Remote access - MBPro Front USB

[Mattk]

Has anybody accessed the front USB (remotely) on a MBPro to access database backups?

[Gyvate]

you might want to specify in more details what scenarios you are thinking of using the term "remotely"
I can remotely mount a USB device into the exported file system (share) and then access is from there
now, dependent on what remotely means, the access will be established ...
e.g. I have a Windows based mini PC (weather server) which runs 24/7 - I can access this PC remotely e.g. via a VNC connection and then access the exported MB Samba share - and there the USB device after having mounted it beforehand
this can occur inside the local network or from outside

and it doesn't matter if it's the front or the back USB port which the USB device uses ...

[Mattk]

MBPro is on remote station via 4G router hence the unit can be logged into via the MB Internet Remote Login, via port forwarding and also VPN. Upload/Download/Delete file options in the System>Administration>Maintenance handle anything in >Data>

Samba shares have become a bit problematic via external access and different SMB and Windows versions.

MBPro using a front mounted USB for database backups. The backed up database's can be seen in the MB Restore drop down box.

What is required is maintenance of the USB database files, delete, copy etc MBPro2 doesn't have this direct issue as database backup is written to the >Data> folder which can be accessed with the standard MB utilities.

[Gyvate]

I have a repurposed 1 TB external USB disk and connected it to the front port of a MB Pro.
The USB device is usually handled by Linux derivates as special device => it's known to the system as /dev/sda or sda1, (sdb, sdb1, ...) depending on the formatting of the device. In principle it can be mounted anywhere into the file system - or into a folder created in the file system
for the SMB mount - which is the export of /tmp/mnt/data a subdirectory USB can be created
then the USB device mounted into it e.g.

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/mnt/data/USB

- that's a one-time activity to create the mount point

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ls /dev/sd* -l

shows which special device (sd) numbering has been made by openWRT - it's the one where sdx and sdx1 is shown (x= a, b, c ...)

Code: Select all

mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/mnt/data/USB

now the USB device is accessible via SSH inside the MB Pro via the directory USB in this example (and from an exported share if wanted etc.)
The only "trouble" here is the backup script as it unmounts the USB device at the end of each backup
=> the mounting has to be done again if a backup occurred between two access attempts ...

[Mattk]

Will give it a go.

The MBPro2 & NanoSD have built-in support for this so no issues with those. MBPro (Red & Black) now superseded (as such) even though the system is being supported/updated etc might not have the need to replicate the MBPo2/NanoSD style Backup access even though the MBPro knows/lists the Devices (Front & Back).