Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

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scottdk
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Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 11:19 am

Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by scottdk »

What are the options for an alternative OS for my old TS-870 Pro (with upgrade to i7-3770S and 16GBB Ram)?

The NAS is only used for Fileshare and Docker Containers. Since discovering Docker, I run everything in containers. The problem is that docker in QTS 4.3.6 is quite out of date, and several containers are unable to work. Looking at you nodered and debian.

I've read some articles about people installing Linux on an old QNAP. Has anyone had experience with this? Reccomended? Not recommended? And are there Linux drivers for the Marvell that can use my existing Raid 6 array without rebuilding it?

I could shell out AUD$2000 for a new NAS such as the TS-873A, but the CPU rating is barely better than the old i7-3770S. It's an expensive upgrade just to get a new version of QTS and Docker. To get a significant upgrade, I'm looking at the $4000 AUD models. My system is fine. I just want the latest Docker!
TS-870 Pro
QTS 4.3.6.1965 (2022/03/02)
CPU upgraded to i7-3770S
16GB Ram
QNAP 10GbE NIC (QM2-2P10G1T)
5 x HGST 4TB 7200RPM Deskstar NAS
2 x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 4TB
1 x WD RED 4TB (spare)
(RAID 6)
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dolbyman
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Location: Vancouver BC , Canada

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by dolbyman »

using existing raid drives with data will be impossible...so be ready to restore everything from backups

otherwise your nas is a normal x86 computer..so install whatever you want..only trouble could be special stuff like fan controller and LCD display
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jaysona
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Posts: 846
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Somewhere in the Great White North

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by jaysona »

scottdk wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 9:48 am What are the options for an alternative OS for my old TS-870 Pro (with upgrade to i7-3770S and 16GBB Ram)?
....
I have personally tried both OMV (OpenMediaVault) and TrueNAS Scale on a TS-870 Pro (i3770s) w.16GB RAM and ultimately settled on TrueNAS Scale.

OMV (at the time) was finicky at best and required that VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all of the hard disk drives to be seen by the OS, I no idea why that is (was) but that's what I had to do to get OMV working properly.

I had little issues getting TruNAS Scale installed and running. I removed the QNAP DOM and installed TrueNAS on a 32GB USB DOM and the HDD array is just a pure data volume.

32 GB USB DOM: https://corpshadow.biz/msata-ssd/32gb-usb-dom-module

I briefly putzed around with a script to get some Linux info displayed on the front panel LCD but it ended up being meh! and I never really made any use of the LCD even with QTS.
QNAP LCD Script: https://github.com/jdupl/QnapFreeLCD/

There is a learning curve and if you are not proficient at Linux (I mean real Linux and not the dumpster-fire that is QTS) then be prepared to shed a few tears, and lot of sweat and maybe a little blood in the process of getting OMV or TrueNAS to bend to your will. If you are proficient at Linux, then it's probably be more like getting back on a bicycle after a few years of not riding one. ;)

Good luck with whichever journey you decide to take at shedding the QNAP shackles.
RAID is not a Back-up!

H/W: QNAP TVS-871 (i7-4790. 16GB) (Plex server) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6604T (8GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AC86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.7_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC68U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.7_2
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15

Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)
scottdk
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Posts: 16
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 11:19 am

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by scottdk »

Thank you! This is great advice. It's encouraging that you have pretty much the same NAS as me, including CPU and RAM upgrades.
jaysona wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 2:51 am I have personally tried both OMV (OpenMediaVault) and TrueNAS Scale on a TS-870 Pro (i3770s) w.16GB RAM and ultimately settled on TrueNAS Scale.
...
I had little issues getting TruNAS Scale installed and running. I removed the QNAP DOM and installed TrueNAS on a 32GB USB DOM and the HDD array is just a pure data volume.
It seems I can trial it from a USB stick using my spare disk for data. I'll have a play around with it. And see if it supports my QNAP QM2-2P10G1T 10GbE NIC - if it does that card also has 2 NVME slots potentially for the TrueNAS OS.
jaysona wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 2:51 am I briefly putzed around with a script to get some Linux info displayed on the front panel LCD but it ended up being meh! and I never really made any use of the LCD even with QTS.
QNAP LCD Script: https://github.com/jdupl/QnapFreeLCD/
Yeah, I rarely look at the front panel. I can play around with that.
jaysona wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 2:51 am There is a learning curve and if you are not proficient at Linux (I mean real Linux and not the dumpster-fire that is QTS) then be prepared to shed a few tears, and lot of sweat and maybe a little blood in the process of getting OMV or TrueNAS to bend to your will. If you are proficient at Linux, then it's probably be more like getting back on a bicycle after a few years of not riding one. ;)
I'm pretty handy with the shell, but haven't worked on setting up a Linux system. Might be a bit wobbly on the bicycle.
TS-870 Pro
QTS 4.3.6.1965 (2022/03/02)
CPU upgraded to i7-3770S
16GB Ram
QNAP 10GbE NIC (QM2-2P10G1T)
5 x HGST 4TB 7200RPM Deskstar NAS
2 x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 4TB
1 x WD RED 4TB (spare)
(RAID 6)
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Moogle Stiltzkin
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Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by Moogle Stiltzkin »

usually i'd recommend truenas for an alternative, but if the machine is not that great specwise, maybe unraid would be a better option perhaps? but unraid u have to buy a license, whereas truenas is free.
https://unraid.net/
Similar to Unraid, you’ll run TrueNAS on old (or new) consumer- or professional-grade computer hardware
TrueNAS is similar to Unraid as in it’s an operating system that you can run on new or old consumer- or professional-grade computers. I tried out TrueNAS on my old Ryzen system, just like I did Unraid. TrueNAS has very similar requirements to Unraid, and many people use it in the exact same way as Unraid.

However, unlike Unraid, you can install TrueNAS however you’d like, instead of needing to use a USB drive. This can be a bit simpler for people, as they can install it on an SSD that they have already lying around their house instead of having to buy a new dedicated USB flash drive for it. However, unlike Unraid, TrueNAS needs much more in the resource department for run. While it has a similar 64-bit processor requirement, you’ll need at least 8 GB of RAM for TrueNAS to run. This is four times what Unraid requires, and might not be available in your older system.
sauce
https://9to5toys.com/2021/06/04/unraid- ... d-hardware


TS-870 Pro is EOL and uses an old QTS no longer maintained afaik. i recommend u replace os for a good alternative as mentioned. or buy a new model with new hardware features.


873a has some nice hardware updates with modern features. also comes with quts hero which is basically openzfs in qnaps flavor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obxtGFnqO-E
NAS
[Main Server] QNAP TS-877 (QTS) w. 4tb [ 3x HGST Deskstar NAS & 1x WD RED NAS ] EXT4 Raid5 & 2 x m.2 SATA Samsung 850 Evo raid1 +16gb ddr4 Crucial+ QWA-AC2600 wireless+QXP PCIE
[Backup] QNAP TS-653A (Truenas Core) w. 4x 2TB Samsung F3 (HD203WI) RaidZ1 ZFS + 8gb ddr3 Crucial
[^] QNAP TL-D400S 2x 4TB WD Red Nas (WD40EFRX) 2x 4TB Seagate Ironwolf, Raid5
[^] QNAP TS-509 Pro w. 4x 1TB WD RE3 (WD1002FBYS) EXT4 Raid5
[^] QNAP TS-253D (Truenas Scale)
[Mobile NAS] TBS-453DX w. 2x Crucial MX500 500gb EXT4 raid1

Network
Qotom Pfsense|100mbps FTTH | Win11, Ryzen 5600X Desktop (1x2tb Crucial P50 Plus M.2 SSD, 1x 8tb seagate Ironwolf,1x 4tb HGST Ultrastar 7K4000)


Resources
[Review] Moogle's QNAP experience
[Review] Moogle's TS-877 review
https://www.patreon.com/mooglestiltzkin
scottdk
Starting out
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 11:19 am

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by scottdk »

Today I learned:

You can download and manually install the latest Container Station qpkg on an older "incompatible" QTS version!

So, I just uninstalled Container Station v2.0.957 which the last version compatible with my QTS 4.3.6. Then I downloaded the latest qpkg for Container Station v2.5.3.451 from https://www.qnap.com/en-us/app_center/. I performed a manual install in AppCenter and it is working! All my containers are up and I have a much more recent version of Docker running!

Now I'm no longer restricted to Docker 17.09 I can run containers requiring later versions such as nodered, as well as use remote docker to develop and explore inside my containers on the NAS from Visual Studio in Windows!

This means I'm not so desperate for another OS or a new NAS - as much as I want one, but it can wait now as my immediate problems are solved. Thanks for all this advice though. I WILL be putting TrueNAS or similar on this old QNAP once I have the budget to buy a new NAS (that can transcode 4K without dying).

$ docker version
Server: Docker Engine - Community
Engine:
Version: 20.10.11-qnap6
API version: 1.41 (minimum version 1.12)
Go version: go1.16.10
Git commit: 1b6fb4a
Built: Fri Apr 8 10:09:28 2022

Sorry, I needed to shout this from the treetops. So many threads here and on Reddit complaining about being stuck in an old docker version of docker.
TS-870 Pro
QTS 4.3.6.1965 (2022/03/02)
CPU upgraded to i7-3770S
16GB Ram
QNAP 10GbE NIC (QM2-2P10G1T)
5 x HGST 4TB 7200RPM Deskstar NAS
2 x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 4TB
1 x WD RED 4TB (spare)
(RAID 6)
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jaysona
Been there, done that
Posts: 846
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Somewhere in the Great White North

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by jaysona »

scottdk wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 4:24 pm ....
I'm pretty handy with the shell, but haven't worked on setting up a Linux system. Might be a bit wobbly on the bicycle.
Once you pick up a little speed, the wobble tends to go away. ;)

Good luck on your ride! :ubergeek:
RAID is not a Back-up!

H/W: QNAP TVS-871 (i7-4790. 16GB) (Plex server) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6604T (8GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AC86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.7_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC68U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.7_2
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15

Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)
The_Hawk
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Joined: Sun May 02, 2010 6:07 pm
Location: VIC Australia
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Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by The_Hawk »

I'm a little late to this party, but I have the same setup and have kinda similar requirements. I stopped using container station because Windows 10 didn't run right and I needed that for at least one of my VMs. Instead, I am running a dedicated USFF for those extra needs, overkill for what I actually need. I still use the NAS for Plex, QVR Pro and a couple of other apps so I need to either get a dedicated NVR for the cameras and otherwise find a way to run those other apps (even if it means re-using the stand alone Window machine).

Container station is running 2.0.957, I briefly tried 2.5.4.591 but it seems to break QVR, so that's back to 2.0.957. I thought I'd try the same approach for Virtualisation station too, but anything newer requires QTS 4.4.x so I'm out of luck there too. Oh well, I supposed I'm stuck with this for now, but it's worth me looking into just what is possible.

I've got an even older (and even less supported) TS-859 I would consider tinkering with, but that only powers up once a week for incremental backups from the main unit and never sees the internet so really serves it's purpose as is.
luopa
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Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:03 pm

Re: Alternative OS for End of Life TS-870 Pro+

Post by luopa »

scottdk wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:51 pm Today I learned:

You can download and manually install the latest Container Station qpkg on an older "incompatible" QTS version!

So, I just uninstalled Container Station v2.0.957 which the last version compatible with my QTS 4.3.6. Then I downloaded the latest qpkg for Container Station v2.5.3.451 from https://www.qnap.com/en-us/app_center/. I performed a manual install in AppCenter and it is working! All my containers are up and I have a much more recent version of Docker running!

Now I'm no longer restricted to Docker 17.09 I can run containers requiring later versions such as nodered, as well as use remote docker to develop and explore inside my containers on the NAS from Visual Studio in Windows!

This means I'm not so desperate for another OS or a new NAS - as much as I want one, but it can wait now as my immediate problems are solved. Thanks for all this advice though. I WILL be putting TrueNAS or similar on this old QNAP once I have the budget to buy a new NAS (that can transcode 4K without dying).

$ docker version
Server: Docker Engine - Community
Engine:
Version: 20.10.11-qnap6
API version: 1.41 (minimum version 1.12)
Go version: go1.16.10
Git commit: 1b6fb4a
Built: Fri Apr 8 10:09:28 2022

Sorry, I needed to shout this from the treetops. So many threads here and on Reddit complaining about being stuck in an old docker version of docker.
Thank you so much! This information was gold! :-)

I was able to install Container Station 2.5.4.591 on QTS 4.3.6.2441 (a TS-470) - works like a charm!
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