Author Topic: WS-WVL Win 2008 R2 EOL/ESU End of life - to buffalo WS-WVHL/debian, discussion  (Read 12516 times)

Kane88

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Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help

I am curious if there is a way to fix the issues I'm seeing with both Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Sever 2016 using a Buffalo WS-WWVL/R1 device.  See attached screenshots. 
A clean install gives no errors, but I lose the preinstalled buffalo management software too.

Apparently- neither OS Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 supports the Buffalo pre-installed iSCSI software that came with it.

Even uninstalling the pre-installed iSCSI target software- doesn't get rid of this error problem.

Thoughts on how to remedy this issue? 

http://s70.photobucket.com/user/blackhawksfan/media/Windows%20Server%202012%20R2%20setup%20warning%201%20web.jpg.html

http://s70.photobucket.com/user/blackhawksfan/media/Windows%20Server%202012%20R2%20setup%20warning%202%20web.jpg.html

http://s70.photobucket.com/user/blackhawksfan/media/Windows%20Server%202012%20R2%20errors%20after%20login%20web.jpg.html

https://s70.photobucket.com/user/blackhawksfan/media/Windows%20Server%202016%20red%20services%20after%20login%20web.jpg.html

-----

backstory:
This is a WS-WV4.0TL/R1 device.
Buffalo's stock OS for this series is Windows Storage Server 2008 R2, which as of January 14 2020 this year- is no longer supported.
To my knowledge Buffalo no longer supports these devices as in- OS or any software updates.
The idea is to try to upgrade the OS and still use it, even if it is just offline storage.

Buffalo never gave us installer packages for these units, just a Windows OS WIM image bootable USB rescue disk.
I contacted support, they would not offer any installers, and wanted $20 for a replacement WSS 2008 R2 WIM rescue usb disk, which I already have.
I don't think reinstalling the software would help anyway, it seems more an OS compatibility problem.

I have managed to upgrade it to Windows Server 2012 R2 and then to Windows Server 2016 (it does work, and only in that order!) 
And it kept the pre-installed Buffalo software in doing so.

« Last Edit: January 25, 2020, 03:52:27 AM by Kane88 »

1000001101000

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2020, 01:48:29 PM »
I don't have any advice regarding windows but have had a lot of luck with this generation of device in general.

One option is that you can install Buffalo's Linux-based firmware. I created a guide you can use to create a recovery disk to use for that process:
https://buffalonas.miraheze.org/wiki/Create_Recovery_Disk_for_Intel-based_Terastation

You can also modern Debian Linux. I've created a custom installer image which handles the configuration of the hot-swap bays, temperature sensors, LCD, etc:
https://github.com/1000001101000/Debian_on_Intel_Terastations

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2020, 04:51:31 PM »
I figured Windows is somewhat of a longshot, if it can be done.  I wonder what software from their WIM- is even needed to manage the unit in windows.

As for linux, that does sound interesting.  Although, I'm not super adept w/linux.
After getting your firmware installed:
I'm wondering if it is possible to load buffalo's gui firmware and linux based os using your method.  I'm familiar with their admin console for the 3400 and 5400.

What model firmware or boot files are compatible with the WS-WV series?  I'll need to download it.  Their windows wim doesn't have the files you listed on your site.  It doesn't use them as it boots windows pe.
This machine has an intel atom d510 1.66 ghz cpu w/2gb ram.
The mainboard bios shows TS-(W/Q/6/8/R)VL BIOS 3.01 12/28/2010

And I don't have the os you mentioned.  Can your steps be done in a bunsenlabs debian session?  I can spin that up, or i've got a systemrescuecd that boots into linux- don't know what linux version their iso uses...

Thanks.

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2020, 05:42:23 PM »
You can get the linux-based firmware for that model here:
http://buffalo.jp/support_ap/support/products/ts_wvhl_r1.html

It works basically the same as the TS3000/TS5000 that you’re used to.

I developed that process on a debian system so I would expect it would work great from a debian live environment as you described.

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2020, 11:32:26 PM »
Thanks, I downloaded the firmware.  And I managed to get the grub.cfg made and the *.buffalo files extracted.

Aside that, I'm having a lot of difficulty with this.
I can get the iso made, but all it does is boot to a GNU GRUB version 2.02 window and grub> prompt.  Plus, the *.buffalo files and grub.cfg aren't getting put in the ts-recovery.iso either

before the iso is made, those files are in
/disk/initrd-atom_d510.buffalo
/disk/vmlinuz-atom_d510.buffalo
/disk/boot/grub/grub.cfg

I notice most of paths don't have a / in front of them.  I'm assuming those are the correct paths.

I don't understand what or where mkdir -p disk/boot/grub/  is doing.  I can't find the path.

So I have been doing mkdir -p /disk/boot/grub/ and put the files within those paths

I cd to /disk
then type in grub-mkrescue -o /disk/ts-recovery.iso disk
The iso gets made at /disk/ts-recovery.iso

but none of the files from the /disk folder get put in the iso

What am I doing wrong?

As3nd0r

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2020, 04:55:48 AM »
I know you are trying to switch that one over to Linux now, however as you initially managed to update the Windows Server OS, is there a specific reason you need Buffalos iSCSI target software? This is Windows Server, you can use pretty much any iSCSI target you want on it
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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2020, 09:35:18 AM »
the lack of "/" at the front of the paths in the instructions is intentional. the goal is to create a directory (under the current directory) which will be used to create the "/" of the iso and then place the files we're adding in the correct relative locations. Finally we tell grub-mkrescue where that starting directory is and it will create the iso with those files included. If it worked you should see the *.buffalo files right in "/" of the resulting iso.

in theory the way you were doing it could work too but somehting must have been mixed up. if you built your directory at /data then it should have been:
grub-mkrescue -o ts-recovery.iso /disk
rather than
grub-mkrescue -o /disk/ts-recovery.iso disk
 

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2020, 12:56:57 PM »
I know you are trying to switch that one over to Linux now, however as you initially managed to update the Windows Server OS, is there a specific reason you need Buffalos iSCSI target software? This is Windows Server, you can use pretty much any iSCSI target you want on it

I have two of the exact same model.  It's possible try one of each between Linux + Windows, and see how I fare between them.

In the end, iSCSI doesn't seem to be the issue. I don't use iSCSI, but was going maybe try it later.  iSCSI was preinstalled.

In the base WSS 2008 install, I uninstalled the the iSCSI Target and the iSCSI Target client.  I also removed the Intel GMA 3150 video driver that isn't compatible with WSS 2012 and up, and then cold booted.  And then I tried the upgrade- again.  Still- no dice.  The errors in the screenshots still happen.

When I do a clean install, none of those errors come up.  But I also lose all the buffalo management software.  It's frustrating because this unit will at least run the newer OS.



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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2020, 03:53:01 PM »
A while back I created a Python library for sending commands to the on-board microcontroller for these devices. It allows you to control things like the LCD screen and LEDs etc. If you do end up on windows without the buffalo tools you could try using that for some of those functions. I assume you could just replace /dev/ttyS1 with COM1 to make it work.

If you do end up trying it out let me know how it goes, I'd love to add that to the documentation.
https://github.com/1000001101000/Python_buffalo_libmicon

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2020, 04:39:13 PM »
the lack of "/" at the front of the paths in the instructions is intentional. the goal is to create a directory (under the current directory) which will be used to create the "/" of the iso and then place the files we're adding in the correct relative locations. Finally we tell grub-mkrescue where that starting directory is and it will create the iso with those files included. If it worked you should see the *.buffalo files right in "/" of the resulting iso.


Ok, I follow you.  This was was the first time I encountered that lack of '/'- with linux.

I just needed a fresh start today, I was getting confused yesterday between it all.
Even various distros have their way- of doing things.  like having to sudo to even do a mkdir command!  I was totally- thrown off.
There is a spot in the directions too that threw me off, I had to jump to another page- which isn't mentioned currently...

The iso seems to have built correctly today.  But I am still having trouble.
The unit will boot to the EM mode with the flash drive though, so some progress...

I start the boot with a freshly pair of wiped hard drives.
When I run the v1.32 updater from here as you mentioned:  http://buffalo.jp/support_ap/support/products/ts_wvhl_r1.html
and using your ini edit and other steps here:  https://herzig-net.de/?page=unbrick_ls-wxl

I pick just the 3 config options as listed, eventually I get format failed, update aborted.

I see on the console it's not making a raid 1 array correctly.
create RAID1 on /dev/md0 failed
create RAID1 on /dev/md2 failed

it pauses at
/dev/md0 is not a block special device
proceed anyway? (y,n)

And then it basically- the terastation dies out.  A few minutes later, the updater app- errors out. 

I cannot find the terastation, to start the second pass.
I close the updater and resume- it still cannot find the terastation.
I physically shut the terastation off, and restart, and then resume your instructions...
It finds it.

I check the four boxes on left under update, and two on the right for config: don't check version + force update

I get a partition not found, aborting firmware update.

Is that firmware you had me download, the right one?  Or do we need to do something else on this one?

Thanks.


Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2020, 04:48:20 PM »
A while back I created a Python library for sending commands to the on-board microcontroller for these devices. It allows you to control things like the LCD screen and LEDs etc. If you do end up on windows without the buffalo tools you could try using that for some of those functions. I assume you could just replace /dev/ttyS1 with COM1 to make it work.

If you do end up trying it out let me know how it goes, I'd love to add that to the documentation.
https://github.com/1000001101000/Python_buffalo_libmicon

Having two units (1 windows, 1 buffalo/linux) will give me a chance to see which OS can do what.

Sounds good, I will check that out at some point on the windows side.
On that one, I think I'm going to play around with either Server 2012 R2 or 2016 without the buffalo apps, just for the heck of it. 
I think I can do all the raid and disk rebuilding stuff via the disk management console.  I think their app was just a shell for that.  Not sure what the buffalo utils, really even do or are needed for.  Though they are useful for sending alerts and for monitoring.  I don't recall windows server having any built in stuff for that.

As to linux, see my other post. :)  I'm really hoping I can get it to work, we're getting closer...

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2020, 04:53:46 PM »
sounds like a lot of progress. when you do get it working, let me know what I should add to the wiki pages to make it clearer.

tsupdater only shows compatible devices so we can be pretty sure that we've got the right firmware if you're getting the option to update at all. I would recommend trying with completely blank drives and checking all boxes except 'update boot' . That should allow it to create the partitions and raid arrays, format them, and perform the install.

On some occasions I've had it fail similar to what you describe and just ran the install again and had it succeed which is also worth a try.

If it sill gives you trouble post as much of the boot log as you can and we can work on where it's failing. One time I manually ran the partitioning script via the command line to get it to move forward. I can walk you through that if necessary though I'll need to dig up my notes about it.

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2020, 08:03:39 PM »
sounds like a lot of progress. when you do get it working, let me know what I should add to the wiki pages to make it clearer.

tsupdater only shows compatible devices so we can be pretty sure that we've got the right firmware if you're getting the option to update at all. I would recommend trying with completely blank drives and checking all boxes except 'update boot' . That should allow it to create the partitions and raid arrays, format them, and perform the install.

On some occasions I've had it fail similar to what you describe and just ran the install again and had it succeed which is also worth a try.

If it sill gives you trouble post as much of the boot log as you can and we can work on where it's failing. One time I manually ran the partitioning script via the command line to get it to move forward. I can walk you through that if necessary though I'll need to dig up my notes about it.

I think we're going to need those notes, whenever you have some time to find them.  No matter what I try, this firmware update is not able to open the disks for writing.  I see that error over and over on the consle, every time run the updater.  And as before- it cannot create the raid array.

When I go to view the disks before wiping them, there certaily are partition tables and several partitions written to them.

I've tried it several ways.  I did what you just mentioned about.  I did what you have on your site.  I even did it my way that works fine with other units.  And I tried the noformatting at 1 and at 0 also (your doc says 1, Before today, I always used zero with other buffalo devices, and never this kind of a problem, it has always updated other models just fine)

I have no idea how to log the installer to where to where I could save it and post the results here. 

I've tried 4k sector disks that worked fine with Windows 2008 on these units
and also a pair of older 512byte sector disks too.

Same result, so it's not a sector size problem.

Does anyone have an older copy of the firmware I could try?  I wonder if it is something specific to this 1.32 version.



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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2020, 08:52:36 PM »
I'll try it out on my ts-6vhl (same generation) when I get a chance.

Kane88

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Re: Buffalo WS-WV4.0TL/R1 Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 help
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2020, 01:26:14 AM »
I'll try it out on my ts-6vhl (same generation) when I get a chance.
Ok, thanks.  I appreciate it. :)
It has to be something simple.  I'm 100% certain I am doing the firmware update the correct way.
I've tried it from two different pc's now since last post, and same results.

Is there a number of disks check routine or something in either the iso boot files, or in the firmware itself?

I noticed when I tried to flash a different unit tonight, a TS-XE4.0TL/R5, it also failed, and similar way- kinda sorta.
Now on that one- I have no console to watch.
I was using just 2 wiped disks with that unit, and that one is a 4 disk unit.
The updater didn't even attempt to write the bios code file. That screen didn't pop up at all, and that screen usually does come up when the updater works right and is transferring the firmware blocks to the NAS.  That screen also has not popped up one time in all the attempts on the WS-WV either, not once. 

So, I put 4 wiped disks in that one- the TS-XE, and it flashed just fine.

Now on the WS-WV unit we're converting:
That one is only a 2 drive bay unit.
When I watch the console, the updater is trying to write to 4 drives.  It's never going to find 4 drives, since the unit doesn't support 4...
Maybe this is the problem?