Zyxel NSA310 - questions after Debian install

Hi,
Thanks to this forum, I successfully installed Debian on my box. Thank you!
I have some questions without answers even after reading many posts. Maybe I just didn't find them.

1. ethernet MAC address is `00:00:00:00:00:30` despite the fact it is set in setenv:

enp1s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet [redacted IP]  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast [redacted IP]
        inet6 fe80::200:ff:fe00:30  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:00:00:00:00:30  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 16  bytes 2575 (2.5 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 36  bytes 5093 (4.9 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 1 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

root@nsa310:~# fw_printenv ethaddr
ethaddr=50:67:XX:YY:ZZ:XY

2. for the interface name the only solution was to name it `enp1s0` as in this tutorial.
When trying as in forum post didn't get any result.

rename /end0=eth0
auto lo eth0
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp

What am I doing wrong?

3. is it possible to enable caches mentioned when the box is starting?

SoC:   Kirkwood 88F6281_A1
DRAM:  256 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  128 MiB

4. is it any solution to boot from HDD in case USB is broken? like a failsafe mechanism.

5. did anyone succeed to install OMV on the latest Debian? The tutorials are for Debian Stretch and OMV4 but didn't work for me with Bookworm and OMV4.
It this isn't working, how are you managing RAID?

Thank you

tmcatalin,

> 1. ethernet MAC address is `00:00:00:00:00:30`
> despite the fact it is set in setenv:

> root@nsa310:~# fw_printenv ethaddr
> ethaddr=50:67:XX:YY:ZZ:XY

So this box behaves like other MVEBU boxes. You can set the correct MAC address 2 different ways:

a. Use the attached script to set it to ethaddr after it booted.

Put this set_persistent_mac_address script in /etc/rc.local (before exit 0).

Note that to use this script , you must solve your number 2 problem first.

b. Add the MAC address in /etc/network/interfaces

Here is an example.

iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.0.215
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway 192.168.0.1
	hwaddress ether 00:50:43:xx:xx:xx

>
> 2. for the interface name the only solution was to
> name it `enp1s0` as in
> this
> tutorial.
> When trying as in forum post didn't get any
> result.
> rename /end0=eth0

rename /enp1s0=eth0

> 3. is it possible to enable caches mentioned when
> the box is starting?
>

> SoC:   Kirkwood 88F6281_A1
> DRAM:  256 MiB
> WARNING: Caches not enabled
> NAND:  128 MiB
>

No need to worry about this. It's only applicable while u-boot is running.

> 4. is it any solution to boot from HDD in case USB
> is broken? like a failsafe mechanism.

Yes. It will depend which u-boot version is running, and what the currect envs are.

With serial console connected, power up, interrupt count down and

printenv

And post the entire serial console log here.

>
> 5. did anyone succeed to install OMV on the latest
> Debian? The tutorials are for Debian Stretch and
> OMV4 but didn't work for me with Bookworm and
> OMV4.

Yes, I remember OMV 5 is working with bookworm. But I lost the browser tab for that before I can add it to the Wiki thread. Perhaps searching the forum you will find it.

BTW, I recall OMV messes up the MAC address. So if the MAC address does not stay persistent, it might be the cause.

====

Without RAID, you can also do network backup. See the Wiki thread

Quote

Backup and Cloning rootfs

Back up a live rootfs using rsync

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2025 03:28PM by bodhi.

Thank you bodhi!

Right now the box is busy, as i am copying data on it. I will test MAC address after.

Regarding `printenv' I am attaching the output of 'fw_printenv'. BTW, is any difference between them?

Related to versions of u-boot, kernel and Debian, I am running the latest versions corresponding to NSA310.

tmcatalin,

> Regarding `printenv' I am attaching the output of
> 'fw_printenv'. BTW, is any difference between
> them?
>

Only if you have modifed the envs after installation. Otherwise, with the default envs, it will try to boot USB and then if failed, it will automatically try SATA.

I like to see how the box boots with u-boot and then the kernel booting. It's best before giving any advice to have a total picture by looking at the log.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)