How do I clear/flush the cache drive?


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5 minutes ago, sysop-gwg said:

Yes, that is what I'm after...I was told to follow these instructions. 

There are multiple parts to that video, so it doesn't help me understand what you plan to do.

 

By default 2 devices are set to mirror each other, which limits the capacity to the smaller of the 2, and doesn't add any capacity, and if the added device is smaller than the original, it will reduce the capacity of the pool to match the smaller device.

 

That's why I asked what you planned to do.

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@JonathanM  We currently have 500GB drive installed in the box dedicated for cache.  It was running out of space (per above).  My intent is to add additional cache capacity.  I have purchased a 1TB drive of the same type and manufacturer.  I suspect we could either:

  • Replace the current 500GB drive with 1TB drive
  • Add the 1TB drive to extend the cache volume of the 1.5TB

Either one is fine with me.  I would need guidance.  Sorry, but I'm a newbee to UNRAID.  Our IT person moved on and now I'm left to figure out how to support this system.  I've worked mostly with VMWare in the past, but never on my own hardware.

 

Your input is greatly appreciated.

 

PS> I'd like to know how you stop the cache from just filling up.  I found ours just filling up to 99% - not sure where, or if, we can set a limit.  Truly, I'm really not sure why it has 21 gb free now....I don't recall doing anything other than turning off a VM that has issues (still working on that) and cleaning out the syslog files.

 

Eric

Edited by sysop-gwg
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You have backups set to cache-no, but it has files on cache. Mover ignores cache-no shares. You will have to set it to cache-yes to get it moved to the array, then you can set it to cache-no.

 

domains and system have files on the array. Typically you want these to stay on cache for docker/VM performance and so array disks can spin down since these files are always open. You will have to disable Docker and VM Manager in Settings to get these moved since nothing can move open files.

 

Probably no need to have isos on cache, since these may not be needed after they are installed.

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@trurl After I ran Mover, here is what my Shares looks like.  I appears that I would need quite a bit more Cache disk size to leave Domains and System on "Yes".  Do you agree?  I have a new 1.0TB drive that I can add, if need be.  Also, I notices that Cache has a warning now.  Not sure why?  NOTE: I have NOT restarted the system, turned on the Array, Docker or VMs as of this screen shot.  Currently, I'm waiting for the Parity Check to complete (8 more hrs.)
image.thumb.png.ed537ecff091ae61e601583e74f45ace.png

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Almost certainly the system files on disk1 are duplicates, probably a duplicate 20G docker.img, with a 1G libvirt.img on disk1. Mover won't move duplicates, you will have to clean those up yourself. You want all of system on cache.

 

I didn't mention appdata before because it was already on cache but now you have changed that. You want appdata cache-prefer and all on cache for the same reasons you want domains and system on cache.

On 6/10/2022 at 11:12 AM, trurl said:

you want these to stay on cache for docker/VM performance and so array disks can spin down since these files are always open. You will have to disable Docker and VM Manager in Settings to get these moved since nothing can move open files.

For some reason appdata doesn't seem to have much data (and none in earlier screenshot). Do you have any dockers?

 

Why is your domains so large? It often isn't necessary to have very large vdisks for your VMs because your VMs can access Unraid storage and only the vdisk for the VM OS is needed.

 

Attach diagnostics to your NEXT post in this thread.

 

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17 hours ago, trurl said:

@trurl

Almost certainly the system files on disk1 are duplicates, probably a duplicate 20G docker.img, with a 1G libvirt.img on disk1. Mover won't move duplicates, you will have to clean those up yourself. You want all of system on cache.

I can only find 1 docker.img of 21G on the system. 

 

I didn't mention appdata before because it was already on cache but now you have changed that. You want appdata cache-prefer and all on cache for the same reasons you want domains and system on cache.

I changed them to allow Mover to work.  I was waiting for Parity Check to finish before resetting them.  Below is an image of how I have it now based on your recommendations.

For some reason appdata doesn't seem to have much data (and none in earlier screenshot). Do you have any dockers?

We don't have any dockers. I have docker turned off. Can I shrink or delete it since we don't use it?

 

Why is your domains so large? It often isn't necessary to have very large vdisks for your VMs because your VMs can access Unraid storage and only the vdisk for the VM OS is needed.

I have two vm's - the disks on domains are:

VM 1

vdisk1.img - 256gb - windows 10 and cad apps and video rendering

vdisk1.img - 429gb - cad and mp4 files

VM 2

vdisk1.img - 275gb - windows 10, general purpose stuff

 

Attach diagnostics to your NEXT post in this thread.  Attached

Looking forward to your input - Thank you!

 

17 hours ago, trurl said:

 

image.thumb.png.ee29e90c6c18f07f2b852af6d7bfc70d.png

renderserver-diagnostics-20220614-0752.zip

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1 hour ago, sysop-gwg said:

I can only find 1 docker.img of 21G on the system. 

If you looked for that in the system share, you would only see one. You have to look on each disk (cache, disk1) separately to see duplicates.

 

1 hour ago, sysop-gwg said:

don't have any dockers. I have docker turned off. Can I shrink or delete it since we don't use it?

You can delete docker.img on the same Settings page where you disable Docker. You can delete appdata share after deleting its contents.

 

If you need to keep those vdisks on the array just be aware that these can only be written as fast as parity, and array disks with open files can't spin down, including parity.

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7 hours ago, trurl said:

@trurl

If you looked for that in the system share, you would only see one. You have to look on each disk (cache, disk1) separately to see duplicates.

Will do. Thx

You can delete docker.img on the same Settings page where you disable Docker. You can delete appdata share after deleting its contents.

Will do.  Thx.

 

If you need to keep those vdisks on the array just be aware that these can only be written as fast as parity, and array disks with open files can't spin down, including parity.

I believe I need at least 256gb for O/S and app for my VM.  So, I don't suspect I can change that.  Right?

But, it does sound like I need to move vdisk2 to somewhere else!  What do you suggest?  I'm newbee...so go slow.  ;-)

 

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Nothing in here:
root@RenderServer:/mnt/cache/system/docker# ls
root@RenderServer:/mnt/cache/system/docker# 
  
Only 1 file in here for my one test VM:
root@RenderServer:/mnt/cache/domains# ls
Windows\ 10\ TEST/
root@RenderServer:/mnt/cache/domains# cd Windows\ 10\ TEST/
root@RenderServer:/mnt/cache/domains/Windows 10 TEST# ls
vdisk1.img
  
In System I found this:
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1# cd system
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system# ls
docker/  libvirt/
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system# cd docker
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system/docker# ls
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system/docker# cd ..
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system# ls
docker/  libvirt/
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system# cd libvirt/
root@RenderServer:/mnt/disk1/system/libvirt# ls -l
total 1048576
-rw-rw-rw- 1 nobody users 1073741824 Jun 14 17:56 libvirt.img

@trurl I didn't find any duplicates - agreed?

 

Here are my disk files:

root@RenderServer:~# df
Filesystem                    1K-blocks       Used  Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                         65824696     890084   64934612   2% /
tmpfs                             32768        452      32316   2% /run
/dev/sdc1                      15612024     676616   14935408   5% /boot
overlay                        65824696     890084   64934612   2% /lib/firmware
overlay                        65824696     890084   64934612   2% /lib/modules
devtmpfs                           8192          0       8192   0% /dev
tmpfs                          65895440          0   65895440   0% /dev/shm
cgroup_root                        8192          0       8192   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs                            131072        468     130604   1% /var/log
tmpfs                              1024          0       1024   0% /mnt/disks
tmpfs                              1024          0       1024   0% /mnt/remotes
tmpfs                              1024          0       1024   0% /mnt/rootshare
/dev/md1                      976285620  421643424  554642196  44% /mnt/disk1
/dev/md2                     7811939620 1066612328 6745327292  14% /mnt/disk2
/dev/sdf1                     488386552   19404732  467906148   4% /mnt/cache
shfs                         8788225240 1488255752 7299969488  17% /mnt/user0
shfs                         8788225240 1488255752 7299969488  17% /mnt/user

/dev/sda1                     976759804  837085300  139674504  86% /mnt/disks/External-Disk
/dev/sdb2                    3906885628 2299209608 1607676020  59% /mnt/disks/Seagate_Backup_Plus_Drive
//192.168.1.99/External-Disk  976759804  837085300  139674504  86% /mnt/remotes/192.168.1.99_External-Disk
/dev/loop2                      1048576       4216     925832   1% /etc/libvirt

 

I do find that these are identical.  Not sure why they are two places.

 

Edited by sysop-gwg
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@trurl Fantastic.  Now, that we are level-set, what would suggest for the following:

  • What part of the domains should be removed from the array?  We have a VM with disk 1 and disk 2.  I thought you need to run a VM on the array? We need at least 265gb to store the apps and and O/S for this VM. (Am I misunderstanding the relationship between Arrays, vms, and vdisks?)
  • Should we increase the size of our Cache?  As we started this thread, we purchased a 1gb drive to do so.  But, with your suggestion in this thread, we don't  seem need to increase it anymore.  Agreed?
  • Based on the fact that we have an storage array of 7.46 gb, is that the best practice for utilization?  Above, you seem to suggest that we should store our files (in our case - cad and video) somewhere else.  Can you elaborate?
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