ADM factory reset without loosing raid

[ChrisB]

Coming from a self built NAS server (debian based) and having bought an AS7010T I am wondering what the best strategy is when setting up the storage volumes. In my old NAS I had a hdd for the system (of course with full back up capability) and separated raid 5 clusters with my actual storage data. In case I messed up my system I could do easily a "factory reset" by simply reinstalling the system from scratch (and reconfiguring the settings) or restore the system from a working backup without touching my data raids. What I saw so far - and I am new to Asustor or other plug n play NAS solutions - the manual suggests to configure the data raid as volume 1 and mdstat lists a raid 1 which I suppose is for mirroring the system config. I also tried a factory reset which led to a complete reset of Volume 1 thus I would have lost all the data in a working environment. Is there another way of resetting the system configuration or in general: what is the best way of setting up my system based on your best practise? As I have now 10 hdd bays I don' t have to equip all of them with data drives. Do you see a benefit of setting up a single hdd or a raid 1 array as Volume 1? Data on Volume 2 would then stay untouched in case of a system reset, right? If so: do you see a benefit in using SSDs as Volume 1 to improve performance for example to be used for transcoding? Do the built in services (like web server, ...) rely on having the config and data folders on Volume1 or could they be configered to use also other volumes?
Sorry for asking all these questions but as I explained I am coming from a system which was totaly configurable and now I have to follow some design guidelines that I am not familiar with.

[orion]

As far as I know, NAS system (i.e., called ADM) is mirroring to every disks. System can still working fine if you remove most of disks (but one disk left). We usually expect ADM should take care of system. At least, I don't expect to put efforts to maintain system (ok, I think I should say: put efforts as little as possible). I care only data portion.

I know what you said "reset". However I don't see a simple way for that. You can only reset admin password and network IP setup by pressing "reset button" on the back side of your NAS.

If you put single SSD as volume1 that includes installed applications, I guess system performance might be increased just a little bit. After all, most of services are operating data, not only application context. However it's actually a quite good idea. Because your volume-2 which is HDD RAID configuration can go to hibernation mode easily (idle for a certain mount of time). Applications on volume-1 can still save / sync configurations periodically without waking up your volume-2. Save energy.

[ChrisB]

Dear Orion,

Thank you for your fast response and your explanation. Of course you are right in saying that you should focus on the data storage and not the system itself. This was btw. also the reason I switched now after using many years a self built to a ready to use solution. But as I learned the system is somehow linked to the data (mirroring, resetting process is also destroying an existing data raid, ...) I suppose you have to be sure to take care of both in order to secure your data.

If I would define, as you suggested, the data volume as number 2 would I be able to move this data volume to another already set up asustor device and it would be detected and mounted automatically again as Volume 2? This would mean that the volumes containing data in a setup like you described would stay intact even if you would factory reset the nas with only the first hdd installed (all the hdds for volume 2 put out of the system before you do the reset). Will in this case the ADM system then mirror the newly created system partition to the volume 2 or will this cause a conflict and in the best case you need to do some work via SSH?

Probably I have to do some testing before I migrate my data to the Asustor ...

[orion]

But as I learned the system is somehow linked to the data (mirroring, resetting process is also destroying an existing data raid, ...) I suppose you have to be sure to take care of both in order to secure your data.

You are correct. However I guess you'll feel frustrated after you lost the flexibility.

If I would define, as you suggested, the data volume as number 2 would I be able to move this data volume to another already set up asustor device and it would be detected and mounted automatically again as Volume 2? This would mean that the volumes containing data in a setup like you described would stay intact even if you would factory reset the nas with only the first hdd installed (all the hdds for volume 2 put out of the system before you do the reset). Will in this case the ADM system then mirror the newly created system partition to the volume 2 or will this cause a conflict and in the best case you need to do some work via SSH?

No and yes. NAS system stores the configuration that you set. I don't know the exact detailed format. But your NAS might not be able to recognize your data volume if user changed something without updating those internal "configuration". For example, you setup volume-1 with one SSD and setup RAID-5 volume-2 with 3 disks. Power NAS off and remove all of disks. Get a new SSD and put it into NAS. Reinitialize NAS with only this SSD. Power NAS off, put original volume-2 back (3 disks). Power NAS on. NAS WON'T be able to get volume-2 working. Because those internal "configuration" don't own the volume-2 information.

"Factory reset" should remove those internal "configuration". Based on it, I believe you can derive many combinations.

Yes. If you get a new NAS and put all 4 disks (well setup) onto the new NAS, the new NAS can boot up and recognize all of volumes. (because those internal "configuration" are still the same.)

[ChrisB]

Thank you for clarification.
I just have to change my strategy to trust Asustor which actually is not so easy as I am experiencing now a new problem: My NAS (AS1010t core i3) will not shut down properly only by forcing a shutdown. Things I did was updating the bios with the updater provided by Asustor in their App Store and updating my ADM system to the lastest version (3.2.3.RN51). Both without any problems.

Does anyone have an idea of what went wrong?

I did not install any other apps except netdata and geoip database, as I was configuring my system. When doing a shut down in software (not a forced one) I get numerous system messages that wait time exceeded and services had to be forced stopped. But in the end the shutdown does not complete in like 20hours. I could not do some more investigation in the logs yet and luckily I had my data not transfered so I could also try a factory reset but all of that leaves me with a bad feeling of the product and I am thinking of either returning my NAS or using some other OS which should be possible as far as I read (booting from flash drive)

[orion]

Do you mean "your NAS does not shut down properly" every time? Or it's just happened once when you upgraded BIOS / ADM? Some bodies here reported similar issue (only once when upgrading). (My NAS is just fine for any cases.) Most of them are updating from a very old version to the latest one. I'm guessing it's caused by jumping many versions. If it's the only case, I think it should be fine.

I think you can send a support request to asustor to make sure of it. https://support.asustor.com/