NASLite Network Attached Storage

I had a brief power outage at our home today, and when my NASLite 2.01 system rebooted I had no access to the hard drives. It turned out that my unlock code was no longer valid and I had to request a new one, causing my NASLite server to be offline unnecessarily for several hours and causing failures in routines trying to save to the file server. No saved NASLite configuration settings were lost -- everything was still there, but the unlock code showed as failed.

Why would a loss of power cause an invalid unlock code? There had been no other changes in the NASLite server; in fact I hadn't touched it in several weeks.

Your hardware was changed in someway, and invalidated your unlock code.

Adding, removing cards, or moving existing cards to a different slot is the only way for this to happen.

Hi Ralphy,

I have a question for you, What happens if Tony and yourself stop development of Naslite? How would we get our unlock codes. or even if the server is down that serves our codes. it will render the our server useless until a new code is used. its a shame that us paying users have to have unlock codes.

Could it be that you entered the unlock code and never saved it.

Both Ralph and I have too much invested in Server Elements to even entertain the idea of dropping development. That said we realize the reason for your concern.

In the very unlikely event that we are no longer capable or actively involved in maintenance and development, arrangements have been made for a well informed third party to assume those responsibilities. Every aspect of Server Elements daily operations will be handled in the interest of all that have supported Server Elements and all of it’s current and future products.

The reason is most definitely a NIC IRQ change due to the power outage. Usually such IRQ changes happen only when hardware changes occur.

As I said, I made NO hardware changes whatsoever. I hadn't even touched the server.

The reason that I made this posting was to hopefully sensitize you to the fact that sometimes, for what appear to be random and unrepeatable reasons, NASLite 2 just appears to lose it's unlock code. This isn't the first time that it has happened, and you'll see other postings about repeated need to get new unlock codes even when no hardware change was made. I think that somehow the process that you are using for triggering the need for a new code is set more sensitive than you realize, or being triggered by unanticipated events.

In this case, it appears to be a power loss and reboot that triggered the loss of the unlock code. On the other hand, if I power down and unplug my server and then reboot, I can't now seem to duplicate the occurrence. So it's possible that something else unrelated cause the unlock code to fail. But I assure you that it was NOT because I changed the hardware.

No, it was saved. I had rebooted several times since the last time I entered an unlock code.

I'm not sure you read my previous post. The problem will be impossible to duplicate because it is not something that is supposed to happen by design. The BIOS should not reassign IRQs on reboot, unless a hardware problem, most likely caused by the power outage, forced that to happen.

NASLite-2 did not loose the unlock code. What it did was to generate a system ID that was different than the previous one, thus not matching the existing unlock code. The most likely reason for the different system ID is NIC IRQ change.

In your BIOS, set the PnP OS option to NO in order to minimize the possibility of this occurrence. Some BIOS are touchy in that respect.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks Tony, this does make sense. I read your post, but I interpreted it as another "you must have changed something" response, which I had already tried to address in my earlier reply.

That was the problem I was having with this issue -- i.e. that the BIOS shouldn't reassign IRQs unless there was a hardware change, but that something was in fact causing NASLite to request a new unlock code even though no hardware change had occurred.

I'll check the BIOS PnP OS setting -- that's something I hadn't looked at. (I thought it was already set to NO, since I built this computer and generally always set that setting to NO in the BIOS.) If that turns out to be what it is, however, and if BIOS's can cause IRQ changes even with no hardware change, then I think the unlock code process may need revisiting. At a minimum, a recommendation regarding BIOS PnP setting might be needed in the manual, much like the current one regarding hard drives.

Sorry to harp on this issue, but the unlock code thing in NASLite 2 has so far been a PITA. I've seen activation/authentication requirements in software before (most notably in Microsoft Windows XP and Office suite products), but I've never run into anything this sensitive to trivial or even phantom changes in hardware. I realize that the unlock code is tied to the System ID, but the System ID appears to be changing for reasons that go way beyond your need to protect distribution rights.

I certainly support your right and need to add product activation requirements to NASLite in order to protect your revenue and distribution rights, but I'd like to see it done in a way that isn't overly burdensome for your customers. The goal should be to force a new unlock code when NASLite has been loaded on a different computer, but IMO it should not be triggered on minor IRQ changes.

I know I'm coming across as a complainer, but I really do like NASLite and applaud your development of a great product. I only post in with the intent and hope of helping to make the product better.

I somewhat agree with jgsouthard, I am sure I added a Hard drive at some stage and my key was not valid. didnt think to much about it then.

Tony and Ralph need to protect there product but it always seems the paying customer gets the rough deal in some respects. people who dont pay (Warez) wont have any license to enter or unlock codes. If me adding a code safeguards the development of naslite then i dont mind doing it. i am just unsure if i like my software being tired to a server that i am reliant on to enable my software to work ( intial setup )

What if someone wants a server but has no internet access?

Hello Tony:

Suggestion: How about tying the UNLOCK CODE to the MAC Address ?

Changing to a different NIC should be a rare occurence, and the MAC Address is pretty unique. This allows user to add or move around the HDDs, change USB boot device (or ports), etc., and avoids all the other hassles mentioned.

Georg

The system ID is generated from a number of parameters, some are intentional and others such as IRQs are residual. Currently, the MAC is only one of those parameters. The main issue we can identify is the IRQs. The points made above are valid, so thanks for speaking up. We’ll revise the associated code to correct that.

Same here. I started with 3 and added 4th and did not have to update the code.