Built Debian 13 VM replacement for aging ReadyNAS, deployed rsync-based sync script to AD2, transferred data, completed IP cutover to 192.168.0.9. Includes setup scripts, sync fixes, and comprehensive session logs. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
10 KiB
D2TESTNAS VM Replacement
Replacement for Netgear ReadyNAS RN10400 (D2TESTNAS) used in Dataforth DOS 6.22 test infrastructure. The new system is a Debian 13 (Trixie) VM running on Hyper-V with BTRFS for snapshots, Samba with SMB1 for DOS compatibility, and rsync daemon for AD2 bidirectional sync.
1. Hyper-V VM Creation
Run these PowerShell commands on the Hyper-V host as Administrator.
# --- Configuration ---
$VMName = "D2TESTNAS"
$VMPath = "D:\Hyper-V\VMs"
$VHDPath = "D:\Hyper-V\VMs\D2TESTNAS\Virtual Hard Disks"
$ISOPath = "D:\ISOs\debian-13-netinst-amd64.iso" # Download from https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
$SwitchName = "Dataforth-Bridge" # Your existing vSwitch for 192.168.0.0/24
# --- Create VM ---
New-VM -Name $VMName `
-Path $VMPath `
-MemoryStartupBytes 2GB `
-Generation 2 `
-SwitchName $SwitchName
# --- Configure VM ---
Set-VM -Name $VMName `
-ProcessorCount 2 `
-DynamicMemory `
-MemoryMinimumBytes 1GB `
-MemoryMaximumBytes 4GB `
-AutomaticStartAction Start `
-AutomaticStartDelay 30 `
-AutomaticStopAction ShutDown
# --- Create OS disk (40 GB) ---
New-VHD -Path "$VHDPath\os.vhdx" -SizeBytes 40GB -Dynamic
Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -Path "$VHDPath\os.vhdx"
# --- Create DATA disk (200 GB, or match current NAS capacity) ---
# This disk will be formatted as BTRFS and mounted at /data
New-VHD -Path "$VHDPath\data.vhdx" -SizeBytes 200GB -Dynamic
Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -Path "$VHDPath\data.vhdx"
# --- Attach Debian ISO ---
Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -Path $ISOPath
# --- Set boot order: DVD first (for install), then disk ---
$dvd = Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName
$disk = Get-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName | Where-Object { $_.Path -like "*os.vhdx" }
Set-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName -BootOrder $dvd, $disk
# --- Disable Secure Boot (Debian needs "Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority") ---
Set-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName -EnableSecureBoot Off
# --- Start VM ---
Start-VM -Name $VMName
vmconnect localhost $VMName
Adjust $SwitchName to match whatever virtual switch bridges to the 192.168.0.0/24
Dataforth network. If you do not have one, create it:
# Create external vSwitch bridged to the physical NIC on the Dataforth network
New-VMSwitch -Name "Dataforth-Bridge" -NetAdapterName "Ethernet 2" -AllowManagementOS $true
2. Debian Installation Notes
During the Debian 13 (Trixie) netinst installation:
- Language/Region: English, United States, UTF-8
- Hostname:
D2TESTNAS - Domain: leave blank
- Root password:
Paper123!@#-nas - User account: Skip creating a normal user (or create one for admin use)
- Partitioning - IMPORTANT:
- Use "Manual" partitioning
- Disk 1 (40 GB, /dev/sda): OS disk
- 512 MB EFI System Partition (ESP)
- 1 GB /boot (ext4)
- Remainder: / (ext4)
- (No swap partition -- Hyper-V dynamic memory handles this; or add 2 GB swap)
- Disk 2 (200 GB, /dev/sdb): Data disk
- Use entire disk as a single partition
- Format as BTRFS
- Mount point: /data
- Software selection:
- Deselect "Debian desktop environment" and all desktop options
- Select "SSH server"
- Select "standard system utilities"
- Do NOT select any web server or print server
- GRUB: Install to /dev/sda
After reboot, verify you can SSH in, then proceed to post-install.
3. Post-Install Setup
SSH into the new VM (use the DHCP address shown at the console):
ssh root@<dhcp-ip-address>
Transfer and run the setup script:
# From your workstation (PowerShell/bash):
scp setup-d2testnas.sh root@<dhcp-ip-address>:/root/
# On the VM:
chmod +x /root/setup-d2testnas.sh
/root/setup-d2testnas.sh
The script will:
- Install samba, rsync, btrfs-progs, and supporting packages
- Set hostname to D2TESTNAS
- Create BTRFS subvolumes (/data/test, /data/datasheets)
- Write /etc/samba/smb.conf with SMB1 (CORE protocol) support
- Create Samba users ts-1 through ts-50 (null passwords) and engineer
- Write /etc/rsyncd.conf and /etc/rsyncd.secrets
- Install BTRFS snapshot cron jobs
- Configure SSH for root login with password
- Enable and start all services
- Run verification checks
- Display cutover instructions
4. Testing Before Cutover
While the VM is still on a DHCP address (not 192.168.0.9), verify all services work. Use the DHCP IP in place of 192.168.0.9 for these tests.
Test SMB from Windows
net use Z: \\<dhcp-ip>\test
dir Z:\
net use Z: /delete
Test rsync from AD2
$env:RSYNC_PASSWORD = "IQ203s32119"
rsync --list-only rsync://rsync@<dhcp-ip>/test/
Test SSH
ssh root@<dhcp-ip>
# Password: Paper123!@#-nas
Test BTRFS Snapshots
# On the VM:
btrfs-snapshot.sh create hourly
btrfs-snapshot.sh list
ls /data/.snapshots/
Test from DOS Machine (optional, requires temporary IP or hosts hack)
If you can temporarily set a DOS machine to use the DHCP IP, test the T: drive mapping. Otherwise, wait for cutover.
5. Data Migration
Before cutover, copy all data from the old NAS to the new VM:
# On the new VM, pull everything from the old NAS:
RSYNC_PASSWORD=IQ203s32119 rsync -avz --progress \
rsync://rsync@192.168.0.9/test/ /data/test/
This may take a while depending on data volume. Run it multiple times -- rsync is incremental and will only transfer changes on subsequent runs.
For the datasheets share, copy via SMB or SCP from the old NAS:
# If rsync module exists for datasheets:
RSYNC_PASSWORD=IQ203s32119 rsync -avz rsync://rsync@192.168.0.9/datasheets/ /data/datasheets/
# Otherwise, mount the old NAS share temporarily:
apt-get install -y cifs-utils
mkdir -p /mnt/old-nas
mount -t cifs //192.168.0.9/datasheets /mnt/old-nas -o guest,vers=1.0
rsync -avz /mnt/old-nas/ /data/datasheets/
umount /mnt/old-nas
6. Cutover Checklist
Perform these steps during a maintenance window when no DOS machines are running tests.
Pre-Cutover
- All data migrated from old NAS (run rsync one final time)
- All services verified on new VM (SMB, rsync, SSH)
- BTRFS snapshots working (run
btrfs-snapshot.sh list) - Notify engineers: maintenance window, expect brief T: drive outage
Cutover Steps
-
Stop the AD2 sync script (disable scheduled task on AD2 temporarily)
-
Final data sync from old NAS to new VM:
RSYNC_PASSWORD=IQ203s32119 rsync -avz rsync://rsync@192.168.0.9/test/ /data/test/ -
Power off the old ReadyNAS (192.168.0.9)
-
Assign static IP to new VM:
# On the new VM: # Edit /etc/network/interfaces to use static config: cat > /etc/network/interfaces << 'EOF' auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.0.9 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.0.254 dns-nameservers 192.168.0.27 192.168.0.6 192.168.1.254 EOF # Replace "eth0" with actual interface name shown by: ip link show systemctl restart networking -
Verify IP assignment:
ip addr show ping -c 3 192.168.0.254 -
Re-enable AD2 sync script (re-enable scheduled task)
-
Test from AD2:
$env:RSYNC_PASSWORD = "IQ203s32119" rsync --list-only rsync://rsync@192.168.0.9/test/ -
Test from Windows:
net use T: \\D2TESTNAS\test dir T:\ -
Test from DOS machine: Boot one test station and verify T: drive maps and NWTOC.BAT runs successfully.
-
Create baseline snapshot:
btrfs-snapshot.sh create daily
Post-Cutover
- Monitor /var/log/samba/ for connection issues
- Monitor /var/log/rsyncd.log for sync activity
- Verify AD2 sync runs successfully (check sync status file)
- Verify BTRFS snapshot cron is creating snapshots (check after 1 hour)
- Update credentials.md with any changes to the NAS entry
- Keep old ReadyNAS powered off but available for 2 weeks as fallback
Rollback Plan
If critical issues arise during cutover:
- Power off the new VM
- Power on the old ReadyNAS
- Wait 2 minutes for ReadyNAS to boot and claim 192.168.0.9
- Verify DOS machines can map T: drive
- Re-enable AD2 sync task
7. Maintenance Reference
Service Management
systemctl status smbd nmbd rsync ssh
systemctl restart smbd # Restart Samba file server
systemctl restart nmbd # Restart NetBIOS name service
systemctl restart rsync # Restart rsync daemon
Snapshot Management
btrfs-snapshot.sh list # Show all snapshots
btrfs-snapshot.sh create hourly # Manual hourly snapshot
btrfs-snapshot.sh create daily # Manual daily snapshot
btrfs-snapshot.sh prune # Clean up old snapshots per retention policy
Snapshots are browsable at /data/.snapshots/ and via the \\D2TESTNAS\snapshots
SMB share (read-only). To restore a file from a snapshot:
# Find the file in a snapshot:
ls /data/.snapshots/daily_2026-03-12_00-01-00/TS-01/LOGS/
# Copy it back:
cp /data/.snapshots/daily_2026-03-12_00-01-00/TS-01/LOGS/5BLOG/DATA.DAT /data/test/TS-01/LOGS/5BLOG/
Log Files
| Log | Purpose |
|---|---|
| /var/log/samba/log.* | Samba per-client logs |
| /var/log/rsyncd.log | rsync daemon transfers |
| /var/log/btrfs-snapshots.log | Snapshot create/prune activity |
| /var/log/auth.log | SSH login attempts |
Samba User Management
# Add a new station user with null password:
useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin ts-51
smbpasswd -a -n ts-51
smbpasswd -e ts-51
# Change engineer password:
smbpasswd engineer
8. Architecture Comparison
| Feature | Old (ReadyNAS RN10400) | New (Debian 13 VM) |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Netgear ReadyNAS Linux | Debian 13 (Trixie) |
| Filesystem | BTRFS | BTRFS |
| SMB | SMB1 (CORE) | SMB1 (CORE) via Samba |
| rsync | rsync daemon, port 873 | rsync daemon, port 873 |
| Snapshots | 80+ BTRFS (not browsable) | Automated, browsable via SMB |
| NetBIOS/WINS | nmbd | nmbd |
| Management | Web UI (limited) | SSH + CLI (full control) |
| Backup | BTRFS snapshots only | BTRFS snapshots + Hyper-V checkpoints |
| Hardware | Physical appliance | Virtual machine (portable, resizable) |