Please Help: can't ssh, can't start services_case nos.: 25913382 / 25923232

[jeffvenuti]

My problems started this morning by getting this email message every 10 minutes:

System volume root usage is 81 %. This condition should not occur in normal conditions. Please contact technical support.

Looking into my system it looked like there was a lot of stuff in my /var directory, so I wanted to move that to a different partition. I did a little research and followed the instructions here to move my /var directory to /home/var:

http://serverfault.com/questions/429937/how-to-move-var-to-another-existing-partition

Basically, I did this:

mkdir -p /home/var

rsync -va /var /home/var

mv /var /var.old

mkdir -p /var

mount -o bind /home/var /var

added this line to /etc/fstab:

/home/var /var none bind

Then, could not access web admin page for readynas, something about the management service not running, so I hard rebooted. When it came back up it automatically went into setup wizard. I tried to ssh into my readynas but couldnt. I tried to turn on ssh service via the web admin page, but doesnt seem to let me turn on any services. No other services are working either (Plex, Subsonic). How can I fix this?

My old var folder should still be there. I want to just change it back to the way it was, but since I cant ssh in I dont know how to do that.

Please help.

Jeff

[DaneA]

Hi jeffvenuti,

It appears that you have already contacted NETGEAR Support and opened a case regarding your concern.  Kindly answer the questions below:

a. Do you have a backup of all the data stored in your NAS?

b. Have you tried to perform a factory reset on the NAS?

c. Can you still set the NAS to telnet mode? 

If ever you have a backup of all your data, you may perform a factory reset on your NAS and this will let you configure the NAS from scratch.  However, if a factory reset is not an option and since SSH access is not possible, hope that the NAS can still be set on telnet mode.  

Just to set your expectation, if ever the NAS can still be set on telnet mode, you will need to agree with the NETGEAR remote access policy then your case would be escalated to a higher tier support to remotely access the NAS and fix it.  Please be reminded, if ever the NAS is not within the support warranty, you will need to purchase a support contract for it before the case gets escalated to a higher tier support.

Welcome to the community! 

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[jeffvenuti]

Hi DaneA,

To answer your questions:

a. I do not have a backup of the data.  But through the GUI I can see that the Shares are all there and data is accessible.  If you can advise on how to backup this data I will do so.  Can I do this through the GUI?

b. Since I don't want to lose any data I have not tried to perform a factory reset.

c. I don't know how to set the NAS to telnet mode.  Never tried.  I can access the GUI and under settings I can see all the services (SMB, HTTP, SSH etc.) but nothing seems to respond to being selected.  Is this the same place telnet mode is selected?

I'm fine with agreeing to the NETGEAR remote access policy.

Is there a way to access the NAS directly somehow?  I feel like if I can just get in and restore the old /var directory then everything will be fine.  Just don't know how to do that.

Thanks,

Jeff

[DaneA]

Hi @jeffvenuti,

---

@jeffvenuti wrote:

I do not have a backup of the data.  But through the GUI I can see that the Shares are all there and data is accessible.  If you can advise on how to backup this data I will do so.  Can I do this through the GUI?

---

Are you able to access your data via SMB access using a PC/laptop?  If yes, since you mentioned that the GUI does not seem to respond then you could manually backup the data by doing copy/paste from the NAS to an external drive or to a PC/laptop that has free space.   

---

@jeffvenuti wrote:

Since I don't want to lose any data I have not tried to perform a factory reset.

---

Ensure that you have a backup of your data first.  

---

@jeffvenuti wrote:

I don't know how to set the NAS to telnet mode.  Never tried.  I can access the GUI and under settings I can see all the services (SMB, HTTP, SSH etc.) but nothing seems to respond to being selected.  Is this the same place telnet mode is selected?

---

Check this article on how to set the NAS to telnet mode (tech support mode).

Regards,

DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team

[jeffvenuti]

Hi DaneA,

I will try restarting into tech support boot mode when I get home this evening.  How will I know if it has been successfull?  Can I use putty to telnet into it or something like that?

If I can't enable SMB mode (which may be the case since I can't enable other services like SSH), then can I use "Volume Read only" boot mode to backup date?  How does one access data in that case?

Thanks,

Jeff

[DaneA]

Hi jeffvenuti,

It seems that a new case has been opened by NETGEAR Support that is related to your concerns mentioned here on this forum thread.  It appears that your problem has been resolved as well.  Kindly confirm.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[jeffvenuti]

Hi DaneA,

A level 3 NetGear tech logged into my readyNAS 314 and noticed that something was wrong with /etc/fstab.  He fixed that.  Then I was able to ssh in and move my old var directory, which I had copied to /home/var, back to /var.  Everything seems to be back to normal after that.

BUT, I still have the original problem where I'm getting warnings about the root partition getting full, which is why I attempted to move the /var folder someplace else.  I still need help doing that.  The first time I tried it I wound up getting locked out so obviously I need some help there.

Thanks,

Jeff

[DaneA]

Hi @jeffvenuti,

I am glad that the Level 3 expert has remotely fixed the problem and that everything seems to be normal.

---

@jeffvenuti wrote:

BUT, I still have the original problem where I'm getting warnings about the root partition getting full, which is why I attempted to move the /var folder someplace else.  I still need help doing that.  The first time I tried it I wound up getting locked out so obviously I need some help there.

---

With regard to this, I believe you may still asked the same Level 3 expert who helped you so that he can look into your NAS via a remote session again.   Kindly use the same case number provided to you.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team