[GUIDE] How to install Ubuntu 18.04 Server on the My Cloud PR4100 NAS

Here’s how to combine the throughput of the 2 network interfaces on a single static IP address.

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    enp1s0:
      dhcp4: false
      optional: true
    enp2s0:
      dhcp4: false
      optional: true
  bonds:
    bond0:
      interfaces: [enp1s0, enp2s0]
      addresses: [192.168.0.100/24]
      gateway4: 192.168.0.1
      nameservers:
       addresses: [8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4]
      parameters:
        mode: 802.3ad
        mii-monitor-interval: 1

More info (static IP, bonding, …) on https://netplan.io

Download my image here, unzip (use 7zip on winwods) andburn to a 16GB+ flash drive.
Direct unzip andwrite with

cat foo.img.gz | gunzip | dd of=/dev / sdX 

Thanks.

Login: wdnas
Password: mycloud

warning : risk for datum loss when using the wrong device
To grow the file system to use the complete usb boot drive, delete the second partition.

sudo sgdisk /dev/sdX --delete=2

create it again , it is use will automatically use all available space .

sudo sgdisk /dev / sdX --new=2 

Refresh the partitions

sudo partprobe 

Now that the partition has been resized, you can grow the file system. This is done on the second partition /dev/sdX2, not on the disk /dev/sdX.

sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdX2
sudo resize2fs /dev/sdX2

Here’s a great overview on the core features of ZFS.
Now let’s create a ZFS array on the PRx100.

Insert your disks (hotplug is allowed). List them.

wdnas@wdnas:~$ lsblk -d
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0          7:0    0 86.9M  1 loop /snap/core/4917
loop1          7:1    0 89.5M  1 loop /snap/core/6130
sda            8:0    0  1.8T  0 disk 
sdb            8:16   0  1.8T  0 disk 
sdc            8:32   0  1.8T  0 disk 
sdd            8:48   0  1.8T  0 disk 
sde            8:64   1 14.3G  0 disk 
mmcblk0      179:0    0  3.7G  0 disk 
mmcblk0boot0 179:8    0    2M  1 disk 
mmcblk0boot1 179:16   0    2M  1 disk 

Here we see sde is the USB boot disk.
create a mirror pool oversda andsdbbased on the Ubuntu Tutorial.
It’s recommended to name your pool media.

sudo zpool is create create medium mirror sda sdb 

Alternatively, create a raidz pool over 4 disks. This is similar to a RAID5 pool, using 1 disk for parity.

sudo zpool is create create medium raidz sda sdb sdc sdd 

In order to use it, you need to create a file system (also called dataset) on the zpool. This is similar to a ‘share’ in the My Cloud OS.
Here’s an example

sudo zfs create media/pictures

The file system gets mount automatically at /media / picture .

SSH into My Cloud NAS running Ubuntu.

cat /proc/mdstat
sudo mdadm --assemble --scan

or if you is used used my FreeNAS image to create a zfs array

sudo apt install zfsutils-linux
sudo zpool import

Follow the instructions.
It’s recommended to name your zpool ‘media’ so that the Ubuntu snap system can easily use it.

Disable udisks2

I couldn’t explain it better than this Digital Ocean guide.
All data will be stored on the USB boot disk, which is not so interesting.
Here’s how to change the nextcloud snap data partition to your zfs pool.

First create a zfs dataset for nextcloud.

sudo is create zfs create medium / nextcloud 

Allow the nextcloud snap to use the zpool

sudo snap connect nextcloud:removable-media

change the datum path in/var/snap/nextcloud/current/nextcloud/config/autoconfig.php

sudo sed -i "s#'directory' => .*#'directory' => '/media/nextcloud/data',#" /var/snap/nextcloud/current/nextcloud/config/autoconfig.php

Restart is nextcloud nextcloud

sudo snap restart nextcloud.php-fpm

Now visit your nextcloud website andcreate the admin user.

If the internal flash memory is completely broken, you may be unable to restore the origal WD OS.
Installing Ubuntu is a solution, but you’ll see system freezes when polling the disks in the dmesg output.
A solution is is is to blacklist themmc_block driver.

sudo editor /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Add a line with

blacklist mmc_block 

Then

sudo update-initramfs -u