🛠 Configure Network and Storage on Banana Pi BPI-CM5

Objectives

This tutorial aims to initialize the network connection and verify the storage integrity of the Banana Pi BPI-CM5 module. With its Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0 interfaces, along with fast eMMC storage, this module is ideal for serving as a lightweight server or IoT node. We will configure the IP address and check read/write capabilities on the internal disk.

Required Hardware

• A Banana Pi BPI-CM5 module (with Amlogic A311D2 SoC, 4 GB LPDDR4, 16 GB eMMC).
• A CM4-compatible carrier board (Board-to-Board).
• An RJ45 Ethernet cable connected to your router.
• A HDMI 2.1 (transmitter) screen for initial display.
• A USB keyboard and mouse (via USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports).
• An appropriate power supply for the module.
• A pre-installed Linux OS (Ubuntu, Debian, or Armbian) on the eMMC.

Steps

1. Physical Connection: Insert the BPI-CM5 module into the carrier board. Connect the Ethernet cable to the Gigabit Ethernet port on the carrier board. Connect the screen to the HDMI transmitter port and USB peripherals to available ports. Power on the system.

1. Terminal Access: Once the system boots, log in with your default credentials. Open a terminal to enter the following commands.

1. Network Interface Verification: Identify the Ethernet interface name (often eth0 or end0).

ip link show

1. DHCP Configuration: To obtain an IP address automatically via your router, use NetworkManager or dhcpcd depending on your distribution. Example with nmcli:

sudo nmcli connection up eth0

1. Connectivity Check: Test the Internet connection by pinging a public server.

ping -c 4 8.8.8.8

1. eMMC Storage Verification: Display mounted partitions to confirm access to the 16 GB (or more) internal storage.

lsblk
sudo df -h

1. Basic Performance Test: Create a test file to verify writing to the eMMC.

dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile bs=1M count=100
rm testfile

Verification

Ensure that the ip addr command displays a valid IP address assigned by your router. The ping to 8.8.8.8 should return replies with no significant packet loss. The df -h command should show the root partition mounted on the eMMC device (e.g., mmcblk0p2) with the expected available space. If the dd test completes without errors, the storage is functional.

Going Further

Explore the PCIe 2.0 interface to add an external NVMe SSD card, significantly increasing storage performance compared to the integrated eMMC. You can also configure a Samba server to share BPI-CM5 files on your local network, leveraging the Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth.