Iomega ix4-200d data reconstruction, ssh and more!

December 17th, 2009
by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

So for those of you who know me, you know I initially complained about a data reconstruction problem with my ix4-200d! I accidently pulled the power cable out (doh!) and then my system came up JUST fine, and said “Data reconstruction, 2%” Yea, it said that FOREVER – And it did nothing and got nowhere! Regardless of how many reboots I made! (Though my data access was fine!)

ix4-200d !

And even going to the “Update Device Software” tab, it always reported “The device software is up to date” Which I now know is a LIE! LIES I SAY! :)

I did a little searching and came across an updated firmware! (oh my!) however it didn’t say it’d do anything about data reconstruction problems! But hey, I always like to be running the latest/greatest, so I downloaded and installed the latest firmware! StorCenter ix4-200d Firmware Version 2.1.25.229: Read First (You’ll find this to be quick and painless!)

Well, some minutes passed and all of a sudden the system was all “DATA RECONSTRUCTION IS HAPPENING IN THE HIZZY!” Okay, not in those exact words.. but I don’t feel like pulling my power to try to reproduce the problem – needless to say, my data reconstruction resumed and finished in short order! Score one for the bucko! (dated reference much?!)

So I deep dove into the system to see what else had changed! (nothing consequential that I could find) but my journey to find a way to ssh this box had not ended! I was determined! I must.. I must.. I must increase my SSH ability! And while searching I came across not only this webpage SSH/Shell access to iomega StorCenter ix2 but that little gem of a webpage included this little link at the bottom! http://ip-of-nas/support.html – Which when you browse to it on your ix4, you end up seeing a page which looks like… this!

Support Page to enable SSH on ix4-200d /support.html

This has a few little gems, only two of which will I look at in any detail – Support Access and Recover Disks

Support Access to enable SSH Storage Recovery Verification - Force Disk data reconstruction maybe?

Well, Support Access looks pretty damn straight forward! Check the box, reboot, and SSH will be enabled (permanently!)

The Storage Recovery Verification is a bit more interesting – my “guess” is that it allows you the ability to force the data reconstruction many of us complain of! Again, I have no intention of forcing the deal to try to see what happens if I fail my system – You simply let me know if this works for you – with data reconstruction woes :)

Getting Shell (ssh) access to the ix4-200d!

Sweet, eh! So, I feel comfortable sharing the process on how to do this.. because frankly, I had to find it from the outside looking in! So I definitely grant you good luck on solving your data reconstruction, firmware updating, and enabling SSH on your NAS!   Until I find an externally cited source though.. I cannot share with you my passwd I used to log in to my ix4 ;)

As promised!  Shell access to your ix2/ix4 exposed! “Get yer red hot ssh here!”

If you come across a site referencing it though, I’d be glad to add it to the mix!  Thanks for your patience.. and look forward to a future post around getting my ‘gigabit runs at 100mb’ problem :)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Iomega, NAS, Storage | Comments (Comments)

  • michaelduncan
    I can verify the "Storage Recovery Verification" does NOT fix a stuck "Data reconstruction, 2%” problem.

    When I went to Storage Recovery Verification" it told this only works on Storage Arrays in a failed state (or words to that effect).
    with ssh access I indeed checked the state of /proc/mdstat and confirmed the array had finished consistancy checks, but the nagging alert remained - until...

    If you look for a file called "sohoAlerts.xml" cat under /tmp you can remove the offending "cosmetic" alert.
    from memory it has an alert id of 102 but it will show an <arg> section with the percentage value of the stuck rebuild

    its basic xml so delete everything (including) between <Alert Id="102"...> to </Alert>

    refresh the home or dashboard page and the alert should be gone.

    there is a working version of vi on the box :-)
  • Tuuan
    Great Article ... altho I read it a bit to late ... I changed the root password hash in my shadow file ... don't know if this is related, but I can't get the ssh to start, although my webinterface says it's running in support mode, running a portscan doesn't show port 22 and the sftp port as openend ...

    Any chance you can give me the content of your shadow file ??? or do you have any tips :)

    And yes ... it was stupid not to make a backup of the shadow file ... but I thought I did ... but turned out that I made a backup of almost everything (ssh and samba related dirs/files) ... but not the shadow file :)

    anyways, as I said ... great article
  • etmmvdp
    Hi,
    I provided the little hem. Is there a way you can reveal how to find the username/passwordcombo?

    etmmvdp
  • Hey, shoot me an email if you could around this! ;)
  • As soon as I can find a public disclosure of the credentials (cited somewhere else) I cannot on good liberty share the userid/passwd.
  • Marc
    Hi,
    I'm not sure I'm getting you ... You obtained by some means the password to the root account of your NAS or one can access the ix2/ix4 with any admin account ? I can't access my ix2 with any account.
    Help appreciated !!!
  • duanec
    Well, my device is dead and no http, no ftp login, ssh is running but none of the uid/pass I created worked.
    I'd really like to see if I can get into this box and see what the problem is.
  • Hey Duane, reach out to me offline - either via twitter @cxi or via email - christopher.kusek@pkguild.com

    I may have some options for you
  • Awesome post. This is going to help us out a lot.
  • Anderson
    Great tip!

    Which password did you used to login? Does this NASUser a default user?

    Many thanks!
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