# Drobo Utils README

Drobo-utils is a set of linux tools to query and manage Data Robotics Drobo storage systems. If you fire up droboview, it should look pretty familiar to those who have seen the dashboard on other operating systems. Droboview is built on a little programmer interface which can be installed on the system and used by other applications as well.

For experienced Linux hands, there is a command line interface, drobom, which offers the same functionality as droboview. For real hackers, fire up a python interpreter, 'import Drobo', help(Drobo), and you are off to the races... Command-line access is also bundled into a set of improvements to a standards droboshare called 'Droboshare Augmented Root File System' (DARFS)

Contents

- INSTALLATION
  - REQUIREMENTS
  - INSTALLING pre-requisites
  - Install From Package
  - Install from Source
  - Try Out the CLI
  - Try Out the GUI
  - Try Out the Python API
  - Building debian & ubuntu packages
- Setup Drobo with Linux
  - Getting Source
  - Multiple LUNS
  - Drobo Pro
- Drobo Firmware
  - SAFETY
  - Compatibility
- KNOWN BUGS
- Droboshare Support
  - DARFS
  - DARFS Installation
  - Enable SFTP Support
  - Building Droboshare applications
  - Droboshare Firmware
- Credits
- Administrivia

# INSTALLATION

Drobo utils installation.

## REQUIREMENTS

Drobo-utils was developed on pre-release version of Kubuntu (Hardy, Intrepid, and now Jaunty) Any similarly recent distro ought to do.

To get drobo-utils running, you need packages something like (these are ubuntu packages, names may vary on other distros):

essential::

  python -- interpreter for python language parted -- partitioner, usually included with the distro.

  if using RHEL, which has python 2.4...
    python-ctypes -- module for C-interface
for the GUI:
  python-qt4 -- the python bindings for version 4 of the QT toolkit

To get a complete list, it is best to use a shell window to grep in the Debian package control file (which defines what the dependencies are for the build system):

    peter@pepino% grep Depend debian/control
    Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 5), python2.5-dev, python-docutils
    Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, parted
    peter@pepino%

## INSTALLING pre-requisites

On ubuntu, it would typically look like so: Open a shell window. Enter the following package installation commands:

    % sudo aptitude install python-qt4 parted
    % sudo aptitude install debhelper python2.5-dev
    % sudo aptitude install python-docutils

If you have received a pre-built binary package,then you only need the first line. If you want to build from source, then you need the second line. The third line install what you need to build documentation.

On redhat/fedora distros, it would more likely be 'yum' instead of 'aptitude' and some of the package names will change. A typical difference is that packages for developers have the -devel suffix on Redhat derived distributions, instead of the -dev favoured by debian derived ones.

here is an example from fedora 7 (courtesy of help4death on the google group):

    % yum install python
    % yum install PyQt4
    % yum install python-devel

NOTE: if X or QT is missing, it will only disable the GUI. Line mode will work without issues. the package should work fine on headless servers using only the command line.

## Install From Package

Point your browser at: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=222830 where current packages are available. after downloading a .deb, it is simply a matter of:

> dpkg -i drobo-utils-<version>.deb

done!

## Install from Source

See DEVELOPER.txt

## Try Out the CLI

Assuming you have all of the above parts, in the directory where you downloaded the source, you should be able to invoke the command line interface as follows:

    drobom status

see if something sensible happens... on my system with a drobo the following happens:

    % sudo drobom status
    /dev/sdz /drobo01 100% full ( ['Red alert', 'Bad disk', 'No redundancy'], 0 )
    %

Note: drive changed to sdz to avoid copy/paste errors.

very scary, but my drobo is in bad shape right now... you should just get [] as a status, which means there is nothing wrong. To get all kinds of information on your drobo, try 'drobom info.' You can then invoke it with no arguments at all which will cause it to print out a list of the commands available through the command line interface.

## Try Out the GUI

Once the command line stuff that is working, and assuming you have python-qt4 installed, try:

    % droboview

which should start a GUI for each drobo attached to your machine, that you have permission to access (depends on the setup, usually USB devices on desktops are accessible to users, so you can see them.

## Try Out the Python API

> See DEVELOPERS.txt

## Building debian & ubuntu packages

> See DEVELOPERS.txt

# Setup Drobo with Linux

One can use the Format tab of the GUI to partition the device and create a single file system for a given LUN.

NOTE: mke2fs takes a very long time to run, on the order of ten minutes per Terabyte. the display format button just turns red while the format is in progress,and you have to wait until it finishes. Have not determined a method to monitor progress yet. other file systems are much more quickly created, so less of an issue.

I actually prefer to use the system tools manually, as described below:

Drobos with firmware 1.1.1 or later work well under linux with ext3. You can, of course set up an NTFS or HPS+ or FAT32 if you really want, but it seems actively counter-intuitive on Linux. Have not tested HPS, but ntfs-3g worked fine initially. However, unless you are going to physically move the disk to between systems, the native (ext3) format has many advantages. The ´coffee is hot´ disclaimer is necessary at this point:

    WARNING: THE FOLLOWING 4 LINES WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON YOUR DROBO!
    WARNING: NO, IT WILL NOT ASK ANY QUESTIONS!
    WARNING: ASK YOURSELF, before you start: ARE YOU SURE?
    WARNING: AFTER THE SECOND LINE, YOU ARE TOAST.
    WARNING: BEST TO BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFOREHAND...

If you didn't use the GUI, Here is what you have to type:

    # drobom -d /dev/sdz format ext3 PleaseEraseMyData
    You asked nicely, so I will format ext3 as you requested
    if you are really sure, go ahead and do: sh /tmp/fmtscript

    # cat /tmp/fmtscript
    #!/bin/sh
    parted /dev/sdz mklabel gpt
    parted /dev/sdz mkpart ext2 0 100%
    parted /dev/sdz print; sleep 5
    mke2fs -j -i 262144 -L Drobo01 -m 0 -O sparse_super,^resize_inode /dev/sdz1

The above sets up the drobo as one big partition, with a label that says it ought to contain an ext2 file system. If you want an NTFS file system, then write ´ntfs´ in place of ext2. The next step is to add the file system into the partition. while parted's are instantaneous, the mke2fs takes a while, just have a little patience, it´ll be fine.

> sh -x /tmp/fmtscript

(If you want an ntfs file system, then mkntfs -f -L Drobo01 /dev/sdz1 ought to work too... )

On my system the process looked like this:

    root@alu:~# parted -i /dev/sdz
    GNU Parted 1.7.1
    Using /dev/sdz
    Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
    (parted) mklabel gpt
    (parted) mkpart ext2 0 100%
    (parted) quit
    root@alu:~# fdisk /dev/sdz
    GNU Fdisk 1.0
    Copyright (C) 1998 - 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This program is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
    WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
    PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

    Using /dev/sdz
    Command (m for help): p

    Disk /dev/sdz: 2199 GB, 2199020382720 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 267349 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdz1               1      267350  2147488843   83  Linux
    Command (m for help): q
    root@alu:~# mke2fs -j -i 262144 -L Drobo01 -m 0 -O sparse_super,^resize_inode /dev/sdz1
    mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
    Filesystem label=Drobo01
    OS type: Linux
    Block size=4096 (log=2)
    Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
    8388608 inodes, 536870886 blocks
    0 blocks (0.00%) reserved for the super user
    First data block=0
    16384 block groups
    32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
    512 inodes per group
    Superblock backups stored on blocks:
            32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
            4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
            102400000, 214990848, 512000000

    Writing inode tables: done
    Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
    Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

    This filesystem will be automatically checked every 26 mounts or
    180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
    root@alu:~#
    root@alu:~# mount /dev/sdz1 /mnt

## Getting Source

See DEVELOPERS.txt

## Multiple LUNS

LUN is an abbreviation of 'Logical UNit'. The origin of the term is SCSI terminology. When RAID units became too large for support in the past, and were sub-divided to present smaller units the operating system. The default LUNSIZE on Drobos is 2 TiB (adjustable using the tools.) If more disk space (after allowing for parity/redundancy) than LUNSIZE is installed in a unit, Drobo will show a second (or even third) LUN. Each LUN shows up in Linux as a separate disk (examples if the first LUN shows up as /dev/sde, the next will be /dev/sdf, then /dev/sdg.)

If you think you should see multiple LUNS and you don't, you might have a look at some kernel settings: make sure that scsi_mod kernel module is loaded, make sure /sys/module/scsi_mod/parameters/max_luns is > 1.

Droboview will start up one GUI per drobo, regardless of the number of LUNS. If asked to format, all LUNS for the device will be formatted.

ON LUNSIZES >= 2TB:
  -- On older distributions, there are a couple of gotchas related to

    > linux tools which aren't 2TB ready... to exceed 2 TB, you need to:
    >   -- use GPT partitions, which aren´t supported by older fdisk
    >     versions. Tools based on libparted work fine, mostly.
    >   -- gparted fails, and seems to have a 1 TB limit on devices.
    >     (bug #524948 reported to bugzilla.gnome.org) It's just the GUI, as libparted is fine, and other tools based on it still work.

    -- on linux kernel < 2.6.24 supposedly, the USB layer won't let one address
      LUNs/offsets > 2 TB. For example, Ubuntu hardy (8.04) released in Spring 2008 has a 2.6.24, and so is OK. I've never been able to test this problem.
    -- ext3 with 4K blocks is supposed to allow file system capacity of 8 TiB.
      4K blocks seem to be assigned by default. So I think a good max. It would be fun to set the LunSIZE to 8 TiB and test it out...

## Drobo Pro

Drobo-utils depends on the linux generic scsi layer. I suspect that there is just a basic ethernet connection now, and you a few additional driver layers set up before it will work. You need to configure the iscsi driver to recognize the device. Lemonizer on the Google Group 2009/05/16 reported good luck with:

I had to manually configure the ip of the dbpro from the Drobo Dashboard on my macbook to do this as I'm not sure how to get the portal ip for iscsiadm. In my case it was 192.168.2.80 port 3260 and I'll use that ip in the example below

1. Configure iscsi ip address via drobo dashboard on win/osx
2. Install open-iscsi (http://www.open-iscsi.org/): sudo apt-get install open-iscsi
3. Connect the dbpro to host machine via iscsi
4. Query dbpro's id: sudo iscsiadm --mode discovery --type sendtargets --portal 192.168.2.80
5. Copy the id string returned by iscsiadm, something like "iqn.2005-06.com.datarobotics:drobopro.tdb091840080.node0"
6. Connect to the dbpro: sudo iscsiadm --mode node --targetname iqn.2005-06.com.datarobotics:drobopro.tdb091840080.node0 --portal 192.168.2.80:3260 --login

If everything went well, your dbpro should show up under /dev. Also check /var/log/messages to confirm that the iscsi device connected successfully.

After that, drobo-utils should be able to detect the Drobo and manage it over ethernet.

(source: http://groups.google.com/group/drobo-talk/browse_frm/thread/453e02e105e9b41?hl=en )

Some people reported data corruption. This link claims to fix one such issue: http://www.drobospace.com/forum/thread/13951/Dropped-iSCSI-connections/?page=2#24792

# Drobo Firmware

Upgrading firmware is pretty self-explanatory in the GUI. the first time you press the Update button, it checks to see if a new firmware is available. If it there is newer firmware, it offer to upgrade, with suitable prompts. Similarly, the line mode interface has two commands to deal with firmware, fwcheck will tell you if an upgrade is required. the fwupgrade will do the job. It takes a few minutes, and prints a status you you can see how it is progressing. Have patience:

    root@pepino:/home/peter/drobo/drobo-utils/trunk# drobom fwupgrade

    validateFirmware start...
    Magic number validated. Good.
    484 + 2937552 = 2938036 length validated. Good.
    CRC from header: 4260378881, calculated using python zlib crc32: 398201869
    yeah, the header CRCs do not match. For now they never do ... ignoring it.
    CRC for body from header: 1852877921, calculated: 1852877921
    32 bit Cyclic Redundancy Check correct. Good.
    validateFirmware successful...
    writeFirmware: i=484, start=484, last=2938036 fw length= 488
    .
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 33252
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 66020
    .
    .
    .
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2720228
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2752996
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2785764
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2818532
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2851300
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2884068
    wrote  32768  bytes... total: 2916836
    wrote  21200  bytes... total: 2938036
    writeFirmware Done.  i=2938036, len=2938036
    root@pepino:/home/peter/drobo/drobo-utils/trunk#

when it's done, you can check if it worked using:

    root@pepino# drobom status
    /dev/sdf - 00% full - (['New firmware installed'], 0)

If the status is like that, then do:

    root@pepino:/home/peter/drobo/drobo-utils/trunk# drobom shutdown

lights will flash etc... wait until Drobo goes dark. Wait another five seconds, then un-plug the USB / connector.

Plug it back in, and wait 10 seconds. it should start up with the latest firmware available for your drobo.

The drobom commands, like DRI's dashboard, will normally get the latest and greatest firmware and upgrade. If you have the need, you can load arbitrary firmware from the CLI with fwload command.

## SAFETY

Those worried about safety of using this software should know: it was developed with assistance from the vendor (Data Robotics Inc.), and in every case, based on vendor documentation, and with at least encouragement, if not outright support. For each release, a QA.txt file is built, demonstrating the functionality tests run. There are multiple checksum verifications built into the firmware upgrade process, so it is next to impossible to brick a drobo using the tools. Drobo-utils verifies firmware checksums before attempting to upload the image to the device, and the device checks the firmware against the checksums as well. New firmware is loaded into an alternate location from the currently active one, and if activation of the new firmware fails, the drobo will simply boot the old one.

On the other hand, common sense rules do apply. Setting the LUN size, or re-formatting a Drobo will erase all your data whether you do it on Linux or any other operating system. These are power tools, and they can do some damage to your data if used without proper care. For example, the reliability of any storage unit does not reduce the need for backups it only makes doing them easier. A Drobo is an excellent place to put backups, but not a substitute for them. Backups are the only way to address error 18 (the number of inches in front of the keyboard the source of the issue lies.) and no storage unit can protect against fire or flood.

## Compatibility

Drobo has been tested with every old firmware version. Any Drobo should be upgradable to modern firmware using the dashboard.

> NOTE: really need at least 1.1.1 to use Linux & ext3.
>   just use the tools to upgrade your firmware ASAP.
> 1.01 - very old... bad idea to install this, need to write
>   a script to get out, because it isn't in the revision table. not much works except firmware upgrade.

> 1.0.2 - works ok in CLI And GUI to view, and upgrade firmware.

> 1.0.3 - GUI and CLI work OK, can upgrade firmware.
>   Used ntfs3g for a few months under ubuntu 7.10 Linux. Used 2 TB LUN, with 1.5 TB of physical space available.
> 1.1.0 - dashboard works no issues.
>   - from this point, you don't seem to need to unplug the USB connector to complete the upgrade.
>   - firmware prior to here deals badly with ext3.
> 1.1.1 - 1.2.4 works without issues.
>   ('name' not supported by firmware)

> 1.3.0 - works without issues.

# KNOWN BUGS

droboview isn't suited to run continuously for long periods, as it has a memory leak... total foot print starts out at 32M with a 15 MB resident set size, of which 10 MB are shared, so only about 4M of real memory consumed. but the RSS grows at about 2MB/hour.

> 29m 11m S 1 2.9 9:44.50 droboview

best to restart it daily, or use it when necessary, but not leave it on for days.

After you resize luns, droboview gets confused, you need to exit and restart.

We have a report that dumping diagnostics does not work over firewire. Work-around: connect via USB.

# Droboshare Support

Droboshare is not directly supported by drobo utils running on a linux host. However, the droboshare itself is a linux host, and it is possible to run drobo-utils un-modified on the droboshare itself. In order to do run drobo-utils, you need to build a python interpreter. A python interpreter has, itself, a bunch of dependencies. So you need to install a whack of packages on the droboshare in order to get a working drobo-utils. This is where DARFS comes in.

## DARFS

The Droboshare Augmented Root File System (darfs) is a 60 MB or so download you can get from drobo-utils.sf.net. There isn't any source code, because, well, nothing from any of the packages has been modified. there are instructions on how to build DARFS in DEVELOPERS.html

DARFS is a standard droboshare root file system, with some packages added: openssl, openssh, berkeleydb, bzip2, a fairly complete Python 2.6.2. drobo- utils is a python app. and it works in line and API mode, natively, on the droboshare. for example, I've used it to replace the firmware. no problem at all.

People un-afraid of the command line can upgrade drobo firmware, query status, and take diagnositc dumps, from the command line on the droboshare itself, just as they would on any linux host computer. But a full GUI would be too much for the little processor and more importantly the limited memory in the droboshare, so that is not provided.

## DARFS Installation

Download it from drobo-utils.sf.net: steps:

> 1. copy the tar file onto somewhere on your share.
> 2. log in via DropBear ssh as a root user on the droboshare.
> 3. cd /mnt/DroboShares/YourDrobo (root of drobo file system, for example)
> 4. tar -xzf darfs.tgz (root of drobo file system, for example)
> 5. the root directory of the tar is 'slash'.. it will be under YourDrobo
> 6. export PATH="/mnt/DroboShares/YourDrobo/slash/usr/bin:${PATH}" (which is where python and drobom are.)
> 7. drobom status

you're done!

## Enable SFTP Support

all you need to do is:

ln -s /usr/libexec /mnt/Droboshares/YourDrobo/slash/usr/libexec

Try an sftp from another machine (as root...) and it ought to work.

(explanation: when one tries to sftp to a droboshare, it gives an error about trying to exec '/usr/libexec/sftp-server'. Openssh builds the right binary, but Dropbear doesn't know where to look for it. the libexec directory isn't there on the droboshare, so there is no harm in creating it and linking into DARFS.)

## Building Droboshare applications

> See DEVELOPERS.txt

## Droboshare Firmware

With DARFS, and the third party software you can get from drobospace and drobo.com, the droboshare is very open and hackable. However, there remains one remaining limitation: There is no open source way to upgrade or modify droboshare firmware. If you want to re-flash to a factory original state, you need the vendor dashboard.

# Credits

who did what:

    Peter Silva:    wrote most all of it.
    Chris Atlee:    the proper debian packaging.
    Brad Guillory:  some help with diagnostics and patches.
    Joe Krahn:      lots of inspiration.
    Andy Grover:    some elegance cleanups.

# Administrivia

version 0.6.1, October 6th 2009.

copyright:

Drobo Utils Copyright (C) 2008,2009 Peter Silva (Peter.A.Silva@gmail.com) Drobo Utils comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; For details type see the file named COPYING in the root of the source directory tree.