New tickets created tonight

[MikeG.6.5]

I've been a bit busy with creating tickets tonight on issues I see with Asustor and their support of their product. The list of tickets I created are as follows:

#6540 - Partial app installs ***** UPDATED *****
#6541 - Documentation of Asustor apps/shell scripting in the On-line helper app.
#6542 - USB drive tools ***** UPDATED *****
#6543 - custom icons for custom scripts/apps to be placed on ADM desktop

This makes a total of 9 tickets I have open with Asustor as of now. I will post the texts of those tickets in replies to this post.

[MikeG.6.5]

FFMPEG beta app only installs ffmpeg and not the other apps of the package. The apps missing are ffprobe, ffmpeg-10, ffserver and qt-faststart.

These apps were excluded but no idea why. I posted the following on the "official" forums:

http://forum.asustor.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5772

The reply is less than satisfactory. If you take the time to create an installation for an app or support package, take the time to include the ENTIRE app suite or make sure the description of the app in App Central reflects that it is missing key components.

For what it's worth I was able to install the entire app suite after downloading it from a source repository. It installed the complete suite and has total functionality and took less than 5 minutes after downloading. It was certainly easier to get ffmpeg running over the hoops I had to hop through to get Perl going.

A response would be nice, since I've got a ticket open now that still hasn't had a reply. This needs to be moved to pending until the app does a complete install from App Central.


***** Update to this *****

This is the reply I received on the ticket for partial apps installs:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for contacting us.
For the issue you mentioned, FFMPEG app is still beta version now,
if you need the video file convert function, you can use our LooksGood app to perform the video file convert task.

Please don't be hesitate to contact if you got further question.

Best regards.
Jack Ni
Technical Support Engineer
Asustor Inc.

The point was missed. Follow the instructions for installing ffmpeg I provided in another thread in this forum if you want a working copy that can be scripted to. It's the latest version straight from the developers of the suite itself and isn't crippled or dummied down.

[MikeG.6.5]

All of the documentation in the Online Help app within the ADM is severely lacking in informative information. The help subjects are tied to specific menus of the default apps included as part of the ADM, but don't have any in depth information as to what the various settings actually do.

The help files need to include the entire ASUSTOR College as a part of the help app, with updates made on a configurable basis. Portions of the ASUSTOR College should be able to be viewed on the NAS itself with links to various portions of the ADM apps as they are being explained. (I want to learn about sharing a folder for instance, click the link it takes me to the right app/section to do what the ASUSTOR College page shows me.)

It also needs to include information of the differences between the version of BusyBox these NASes use and the versions of Linux that are common distributions. There are too many commands within the BusyBox shell syntax that don't conform to common distros of Linux. Trying to learn how to do something with shell sessions is very difficult even for someone experienced in Linux. Commands that should work just don't. There needs to be working examples of various commands that can be executed within a shell session, so they can be copied/pasted into a shell app.

Part of the Windows and Mac computer installs of software need to include a simple shell utility as part of the software install. As people start asking more and more of their NASes, the only way to accomplish much is through a Shell session, but people don't know what or how to get it most times. Learning curves for this type of app are really steep.

As App Packages are created/downloaded an appropriate Online Help page should be installed in the Helper app during the installation process. People trying to install an app and then find little to no information on what to do with it afterwards.

[MikeG.6.5]

Tools are provided to allow the owner to examine the HDD installed internally to the Asustor NAS. No tools are provided to support external HDD enclosures. The SMART info can't be examined through a simple to use interface on the NAS itself.

Devices need to be removed from the NAS and attached to a PC or Mac to get the functionality of testing a drive for bad sectors or SMART information. Windows and Mac apps already exist for this, as do various flavors of Linux apps. As Asusotr makes what is called a "headless" device (no integrated monitor support) apps written for other distros of Linux don't work.

Potential failures of external drives may be prevented if tools were made available to run these important diagnostics tools on externals. This would prevent a customer's potential data loss if a drive does fail without a ready to go back up of the data.

***** Updates *****

This is the reply received on this ticket:

Dear Mike ,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Actually, it might not be proper to use the SMART tool to diagnostic the external device.
For the disks in the NAS, the hardware interface is made by ourselves. We are able to control, and send the proper command to manage them.
The interface external device will use eSATA, or USB. Those HDDs will be bridged by different storage IC.
We are not able to send the commands to the hard disk in external box directly. All the commands will be processed by the storage IC, and delivery to hard drive.
It will depend on how storage IC to handle such kind of commands.
It will be better to diagnostic those external devices by a PC .

Thanks again for your contact!

Best Regards,
Quote

As the chipsets used for USB and ESata in Asustor NASes are the same as those in a PC, development of these tools isn't taking a priority. The official answer for HDD problems on external devices appears to be to move the device to a PC and conduct any low level tests on them there. For those of us wanting/needing this kind of support in our NASes, we might have a long wait.

[MikeG.6.5]

As I create more and more scripts for the day to day operations of my NAS the one thing I find most frustrating is having to open a shell session to execute a given python or perl or ash script to do the needed maintenance.

Within the ADM I want to be able to make a link to the given app I've written so I can click on this app and a pseudo shell window opens to execute the app. When it's done executing, the shell session closes (configurable) or not depending on how the desktop shortcut is set up.

I have about 30 different scripts I run now, some of them many times a day, most of them at least once a day. Having to constantly keep a WinSCP session going and a terminal window open to execute these scripts takes away from system resources and uses up memory and bandwidth on the network. Clicking an icon to do the same thing would make the entire process much faster, be easier on the CPU and memory resources of a NAS.

[gibxxi]

Hi Mike,

I must say I applaud you taking a stand on this. I don't think your going to get anywhere, but I applaud your efforts nonetheless.

As an advanced Windows user (with very little, if any Linux knowledge) I've been messing around with these types of device for a number of years now. First with Netgear's ReadyNAS line, now with Asustor. Essentially what we have here is an ecosystem. A walled garden of sorts. Your invited to part with your hard-earned cash to purchase a device which should make your life simpler, and easier to manage, but as with all walled-garden type eco-systems (Apple being a prime example) it doesn't come without it's limitations.

The limitations on what you can do with the device are dictated by Asustor. They factor in what the "average, fairly-competent" user will want to use their NAS for and build around that. They then place restrictions, and safeguards in place, not so much to protect you (the naive user), but to protect themselves. Both from litigation and endless support requests because an end-user has done something outside the scope of what the device was designed for, and has then succeeded in hosing all their data, and wants somebody to blame.

This not only eases the burden on them as a company, but it also allows them to drip-feed in functionality which then becomes "exclusive" to their top-of-the-line, new, devices. You are then faced with the eternal dilemma; upgrade to stay ahead of the curve, or soldier on with what you have, accepting it's limitations versus the newest shiny bit of kit they've just released.

One such example in relation to your previous posts in this thread: Legacy ReadyNAS devices by NETGEAR allowed for absolutely no support of SSH or SFTP for the root user on the device, that was until a 3rd-party add-on developer made an addon to enable that functionality. The app was allowed in, but under the strict premise that support "could" be refused if the end user seeking support had used said app to tinker around with the inner workings of the device or it's underlying OS. The warning was issued to deter people from installing it for the reasons stated above. To protect the company, as well as their profits.

You buy any off the shelf system, be it a NAS, a computer or even a router for example, the manufacturer will limit it's functionality. It's why in the case of router firmware, so many people load after-market firmware like DD-WRT onto their routers, to unlock features / functionality that the manufacturer has chosen not to enable or support for whatever reason.

Getting back to the NAS type devices, if you want a completely open system that you can configure and set up just how YOU want it to work, then avoid off-the-shelf NAS devices from any of the current manufacturers. That Includes Asustor, Netgear, Qnap, Synology, Iomega, WD, etc, etc. Buy your own hardware, build it yourself and use UNRAID or FreeNAS, because that is the only way you'll get what your seeking.

Sorry to sound so negative, but as a realist (and a cynic) I know the goals you strive for will not happen under any established eco-system that is corporate driven, that's just the way it is. Kudos for raising the tickets you have, and posting about it here though.



Good luck,

Dan / Gib.