Tips and tricks for Debian on QNAP TS-21x

Here are some tips and tricks about running Debian on the QNAP TS-21x.

Controlling the fan

Debian currently doesn't have automatic support for the fan. While there is a tool that can control the fan, it won't automatically set its speeds according to the temperature. If you want to manually control the fan, do this:

qcontrol -d &
qcontrol fanspeed # To see all valid speed settings
qcontrol fanspeed medium
kill %1
rm /var/run/qcontrol.sock

Disk order on the QNAP TS-219P

One note for Debian users on the TS-219P (this note does not apply to TS-210 and TS-219): when you use the QNAP firmware, the disk on the left is HDD1 whereas the disk on the right is HDD2. However, on Debian it is the other way around (HDD1 is on the right, HDD2 is on the left). This doesn't really matter since Debian uses unique IDs (UUIDs) to refer to partitions, but don't be surprised when the "HDD2" light goes on when you access the first disk.