How to Use

• Introduction
• Online Help
• Finding the box IP
• First time setup
• Alt-F Packages
• Disk Details
• RAID
• Special Folders
• Printers
• Disk Spindown
• Buttons
  • Front power button
  • Back (recessed reset) button

Introduction

To use Alt-F you can use its administering web pages, directing a web browser to the box default IP.

The web pages were tested with Chrome and Firefox, if you are using another browser and find that something is not OK, try first with Firefox and than report back or, preferably, send a patch.

With the web pages, which are very crude and rude, you can do most of the administrative tasks. One of the most likely causes for failures in the web pages are spaces in file names and browser caching. Please send a report and a patch.

Online Help

Some web pages have online help, accessed through the icon near the page title. Please use it!

Finding the box IP

When booting, and to assign itself an IP, Alt-F tries to first use a IP supplied through the kernel command line; if it is not supplied, it then tries to use its own flashed settings; if unsuccessful it then tries to use the vendors firmware flash defaults; if unsuccessful it then tries to requests a IP from a DHCP server and finally tries to find an unassigned IP in the 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.1.230 range.

In detail, when Alt-F boots:

1. It will search for a kernel command line supplied name and IP (the default when using the supplied fun_plug script)
2. If not found, it will search for its own settings in flash, and use them.
   (You should do a "Save Settings" from the web page when you made any change that you want to preserve across reboots. Alt-F and the vendors defaults can coexist in flash while there is space available);
3. If not found, it will use one of the vendor's files in flash, and if the box was not using DHCP, use the IP specified there; (only applies to the DNS-321/323)
4. If not found, it will try to use DHCP, you can consult your router web page to find what IP was assigned;
5. As a last resort, if no DHCP server is available, Alt-F will use the first free IP in the range 192.168.1.254 down to 192.168.1.230.

So, when booting using the fun_plug script, your box will have the same IP and name as before.

If booting after flashing Alt-F, and if your box was setup with a fixed IP in the vendor's firmware, it will also have the same IP and name as before.
If your box was using DHCP in the vendors firmware, then it might have a different IP under Alt-F, and you must go to the DHCP server web page (usually your router) and find the assigned client IP. Do this before trying Alt-F, to be sure that you know how to do it.
In the "worst" case scenario, the box IP will be 192.168.1.230, but this is very unlikely.

The easiest and recommended way for a server is for you to first setup the box with a fixed IP using the vendor's firmware. This will be the IP used by Alt-F.

First time setup

After getting the box IP and accessing it using a browser, you will see Alt-F status page.

Before proceeding, wait for any filesystem check to finish, as reported in the "Filesystem Maintenance" section.
This might take several hours to accomplish, and is the consequence of an unclean box shut down, as performed by some versions of the vendor's firmware.
This step might fail if there are errors that can't be automatically repaired, and in this case, the filesystem will appear as RO (Read Only), in red, in the "Mounted Filesystems" section.
This step might also fail if there is not enough "Swap" space, as reported in the "System" section.

To go to any other page you have to setup and confirm an administrative password. The 'root' user (the linux Administrator) password will be the same.

You can then login using telnet or ssh and change the root password using the "passwd" command. Note that if you later change the password using the web page, than the root password will also be changed, so the recommended procedure is to first set up a web password and then login using telnet or ssh and change the root password.

The first time that you use the web pages or change the password, you will be guided through a small set of pages, being prompted for a few configuration details. If you miss or skip some of these pages, you must manually follow the following sequence:

1. Setup->Host: you must setup your host details, such as name, description and workgroup, and the networking details.
2. Setup->Time: setup your timezone, i.e., the country and city where you live, and adjust the clock.
3. Disk-Wizard: You can format your disks, or leave them as they are, Alt-F will recognize most partitioning schemes. Be aware that some partitioning schemes, filesystems or RAID layouts are not recognized be the vendor's firmware.
4. Setup->Users: you must create at least one user.
   You will be asked for a filesystem where a folder called Users will be created, and where all users home folders will be created.
   To create a new user give the user name, such as 'John Smith', a nick name, such as 'jsmith' (no spaces), and a password and password confirmation. You can leave the User and Group Id with the default values.
   The username and password will be used to authenticate under MS-Windows, while the nick name and password will be used to authenticate under linux.
5. Services->Network: You will have to start the network service of your choice, or several simultaneously. Most MS-Windows users want smb/samba. By default shares named 'Users', Public RW' and 'Public RO' will be available (after you create at least one user)
6. System->Settings: In the end, you should save the settings in flash memory.
   The vendor's flashed settings are only lost if you deliberately clear settings.
   However, they use almost all available flash space, so when trying to save Alt-F settings you can see an error message.
   If you don't save settings, on each reboot a new cryptographic key pair is generated for dropbear/ssh usage, and your ssh client will complain.
   After you save the settings in flash, Alt-F will use them on the next reboot, so if you have setup a new IP in the host page, be sure that you write it down.

As Alt-F doesn't repartition nor reformat your disks (unless you deliberately say so), all you folders and files can still be found. However, as the vendor's firmware and Alt-F handles users and filesystems differently, you will not find them in the expected places nor belonging to the expected user.

Filesystems are accessible under /mnt/<device name>, such as /mnt/sda2, /mnt/md0, etc. You can use Setup->Folders to browse through folders, and for the Users and Public RO/RW folders, ownership is OK. But you will notice that previously existing folders belong to unnamed users and groups.
This happens because the vendor's user and group id, UID/GID, are different from the Alt-F ones, and new ownerships needs to be set for those folders (and contained files). You can use the Permissions button while using the Folders Browser to change folders and files ownership and permissions.

For the same reason, you will not find you old network shares when using MS-Windows, namely Volume_1, Volume_2, etc. You have to use Services->Network->smb Configure to define new shares.
It is not advisable to create a share for a whole filesystem, i.e. define share Volume_1 based on /mnt/sda2 or /mnt/md0; instead, it's better to define shares based on folders, such as defining a share named Music based on folder /mnt/sda2/Music.

Alt-F Packages

You can install additional software packages on disk using the Package->Alt-F menu.
You have to specify a filesystem where a folder named "Alt-F" will be created, and all installed package files will written.
DON'T directly add, remove or change any file in this folder, as the system might hang.

Some of the installed packages have administering web pages, accessed through the menus. New entries will appear under Services->User, Services->Network or Services->System. In some cases new menu entries might also appear, e.g. Disk->LVM or Disk->Encryption.

The package feed URLs in the Alt-F package manager must be edited as the defaults are no longer correct. As of Dec 2021 they are https://sourceforge.net/projects/alt-f/files/pkgs/stable and
https://sourceforge.net/projects/alt-f/files/pkgs/unstable
In addition, since the SSL certificates of sourceforge and other sites have changed, you have to update the Alt-F CA bundle certificates, by executing the following command in a telnet or SSL session from an attached PC (login as root and use the Web GUI password):
wget --no-check-certificate https://curl.se/ca/cacert.pem -O /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.crt
After that the ‘ipkg’ command and the webui should work normally. Use the webUI to install at least one Alt-F package before reboot.

Disk Details

When a new disk is detected, either internal or USB connected, either at boot or by hot-plugging, Alt-F will first check and if necessary fix all its filesystems, either if they are "dirty" or if "it's time" to do it.
A filesystem is dirty if the box was not properly shutdown or rebooted, that is what happens with the vendor's firmware and what motivated Alt-F birth.

Thus, on its first boot, Alt-F will find all filesystems dirty and will do a lengthy check/fix -- this can tens of minutes on very large disks (12 minutes on an 88% full 230GB disk). During the check/fix, the led of the disk which is being checked will flash, and the power led will flash with an "heartbeat" rhythm.
On power off or reboot, Alt-F will properly unmount the disks, so the check/fix step will not happen at the second and subsequent reboots.
However, a check/fix is done every M mounts or after D days since the last check. In the web status page, you are warned that is time for you to start a filesystem check, in order to avoid the lengthy check at the next boot.

After checking/fixing, Alt-F will mount all the disks filesystems in the folder /mnt/<name>, where <name> can be either the disk partition name, as in /mnt/sda3, or a filesystem label, such as /mnt/Backups.

If during the check/fix step the partition was dirty and could not be fixed, it will be mounted read-only, in order to not further damage it.

You can set a filesystem label using the Disk->Filesystem web page (not for NTFS, at least until you install the ntfsprogs package).
Ext2/3/4/VFAT/NTFS/ISO9660 filesystems are recognized.

RAID

RAID-0, 1 and 5 (using an external USB disk) and linear RAID (JBD) are recognized, assembled and mounted when a disk is inserted or detected.

The leds will be steady orange when a RAID device is degraded, and will flash in orange during resync or rebuild. In the status web page you can see the expected time for completion.

Please note that RAID hot-plugging is not yet fully functional; when devices are inserted, it works fine, they are incrementally assembled and filesystems are mounted, but if some device is removed and then reinserted, hot-plugging might not work properly.

Also notice that because the arrays are incrementally added and mounted as soon as possible, they must have the "intent bitmap" active, otherwise a rsync happens when the second (on raid-1) or third (on raid-5) device is inserted. This is work in progress.

Special Folders

When mounting filesystems, Alt-F will look in the filesystem root for folders with special names:

• If a folder named "ffp" if found a link is created to it at the root, /ffp.
  Using the "ffp Package Manager" web page you can install, update or remove ffp packages.
• If a folder named "Users" is found, will be linked to /home.
• If a folder named "Alt-F" is found it will be aufs-mounted on top of the root, "/", shadowing it.
  This means that any files existing there (including executable) will be used instead of the ones existing in the original root.
  Mostly DON'T change or add nothing in that folder, or the box might crash.

Printers

USB attached printers will also be recognized, and a rudimentary lpd spooler used for them. They can also be used with samba.

Disk Spindown

Disks can be set to sleep after a predetermine time of inactivity using the Disk->Utilities web page. When a disk spins down the corresponding orange led will slowly flash. If both disks are in standby, the box power led will be turned off. The network led can't be easily controlled, and so it will not be turned off.

Buttons

For a more detailed description, read the About Buttons and Leds wiki.
A summary follows:

Front power button

• If you keep the box front button pressed for more than 3 seconds, the right orange led will start flashing, if you release the button while it is flashing the box will do an ordered shutdown.
• If you keep pressing the button by three more seconds, the left orange led will start flashing, and if the button is then released, an ordered reboot will be done.
• If you keep the button pressed, both leds will be turned off, and if the button is then released no action is performed.

The above only applies to the DNS-321/323/325/320-revA. For other box models the power button has to be pressed until the power led starts blinking (for more than 5 seconds) at which point a controlled shutdown starts.

The reboot and power-down procedures cleanly stop all processes, unmount filesystems, and stop raid devices.
Internal or external disks can be hot-removed after being "ejected" using the "eject" command or the "Disk utils" web page.

Back (recessed reset) button

The box back button has three functionalities:

• If pressed for only a couple of seconds,
  • if a USB pen/disk is plugged (and is mounted), it will be unmounted if possible
  • a script that you have to write will be executed
• If pressed for more than 10 seconds, you can telnet the box on port 26 as the 'root' user without supplying a password
• If pressed for more than 20 seconds, all flash memory saved settings will be erased and the box will do a controlled reboot.