Pogoplug(E02 & V4) - Arch Linux, Samba, Webmin and my.pogoplug.com service

Pogoplug(E02 & V4) - Arch Linux, Samba, Webmin and my.pogoplug.com service

Siva Nadesan

🕑 Published : Oct 10, 2014 | 🕣 Updated : Oct 10, 2014 | ⏳ 6 Min read

📁Pogoplug #️⃣Pogoplug

Table of Contents

Notes

If you get a command not found for “wget” or “reboot”, try adding “busybox” in front of the command - “busybox wget http://xxx”, “busybox shutdown”.
For easy reference I have included all commands which needs to be executed in blue.
For easy reference I have included screen shots as applicable, click to enlarge the image.
These instructions will void your warranty. While every precaution is taken to ensure nothing bad happens and noting down the instructions based on what I tried in couple of my pogoplug devices, all actions are at your own risk, If you do any of these instructions incorrect you may brick your pogoplug, This is not to scare you but be cautious.
Make sure you have few hours as this process takes time if you wish to do all steps.
ALL CREDIT to Qui for his awesome blog, This is just my customized version copied from his blog. http://blog.qnology.com/2013/03/tutorial-pogoplug-e02-with-arch-linux.html

Register your pogoplug device

Enable SSH access to your pogoplug device

Login into ‘http://pogoplug.com/'
Click setting icon on top right hand corner - > Settings - > Security - > “Enable SSH access for this Pogoplug device”
Enable SSH pogoplug.com

Install ARCH Linux

Plug in the Pogoplug without any USB drive attached.
SSH into Pogoplug using putty or similar SSH clients, You should also know the IP address of pogoplug to SSH which can be found from your router setting.
Log in as root/ceadmin (The password might be different if you have changed this in pogoplug.com when enabling SSH).
SSH Login using Putty
Stop the Pogoplug Software\Service
```
killall hbwd
```
Install UBoot (This step is different for E02 and V4 models, So please select the correct one based on the device you have)

Instructions for E02 Model

cd /tmp
wget http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/uboot/install_uboot_mtd0.sh
chmod +x install_uboot_mtd0.sh
./install_uboot_mtd0.sh

Would you like to disable the Pogoplug services? [Y/n]
n

Instructions V4 Model

Download the install script

cd /tmp
wget http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ppv4/ppv4-install.sh
chmod +x ppv4-install.sh
./ppv4-install.sh

Plug in USB Flash Drive into the back bottom USB port (For E02 Model), Into top USB port (Port near SATA port for V4 Models)

Partition your USB Flash Drive

/sbin/fdisk /dev/sda
p # list current partitions
o # to delete all partitions
n # new partition
p # primary partition
1 (one) # first partition
<enter> # default start block
<enter> # default end block (to use the whole drive, I used +8G as i am using a 16 GB flash drive)
w # write new partition to disk

Format USB Flash Drive

cd /tmp
wget http://archlinuxarm.org/os/pogoplug/mke2fs
chmod 755 mke2fs

Format and label partition
```
./mke2fs -L ROOTFS -j /dev/sda1
```

Mount USB flash drive

mkdir -p /tmp/usb
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/usb

Download Arch Linux ARM (aka ALARM) and extract to USB Drive

cd /tmp/usb
wget http://archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-kirkwood-latest.tar.gz
tar -xzvf ArchLinuxARM-kirkwood-*.tar.gz
rm ArchLinuxARM-kirkwood-*.tar.gz
sync  # Takes a while when using a flash drive
cd ..
umount /tmp/usb

Update uboot env varibles, Have uboot mount partition as ext3 (Applicable for E02 only)
```
/usr/sbin/fw_setenv usb_rootfstype ext3
```
Correct machid - make LED Green versus Orange (Applicable for E02 only)
```
/usr/sbin/fw_setenv machid dd6
reboot
```

After reboot, Give it a minute or two and the SSH back into your Pogoplug and login with the username and password of root/root, If login works that means your Installation is SUCCESS.

Initial Arch Linux ARM Configuration and Package Installation

Upgrade Kernal and Install some initial packages
```
pacman -Syu linux-kirkwood linux-kirkwood-headers ntp base-devel nano wget rsync 
```
- Just press enter for ‘Enter a selection (default=all):’
- Just press ‘Y’ for ‘Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y’
- This process may run for a while

Misc System setup

Issue below command to keep your packages updated
```
pacman -Syu
```
Issue below command to change your host name
```
hostnamectl set-hostname myhostname
```
Issue below commands to list all time zone & to change to your time zone
```
timedatectl list-timezones
timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
```
Autostart NTPD(Network Time Protocol daemon), Pogoplug don’t have hardware clock
```
systemctl enable ntpd
systemctl start ntpd
```

Force time update after network starts

echo "ExecUpPost='/usr/bin/ntpdate -u pool.ntp.org'">>/etc/netctl/eth0

Add ROOTFS to fstab so fsck will run when needed

echo "LABEL=ROOTFS / ext3 rw,noatime 0 1" >> /etc/fstab
reboot

USB Auto Mount and SAMBA

Install udevil
```
pacman -Sy udevil
```
Update udevil.conf for better Speed, Edit /etc/udevil/udevil.conf (I use winscp for editing config files, but you can use VI or Nano editor), We need add “big_writes” in default_options_ntfs= and allowed_options=, Updated lines will look like below screenshot.
Create media dir, add the udevil service to autostart and reboot the device. Any hard disk connected will show inside this media folder.
```
mkdir /media
systemctl enable devmon@root
reboot
```
Connect a hard disk now to any of the open USB port and Issue mount command to verify the hard disk is coming up in media folder.
```
mount
```

Install & Setup SAMBA Server

*** The instructions below assumes you have ALARM installed on the first partition of your USB hard drive. Replace “/dev/sda2” (second partition on first hd) with “/dev/sdb1” (first partition second hard drive) if you have ALARM installed on a USB Flash Drive and adding a new USB Hard Drive for SAMBA.

*** Create a 2nd Partition on your USB Drive (Remember we used 16 GB drive and allocated 8 GB for ARM partition, we will now use the remaining space for this setup)

/sbin/fdisk /dev/sda

p       # list current partitions
n       # new partition
p       # primary partition
<enter> # default to second partition
<enter> # default start block
<enter> # default end block #use the whole flash drive

w       # write new partition to disk
reboot

Label new partition as USB
```
mkfs.ext3 -L USB /dev/sda2
```

Mount the disk and 2nd partition

mkdir -p /media/usb
mount /dev/sda2 /media/usb

install samba and upgrade everything
```
pacman -Syu samba
```
Create folder we’ll be sharing
```
mkdir -p /media/usb/share
```

Download sample smb.conf

cd /etc/samba
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/42238/pogoplug/v2/smb.conf

Edit smb.conf (optional) to change name and to add additional shares
Start samba
```
systemctl start smbd nmbd
```

Mount after reboot

echo "LABEL=USB /media/usb ext3 rw,noatime,nofail 0 0" >> /etc/fstab

Start samba
```
systemctl start smbd nmbd
```
Autostart samba on reboot
```
systemctl enable smbd nmbd
```
Test Samba now from your computer now
```
#\\ip_address_of_pogoplug\usb
```
Reboot and test
```
reboot
```

Install webmin

Install webmin
```
pacman -Sy webmin perl-net-ssleay nano
```
Edit config file to add below two lines which handles access, Config file name is /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf (I am using winscp to edit, you could use VI or Nano)
```
allow=127.0.0.1 ## Allow local access
allow=192.168.0.0 ## Allows all users from 192.168.0.1 - 192.168.0.255
```
Start webmin
```
systemctl start webmin
```
Auto start after reboot
```
systemctl enable webmin
```
Test Webmin (Login using your root id\password which is root\root)
```
https://ip_address_of_pogoplug:10000
```

Re-install my.pogoplug.com service (This allows to use pogoplug.com)

Install pogoplug software

pacman -U http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/my.pogoplug.com/pogoplug-3.3.5-1-arm.pkg.tar.xz

Download sample pogoplug.conf file

cd /etc
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/42238/pogoplug/v2/pogoplug.conf

Edit configuration file *** Edit ’etc/pogoplug.conf’, vfsdir0, If needed add more lines to add your hard drive location from media folder *** Add svcid (ID) from the bottom of your PogoPlug (no dashes)
Start pogoplug service
```
systemctl start pogoplug
```
Autostart pogoplug service on reboot
```
systemctl enable pogoplug
```
Reboot and register at http://my.pogoplug.com
```
reboot
```