N5500 - N7700 - N8800 FW v3.01.00.2

I just caught wind that Thecus have just released a new FW revision for the N5500/N7700/N8800 Series, its a BETA - http://www.thecus.com/Downloads/beta..._3.01.00.2.bin

This 'may/maynot' delete as appropriate have fixed the non responsiveness experienced by many users when upgrading, I don't have a unit to test on right now so cannot tell. Anybody daring enough to try it?

1. This is just a beta, not official release.
2. Upgrade Netatalk to 2.0.5 for MAC AFP protocol.
3. Link Aggregation supports the following modes.
- mode=1 active-backup
- mode=2 balance-xor
- mode=4 802.3ad
- mode=5 balance-tlb
- mode=6 balance-alb
4. Added Intel 82576GB GbE NIC support
5. Added Tehuti ENW-9800 10GbE NIC support. (For N7700PRO and N8800PRO
only)
6. Fixed the iSCSI target disconnecting issue while adding or making
changes to existing iSCSI target.
7. Added NTLM V2 support in ADS mode.
8. Fixed the issue that snapshot backup is not readable while admin
password changed.
9. Upgraded Intel GbE NIC driver to e1000e 1.1.2 for better performance.
10. Fixed the issue that Dual DOM wrongfully repair itself after file
system check done and rebooted.
11. Fixed the HDD spin down issue.
12. Limited stripe size to minimum 32KB while creating RAID.
13. Fixed the issue that workgroup name cannot be changed while not
joining AD.
14. Upgraded Samba to version 3.4.3 to fix multiple vulnerabilities.
Special thanks to Falk John
Also, Windows 7 will be able to login share folder by AD account.
15. Fixed the vulnerability issue reported by Falk John.
(Authentication bypass in /adm/login.php)
16. Fixed the issue that Nsync could not backup data to legacy FTP
server.
17. Fixed the issue that "size on disk" is too big compared with "size"
in Windows File Manager.

loaded on n7700 2 days ago, work well (home use, just samba)
today found and load 3.01.00.3
(nice changes in UI)
http://www.thecus.com/Downloads/beta..._3.01.00.3.txt

18. Changed the login page to a stylish Flash. In case the browser does
not support Flash, the login page will show current style.
19. Added shortcut icon when admin logged on.
20. Fixed the issue that WebDisk cannot login while HTTPS port changed.
21. Added an option to set "Local Master" on/off.

Can someone tell me the difference between Link Aggregation support
- mode=1 active-backup
- mode=2 balance-xor
- mode=4 802.3ad
- mode=5 balance-tlb
- mode=6 balance-alb

mode=0 (balance-rr)
Round-robin policy: Transmit packets in sequential order from the first available slave through the last. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

mode=1 (active-backup)
Active-backup policy: Only one slave in the bond is active. A different slave becomes active if, and only if, the active slave fails. The bond's MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adapter) to avoid confusing the switch. This mode provides fault tolerance. The primary option affects the behavior of this mode.

mode=2 (balance-xor)
XOR policy: Transmit based on [(source MAC address XOR'd with destination MAC address) modulo slave count]. This selects the same slave for each destination MAC address. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

mode=3 (broadcast)
Broadcast policy: transmits everything on all slave interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.

mode=4 (802.3ad)
IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation. Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings. Utilizes all slaves in the active aggregator according to the 802.3ad specification.

Pre-requisites:
1. Ethtool support in the base drivers for retrieving
the speed and duplex of each slave.
2. A switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link
aggregation.
Most switches will require some type of configuration
to enable 802.3ad mode.

mode=5 (balance-tlb)
Adaptive transmit load balancing: channel bonding that does not require any special switch support. The outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load (computed relative to the speed) on each slave. Incoming traffic is received by the current slave. If the receiving slave fails, another slave takes over the MAC address of the failed receiving slave.

Prerequisite:
Ethtool support in the base drivers for retrieving the
speed of each slave.

mode=6 (balance-alb)
Adaptive load balancing: includes balance-tlb plus receive load balancing (rlb) for IPV4 traffic, and does not require any special switch support. The receive load balancing is achieved by ARP negotiation. The bonding driver intercepts the ARP Replies sent by the local system on their way out and overwrites the source hardware address with the unique hardware address of one of the slaves in the bond such that different peers use different hardware addresses for the server.


balance-alb did give me the best performance on my N8800PRO (i think 802.3ad would be better but my switch does not support it).
I tested fault tolerance in balance-alb mode, disabled one switch port. Everything continued to work (of course only with max 1GB/s).

I have installed FW 3.01.00.3 beta on my N5500. Nice FW, it seems all is working fine - except of HDD spin down (HDD Powersave). This seems to be not fixed as I have this problem since upgrade to FW 3.00.08b

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wgoetz

I have installed FW 3.01.00.3 beta on my N5500. Nice FW, it seems all is working fine - except of HDD spin down (HDD Powersave). This seems to be not fixed as I have this problem since upgrade to FW 3.00.08b

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hmmm, harddisc spin down is working on my N7700 with this FW version - have you enabled the media server or are you working with quotas?
br
Peter

I'm facing this problem since I have upgraded to FW 3.00.08b. I had no problems with FW 3.00.04 and 3.00.07. Media Server iTunes is running, rescan intervall 60 min, HDD Powersave 30 min. I have opend a ticket at thecus for this at 12.01.2010. Now 11 days ago - no feedback, no answer, no replay from thecus support - this is very very poor.

Dear wgoetz,

Please provide me with your ticket number.

Thank you

_____________________________

Official Thecus Support Representative

Hello,

I'm testing the firmware 3.01.00.3 on my n5500, finally the HDs spin down seems to work on my Seagate 1.5TB, was on version 3.00.01 of the firmware that I waited, I opened a ticket at the time but I never received a response... (with the previous firmwares, after unit reboot, Hds spin down after a few tens of seconds and continued to spin up/ spin down cycle)

also changing the working group seems to work (even if the error message about joining the AD is still present), now successfully change from MYGROUP to WORKGROUP (the standard setting for Windows Networks)

What does not work, for me, is that I can no longer access the Backup tab to set Nsync, page loading never ends and you must close the management interface.

bye

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thecus - Ivan

Dear wgoetz,

Please provide me with your ticket number.

Thank you

_____________________________

Official Thecus Support Representative

---

Dear Ivan,

the Ticket ID is: DDL-855057. Thanks in advance.

Wolfgang

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thecus - Ivan

Dear wgoetz,

Please provide me with your ticket number.

Thank you

_____________________________

Official Thecus Support Representative

---

Dear Ivan,

Ticket ID is: DDL-855057 (See my post from 27-01-2010, 05:02 PM) Still no response/answer -nothing. Ticket ist open since 12-01-2010.

:angst:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ivzanc

Hello,

I'm testing the firmware 3.01.00.3 on my n5500, finally the HDs spin down seems to work on my Seagate 1.5TB, was on version 3.00.01 of the firmware that I waited, I opened a ticket at the time but I never received a response... (with the previous firmwares, after unit reboot, Hds spin down after a few tens of seconds and continued to spin up/ spin down cycle)

also changing the working group seems to work (even if the error message about joining the AD is still present), now successfully change from MYGROUP to WORKGROUP (the standard setting for Windows Networks)

What does not work, for me, is that I can no longer access the Backup tab to set Nsync, page loading never ends and you must close the management interface.

bye

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Im on firmware 3.01.004 now.
When i want to set the workgroup name should i change both WAN: Domain and ADS: Workgroup/Domain name or is the latter sufficient.

When I change WAN: Domain it tells me that a reboot is neccessary. But after reboot the IP-adress is changed to the default 192.168.1.100. When i start the Setup Wizard its says DHCP 192.168.1.100 but im afraid DHCP isnt working anymore then because it keeps coming back with 192.168.1.100 while my DHCP server (router) is giving IP-adresse in the 192.168.10.xxx range.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TKCJ

12. Limited stripe size to minimum 32KB while creating RAID.

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Well that is enough right there to keep me from upgrading. Unless you are using the Thecus exclusively as a database server you will waste at least 25% of your disk space. For home use there is no F in Way I would use that stripe size. Most home users have a combination of DVD iso files, xvids, photos and MP3's.

Bad move by Thecus...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TKCJ

12. Limited stripe size to minimum 32KB while creating RAID.

---

Well that is enough right there to keep me from upgrading. Unless you are using the Thecus exclusively as a database server you will waste at least 25% of your disk space. For home use there is no F in Way I would use that stripe size. Most home users have a combination of DVD iso files, xvids, photos and MP3's.

Bad move by Thecus...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by glotgering

Well that is enough right there to keep me from upgrading. Unless you are using the Thecus exclusively as a database server you will waste at least 25% of your disk space. For home use there is no F in Way I would use that stripe size. Most home users have a combination of DVD iso files, xvids, photos and MP3's.

Bad move by Thecus...

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Well I'm one of those that uses it mainly for DVD-ISOs BLU-ray Rips MKV and so on. What would b the best stripe size for that?

Is this only for fw 3.01.002 or also for newer versions?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dikkiedirk

Im on firmware 3.01.004 now.
When i want to set the workgroup name should i change both WAN: Domain and ADS: Workgroup/Domain name or is the latter sufficient.

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Hi,
Windows Workgroups / Domain is not the domain associated with the WAN / LAN.
The only setting to change is that relating to the ADS domain (active directory), the bug was precisely the inability to set the Workgroup (needed to speed up search operation of the network shares with xp etc..) without the presence on the network of a Domain Controller (NT/AD).

bye