Debian on QNAP

Evilpaul

Evilpaul

Evilpaul

Associate
Joined
20 Aug 2010
Posts
1,100
Location
Not Coventry
I'm running a QNAP TS-109 Pro II, mainly as a file server but with a few other extra features enabled (SABnzbd, SickBeard, Transmission, etc.).
While the QNAP has given me decent service for 4 1/2 years, it is now a bit long in the tooth. As such I'm looking at ways to try and get the best performance from the NAS as possible.
The last firmware update for my NAS was released in Sept 2011 (Kernel 2.6.12.6-arm1) and the device is no longer officially supported. As such I was looking at replacing the official firmware with a plain Debian install, with the hope that a newer Kernel and a tailored install would give better performance.

The plan would be to install Debian squeeze and then update it post-install to wheezy, as the later installers are too large to fit in the limited flash on the TS-109. Then it would be a case of installing the services I require, without having to mess around with qpkg's :D.

Before I try installing Debian I'd appreciate if anyone who has tried this could post your experiences.

I'll post up my install experience and any subjective performance difference from the official firmware in case anyone else fancies giving it a go.
 
So, I've been preparing for converting my QNAP NAS to run Debian. This has involved 2 steps so far:

1) Creating a Debian VirtualBox sandbox to test out configuring the packages I want to install, as I'll have to do everything now rather than relying on pre-configured qpkgs.

2) Ordering another HD as I discovered I've not got enough free space to backup the data currently on the NAS. *whoops*
I've got the new HD now and I've set the data copying, but due to the slow network performance of the NAS it'll be Friday before all the data is backed up.
 
I've re-jigged my network configuration as the HomePlugs were reducing throughput too much. So now I've got the NAS next to my main PC with a gigabit switch connecting the two (this should be handy for when I get around to installing Debian anyway).

For best case transfer speeds (large files) then it is averaging around 12 - 13 MB/s:
performancel.png
 
That transfer rate sounds like it's only auto-negotiating at 100Mbps rather than gigabit (I have the 209 version of the same NAS and have found that it has a tendency to do this with some cheaper gigabit switches in the past) either that of the machine you are running the copy from could be.
 
Unfortunately the standard firmware doesn't have any of the useful tools for checking that kind of information (another bonus of moving to Debian), but a grep of dmesg reveals:
Code: 
[~] # dmesg | grep eth0
  o Loading network interface 'eth0'
eth0: mac address changed
eth0: link down
eth0: link up<5>, full duplex<5>, speed 1 Gbps<5>

I think the CPU is the main limitation as when Transmission started last night the network throughput completely tanked.


edit: I've just turned off all the extra services and network throughput is now up around 18MB/s.
 
Just had a look through the web interface and you have to search pretty hard to find information about the negotiated transfer speed. Most of the pages are about configuring TCP/IP settings or the different network services.
There is a sub-page from the system status that gives the current network connection information, including the connection speed.
I did see on the status page that just transferring data is maxing out the CPU :(

In better news, all data should have finished copying in about 30 mins :)
 
Installation is under way, and it's looking positively glacial in performance. I suspect the CPU and memory are just going to be too much of a limiting factor, but I'll find out tomorrow when the installation *might* have finished...
 
The system is up and running with Debian Wheezy now, but performance appears down on the Qnap firmware. I guess the Debian release being the generic armel build would lose some optimisation compared to the Qnap firmware.
Loading Webmin is not quick at all, but everything else appears quite reasonable.

Network throughput is down, but I'm going to give it a try over the weekend to see if the speed is more consistent than the Qnap firmware.
debiannewkernel.png
 
I didn't expect it to be speedy, but it does take quite a while to load each page. Once I've got everything configured then I can disable Webmin and just rely on SSH access for simple housekeeping duties.
 
I've been running Debian on my TS-109 for about a week now and it's good enough for me to carry on using it instead of reverting to the QNAP firmware.
The only major negative I've found so far is that the network performance is lower than with the QNAP firmware, but as the speed is faster than I can get through my HomePlugs then it's a bit of a non-issue for me.

I think the standard firmware was pretty well optimised and it is really the underpowered CPU that is holding the network transfer rates back. You may be able to improve the situation by building a distro specifically for the TS-109, but I prefer the convenience of just being able to pull from the Debian armel repositories.

So, in summary:

Good
- Current Kernel and distribution
- Future updates
- Ability to configure the system exactly as you want
- Can use Webmin for system administration
- Faster page loading of Transmission, SABnzbd+, SickBeard, etc.

Bad
- Slower network performance
- No simple UI for system administration
- You have to configure everything yourself


If you've got an old QNAP knocking around and you fancy a bit of a play, then it's an interesting exercise to try. If you've got a new or still supported model then I'd just stick with the stock firmware.
I'll be sticking with my TS-109 for a while now, but I'm sure the next time there is a decent offer on a HP MicroServer then I'd be tempted to get one of those instead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom