Using HDD drive for Root on OpenWRT

1 Attachment(s)

I have prepared some scripts (see attachement) to use HDD as root file system. The scripts are based on info found at:
http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/...etgear/WGT634U
http://openwrt.pbwiki.com/WGT634U_USB_root
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=24104

As I'm not a big linux guru, the scripts might need improvements. So any feedback is welcome!

The script ini creates mount point (/hdd) in existing root filesystem and creates new file system layout.
linuxrc changes the root filesystem to hdd filesystem.
/etc/init.d/done has a small adition to execute linuxrc:
[ -f /linuxrc ] && . /linuxrc

How to use all this:

1. I assume you already have flashed OpenWRT firmware from http://back2basic.shacknet.nu/WL700Ge/
2. copy ini and linuxrc to /
3. give ini and linuxrc execute permition
4. execute ini
5. copy done to /etc/init.d/done
6. reboot the router.

You should see something like this:

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# mount
/dev/root on /jffs/rom type squashfs (ro)
none on /jffs/dev type devfs (rw)
/dev/mtdblock/4 on /jffs/jffs type jffs2 (rw)
/jffs on /jffs type mini_fo (rw)
/dev/discs/disc0/part1 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev type devfs (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)

Great , was also trying to get the hdd mounted but I gues must learn alot more . Gonne try you're way

THxx:p

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2basic

Great , was also trying to get the hdd mounted but I gues must learn alot more . Gonne try you're way

THxx:p

I'm not sure about these lines:confused: :

Quote:

/dev/root on /jffs/rom type squashfs (ro)
none on /jffs/dev type devfs (rw)
/dev/mtdblock/4 on /jffs/jffs type jffs2 (rw)
/jffs on /jffs type mini_fo (rw)

I guess something should be unmounted?!

cleaned up ini script

I have cleaned ini script:

Quote:

#!/bin/sh
#script to create root filesystem on HDD drive partition
#it is important that you customize these settings to fit your drive!

boot_dev="/dev/discs/disc0/part1"
mount_point="/hdd"

# create mount point
mkdir $mount_point

#mount hdd
mount $boot_dev $mount_point

#copy root filesystem
/bin/tar cvO -C / bin/ etc/ lib/ sbin/ usr/ www/ rom/ | /bin/tar x -C $mount_point
cd $mount_point && mkdir tmp dev proc jffs var

#we have writeable filesystem and don't need symlink /var to /tmp
#copy content to real /var directory
cp -a /var/* var

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

How to use all this:

1. I assume you already have flashed OpenWRT firmware from http://back2basic.shacknet.nu/WL700Ge/
2. copy ini and linuxrc to /
3. give ini and linuxrc execute permition
4. execute ini
5. copy done to /etc/init.d/done
6. reboot the router.

You should see something like this:

when I execute the script It gets me a bunch of error and @ last it tels me I ran out of space .But I didn't had the time to look into the script Ihad to go to work 15:00 - 23:00

I just saw that you cleared out the script. I guess its back to 'firstboot' for me and try it again. Gonne try It again when I'm back @home tonight

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

I'm not sure about these lines:confused: :

I guess something should be unmounted?!

when I do a 'df -h' I see that /dev/mtdblock/4 is only a few kb I guess that's the one but I don't know It for sure .I'm trying it later and post back the results of it. mmm /jffs is also small maybe that needs to be unounted too

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2basic

when I execute the script It gets me a bunch of error and @ last it tels me I ran out of space .But I didn't had the time to look into the script Ihad to go to work 15:00 - 23:00

I just saw that you cleared out the script. I guess its back to 'firstboot' for me and try it again. Gonne try It again when I'm back @home tonight

I did my tests on a fresh openwrt install. jffs2 has very little room.

I was able to enable USB support, but USB-sticks are not mounted. Filesystem kernel modules depends on kmod-nls-base with is not compiled for some reason:(

Oepsss

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

I was able to enable USB support, but USB-sticks are not mounted. Filesystem kernel modules depends on kmod-nls-base with is not compiled for some reason:(

That could be my mistake since I compiled it :(
I'll check my config when I'm @home in 3 hours
Probably I gonne recompile it(And share it with all you) to start fresh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2basic

That could be my mistake since I compiled it :(
I'll check my config when I'm @home in 3 hours
Probably I gonne recompile it(And share it with all you) to start fresh.

I have compiled my own firmware. still no luck:(

vfat compiles, but nls-base - doesnt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2basic

when I execute the script It gets me a bunch of error and @ last it tels me I ran out of space .But I didn't had the time to look into the script Ihad to go to work 15:00 - 23:00

I just saw that you cleared out the script. I guess its back to 'firstboot' for me and try it again. Gonne try It again when I'm back @home tonight

Got the hdd to mount
I made a tutorial on how to make a new filesystem
http://back2basic.shacknet.nu/WL700G...thread.php?t=4

I think that in flash wl700ge should use jffs2 root filesystem not squashfs. we are switching to hdd root, so squashfs failsafe does not makes sense.

jffs2 is writeable and is able to hold necesary customization to switch to hdd root. we dont need to swith to a new root twice (openwrt swithces from squashfs to jffs2 and uses mini_fo).

usage of squashfs is too complicated!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

I think that in flash wl700ge should use jffs2 root filesystem not squashfs. we are switching to hdd root, so squashfs failsafe does not makes sense.

jffs2 is writeable and is able to hold necesary customization to switch to hdd root. we dont need to swith to a new root twice (openwrt swithces from squashfs to jffs2 and uses mini_fo).

usage of squashfs is too complicated!

I tested this. jffs with 128k is too big:

Quote:

Write kernel and filesystem binary to FLASH (0xbfc40000)
flash device 'flash1.trx'
Programming...
ERROR!! copysize is 1839104, amtcopy is 1802240
Failed.: Unknown error

#After following the great work of MoD do the following:

mkdir -p /opt/etc
echo "src optware http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/ddwrt/cross/stable" > /opt/etc/ipkg.conf
echo "lists_dir ext /opt/var/lib/ipkg" >> /opt/etc/ipkg.conf
echo "dest /opt/ /" >> /opt/etc/ipkg.conf

export IPKG_CONF_DIR=/opt/etc
ipkg -V 2 update

ipkg install mt-daapd

#edit your /opt/etc/mt-daapd/mt-daapd.conf // runas root
/opt/etc/init.d/S60mt-daapd

#enjoy your mt-openwrt Server ;)
#Proceed with all other ~600 packages :-P

#TODO - WLan-support

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaNawq

#After following the great work of MoD do the following:
......

#TODO - WLan-support

I do not understand why wlan does not work fork. I created image that does not have ide, but has wlan drivers. it works.

anyway, today there will be a much better way how to mount HDD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

anyway, today there will be a much better way how to mount HDD.

Are you going to replace JFFS root completely? What I did was editing mount_root and firstboot to duplicate JFFS init but use HDD+EXT3 instead. Also added couple if's to fall-back to flash+jffs if HDD is not present.

better way how to mount HDD

As always, USE ON YOUR OWN RISK!

I took the idea from here: http://openwrt.pbwiki.com/WGT634U_USB_root

I. The concept

I really like Oleg's firmware concept to use NVAM variable boot_dev. As we have not much space, HDD root fs can be only ext3.

II. What has been changed and how

(if you dont want to build an image, skip this section. Read the section III. How to use all this and use already created image)

I changed the mount_root script (the script is here).

What the modified mount_root does:

1. it looks for NVRAM variable boot_dev
2. it tries to mount that partition at mount point /mnt
3. it checks if there are directories /sbin and /rom and file /sbin/hotplug.failsafe on mounted partition. If everything looks ok, it does pivot_root. The old root fs is in /rom.
4. if something fails (partition is not mounted or it does not have directories /sbin and /rom and file /sbin/hotplug.failsafe ), customized mount_root acts as the original OpenWRT mount_root and mounts jffs2 filesystem.

To avoid mounting jffs2 fs, mount_root has to be on squashfs. So we have to compile it into trx image. Do the following:

1. Build the firmware with:

Quote:

cd trunk
make

this will create trunk/build_mipsel directory.

2. replace mount_root script in trunk/build_mipsel/target/sbin

3. rebuild the firmware with new mount_root :

Quote:

cd trunk
make target/install

III. How to use all this

1. Create and format an ext3 partition on the HDD drive using:

Quote:

# play with fdisk if you need to repartition drive
fdisk fdisk /dev/discs/disc0/disc
# "format" partition
mke2fs -j /dev/discs/disc0/part1

2. Download my root2hdd.sh script and copy it to the router /tmp directory. You may want to customize boot_partition variable in the script acoording your HDD boot partition.

3. execute the /tmp/root2hdd.sh script to create root fs on HDD. It will also set NVRAM variable boot_dev.

Quote:

# /tmp/root2hdd.sh

4. reboot the router. If you want to boot jffs2 filesystem, simply:

Quote:

nvram unset boot_dev
nvram commit

I would like to see two things working on this OpenWRT box:

1. WIFI
2. posibility to use VFAT filesystem

it seems that power button and copy button are useless right now. But I dont care about that:)

OpwneWRT WL-700gE by default there is no bridge included, so logread shows an error:

Jan 1 00:00:15 (none) user.info : /sbin/hotplug: /etc/hotplug.d/net/10-net: 1: brctl: not found

When you build custom firmware just put "<M>" instead of "<*>" or "< >" to Wifi, bridge, iptables etc. and install resulting ipkgs after HDD is mounted as root.

Power and Copy button both work. You need to create hotplug script to handle events they generate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johu

When you build custom firmware just put "<M>" instead of "<*>" or "< >" to Wifi, bridge, iptables etc. and install resulting ipkgs after HDD is mounted as root.

Power and Copy button both work. You need to create hotplug script to handle events they generate.

1) do you have wi-fi running?
2) could you give an example for hotplug scripts?

when drivers are installed, wifi is found on device, but is not configured:

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# ifconfig
br-lan Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:31:BA:E4:B0
inet addr:192.168.1.1 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:31:BA:E4:B0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:73 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:27471 (26.8 KiB)
Interrupt:4

eth0.0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:31:BA:E4:B0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

eth0.1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:31:BA:E4:B1
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:68 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:21964 (21.4 KiB)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

root@OpenWrt:/# /sbin/wifi detect
config wifi-device wl0
option type broadcom
option channel 5

config wifi-iface
option device wl0
option mode ap
option ssid OpenWrt
option hidden 0
option encryption none

root@OpenWrt:/# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

eth0.0 no wireless extensions.

eth0.1 no wireless extensions.

br-lan no wireless extensions.

wl0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Tx-Power:off

To initialize WI-FI, simply run:

Quote:

# /sbin/wifi detect > /etc/config/wireless
# reboot

it is possible to use VFAT

ipkg shows that it depends on nls_base. However you can extract the source and install modules and script manually.

not sure about nls_base, but iso nls modules can be used from WhiteRussian. Can be downloaded here:

http://downloads.openwrt.org/people/...gtest/packages

You can do whatever you want with buttons and leds. Even switch wi-fi on/off by copy button.

Examples are here:
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=37413 and
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=37453

in short:

Quote:

mkdir /etc/hotplug.d
mkdir /etc/hotplug.d/button

touch /etc/hotplug.d/button/script
echo '#!/bin/sh

echo \"action: $ACTION, button: $BUTTON, seen: $SEEN\" >> /tmp/diagVars.log

' > /etc/hotplug.d/button/script

chmod a+x /etc/hotplug.d/button/script

and watch output in /tmp/diagVars.log

I tried the changes listed by MoD they work great except I can't write to nvram when I boot from the Hard Drive. I unset the boot_dev variable and I do an nvram commit and see that is has disappeared from the list of nvram vairables, but when I reboot I boot from the hard drive and that value is set to its previous setting. Anybody else have this problem?

Right, finally gotten round to installing this!

Does anyone have bridge working correctly so that local-side router ports get their IP's off the wl-700Ge and then connections from them are forwarded to the eth0.1 interface (ie the WAN)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3viant

Right, finally gotten round to installing this!

Does anyone have bridge working correctly so that local-side router ports get their IP's off the wl-700Ge and then connections from them are forwarded to the eth0.1 interface (ie the WAN)?

haven't tried to use it as router. i got wifi card running, but it seems that it also does not respond to IP address 192.168.1.1

I have gotten dnsmasq going on the br-lan bridge, this seems to work fine (in that it assigns IP addresses) If I add eth0.1 to that bridge, packets get forwarded straight across to my adsl modem, as if the wl-700ge were invisible (I can no longer ping 192.168.1.1 in that situation)

It may be a case of using iptables to forward packets, although I am not sure - I don't think the original asus firmware did this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

haven't tried to use it as router. i got wifi card running, but it seems that it also does not respond to IP address 192.168.1.1

Just got that bit working - you have to add wl0 to your br-lan bridge,

Code:

brctl addif br-lan wl0

If you have dnsmasq running on the br-lan interface (put interface=br-lan in dnsmasq.conf) then wireless devices start getting IP addresses too.

The only thing left to get this router working properly for me is to have it actually route packets to it's eth0.1 device from br-lan (without making the router invisible!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3viant

The only thing left to get this router working properly for me is to have it actually route packets to it's eth0.1 device from br-lan (without making the router invisible!)

I guess you have to set up iptables properly?! just a quick search:
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1991#p1991
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3301#p3301
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=57
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=20
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=6541
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=6247
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=6387
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=2299

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3viant

I have gotten dnsmasq going on the br-lan bridge, this seems to work fine (in that it assigns IP addresses) If I add eth0.1 to that bridge, packets get forwarded straight across to my adsl modem, as if the wl-700ge were invisible (I can no longer ping 192.168.1.1 in that situation)

It may be a case of using iptables to forward packets, although I am not sure - I don't think the original asus firmware did this...

Could you please let me know how to connect ADSL modem? That show me don't have pppoe interface and i can't go back asus original firmware . It is very bad :mad:

cant mount HDD anymore

does anybody have an idea? at some point I cant mount HDD anymore. I reflashed the router, recreated partition. even changed the HDD to another one. nothing helps. the error is:

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# mount -t ext3 /dev/discs/disc0/part1 /mnt
mount: mounting /dev/discs/disc0/part1 on /mnt failed

system is the following:

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
ide-disk 16708 0
ext3 72804 0
jbd 54840 0 [ext3]
aec62xx 6940 1
ide-core 123936 0 [ide-disk aec62xx]
switch-robo 4620 0 (unused)
switch-core 4864 0 [switch-robo]
diag 21920 0 (unused)

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc: 6448 MB, 6448619520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 784 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks
Id System
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 1 100 803218+ 83 Linux

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
none 31464 8 31456 0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock/4 384 324 60 84% /jffs
/jffs 896 896 0 100% /

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# mount
/dev/root on /rom type squashfs (ro)
none on /dev type devfs (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /tmp type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/mtdblock/4 on /jffs type jffs2 (rw)
/jffs on / type mini_fo (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# ls -l
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 483 Jan 23 2007 bin
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 1970 dev
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 00:00 etc
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 00:01 jffs
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 409 Jan 23 2007 lib
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 00:02 mnt
dr-xr-xr-x 29 root root 0 Jan 1 00:00 proc
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 136 Jan 23 2007 rom
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 319 Jan 23 2007 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3 Jan 23 2007 sys
drwxrwxrwt 6 root root 140 Jan 1 00:00 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 56 Jan 23 2007 usr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Jan 23 2007 var -> /tmp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3 Jan 23 2007 www

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

does anybody have an idea? at some point I cant mount HDD anymore. I reflashed the router, recreated partition. even changed the HDD to another one. nothing helps. the error is:

system is the following:

you're mount path isn't right it must be set to /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2basic

you're mount path isn't right it must be set to /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

the same error:( also, fdisk works with /dev/discs/disc0/disc

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmantsao

Could you please let me know how to connect ADSL modem? That show me don't have pppoe interface and i can't go back asus original firmware . It is very bad :mad:

It depends on how your router works I guess - mine hands out dhcp addresses, and there is a dhcp client that runs on the WAN port by default with openWRT. If that isnt the case for your router, then you can assign a static IP to eth0.1 in the /etc/config filesystem (around there somewhere I think)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoD

the same error:( also, fdisk works with /dev/discs/disc0/disc

My mount command is

Code:

mount -t ext3 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 /mnt

this should definitely work for you looking at your fdisk output (unless the /mnt directory doesn't exist or the filesystem on the drive is corrupted - do an fsck on the drive device if that mount command doesn't work...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3viant

My mount command is

Code:

mount -t ext3 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 /mnt

this should definitely work for you looking at your fdisk output (unless the /mnt directory doesn't exist or the filesystem on the drive is corrupted - do an fsck on the drive device if that mount command doesn't work...)

strange situation:

Quote:

root@OpenWrt:/# mount -t ext3 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 /mnt
mount: mounting /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 on /mnt failed
root@OpenWrt:/# mkdir /mnt/test
mini_fo: create_sto_dir: ERROR creating sto dir.
mkdir: cannot create directory '/mnt/test': No space left on device
root@OpenWrt:/# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
none 31464 8 31456 0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock/4 384 324 60 84% /jffs
/jffs 896 896 0 100% /

Hmm, odd - it's booted off jffs and somehow filled up that small partition (ie no room left to create a /mnt directory)

Is there anything you can delete off jffs to create some more room?

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3viant

Hmm, odd - it's booted off jffs and somehow filled up that small partition (ie no room left to create a /mnt directory)

Is there anything you can delete off jffs to create some more room?

trying to go back to the original asus firmare shows:

Quote:

pivot_rc starting...
pivot_rc proceeding to boocramfs: wrong magic
t from disk...
ERROR(a):mount_pivot_point failed to mount location : /dev/ide/host2/bus0/target0/lun0/part1...
ERROR(b):mount_pivot_point error : Invalid argument...
pivot_rc boot loop error for location 0...
pivot_rc complete -> calling /sbin/init...

or

Quote:

pivot_rc starting...
pivot_rc pcramfs: wrong magic
roceeding to boot from disk...
ERROR(a):mount_pivot_point failed to mount location : /dev/ide/host2/bus0/target
0/lun0/part1...
ERROR(b):mount_pivot_point error : Invalid argument...
pivot_rc boot loop error for location 0...
pivot_rc complete -> calling /sbin/init...

could it be that the flash ir physicallly broken?

It seems to be very confused about where the hard drive actually is - you said you have tried openWRT on a different hard drive from the original one. Does the original still contain the ASUS formatted reiserfs partition - if so, try plugging that back in and see what the ASUS firmware says...