Bubbagen live-USB for B3 updated

[Gordon]

Hi,

I've just released versions 1.9.1 (OpenRC) and 1.9.6 (Systemd) of the Bubbagen live-USB image for B3 on GitHub. The kernel has had a minor update to sublevel 39 which was selected as stable version by the Gentoo devs.

Like the original Gentoo live-USB by Sakaki you can burn these images to a USB key that is at least 8GiB in size. Beware that the u-boot system on the B3 is rather 'antique' and there may be issues with modern USB keys. I suggest you find the cheapest 8GiB key you can find (the ones with the U-shaped metal 'protector' / branding always seem to work).

Changes to this release:

• Fixes to the web admin, including reinstating the restriction for admin login on WAN interface
• PHP was upgraded to version 7.0
• filetransferdaemon (uploads and downloads) now also runs with newer libtorrent-rasterbar
• All¹ packages synced against the Gentoo tree @ April 5, 2017

Enjoy,
Gordon


¹) Some packages withheld: layman was kept at 2.0.0-r3 because 2.4.2 segfaults on the B3 and Gnome networkmanager (systemd) at 1.0.12-r1 to allow the B3 to have a fall-back IP address. Older masks also still apply.

[Gordon]

Probably the worst timing ever...

The very same day I released this version the Gentoo dev-team marked perl 5.24 stable. An upgrade that proved to be extremely troublesome. The updated link above points to a new image that contains both the upgrade to perl 5.24 *and* to gcc 5.4.0.

Enjoy,
Gordon

[lognok]

When I try to run /root/install_on_sda.sh it says 'No such file or directory'.

b3 ~ # /root/install_on_sda.sh
-bash: /root/install_on_sda.sh: No such file or directory

b3 ~ # ls -l /root/install_on_sda.sh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 Nov 1 2015 /root/install_on_sda.sh -> //usr/local/sbin/install_on_sda.sh

b3 ~ # cd /usr/local/sbin/
b3 sbin # ls
firewall-flush

http://b3 works and I have internet access from LAN.

What am I doing wrong?

[Gordon]

I fear the error may be on my side, having run one cleanup action too many and thereby removing the bubba-install package in the distributed image.

You may like to note that I have a new release that is more up to date (Jan 10, 2018) and addresses several issues that were in the 1.9.x releases.

Gordon

[lognok]

Thanks

Downloaded and tried to install it, but I couldn't connect. No fault of the image, my B3 is unstable when installing OS's. Next I tried Arch and it worked, so that's what I ended up installing.

Background:
My B3 has been a pain to install OS's on since Excito stopped supporting/updating the OS.
Using a usb-stick it would boot up the OS and install it just fine. Then one day it refuses to boot the usb or it seemingly boots and install the OS, but doesn't allow access via lan or wan port. Then another it works again...

Last week I started the process of installing Debian Stretch and wanted to update the iptables file. After updating the file (copy-paste from this post http://forum.excito.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5933) and rebooting the B3 I had no longer access to lan/wan.
Also I don't have a separate router since my B3 is my router/WAP. This requires me to setup my Ubuntu laptop to share the lan connection to be able to ssh into the B3. But before I can do this, I have to wait until a system log updates to show me the ip-address of the B3. I tried nmap but it didn't give any results and the log ever produced an ip-address.

I'm tired of fighting this box and I'm starting to think there might be a hw-problem that is causing this behavior. This same hw-problem is maybe also the reason the e-sata port on the B3 doesn't work.

Long story short: My B3 will run Arch until I find a suitable replacement (hopefully soon!).


Best regards
lognok

[lognok]

Just for fun, I tried to boot the latest bubbagen 1.10.0 and it boots up fine.
But this time I can't access the web-gui on http://b3, but I can ssh root into it.

lognok

[Gordon]

You probably try to connect through the WAN port, which puts you on the wrong side of the internal firewall because the live-USB defaults to server-router mode. Use the LAN port instead.

[lognok]

I wish it was that simple.

The setup:
LAN connected to my laptop
WAN connected to the internet.

Laptop got ip-address, could access the internet and ssh into B3, but there was no http://b3 available.


I'm writing the above in past tense because right now (from the same usb-stick) I booted Bubbagen and laptop got no ip-address, no internet, no ssh and no webgui.

So my B3 is unstable and is going to be replaced as soon as I find a replacement (I'll start a new thread for suggestions...).


lognok

[Gordon]

Hold on. I'll verify. We're probably looking at a combination of issues here. What operating system are you running on your laptop?

[Gordon]

Cause found! Truly sorry about that. It appears that the DHCP config file got truncated somehow and the B3 is actually not getting the address it should get which causes DNS not to work.

I've updated the image on GitHub, but if you can access the B3 from the WAN side you can simply apply the required change yourself: (quicker than downloading and writing the image)

1. delete the file /etc/hosts ( b3 ~ # rm /etc/hosts )
2. append the following content to /etc/dhcpcd.conf ( b3 ~ # nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf )

   Code: Select all

   # static profile for eth1
   profile default_LAN
   static ip_address=192.168.10.1/24
   static domain_name=localdomain
   
   # config for eth1
   interface eth1
   fallback default_LAN
   
   noipv4ll
   timeout 10
   

3. restart the LAN interface ( b3 ~ # /etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart )

Gordon

[beatgr]

Received the NOS Excito B3 with Wireless LAN option, but without hard drive, last week.
Based on hard drive rail marks, it appears this unit originally had a hard drive - which was removed.

Since the history or mfg. date of this B3 was unknown, I updated the B3 bootloader to support 3 TB disks.
http://wiki.excito.com/w/index.php?titl ... _3TB_disks

I prepared Gordon’s bubbagen image on a Win10 computer using 7-zip for “xz” image extraction.
The bootable, live-USB image for the Excito B3 was placed on a SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB Flash Drive.
I used the “systemd” version of the latest image.
https://github.com/gordonb3/bubbagen

Per instructions, the B3 booted with Gentoo (sakaki) and patched Excito web interface (gordon).
This B3 was operational with its LAN port (eth1) attached to my home network.
The Excito web page (http, port 80) was accessible from other PCs on my network.

Using Gordon’s patched Excito web interface, I changed the time zone, date, and time.
==
The GitHub section, Installing Bubbagen on your B3's Internal Drive (Optional),
did not work for the new Western Digital NAS “Red” 3 TB hard drive installed in this Excito B3.
I assume the script could not handle a blank hard drive.

So, logged in as “root” to the Bubbagen “Live” USB image —
Using the “parted” command, which supports GPT, I established four (4) partitions on this hard drive.
I followed the partition example, setting (sda) as GPT, outlined at gentoo.org
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:A ... n_the_disk

After I created partitions on the 3 TB disk, I re-tried Gordon’s script for installing Bubbagen.
This time the script ran, as expected.

I shutdown the B3, removed power, and removed the live-USB flash drive.
Reconnecting DC power, the B3 mini-server booted up after about 90-100 seconds, with solid Blue LED.
There were some false starts: Ethernet cable not fully inserted into home network hub, B3 seemed to not boot the hard drive Gentoo image (took longer than Gordon noted)
==
Quirks (bugs?) discovered, so far.

1.) Date/Time Clock (left) on web interface is different from Home page and Settings/time and language page.
At 22:00 local time (April 20), one would display April 20 while the other showed April 21.
It appears the “date” in B3 web interface is using different underlying references (gentoo/linux).

2.) Installing Bubbagen/Gentoo on new 3 TB hard drives — with no partitions.

3.) Accessing the Excito B3 via Win10 browser: http://B3 was problematic.
Since the B3 acquires its IP address via my home router DHCP — this may be a local network issue.
Still investigating, likely will need to turn-off DHCP service on the Excito B3.

4.) Earlier posters have noted “unstable” B3.
Based on my previous work with original Bubba and Bubba|2 ...
installation of these images on new/used B3 miniservers — it does require patience and linux familiarity.
==
Yet to Do:

1.) Configuration of the Wireless LAN (wlan0) is “locked” via Bubbagen web interface.
I need to decide on my desired network access with good security protections for this wireless port.

Greg
Chicago

[Gordon]

Version 1.11 is out