• Unraid OS version 6.9.0-beta25 available


    limetech

    6.9.0-beta25 vs. -beta24 Summary:

    • fixed emhttpd crash resulting from having NFS exported disk shares
    • fixed issue where specifying 1 MiB partition alignment was being ignored (see 1 MiB Partition Alignment below)
    • fixed spin-up/down issues
    • ssh improvements (see SSH Improvements below)
    • kernel updated from 5.7.7 to 5.7.8
    • added UI changes to support new docker image file handling - thank you @bonienl.  Refer also to additional information re: docker image folder, provided by @Squid under Docker below.
    • known issue: "Device/SMART Settings/SMART controller type" is ignored, will be fixed in next release

     

    Important: Beta code is not fully tested and not feature-complete.  We recommend running on test servers only!

     

    Multiple Pools

    This features permits you to define up to 35 named pools, of up to 30 storage devices/pool.  The current "cache pool" is now simply a pool named "cache".  Pools are created and managed via the Main page.

     

    Note: When you upgrade a server which has a cache pool defined, a backup of config/disk.cfg will be saved to config/disk.cfg.bak, and then cache device assignment settings are moved out of disk.cfg and into a new file, config/pools/cache.cfg.  If later you revert back to a pre-6.9 Unraid OS release you will lose your cache device assignments and you will have to manually re-assign devices to cache.  As long as you reassign the correct devices, data should remain intact.

     

    When you create a user share, or edit an existing user share, you can specify which pool should be associated with that share.  The assigned pool functions identically to current cache pool operation.

     

    Something to be aware of: when a directory listing is obtained for a share, the unRAID array disk volumes and all pools which contain that share are merged in this order:

      pool assigned to share

      disk1

      :

      disk28

      all the other pools in strverscmp() order.

     

    As with the current "cache pool", a single-device pool may be formatted with either xfs, btrfs, or reiserfs.  A multiple-device pool may only be formatted with btrfs.  A future release will include support for multiple "unRAID array" pools.  We are also considering zfs support.

     

    Something else to be aware of: Suppose you have a 2-device btrfs pool. This will be what btrfs calls "raid1" and what most people would understand to be "mirrored disks". Well this is mostly true in that the same data exists on both disks but not necessarily at the block-level.  Now suppose you create another pool, and what you do is unassign one of the devices from the existing 2-device btrfs pool and assign it to this new pool - now you have x2 single-device btrfs pools.  Upon array Start you might understandably assume there are now x2 pools with exactly the same data.  However this is not the case. Instead, when Unraid OS sees that a btrfs device has been removed from an existing multi-device pool, upon array Start it will do a 'wipefs' on that device so that upon mount it will not be included in the old pool.  This of course effectively deletes all the data on the moved device.

     

    1 MiB Partition Alignment

    We have added another partition layout where the start of partition 1 is aligned on 1 MiB boundary. That is, for devices which present 512-byte sectors, partition 1 will start in sector 2048; for devices with 4096-byte sectors, in sector 256.  This partition type is now used for all non-rotational storage (only).

     

    It is not clear what benefit 1 MiB alignment offers.  For some SSD devices, you won't see any difference; others, perhaps big performance difference.  LimeTech does not recommend re-partitioning an existing SSD device unless you have a compelling reason to do so (or your OCD just won't let it be).

     

    To re-partition a SSD it is necessary to first wipe out any existing partition structure on the device.  Of course this will erase all data on the device.  Probably the easiest way to accomplish this is, with array Stopped, identify the device to be erased and use the 'blkdiscard' command:

    blkdiscard /dev/xxx  # for exmaple /dev/sdb or /dev/nvme0n1 etc)

            WARNING: be sure you type the correct device identifier because all data will be lost on that device!

     

    Upon next array Start the device will appear Unformatted, and since there is now no partition structure, Unraid OS will create it.

     

    Language Translation

    A huge amount of work and effort has been implemented by @bonienl to provide multiple-language support in the Unraid OS Management Utility, aka, webGUI.  There are several language packs now available, and several more in the works.  Thanks to @Squid, language packs are installed via the Community Applications plugin - look for a new category entitled Language.

     

    Note: Community Applications must be up to date to install languages.  See also here.

     

    Each language pack exists in public Unraid organization github repos.  Interested users are encouraged to clone and issue Pull Requests to correct translations errors.  Language translations and PR merging is managed by @SpencerJ.

     

    Linux Kernel

    Upgraded to 5.7.

     

    These out-of-tree drivers are currently included:

    • QLogic QLGE 10Gb Ethernet Driver Support (from staging)
    • RealTek r8125: version 9.003.05 (included for newer r8125)
    • HighPoint rr272x_1x: version v1.10.6-19_12_05 (per user request)

    Note that as we update the Linux kernel, if an out-of-tree driver no longer builds, it will be omitted.

     

    These drivers are currently omitted:

    • Highpoint RocketRaid r750 (does not build)
    • Highpoint RocketRaid rr3740a (does not build)
    • Tehuti Networks tn40xx (does not build)

    If you require one of these drivers, please create a Bug Report and we'll spend some time looking for alternatives.  Better yet, pester the manufacturer of the controller and get them to update their drivers.

     

    Base Packages

    All updated to latest versions.  In addition, Linux PAM has been integrated.  This will permit us to implement 2-factor authentication in a future release.

     

    Docker

    Updated to version 19.03.11

     

    It's now possible to select different icons for multiple containers of the same type.  This change necessitates a re-download of the icons for all your installed docker applications.  A delay when initially loading either the dashboard or the docker tab while this happens is to be expected prior to the containers showing up.

     

    We also made some changes to add flexibility in assigning storage for the Docker engine.  First, 'rc.docker' will detect the filesystem type of /var/lib/docker.  We now support either btrfs or xfs and the docker storage driver is set appropriately.

     

    Next, 'mount_image' is modifed to support loopback formatted either with btrfs or xfs depending on the suffix of the loopback file name.  For example, the file name ends with ".img", as in "docker.img" then we use mkfs.btrfs.  If file name ends with "-xfs.img", as in "docker-xfs.img" then we use mkfs.xfs.


    We also added the ability to bind-mount a directory instead of using a loopback.  If file name does not end with ".img" then code assumes this is the name of directory (presumably on a share) which is bind-mounted onto /var/lib/docker.

     

    For example, if "/mnt/user/system/docker/docker" then we first create, if necessary the directory "/mnt/user/system/docker/docker".  If this path is on a user share we then "dereference" the path to get the disk path which is then bind-mounted onto /var/lib/docker.  For exmaple, if "/mnt/user/system/docker/docker" is on "disk1", then we would bind-mount "/mnt/disk1/system/docker/docker".  Caution: the share should be cache-only or cache-no so that 'mover' will not attempt to move the directory, but the script does not check this.

     

    Additional information from user @Squid:

     

    Quote

    Just a few comments on the ability to use a folder / share for docker

     

    If you're one of those users who continually has a problem with the docker image filling up, this is the solution, as the "image" will be able to expand (and shrink) to the size of the asigned share.  Just be aware though that this new feature is technically experimental.  (I have however been running this on an XFS formatted cache drive for a while now, and don't see any problems at all)

     

    I would recommend that you use a share that is dedicated to the docker files, and not a folder from another existing share (like system as show in the OP).  

     

    My reasoning for this is that:

    1. If you ever have a need to run the New Permissions tool against the share that you've placed the docker folder into, then that tool will cause the entire docker system to not run.  The folder will have to be removed (via the command line), and then recreated.

    2. All of the folders contained within the docker folder are not compatible with being exported over SMB, and you cannot gain access to them that way.  Using a separate share will also allow you to not export it without impacting the other shares' exporting.  (And there are no "user-modifiable" files in there anyways.  If you do need to modify a file within that folder, (ie: a config file for a container and that config isn't available within appdata), you should be doing it via going to the container's shell)

    You definitely want the share to be cache-only or cache-no (although cache-prefer should probably be ok).  Setting it to cache:yes will undoubtedly cause you problems if mover winds up relocating files to the array for you.

     

    I did have some "weirdness" with using a Unassigned Device as the drive for the docker folder.  This may however been a glitch in my system.

     

    Fix Common Problems (and the Docker Safe New Permissions Tool) will wind up getting updated to let you know of any problems that it detects with how you've configured the folder.

     

    Virtualization

    libvirt updated to version 6.4.0

    qemu updated to version 5.0.0

     

    In addition, integrated changes to System Devices page by user @Skitals with modifications by user @ljm42.  You can now select PCI devices to isolate from Linux upon boot simply by checking some boxes.  This makes it easier to reserve those devices for assignment to VM's.

     

    Note: If you had the VFIO-PCI Config plugin installed, you should remove it as that functionality is now built-in to Unraid OS 6.9.  Refer also @ljm42's excellent guide.

     

    In a future release we will include the NVIDIA and AMD GPU drivers natively into Unraid OS.  The primary use case is to facilitate accelerated transcoding in docker containers.  For this we require Linux to detect and auto-install the appropriate driver.  However, in order to reliably pass through an NVIDIA or AMD GPU to a VM, it's necessary to prevent Linux from auto-installing a GPU driver for those devices upon boot, which can be easily done now through System Devices page.  Users passing GPU's to VM's are encouraged to set this up now.

     

    "unexpected GSO errors"

    If your system log is being flooded with errors such as:

    Jun 20 09:09:21 Tower kernel: tun: unexpected GSO type: 0x0, gso_size 31, hdr_len 66

    You need to edit each VM and change the model type for the Ethernet bridge from "virtio" to "virtio-net".  In most cases this can be accomplished simply by clicking Update in "Form View" on the VM Edit page.  For other network configs it may be necessary to directly edit the xml.  Example:

    <interface type='bridge'>
          <mac address='xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'/>
          <source bridge='br0'/>
          <model type='virtio-net'/>
          <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>

     

    SSH Improvements

    There are changes in /etc/ssh/sshd_conf to improve security (thanks to @Mihai and @ljm42 for suggestions):

    • only root user is permitted to login via ssh (remember: no traditional users in Unraid OS - just 'root')
    • non-null password is now required
    • non-root tunneling is disabled

     

    In addition, upon upgrade we ensure the 'config/ssh/root' directory exists on the USB flash boot device; and, we have set up a symlink: /root/.ssh to this directory.  This means any files you might put into /root/.ssh will be persistent across reboots.

     

    Note: if you examine the sshd startup script (/etc/rc.d/rc.sshd), upon boot all files from the 'config/ssh' directory are copied to /etc/ssh (but not subdirs).  The purpose is to restore the host ssh keys; however, this mechanism can be used to define custom ssh_conf and sshd_conf files (not recommended).

     

    Other

    • AFP support has been removed.
    • Numerous other Unraid OS and webGUI bug fixes and improvements.

     


    Version 6.9.0-beta25 2020-07-12

    Linux kernel:

    • version 5.7.8

    Management:

    • fix emhttpd crash resulting from exporting NFS disk share(s)
    • fix non-rotational device partitions were not actually being 1MiB aligned
    • dhcpcd: ipv6: use slaac hwaddr instead of slaac private
    • docker: correct storage-driver assignemnt logic
    • ssh: allow only root user, require passwords, disable non-root tunneling
    • ssh: add /root/.ssh symlink to /boot/config/ssh/root directory
    • syslog: configure to also listen on localhost udp port 514
    • webgui: Added btrfs info for all pools in diagnostics
    • webgui: Docker: allow BTRFS or XFS vdisk, or folder location
    • webgui: Multi-language: Fixed regression error: missing indicator for required fields
    • webgui: Dashboard: fix stats of missing interface
    • Like 2
    • Thanks 3



    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    8 minutes ago, itimpi said:

    Unraid will not move the data to the new pool.

    I just tested this to make sure. I changed one share which was prefer on one pool to prefer on another pool and invoked mover. Nothing was moved. So it appears that when moving files TO a pool, only array files are considered by mover and files in another pool will not be moved.

    • Like 1
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    2 hours ago, itimpi said:

    No, Unraid will not move the data to the new pool.

    Correct, disk content is never moved when settings are changed.

     

    Link to comment

    Seeing this error in my log now.

     

    Jul 24 10:03:02 9900K ntfs-3g[6284]: ntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
    Jul 24 10:03:02 9900K ntfs-3g[6284]: Failed to read index block: Input/output error
    Jul 24 10:03:02 9900K kernel: Buffer I/O error on dev sdz1, logical block 244188293, async page read

     

    I am currently doing a parity rebuild as I upgrade a drive.  Running beta 25.  I don't seem to have a sdz1 drive so im not sure what's going on.  Didn't have this error prior to upgrsyslog.txtading to beta 25.

     

    Included my syslog.

    Edited by sittingmongoose
    Link to comment
    6 minutes ago, sittingmongoose said:

    Seeing this error in my log now.

    That's from an unassigned NTFS device, note that until rebooting those errors can still appear even if the device was already disconnected.

    Link to comment
    1 minute ago, johnnie.black said:

    That's from an unassigned NTFS device, note that until rebooting those errors can still appear even if the device was already disconnected.

    So a reboot should fix this?  Is this something specific to NTFS?  Like if it was exfat or ext4 I wouldn't see this?  I did plug an external in yesterday but I took it off.

    Link to comment
    2 minutes ago, sittingmongoose said:

    Is this something specific to NTFS?

    Yes, but because there was a problem with that partition, chkdsk might fix it.

    Link to comment
    1 minute ago, johnnie.black said:

    Yes, but because there was a problem with that partition, chkdsk might fix it.

    It was an empty drive that I formatted in unraid.  It’s now in a different system and was formatted again.

     

    thank you!  Sounds like I don’t have anything to worry about.

    Link to comment
    On 7/23/2020 at 1:34 PM, bonienl said:

    Correct, disk content is never moved when settings are changed.

    Assumed that, but it might make sense for mover behavior to accommodate moving from one pool to another for prefer shares. Or not.

    Link to comment
    7 minutes ago, trurl said:

    Assumed that, but it might make sense for mover behavior to accommodate moving from one pool to another for prefer shares. Or not.

    The next iteration of 'multiple pools' is to generalize the unRAID array so that you can have multiple "unRAID array pools".  Along with this, introduce concept of primary pool and cache pool for a share.  Then you could make different combinations, e.g., brtrfs primary pool with xfs single device cache.  To have 'mover' move stuff around you would reconfigure the primary/cache settings for a share.  This will work not get done for 6.9 release however.

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    Will there be any way to upgrade when the time comes and make sure to keep AFP? AFP is still used and works so much better than SMB

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    1 minute ago, mbuboltz said:

    Will there be any way to upgrade when the time comes and make sure to keep AFP? AFP is still used and works so much better than SMB

    AFP has been dropped.  How can it possibly work better than SMB?  Are you using really old macOS?

    • Like 1
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    Apple dropped afp from Big Sur. So update accordingly...

    Edited by david279
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    3 minutes ago, david279 said:

    Apple dropped afp from Big Sur. So update accordingly...

    I am on Big Sur and continuing to use AFP not sure what you guys are talking out... It may have been discontinued but is still included in macOS

    Link to comment

    I really going to miss being able to connect to my Unraid shares from work and where ever I go. SMB does not work over the internet and VPN's are too slow. Really sad to see Unraid going this direction and dropping support for something that still works great.

    Edited by mbuboltz
    Link to comment
    5 hours ago, mbuboltz said:

    I really going to miss being able to connect to my Unraid shares from work and where ever I go. SMB does not work over the internet and VPN's are too slow. Really sad to see Unraid going this direction and dropping support for something that still works great.

    Vpn is not slow, it's only your setup that is slow. You might have slow speeds if your vpn server is on a slow device.

    • Like 1
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    10 hours ago, mbuboltz said:

    Will there be any way to upgrade when the time comes and make sure to keep AFP? AFP is still used and works so much better than SMB

    I switched from AFP to SMB in preparation for 6.9.

     

    In my environment (High Sierra, Mojave and Calatina) with regular shares and Time Machine, SMB is reliable but with consistently worse performance, and yes I've made the recommended client tweaks.

     

    It's Apple's fault for dropping AFP without improving SMB, can't blame Unraid.

    • Like 1
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    I am thinking I will upgrade my server to beta25 in the coming days, the multiple cache pools is just too enticing to wait lol.

     

    This server is active, so before I do 2 questions:

     

    1: Any outstanding issues I should be aware of?

     

    2: Any planned changes in the RC / Final 6.9 release that would be better off waiting to upgrade until then? (don't want to have to reformat the cache twice for example)

    Link to comment
    1 hour ago, TexasUnraid said:

    I am thinking I will upgrade my server to beta25 in the coming days, the multiple cache pools is just too enticing to wait lol.

     

    This server is active, so before I do 2 questions:

     

    1: Any outstanding issues I should be aware of?

     

    2: Any planned changes in the RC / Final 6.9 release that would be better off waiting to upgrade until then? (don't want to have to reformat the cache twice for example)

    the beta is only advised to run on test servers.

     

    to answer your questions 

     

    1. read the entire thread to learn about potential issues

     

    2. read the entire thread to learn about some potential changes and then wait and see what they are when the rc and final come out

     

     

     

     

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    Ok I have a few questions if I may.

    1) The NVIDIA drivers to be included, will that be included in the final release of 6.9 or a RC version before 6.9 final? Or after 6.9 comes out?

    2) With the pools and future 7 release or whenever when we will have multiple pools for data can we pool the pools together?

    So like have 2 pools, with 4 parity drives (2 each pool) and then have increased read/write speed to the mechanical HDD's? 

    Link to comment
    7 hours ago, SavellM said:

    1) The NVIDIA drivers to be included, will that be included in the final release of 6.9 or a RC version before 6.9 final? Or after 6.9 comes out?

    Here's the problem.  As soon as we publish a release with Nvidia/AMD GPU drivers installed, any existing VM which uses GPU pass through of an Nvidia or AMD GPU may stop working.  Users must use the new functionality of the Tools/System Devices page to select GPU devices to "hide" from Linux kernel upon boot - this prevents the kernel from installing the driver(s) and initializing the card.

     

    Since there are far more people passing through GPU vs using GPU for transcoding in a Docker container, we thought it would be polite to give those people an opportunity to prepare first in 6.9 release, and then we would add the GPU drivers to the 6.10 release.  We can make 6.10 a "mini release" which has just the GPU drivers.  Anyway, this is our current plan.

     

    7 hours ago, SavellM said:

    2) With the pools and future 7 release or whenever when we will have multiple pools for data can we pool the pools together?

    So like have 2 pools, with 4 parity drives (2 each pool) and then have increased read/write speed to the mechanical HDD's? 

    Look about 10 posts up.

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    7 hours ago, SavellM said:

    can we pool the pools together?

    So like have 2 pools, with 4 parity drives (2 each pool) and then have increased read/write speed to the mechanical HDD's?

     

    No. Each pool will still use the same strategy of individual file systems, no striping between pools.

     

    You could, however, utilize the multiple pools feature to have a BTRFS RAID level on a pool that would be striped inside of that specific pool. So you could have a SSD pool, and a HDD pool. The Unraid traditional parity array(s) would operate pretty much as they always have.

    Link to comment
    4 hours ago, limetech said:

    Here's the problem.  As soon as we publish a release with Nvidia/AMD GPU drivers installed, any existing VM which uses GPU pass through of an Nvidia or AMD GPU may stop working.  Users must use the new functionality of the Tools/System Devices page to select GPU devices to "hide" from Linux kernel upon boot - this prevents the kernel from installing the driver(s) and initializing the card.

     

    Since there are far more people passing through GPU vs using GPU for transcoding in a Docker container, we thought it would be polite to give those people an opportunity to prepare first in 6.9 release, and then we would add the GPU drivers to the 6.10 release.  We can make 6.10 a "mini release" which has just the GPU drivers.  Anyway, this is our current plan.

     

    Look about 10 posts up.

    Yeah I get that. You're going to have to make a cut off at some point. I guess the results will be the same if you do it at 6.9 or 6.10. You're going to have to tell people and just do it. What about releasing dual builds at the same time, one with and one without at least for now RC releases and 6.9 final? Reason I'm saying it is I am about to rebuild my server so would need to run the linuxserver plugin version, and I'd rather stick to official releases even if it is a RC. 

    In all honesty its just me being selfish as I want to rebuild soon :D

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    @limetech: given we now have multiple-pool, would it be possible to eliminate the requirement to have a device in the array? Even the 6.9.0-beta GUI now disables array-related attributes if cache = only.

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    I'm excited to see the possibility of zfs! Assuming this does get added, is likely to be added to this release or a future release? I know giving exact timelines is impossible, but I've been planning an upgrade and part of that will include a smaller zfs pool that will be always spun up with everything except large media files, then a large unraid pool with the bulk of my media which will keep the drives spun down when possible to save on electricity. If official implementation is a ways out yet I might set it up with the zfs plugin and trying to deal with importing it later, but starting off with native support would probably be better.

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  • Status Definitions

     

    Open = Under consideration.

     

    Solved = The issue has been resolved.

     

    Solved version = The issue has been resolved in the indicated release version.

     

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