Qnap TS-101 SlimServer 6.5 now available

[ultra238a]

at the usual home.....

www.progressiveav.com/ts101_update

[peterbell]

Great stuff! Thanks for that.

Do we need to do anything about the old plugins before upgrading? Will there be a new 'All-in-one' plugin update?

[ultra238a]

AlienBBC will need a new 6.5 version (which I will upload to the web page tonight).

As for the other plugin's we will need to check compatibility first.

[peterbell]

Thanks for AlienBBC!

Weather and Lazysearch would be next at the top of my list!

[Paul_B]

Anyone updated to 6.5 for QNAP?

I am finding the web interface painfully slow.

[bonze]

Yes, and it does seem slower.
Should the Performance>'Webserver forking' option make any difference?

[ultra238a]

All In One Plugins update for Slim Server 6.5 is now on the site. All the plugins you have requested are in there and have been tested with 6.5

[ultra238a]

I am just installing it on my TS-101 at home and it automatically does a music folder scan which on a big collection is going to take ages and slow down the web frontend considerably.

I'll give my feedback on 6.5 with a database full of tracks tomorrow when I have had time to index my collection

[peterbell]

Wonderful - many, many thanks, Paul!

[peterbell]

I am just installing it on my TS-101 at home and it automatically does a music folder scan which on a big collection is going to take ages and slow down the web frontend considerably.

I'll give my feedback on 6.5 with a database full of tracks tomorrow when I have had time to index my collection

Indeed - it does go very slowly until the scan has finished. However, the web interface does seem a little sluggish even after the scan has finished.

However, Browse folders from the SB is loads quicker!

[ultra238a]

Bah, who needs the web interface anyway other than to set the things up ;)

Anybody noticed that it also picks up the UPnP server as well now?

[Paul_B]

Okay Paul ;o) but I like the web interface. But something is definately not optimised for it on the QNAP. This is my server response to web page builds and they look awful:

Web Page Build
The length of time taken to build each web page.
< 0.002 : 0 : 0%
< 0.005 : 0 : 0%
< 0.01 : 0 : 0%
< 0.015 : 0 : 0%
< 0.025 : 0 : 0%
< 0.05 : 0 : 0%
< 0.1 : 0 : 0%
< 0.5 : 6 : 32% ###############
< 1 : 3 : 16% #######
< 5 : 8 : 42% #####################
>=5 : 2 : 11% #####
max : 8.719098
min : 0.268488
avg : 2.263316

[ultra238a]

How big is your music collection Paul?

Remember it is now running MySQL on a 266Mhz PPC with 64Mb RAM.

We'll see what we can tweak over the next couple of days

[Paul_B]

Paul,

Music collection:
165 Albums, 2,691 Songs, 1099 Artists

I have turned off FTP, Web, Multimedia, UPNP, P2P on the QNAP

Current selected Skin = Fishbone (although no perceived improvement if default is used)

Most of the other counters seem fine, for example:

Database Access
< 0.002 : 1524 : 77% ######################################
< 0.005 : 8 : 0%
< 0.01 : 0 : 0%
< 0.015 : 36 : 2%
< 0.025 : 129 : 7% ###
< 0.05 : 270 : 14% ######
< 0.1 : 1 : 0%
< 0.5 : 2 : 0%
< 1 : 1 : 0%
< 5 : 0 : 0%
>=5 : 0 : 0%
max : 0.522114
min : 0.000965
avg : 0.006885

It is just the web page build and process template

Web Page Build
The length of time taken to build each web page.
< 0.002 : 1 : 1%
< 0.005 : 0 : 0%
< 0.01 : 0 : 0%
< 0.015 : 0 : 0%
< 0.025 : 0 : 0%
< 0.05 : 0 : 0%
< 0.1 : 0 : 0%
< 0.5 : 14 : 9% ####
< 1 : 79 : 53% ##########################
< 5 : 41 : 27% #############
>=5 : 15 : 10% #####
max : 26.862413
min : -6.054215
avg : 2.318137

Process Template
The time to process each Template Toolkit template when building web pages.
< 0.002 : 0 : 0%
< 0.005 : 781 : 6% ##
< 0.01 : 3973 : 28% ##############
< 0.015 : 4812 : 34% #################
< 0.025 : 1264 : 9% ####
< 0.05 : 1106 : 8% ###
< 0.1 : 297 : 2% #
< 0.5 : 1691 : 12% ######
< 1 : 95 : 1%
< 5 : 39 : 0%
>=5 : 3 : 0%
max : 20.566828
min : 0.002928
avg : 0.050360

If it is the case that I am asking too much of the QNAP then fine. Just want to make sure it isn't something with 6.5 or a bad config.

Many thanks,

Paul

[peterbell]

Yes, it seems to me that, after requesting a new page, there is some disk activity and then a lengthy pause before anything is displayed in the browser.

Has anyone had any luck with the Weather Date and Time screen saver?

It never seems to progress beyond the 'Weather Forecast Loading' stage for me. I have checked all the plugin configuration - all seems okay - the settings had been retained over the 6.3.1 -> 6.5.0 upgrade.

[Seineseeker]

Are we suggesting we should stick with 6.3 for the time being?
I actually quite like the web browser.

[ultra238a]

If you use the web front end then I guess yes stick with 6.3.1

If you don't then I would go with 6.5 as the SB front end is def. quicker finding music

[Fifer]

If you use the web front end then I guess yes stick with 6.3.1

If you don't then I would go with 6.5 as the SB front end is def. quicker finding music

What does that mean for those of us with Nokia 770s who have ordered Transporters Paul?

[Paul_B]

Paul,

Do you know if it is possible to get any performance data out of the QNAP? Thinking CPU utilisation, memory usage? Would be nice to see if it is a fundemental hardware capacity issue or a case or a conflicat of the Perl, Linux, Slim Server configuration.

Paul

[Seineseeker]

If you use the web front end then I guess yes stick with 6.3.1

If you don't then I would go with 6.5 as the SB front end is def. quicker finding music

Hmm tricky, I like the SB frontend as well. Once you have upgraded to 6.5 can you go back to 6.3 by reinstalling if you don't like it?

Is this problem going to get worse and worse with further SS upgrades?

Ah the vagueries of such a great product!

[ultra238a]

We are going to do some stress testing over the next couple of days to see if it is just the hardware not being able to cope or if there are any code issues.

Remember also that 6.5 is the first release that uses MySQL (I believe) so there will probably be tweeks in subsequent releases that will improve the performance.

Firstly though we need to find out if it is the code or lack of power in the TS-101. I personally think it might be memory related but I will come back with our findings as soon as I have them.

[Paul_B]

Very many thanks Paul. Above and beyond once more!

[Heuer]

Cruising the Infrant site and they seem to think performance will be memory related - "If you have tons of RAM, it may help. A ReadyNAS with the default 256MB may struggle a little bit with the new SlimServer, because instead of one monster process using tons of CPU and RAM (an idle SlimServer on a pretty basic config uses ~45MB of RAM by itself), you now have two during a scan."

Can't recall if we can upgrade the memory in the TS-101.

[peterbell]

There's definitely something nasty going on!

Even with all clients turned off - SqueezeBoxes with no screen saver, and now browser or anything else connected to the QNAP, there is regular disk activity.

When listening to Radio 2 via AlienBBC, the spectrum analyser display locks up every couple of seconds.

Sometimes, button presses on the SB remote are ignored.

It would appear that something is consuming resources.

[funkstar]

When listening to Radio 2 via AlienBBC, the spectrum analyser display locks up every couple of seconds.
That happens with 6.3.1 and probably earlier versions as well, although i can't remember for sure.

[ultra238a]

Ok we have done some checking and it does look like memory is the issue. Currently when SlimServer 6.5 is running it is using a 64Mb swap file so adding a further 64Mb or 128Mb would def. help it.

The memory on the TS-101 board can be upgraded and we are currently looking in to the feasibility of doing this either by ourselves or a third party (we are already talking to Qnap about it as well).

Further testing is happening as we speak. We'll come up with a solution one way or another.

[Paul_B]

Wow what are you doing working on a Saturday? But thanks for the quick diagnosis and potential resolution

[funkstar]

That sounds good Paul. Will this be any more involved than replacing a SODIMM. Always meant to crack open my TS-101 for a nosey, but that would mean switching it off and no music :D

[Fifer]

Thanks Paul. More memory would be great and I'm not averse to a wee bit of SMD DIY if required (although a return for upgrade option would be good). Might a tweak in SlimServer to have a smaller swapfile as an option be another potential solution?

[Jerryacg]

Just upgraded to ss 6.5. All music files/Radio streams now stutters constantly. attempting to reinstall 6.3 with little success. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

[Paul_B]

Had a look inside my QNAP. Definately not an easy upgrade as it isn't just a case of unclipping the memory and adding a new module

[Jerryacg]

Ok we have done some checking and it does look like memory is the issue. Currently when SlimServer 6.5 is running it is using a 64Mb swap file so adding a further 64Mb or 128Mb would def. help it.

The memory on the TS-101 board can be upgraded and we are currently looking in to the feasibility of doing this either by ourselves or a third party (we are already talking to Qnap about it as well).

Further testing is happening as we speak. We'll come up with a solution one way or another.

Paul

TS101 300gb. 3 Wireless SBs. Just upgraded to 6.5. ALL music now stutters from 1-2 seconds in.tried to reinstall 6.3 but cannot get web interface to appear.And music still stutters.My installation to this point, after months of tweaking, was rock solid, so really frustrated that the upgrade seems to have knocked everything sideways.Any advice on how I can get the thing working again would be greatly appreciated. HAs anyone else had this happen?

[RichP]

Hi,

has anyone managed to get their TS-101 to spin down it's disk since installing 6.5?

I installed 6.5 and Alien BBC 1.05 this afternoon, 7 hours later disk still spinning...

On the plus side, I didn't notice any stuttering during my brief playback test.

Did notice that the web interface is slower and that the player reports about 10% less wireless signal strength than it did.

Anyone had any success going back to 6.3.1?

Cheers,

Rich

[Jerryacg]

Hi,

has anyone managed to get their TS-101 to spin down it's disk since installing 6.5?

I installed 6.5 and Alien BBC 1.05 this afternoon, 7 hours later disk still spinning...

On the plus side, I didn't notice any stuttering during my brief playback test.

Did notice that the web interface is slower and that the player reports about 10% less wireless signal strength than it did.

Anyone had any success going back to 6.3.1?

Cheers,

Rich

Further to my previous post. upgrading to 6.5 has proved pretty disasterous.Going back to 6.3.1 has not fixed the stuttering caused by the upgrade, and has caused the web interface to go AWOL.

[Eddie J]

Further to my previous post. upgrading to 6.5 has proved pretty disasterous.Going back to 6.3.1 has not fixed the stuttering caused by the upgrade, and has caused the web interface to go AWOL.
I've tried rolling back to 6.3.1 and can confirm that I've lost the web interface too, although for me the performace of the SqueezeBox itself does appear to have returned to it's pre-6.5 standards.

I only got my new SB3 and TS-101 on Thursday and was very happy with it after finding it hard to justify the cost to myself, but since updating SlimServer to 6.5 on Friday it's been a bit of a knightmare because the interface response is so sluggish on both the web interface and SB3 itself. I decided to try and downgrade after it also appeared to be seriously affecting the NAS performance when copying files to/from my computers.

To be honest I'm a little shocked to hear that the device I've had for literally two days may need an upgrade to run the software that effectively came preinstalled on it, but I'll try to withhold jusdgment on that until I hear more info.

[peterbell]

Hi,

has anyone managed to get their TS-101 to spin down it's disk since installing 6.5?
Nope - I presume, based on Paul's earlier comments about memory shortage/swap file usage, that the disc is being prevented from spinning down by regular access to the swap file.

[WSLam]

at the usual home.....

www.progressiveav.com/ts101_update

Hi Paul, Just wondering when will the self-installable version be ready? Days or Weeks away still?

ws

[funkstar]

To those that have lot the web interface: have you tried http://qnap_ip_address:8000/ it may be using this port to avoid conflict with the Twonky uPnP server.

[Jerryacg]

We are going to do some stress testing over the next couple of days to see if it is just the hardware not being able to cope or if there are any code issues.

Remember also that 6.5 is the first release that uses MySQL (I believe) so there will probably be tweeks in subsequent releases that will improve the performance.

Firstly though we need to find out if it is the code or lack of power in the TS-101. I personally think it might be memory related but I will come back with our findings as soon as I have them.

Paul

Please can you post instructions of how to reinstall 6.3 after upgrade to 6.5. I've installed 6.5 from your website and it has completly destroyed my setup. Disc (TS101 300gb)won't spin down,NO music will play for more than 1 minute without stuttering and/or slowing.I did attempt a reinstall of 6.3 but although it installed, all the symptoms described above remained so I'm very concerned about what the uprade has done to my previously rock solid installation.

Many thanks

[Fifer]

It's odd that the upgrade seems to affect different installations in different ways. Other than the noticeably much slower web UI, my Qnap and Squeezebox played music happily all last night using 6.5.

[Jerryacg]

It's odd that the upgrade seems to affect different installations in different ways. Other than the noticeably much slower web UI, my Qnap and Squeezebox played music happily all last night using 6.5.

Any advice about how to reinstall 6.3 succesfully? I'm concerned that when I tried it, the install seemed to rollback, but the symptoms caused by the upgrade remained.

[vamprecords]

Hi Paul, Just wondering when will the self-installable version be ready? Days or Weeks away still?

ws

Yes this is something i'm alo waiting for... please give us some update.

thx,

Martijn

[Paul_B]

Guys have a look in the other QNAP thread about a dowbngarde from 6.5 to 6.3.1 but make sure you are also aware of the caveats. Exectuable is here http://www.progressiveav.com/ts101_update/

[Jerryacg]

Guys have a look in the other QNAP thread about a dowbngarde from 6.5 to 6.3.1 but make sure you are also aware of the caveats. Exectuable is here http://www.progressiveav.com/ts101_update/

What Caveats should we be aware of?

[Smiffy]

Well I tried using the all in one 6.5 update package and wish I hadn't. On Re-Booting of the TS101 I lost the TS101 Admin Page? the slim-server page was working albeit very very very slowly then that two died. I managed to load the 6.5>6.31 rollback and after re-installing ALL lost profiles it's worked perfectly even disk spin-down is working.

I think I'll work on the premise "If it Ain't Broke Don't Fix it".

[ultra238a]

I can't understand why you would loose the TS-101 web admin screen as our software doesn't go anywhere near it!

[Smiffy]

Could it be that Slim server was hogging all the resources, so other processes were just taking soooooo long to complete that the page timed out?

[Jerryacg]

Ok we have done some checking and it does look like memory is the issue. Currently when SlimServer 6.5 is running it is using a 64Mb swap file so adding a further 64Mb or 128Mb would def. help it.

The memory on the TS-101 board can be upgraded and we are currently looking in to the feasibility of doing this either by ourselves or a third party (we are already talking to Qnap about it as well).

Further testing is happening as we speak. We'll come up with a solution one way or another.

Anyone come up with a solution to the lack of Qnap TS101 memory issue / hard disk not spinning down issue / TS 101 Won't work efficiently with SS6.5 issue/ etc etc.

[roamingstudio]

Jerry,

Check out some of the recent open-turbostation project posts... Basically I am now running a custom U-Boot (the piece of code which starts the memory etc) as the main boot service; and will add the new memory chips in a week or two (not much time at the moment).

We are also in the process of testing the optware package feed - and creating a custom firmware kernel which can be tweaked to improve performance of certain applications... this also enables us to do a native installation of mysql (stripped to bare minimum) and perl (also stripped) which may help with slimserver issues.

RS