XigmaNAS

Background:
New HP Proliant - 32gb SSD intended for boot disk - two 2tb + one 250gb for storage - No CD/DVD - 10gb RAM

After much aggravation I've been able to boot, from USB, both/either N4FLive and Embedded. However, the boot/install screen that should allow me to save the OS and config (option 1) to the SSD will not actually perform that task... Throwing an error message: Unable to open configuration file /etc/hast.conf

Accessing N4F from the web GUI --I see no means to actually save the OS or configuration to ada0 (which has been formatted to UFS).

All the tools are in place but, this 'nix guy is somewhat stumped and would appreciate some direction. I appologize if this is a redundant question --searching the forum hasn't revealed an answer.

Please provide more info.

PopsTX wrote:After much aggravation I've been able to boot, from USB, both/either N4FLive and Embedded. However, the boot/install screen that should allow me to save the OS and config (option 1) to the SSD will not actually perform that task... Throwing an error message: Unable to open configuration file /etc/hast.conf

use webGUI to save config, not the shell.

To install N4F on your 32GB SSD, you need to boot from LiveUSB and use option 9 ( Install), and do a embeded or full install , if you choose full install when promt about size of destination partition use a bit more of 364MB suggeste by default. I personally use 2048 MB , so you can use 30GB free as data/temporary partition ( I use as temp, and log partion, and as temp partition for transmission and fuppes and minidlna).

PD: If you use a full install and want to upgrade N4F , there are no problems because config is saved and this second partition ( 30GB) is saved, but if you need for some reason do a new fresh full install you lose this second partition so be carefull to not store valuable data on it, only temp and logs.

Thanks for the advice, Raulfg3

To install N4F on your 32GB SSD, you need to boot from LiveUSB and use option 9 ( Install), and do a embeded or full install , if you choose full install when promt about size of destination partition use a bit more of 364MB suggeste by default.

This is where the problem begins: There seems to be no problem saving the configuration to the SSD but, after choosing option 9 -I'm taken to the "NAS4Free Install & Upgrade Menu" --which offers 6 options. In choosing Option 1 (my intent is to use the entire SSD for the OS & config) I am greeted with the error message noted in my original post... And can proceed no further (to complete the install). The same error message is thrown no matter which option is chosen.

In searching this forum -for hast.conf issues, I find one thread noting that the "hast.conf error/problem" is a known bug, but, I've seen no remedy (aside from installing a lesser version). That said, I've NOT found the problem mentioned in conjunction with a LiveCD installation which makes me wonder if the/this problem is limited to the use of a LiveUSB installation.

Since I did not include a CD/DVD drive in my server build --and time is essence here, I'm going to scavenge a CD/DVD drive to temporarily install in the HP Proliant...

Which NAS4Free revision are you using ? I thought this has been fixed a while ago.

RedAntz;

I'm using the most current, stable version: NAS4Free-x64-LiveUSB-9.1.0.1.775

The last post in the thread mentioned (hast.conf) was in May of this year... VERY Recent.

That said, for my purposes (my client's) neither CARP nor HAST will be utilized as there will be only a single node 99% of the time and neither of these features has been turned on.

PopsTX wrote:In choosing Option 1 (my intent is to use the entire SSD for the OS & config)

do not work as you expected.

option 1 is embeded install http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=do ... ee_on_disk for USB keys

in embeded a img of N4F is stored in SSD and load in RAM when boot.

Try option 2 for embeded or 3 for full ( I suggest option 3 in your case because you have a SSD not a USB Key so you do not notice burn problem). and define 2048MB for boot partition if requested.

PD: You only need embeded in your case if you want easyly update N4F firmware from webGUI, otherwise full is good for a SSD.

Raulfg;
In choosing option 3 (or any other) I am still receiving the hast.conf error. I'm going to power-down and install a CD/DVD drive in the Server and do an ISO install. Will update this thread upon completion.

Update:

After a full CD install --> Narry a hitch. Went off like clockwork. Client is tickled to have a genuine, working server and I'm happy as a clam as well.

I'm still not sure what the problem was with the hast.conf issue but after doing the ISO install there seems to be absolutely no such problem... Which leads me to think there may be an issue with the LiveUSB image.

Nevertheless, I truly appreciate everyone's help!!

entirely possible that the live USB down load had a glitch
but I have never been a fan of USB storage
I use these for my boot
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/f ... sh_modules
the PCI box uses the PATA cousin

RedAntz wrote:Which NAS4Free revision are you using ? I thought this has been fixed a while ago.

I'm having exactly the same problem, Zotac barebones with 8GB SSD, Nas4Free 9.1.0.1.775, tried everything exactly like the OP did and got the same results, "Unable to open configuration file /etc/hast.conf: No such file or directory / Failed to detect any CDROM/USB drive". This is off a bootable USB created with YUMI from NAS4Free-x64-LiveCD-9.1.0.1.775.iso.

Download latest LiveCD.iso for your NAS, burn on your desktop PC and boot from it (boot on your desktop PC), once menu appears, put your USB key, select option 9, and select make a embeded install ( select as source your CDrom, and destination your NAS USB key ).

once done, use menu to reboot/shutdown your desktop PC.

Use new create USB key to boot Zotac Barebone, and tell us if works.

I cut out one level of indirection, did what the OP did and borrowed a USB CDROM drive, the install went fine from that. So there's definitely an issue with installing from USB if you're starting with the ISO. Even for that it's tricky to create a reliable bootable USB, unetbootin creates a USB that dies during boot with "Invalid or corrupt kernel image", after much poking around I found that YUMI would successfully create a bootable USB, but that then produces the hast.conf problem.

For the benefit of people googling for the error message to locate the fix for it, here's the text: The fix: Burn the ISO to CD and install from that.

hastdotwhat wrote: The fix: Burn the ISO to CD and install from that.

+1 !
CD boot has been around a lot longer than USB and
[IMHO] there are still a lot of quirks in USB booting.
Great when it works OOTB, no fun when it does not.

I would rather use a small HDD for the embedded and spin it down 5 minutes after the boot.
My daughter's N4F and my cold spare both work this way. Both are old Dells with Dell bios.
They will only boot from the Primary IDE, floppy, or a Nic rom chip.
They work fine booting from old HDDs

Sorry to bring this topic back from the dead. I'm having the exact same issue. Except, there are no USB devices involved.

When I try to install from LiveCD I get the exact same message. There are no USB devices involved and there are none attached to the computer (other then the USB keyboard). I installed from CD and I want to set it up to run off a 17 GB hard drive.

I installed the 32 bit version of 9.1.0.1 using Active@ ISO Burner and validated the download with HashCalc.

Anyone have any ideas?

Dusting off some very old UNIX knowledge, I poked around in the shell. It looks like there is a file in /ETC/ that looks something like this when I list the files in the directory

hast.conf@ -> /var/etc/hast.conf

I'm not familiar with this. I assume it's some sort of shortcut or pointer to another file. However, I go look in the directory /var/etc/ and there is no hast.conf file. Is that expected or did I somehow end up with a missing file during installation?

Clayman --
The original system that generated this problem is 50 miles from my physical location so, I cannot really give a definitive answer on "hast.conf" being in the locations you mentioned. That said, "HAST" is an ancillary part (I think) of "uCarp" and both are used to sync (for the lack of a better word) two user's data. That's a very broad description and I'm sure there's more on the FreeBSD website and possibly even a view of what is included in that file. So, with that thought in mind, I would think you might "start" by creating, as root, the file in it's proper place --just to see if alleviates the problem. Just be sure and take notes so you can undo anything that doesn't work.

I am in the process now of building another NAS system & network and will update this thread if any further problems or pertinent information arises.

PopsTX -

I have not had a bit of luck. I found this page about HAST which pointed me to pages about hast.conf, hastctl and hastd.

Using the information I found I was able to create something resembling a hast.conf file and hastctl. I got different error messages but I was really floundering in the dark with no idea if I was even getting any closer. In particular, the pages I found on FreeBSD basically said problems with HAST pretty much never happen.

I'm not even really sure what HAST is involved since the embedding process, I assume, is trying to connect to local drives and not remote drives across a TCP/IP network. I've also tried it with and without it being connected to the network (pulling the physical plug and rebooting in between.

I'm not sure where to go next.

clayman wrote:Sorry to bring this topic back from the dead. I'm having the exact same issue. Except, there are no USB devices involved.

When I try to install from LiveCD I get the exact same message. There are no USB devices involved and there are none attached to the computer (other then the USB keyboard). I installed from CD and I want to set it up to run off a 17 GB hard drive.

I installed the 32 bit version of 9.1.0.1 using Active@ ISO Burner and validated the download with HashCalc.

Anyone have any ideas?

This bug only happends in x86 version, try x64 if your hardware CPU support it, or wait until new version are released.

I did a quick search in the open bug reports and didn't see anything similar to this. Is there one open?


Also, is there a good way to be notified when a new version is released?

Is it possible for the 64bit LiveCD to boot on an x86 machine? I was fairly confident the machine I'm working on is a 32-bit. I validated that the CD I'm booting from is the 64-bit version.

Anyway, I booted using the 64-bit LiveCD and I'm still getting the same error.