

[StephenB]

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@eton wrote:

It usually takes about 2 weeks from that a new update is published until it is available via OS6 web admin update.

---

Yes - they've never said why there is a lag, but I suspect it is because they are wanting to see if there are any issues in the field before they push it out to everyone.

[eton]

@timbck2 

Install OpenMediaVault, TrueNAS, Unraid, Proxmox or whatever you like on your ReadyNAS.

The ReadyNAS OS saga is over.

[Supertramp2]

Re. The ReadyNAS OS saga is over.

Since the ReadyNAS Pro 6 has quite a nice footprint and is very well built, has anyone ever thought about stripping the case, putting in a new Micro ITX board, raid controller and probably a PSU and install TrueNAS or any other still supported open source OS?

I'm interested in any views on this?

[timbck2]

I wasn't aware this was an option. Can you provide some links to documentation on installing alternatives to ReadyNAS OS  on an RN-214?

[Sandshark]

Why not just put in the VGA cable to the internal header and use the existing hardware with another OS?  It's still fast enough to run one of the systems you mentioned.  The lack of USB3 might turn some off, but I never use USB drives with my NAS.

[Supertramp2]

I thought that the ReadyNAS bios would be an issue and you need to boot using the USB port in the front.

Tried Xpenology the other day, where you need to boot everytime from a USB stick.

My idea of stripping the box is to basically build a new "PC" on which you can install any OS you like.

[timbck2]

I think that's what I'm asking about doing...my main question is this:

What OS options are available for ReadyNAS 214? I would guess that there are fewer options for the ARM-based models than the x86-based ones.

An alternative path I'm considering going down is just replacing the damn thing with a different NAS device. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, reliable, fast NAS to be used mainly for Plex?

[eton]

@timbck2 

You can also keep the ReadyNAS as is and create a LUN and then move all services to a Raspberry Pi or NUC or similar that writes to the LUN.

[Sandshark]

It's been a while since I looked at the BIOS settings on a Pro6, but I thought you could change the boot order.  Alternately, you could chain-load from the flash, just as the ReadyNAS system does.

As for using a 200 series, the lack of a video port is going to be the biggest hurdle.  Hopefully, somebody will put together an easy-to-install package and release it.

[eton]

Netgear is still not pushing this update to clients. In other words you can still not get this update via the web GUI firmware update method.

The time from publishing the update to it being available via web GUI has been exceptionally long.

This is just another circumstantial evidence that Netgear just don't care about ReadyNAS anymore.

[eton]

Netgear still don not push update version 6.10.9 to clients. 

Have you manually installed it?

Did you notice any changes?

And still NO release information: https://kb.netgear.com/000065653/ReadyNAS-OS-Software-Version-6-10-9

[StephenB]

---

@eton wrote:

Have you manually installed it?

Did you notice any changes?

---

I installed it some time ago. The only visible changes are that the Netgear Repo remains broken in 6.10.8, but not in 6.10.9.  That's not inherent to the update though, they could (and should) just fix the broken repo.

---

@eton wrote:

And still NO release information: https://kb.netgear.com/000065653/ReadyNAS-OS-Software-Version-6-10-9

---

True.  Although it does point to netgear.com/about/security for security info, there is nothing there for 6.10.9 (just one fix that was in 6.10.8).

And if you look inside the zip, you'll find the release notes for 6.10.8.

So no way to know the impact of the vulnerabilities in 6.10.8 that they say they fixed.

[eton]

Thanks for your reply @StephenB 

Bundling 6.10.9 with release information from 6.10.8 i yet another blunder.

Yes, it would be much better if Netgear fixed their repo instead of forcing all clients to use another repo.

[timbck2]

I ended up replacing my Netgear with a Synology DS220+. Is anyone interested in buying a used Netgear RN214? I’ll even throw in the drives that are installed in it - it has four 4.0TB WD Red (NAS) drives (WD40EFRX). Drop me an email with an offer if you’re interested: timbck2@gmail.com.

[eton]

How can ReadyNAS OS6 IMG files be unpacked on macOS?

So far I've tried hdiutil and ext4fuse without any success.

@StephenB 

[StephenB]

---

@eton wrote:

How can ReadyNAS OS6 IMG files be unpacked on macOS?

---

Normally you don't unpack it.  But 7-zip can do it in Windows, and there is a macOS version.

[eton]

Thanks, 7zip was able to unpack the ISO.

$ 7zz x -oReadyNASOS-6.10.9-x86_64 ReadyNASOS-6.10.9-x86_64.img

$ ls -lA ReadyNASOS-6.10.9-x86_64/
total 177288
-rw-r--r-- 1 eton staff 128 2 Maj 17:39 csums.md5
-rw-r--r--@ 1 eton staff 4589655 2 Maj 17:39 initrd.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 eton staff 5656288 2 Maj 17:39 kernel
-rw-r--r-- 1 eton staff 80515167 2 Maj 17:39 root.tlz

7zip was able to unpack initrd.gz and root.tlz, but the files are binary and I am not sure that 7zip is the right tool to unpack them.

My aim was to get all the way inside so that I can see individual files that are changed, like /etc/apt/sources.list. How can that be done?

[Sandshark]

File/folder names and symbolic links make it difficult to extract those with tools outside or Linux.

Both are lzma compressions of .tar files (in spite of the .gz extension on one and lack of any extension on the other).  If you open each with 7Zip, you will find a single file.  Extract it and rename with a .tar extension, then open that in 7Zip.

initrd.gz is only used in boot before control is passed to the OS on the drives.  root.tlz contains what you are looking for.  

If you are looking to see if Netgear did anything about Debian 8 being archived and changed the repositories accordingly, the answer is no.