Wake On Lan (WOL) support for My Book Live

[#1]

In the WD Quick View the shut down of the My Book Live is really easy and I use this a lot for energy saving reasons when I not using the NAS. But it is not possible to start the NAS so easily. To start the My Book Live you have to reconnect the power connector, because the My Book Live does not support WOL. 

So please support WOL to boot the device when it is needed and if possible implement it also into the WD Quick View

You can also going further by doing a automatic shutdown when all Computer with WD Quick View are powered off and do a automatic startup when the first computer with the WD Quick View is starting. This will by a major step in the energy saving of your device.

Because nobody need a NAS when all Computer are power off especially in the private sector for what the My Book Live is designed.

[#2]

I couldn't agree more.  Not having WOL is really a huge disappointment.  I bought a WD MyBook 4 years ago and have enjoyed it. It seems well made, which is why I chose WD again. But how long is a drive going to last if you have to leave it spinning all the time?  With no power switch, t's very inconvenient having to reach to the back to disconnect power, then reconnect.  Very disappointed that there isn't WOL.  It only seems logical.

[#3]

Not having WOL is also a huge disappointment to me.  Having this feature would contribute to a more environment friendly NAS solution and would definitely be a great sales argument.   So please consider this as a high priority enhancement request.

Thanks in advance.

[#4]

Very important function, since all the time included not need it.

[#5]

I'm not sure that the hardware used in the my book live supports wake on lan. Ethtool reports:

Settings for eth0:
    Supported ports: [ MII ]
    Supported link modes:   10baseT/Full
                            100baseT/Full
                            1000baseT/Full
    Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
    Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                            100baseT/Full
                            1000baseT/Full
    Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
    Speed: 100Mb/s
    Duplex: Full
    Port: MII
    PHYAD: 1
    Transceiver: external
    Auto-negotiation: on
    Link detected: yes

There is no mention of wake on lan there, and I believe there would be if the hardware was capable of it. It may well be possible by recompiling the driver, but as it stands I don't think it would be terribly easy to enable this.

[#6]

Will look to implement this in future products.

[#7]

I fully agree with the need to implement WOL.

This drive is advertised to be accessible from everywhere in the world, and is not equipped with a decent powerup button (pulling out and putting in a powercable is bad on hardware), can be powered down remotely, after which you have to travel home ..........

Mees

[#8]

@ WDTony: and by " future products" you mean  future firmware updates or really real products like new hardware? As there are a lot of people out there using MyBook World I think it should be somehow implemented in a (next!?) firmware release. Btw. the actuell Lion/time machine problem should also be solved asap! 

[#9]

The good news: The APM82181 system-on-a-chip used in the My Book Live comes from the PowerPC 460 family which supports Wake-on-LAN. Google for "linux BCM54610 wake on lan".

The bad news: The current kernel driver (net/ibm_newemac) does not support this feature at all. Enabling it, if even possible, would require someone skilled in driver programming.

[#10]

Hello,

although we have no 'real' WOL, there is a way to fake it.

You need:

 * nmap network scanner installed (apt-get install nmap),

 * the below script to shut down,

 * a crontab entry to enable the script,

 * a remote controlled wall socket adapter like this one between the NAS and the wall socket: 

   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remote-Control-Socket-Set/dp/B000H9HU70

Leave the socket switched on. When you want to switch the device on, turn it off, then on again, using the remote control.

With the script below, the NAS will automatically shut down 10..20 minutes after the last client went offline (i.e. IP not reachable), and will check this every 10 minutes.

$ cat /autoshutdown.sh 
#!/bin/sh

MYIP=$( /sbin/ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet " | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d " " -f1 )
NETWORK=$( echo "$MYIP" | cut -d. -f-3 )
CLIENTS=$NETWORK.0/24
ROUTERIP=$( route -n | grep ^0.0.0.0 | awk '{print $2;}' ),$NETWORK.254
TIMEOUTFILE=/root/autoshutdown.1

test -z "$MYIP" && MYIP=$ROUTERIP

# test for other clients in network (using ping scan)
if /usr/bin/nmap -qsPP $CLIENTS --exclude $MYIP,$ROUTERIP | \
		/bin/grep -q "\(0 hosts up\)" ; then

	# if timeout tag file exists, then shutdown
	if test -f $TIMEOUTFILE ; then
		/sbin/shutdown -h +1
	else
		echo "No clients up, shutdown in 10 minutes" | /usr/bin/wall
		touch $TIMEOUTFILE
	fi
		
else
	if test -f $TIMEOUTFILE ; then
		logger -t autoshutdown "Clients came up second time (or reboot), removing tag file"
		rm $TIMEOUTFILE
	fi
fi

Then put this line into /etc/crontab:

*/10 *	* * *	root	/autoshutdown.sh

 If you have any clients that are reachable even when the NAS should shut down, then you can extend the "--exclude" command in the script with the other IPs.

DISCLAIMER 1: I have not tested this (yet) on the NAS. This script runs on my home server so far, which is also a Debian Linux OS, just like the MyBook Live. Success and failure reports welcome!

DISCLAIMER 2: The MyBook Live uses 3..5 Watts of power while idle. This translates to 3,6 kWh of monthly(!) power usage (0,005 * 24 * 30). If you are using the device daily, you will maybe save half of these costs. So if you need to buy a power switch just for this purpose, the costs will be greater than anything you'll save in energy in the first year of usage.

So, consider whether you will actually need this. You will save much more energy if you leave your car at home and take the bus just once a month, or use a broom instead of the vacuum to clean the hallway, or by going 80 instead of 100 mph on the motorway.

Regards

[#11]

Yes, we need this. WD, please provide the WOL ability on my book life ASAP.. thanks !