I turned a boat anchor (QNAP TS-451) into a TrueNas server (now bare-metal install)

stk · October 11, 2024, 7:05am

I had an old QNAP TS-451 from 10 years ago that was collecting dust (aka the “boat anchor”).

This box is so old that when I tried to donate it away, they refused it !!!

I used virtualization station to install truenas on the box which has 2 cores and 4G of RAM.

Truenas didn’t come up cleanly. It gave me the normal console options, but nginx wasn’t running and neither was ssh.

I had to start these services manually.

I have the logs if anyone is interested in debugging the “underpowered” install issues (which is a reasonable “stress” test for a robust system).

But now I basically have a box for redundant backups that cost me nothing other than a bit of time to install and debug the startup.

UPDATE: I did a full-metal install of truenas.

First, I replaced the internal USB with a 32GB USB (same form factor), upgraded the RAM to 16GB (2 8GB sticks). Then I put the truenas ISO in the front USB socket and booted and bingo.

After first boot, I moved System to the pool to minimize use of the boot USB. I’m going to use an external NvME to boot because I already have an enclosure for it and I got an NVME drive for $13 on eBay.

Only issue was you can install from a ventoy stick… I used a dedicated TrueNAS ISO stick to install the OS.

The system is pretty underpowered with 2 cores, but it can do a 1Mb/sec and receive a backup image and that keeps the 2 CPUs plenty busy.

NugentS · October 11, 2024, 11:02am

Why don’t you install it baremetal on the TS-451? You are seriously under the minimum memory requirements for TrueNAS AND are running additional services as well.

stk · October 11, 2024, 2:41pm

There is only 1G of NVRAM for boot:

fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdd: 515 MB, 515899392 bytes
8 heads, 32 sectors/track, 3936 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 256 * 512 = 131072 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1               1          41        5244   83  Linux
/dev/sdd2   *          42        1922      240768   83  Linux
/dev/sdd3            1923        3803      240768   83  Linux
/dev/sdd4            3804        3936       17024    5  Extended
/dev/sdd5            3804        3868        8304   83  Linux
/dev/sdd6            3869        3936        8688   83  Linux

And I know from past experience that the truenas installer will not list any disk <8 GB.

So unless there is someone who has done this on a QNAP TS-451 before, I think that would be a fun research project if I had time on my hands. Otherwise, it’s a non-starter for me.

HoneyBadger · October 11, 2024, 3:17pm

I’d recommend pulling the DOM and/or replacing it with a USB-to-SATA’d SSD internally, as well as getting up to the maximum 8GB of RAM that the unit supports.

But other than that, I suggest you dub this system

NugentS · October 11, 2024, 5:52pm

I ran TN Core on a TS-851 which was specced to 8GB but could take 16GB. I removed the DOM and used an external USB to NVMe to boot from. Ran that way for a year or so without any issues

awalkerix · October 11, 2024, 7:20pm

That’s not surprising at all. The documented minimum hardware requirement is 16 GiB for installation target. We should actually probably not show for below 16 GiB honestly since 8 GiB doesn’t give very much space for updates, logs, auditing, etc. If that’s a low-write-endurance DOM we’ll probably burn through it pretty quickly.

winnielinnie · October 11, 2024, 7:31pm

Apparently this inspired this.

And although it’s not my NAS, I still fear for its safety.

stk · October 11, 2024, 7:37pm

OK, I’m going to give that a go as my next fun job.

In the meantime, it runs under the VM just fine EXCEPT ix-etc service bombs out with a very non helpful failure message during system boot. That’s the only real systemctl --failure of interest.

When I start the service manually after system boot, it completes without error.

Any ideas on why (or how to debug)? And does it matter that it failed from a practical matter?

Oct 11 11:03:47 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: Starting ix-etc.service - Generate TrueNAS /etc files...
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: Failed to start ix-etc.service - Generate TrueNAS /etc files.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Consumed 4.439s CPU time.

And the journalctl messages were equally not helpful:

Oct 11 11:03:47 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: Starting ix-etc.service - Generate TrueNAS /etc files...
░░ Subject: A start job for unit ix-etc.service has begun execution
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit ix-etc.service has begun execution.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 2285.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit ix-etc.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit ix-etc.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: Failed to start ix-etc.service - Generate TrueNAS /etc files.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: Failed to start ix-etc.service - Generate TrueNAS /etc files.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit ix-etc.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit ix-etc.service has finished with a failure.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 2285 and the job result is failed.
Oct 11 11:04:52 truenas-qnap systemd[1]: ix-etc.service: Consumed 4.439s CPU time.
░░ Subject: Resources consumed by unit runtime
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit ix-etc.service completed and consumed the indicated resources.

neofusion · October 11, 2024, 8:00pm

ix-etc.service isn’t especially exciting:

[Unit]
Description=Generate TrueNAS /etc files
DefaultDependencies=no

Before=network-pre.target

After=middlewared.service
Before=local-fs.target systemd-modules-load.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
TimeoutStartSec=300
ExecStart=midclt call --job certificate.dhparam_setup
ExecStart=midclt call etc.generate_checkpoint initial
StandardOutput=null

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

What happens if you run the midclt commands manually?

stk · October 11, 2024, 9:31pm

they work fine after boot. the diffie helman is quick. The checkpoint takes a little over 1 minute.

So I’m stumped why this doesn’t work during boot. It’s not a timeout since it’s specced at 5 minutes and returns the error in about 1 minute. A better error message would help.

stk · October 11, 2024, 9:36pm

You are right. I can get a 32GB replacement for the flash drive for $32 on eBay: ATP 8GB/32GB 9-Pin USB Flash Drive Disk On Module DOM USB (Big 9pin) | eBay

And YouTube is filled with videos to upgrade RAM to 16GB like this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4C1Y-HLInY So this actually looks very easy

I bought my ram for $17.

So for $50, I turned obsolete junk into a really decent backup server for my main truenas system (48 cores vs. 2 in the qnap)

BigTonho · October 11, 2024, 10:22pm

I know this is a bit off-topic, but if you’re not satisfied with its performance, Open Media Vault has much more modest hardware requirements. Even without TrueNAS it will still be a happy Anchor lol!

John · October 11, 2024, 10:36pm

Just seeing this thread.
I’m wondering if they ever put Linux on a toaster? *click-click*

yep!
What’s better than a toaster? A toaster running Linux : r/linuxmasterrace (reddit.com)

Only 13 years later, Linux. Not bad.
NetBSD Toaster (laughingsquid.com)

stk · October 11, 2024, 10:41pm

actually running in the VM on a 2G ram QNAP it was very snappy, so not worried.

also, i paid my dues on the truenas learning curve, so not interested in switching. This is a very high quality platform. I’ve been very happy with how it works.

sfatula · October 12, 2024, 1:23am

Well, you do have the fact that it’s a backup that can be replaced. Though, it better work if you actually need it too! Maybe you follow the 3-2-1 backup method though in which case not a terrible use.

stk · October 12, 2024, 2:34am

yup, i usually have 4 copies of my data

DataMeister · October 13, 2024, 4:31am

Hmmm. I never considered trying to put another NAS OS inside the original NAS OS.

Are you just passing the drives through somehow on QTS?

stk · October 13, 2024, 8:45am

no, that would be a stretch for sure on a qnap.

you just give truenas a 5TB allocation and treat in truenas as a single disk. no point in having double failure.

neofusion · October 13, 2024, 10:16am

I recommend you give it a search on your preferred search engine.
It’s been a talking point for a couple of years, at least with regards to QNAP devices.

DataMeister · October 13, 2024, 3:14pm

What is the benefit of running on top then? Familiarity of the interface, certain apps?