Witness Service on Raspberry Pi Bookworm.

Raspberry Pi OS and Debian changes in the Bullseye to Bookworm timeline can affect older binaries and headless networking configurations.

Raspberry Pi OS Timeline Summary

• Before 2020: 32-bit kernel and 32-bit userland (armhf).
• 2020–2021: Hybrid build using a 64-bit kernel and 32-bit userland.
• 2022 onward: Full 64-bit versions became available with a 64-bit kernel and 64-bit userland, although hybrid images remain common.

Debian 12 Bookworm Interpreter Path Change

Legacy 32-bit ARM binaries compiled with the interpreter path /lib/ld-linux.so.3 may fail on Bookworm because the legacy path was removed.

Common fixes include rebuilding the application, adding a symbolic link, or updating the ELF interpreter path using patchelf.

Networking Stack Change

Bookworm images commonly use NetworkManager rather than dhcpcd.

If the Raspberry Pi previously relied on /etc/dhcpcd.conf for static IP address configuration, the settings may need to be migrated to a NetworkManager connection profile.

Use Raspberry Pi Imager to write Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm to a microSD card.

• Download Raspberry Pi Imager from: Raspberry Pi Software 
• Select Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) from the available operating system options.

• A full 64-bit kernel and 64-bit userland installation may not work with applications that are available only as 32-bit binaries.
• The legacy Raspberry Pi OS option remains viable. For Bullseye guidance, see: Installing an SvSAN Witness on Raspberry Pi Raspbian 32-bit 

Raspberry Pi Imager Advanced Options

Before writing the image, configure the required advanced options:

• Set the hostname, for example smwitness.yourdomain.
• Enable SSH.
• Set the username and password.
• Optionally configure the wireless network credentials.

Set a unique hostname for the Raspberry Pi and confirm that the name resolves correctly on the network.

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname smwitness.yourdomain

Add the hostname and IP address to /etc/hosts.

Example:

10.x.x.x hostname.FQDN hostname

This ensures local name resolution for services that rely on the fully qualified domain name.

Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm uses NetworkManager by default instead of dhcpcd.

Enable and start NetworkManager if required:

sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager

Configure a static IP address:

nmcli connection modify eth0 ipv4.addresses 10.10.10.100/24
nmcli connection modify eth0 ipv4.gateway 10.10.10.1
nmcli connection modify eth0 ipv4.dns "10.10.10.5"
nmcli connection modify eth0 ipv4.method manual
nmcli connection up eth0

If graphical remote access is required, VNC can be enabled on the Raspberry Pi.

Refer to the following guide for additional information:

Raspberry Pi VNC: How to Set Up a Remote Desktop 

Install the Raspberry Pi desktop components and the RealVNC Server:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install raspberrypi-ui-mods realvnc-vnc-server

Launch the Raspberry Pi configuration utility:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to:

Interface Options → VNC → Enable

You can now connect to the Raspberry Pi using a VNC client and the configured IP address or hostname.

Download the latest ARM witness package from the following location:

StorMagic Witness Download 

Transfer the package to the Raspberry Pi using SCP or by downloading it directly from the desktop environment if a GUI is installed.

If using the StorMagic Automation Toolkit, extract the bundle and launch the installer:

mkdir ~/svsan
cd ~/svsan
unzip ~/Downloads/SvSAN_Automation_Toolkit.zip

cd SvSAN-Automation-Toolkit
python3 nsh_gui_installer.py

Install patchelf:

sudo apt install patchelf

Update the interpreter path for each StorMagic binary:

sudo patchelf --set-interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3 /opt/stormagic/bin/smdiscod
sudo patchelf --set-interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3 /opt/stormagic/bin/smclusterd
sudo patchelf --set-interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3 /opt/stormagic/bin/exlog
sudo patchelf --set-interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3 /opt/stormagic/bin/smc_state

Alternatively, run the helper script included with the Automation Toolkit:

sudo bash scripts/fix_interpreter.sh

Restart the witness service:

sudo systemctl restart StorMagicNSH

Verify the service status:

sudo systemctl status StorMagicNSH

When the service is operating correctly you should see smdisco and smclusterd running.

Confirm that the witness service is listening on the expected UDP ports:

sudo ss -ulpn | grep smdisc

The output should resemble the following:

Once the witness service is running, configure it for use within the SvHCI environment.

From the Discovery tab, verify that the witness is automatically discovered. If it does not appear, add it manually using either its IP address or fully qualified domain name.

Edit the cluster configuration, select the newly discovered witness, and apply the changes.

Verify that the cluster now reports the Raspberry Pi as the active witness.

Open the Targets tab and confirm that the witness is monitoring the configured storage targets.

For additional assistance, contact support@stormagic.com.

• StorMagic Documentation 
• Installing an SvSAN Witness on Raspberry Pi (Raspbian 32-bit) 
• StorMagic Witness – Deploy, Install, Upgrade and Migrate 
• Raspberry Pi Documentation