Hi Folks,

 

Just wanted to reach out and see what you can say about the kind of support you get from unRAID forums/team. I currently use FreeNAS and I getting the feeling the support level there is dropping lower (most likely due to lack of resources or smaller market). I like to write scripted solutions for adding packages for my NAS and share them out but occasionally hit up trouble spots where I could use a hand from the community (method to install certain packages etc.). I am building a new upgraded NAS box this weekend and am looking to go the next level up.

 

So how is it on the unRAID side of the fence? What are some quirks? Any idea how unRAID compares to FreeNAS? unRAID does ZFS like features?

 

One thing I really would like to know is how well are additional packages welcomed/supported? I would like to create a simplified installer (more for my own sake than anything) that I could share out here.

 

thank you,

dpc

 

EDIT: DANG! The uMenu forum has a ton of topics with a ton of replies - that is very reassuring!

Well, first off, unRaid is just that, not a typical RAID solution - so there is a major difference between it and FreeNAS and ZFS.

 

I would recommend you read the wiki FAQ Here which has tons of info on unRaid.

 

As for the community, it is great. There are a ton of active users, many willing to help out when they can and the moderators are shear geniuses. They are always willing to help out with issues and problems.

 

For packages, look into unMenu and the new 5b6a version, which should be ok if you are building a new system. Version 5 has a lot more support for plugins...

 

Shawn

 

The unRAID forums are about the best I've seen.  Check out the User Customizations and Applications sections in the forum and you'll see that there are a lot of user generated packages and add-ons. It seems like I just keep finding things that I never knew were available in there. Honestly, the forums played a big part in my decision to start using unRAID, the support I've gotten has just been tremendous.  I would recommend unRAID to anyone who is looking to build a NAS.  Welcome aboard and hope you stay around.

Terrible forum support..  I have an obvious problem with file permissions after upgrading and nobody is helping with what should be an easy solution

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12408.0

 

I don't know what is going on but there seems to be no professional tech support at all anymore

Sorry - get off your high horse, buddy.

 

Have you contacted Tomm for support?

 

You do realise that the community has responded to that forum post within a day after each of your posts.

I'm a newbie to all this and have found the support here to be phenomenal. People on this board are very friendly and helpful as long as you show that you are trying and doing your best to learn the ropes. I think you'll like it here as it seems you have much more experience with this sort of thing and I'm sure many people would appreciate your script contributions when you share them!

 

I am thankful that there are so many mature and knowledgeable people on this forum that haven't found it tiresome and annoying to help out newbies like me.

I am a new user of unRAID myself.  I have gotten nothing but help and good feedback from the others on this forum.  I was even able to get a part that wasn't available online for my server via the Buy, Sell & Trade section in Good Deals. 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12206.0

I even had an offer to sell me one within the first 5 or 6 hours.  I would say that if I have had a question answers are quick to follow if you are willing to ask nicely.

Sorry - get off your high horse, buddy.

 

I think that he chose his username very well!

 

As you say, there have been attempts to assist, and these only prompt an aggressive response.  People quickly lose interest with an attitude like that.

 

The best advice to give would be that if the Beta release isn't living up to his expectations, he should go back to the latest stable release.

 

What I would say to the OP is that this forum is one of the most friendly I have found anywhere.  A number of very knowledgeable people give their time freely and unstintingly without ever showing impatience or intolerance.

I agree exactly 100% with what PeterB just said.  One of the best communities you'll find anywhere on the net.

Just wanted to add my appreciation to the forum members.

 

In fact, it was lurking on the forum for a couple of weeks that made me decide that unRAID was for me. Same thing happened to me with XBMC.

 

You need a great user community when you're tinkering, and tinkering is most of the fun to me. I spend more time tinkering with all this stuff than I do actually using it.

 

Join Us! You'll never look back . Fantastic support here. You won't find a more knowledgeable, helpful, mature bunch of folks!

i do stupid things and rush into things very often i understand NOTHING i barely know how to read. almost couldnt get on the internet just found out how to turn on a computer. and this is probably the best forum ive been to in regards of responses not making me feel like an idiot or jack ass and everyone has been very helpful (=

Community support: Excellent.

 

Official support: Nonexistent.

I would prefer it that way so that so we can get new and better features in the future as opposed to them dealing with questions that most of us can answer.  By "us" I don't mean me.  (I'm still new.) If I can help I try.

I would prefer it that way so that so we can get new and better features in the future as opposed to them dealing with questions that most of us can answer.

 

I agree. That's why the moderators were appointed and they do a great job of answering the common (and not so common) questions.

 

However, there are occasions when something arises that the mods can't answer and those questions can go unanswered unless a company rep appears. I had one of those questions, it went unanswered for a while and I eventually emailed limetech. 10 days later -- no response.

 

Limetech's last post on the official forum: 45 days ago.

 

That's really not good enough.

Not to sidetrack the post but, was it on a beta or on a stable release?

Not to sidetrack the post but, was it on a beta or on a stable release?

 

4.7

I sent you a PM but, being that you are a hero member, I am sure that I can't help. I would love the chance though.

Thanks for all the responses folks! Great to hear some of the in's and outs.

 

I have a couple rather newbie questions and if some of you folks have a moment to reply that would be great.

 

1. Just a bunch of disks in unRaid (without parity)?

I saw a customization called SNAP - believe its for the already created partitions/drives

Never really cared for parity or backup of my media (I have 5gb or so the really important data that i back up using other methods). Its actually a life style choice (prefer to not let the media control me; if the box burns to the ground oh well time to go outside and enjoy the sunshine)

 

2. uMenu vs 5.0 Plugins - what is the differences?

 

3. uMenu installs are just temp?

It appears you cannot "permanently" install a package... I really liked the functionality of installing it a custom space (like a 2GB slice/volume) that hold all the goodies without having it install it every time. Perhaps I am just too set in my ways and knocking a new method without trying....

 

Thank you,

~dpc

Thanks for all the responses folks! Great to hear some of the in's and outs.

 

I have a couple rather newbie questions and if some of you folks have a moment to reply that would be great.

 

1. Just a bunch of disks in unRaid (without parity)?

I saw a customization called SNAP - believe its for the already created partitions/drives

Never really cared for parity or backup of my media (I have 5gb or so the really important data that i back up using other methods). Its actually a life style choice (prefer to not let the media control me; if the box burns to the ground oh well time to go outside and enjoy the sunshine)

 

unRAID uses a Parity drive. It will help you restore your data if you loose a drive. It can be that drive or it can be a data drive so with a combination of remaining drives it will restore your data. However SNAP lets you attach devices to your machine without being protected by the array. Kinda nice if you want to connect a USB drive or a Camera to copy pictures or videos.

 

2. uMenu vs 5.0 Plugins - what is the differences?

 

Some members have created plugins to run in 5.0 as well as in 4x.

unMENU helps you install some of them. I don't personally run 5.0 myself, but from what I recall plugins are/is addons that can be installed a bit easier, but if its anything like unMENU its a snap.

 

3. uMenu installs are just temp?

It appears you cannot "permanently" install a package... I really liked the functionality of installing it a custom space (like a 2GB slice/volume) that hold all the goodies without having it install it every time. Perhaps I am just too set in my ways and knocking a new method without trying....

 

The OS of unRAID lives on your USB stick and when you load it, its stored in RAM. As well when you reboot unMENU can reinstall plugins or whatever you want to lable them into the OS. I particularly like it because if I mess something up in the OS since its running in RAM I know for a fact that when I reboot it basically starts all over again fresh.

 

Thank you,

~dpc

1. I've only used SNAP for just a short time but it will basically automatically mount non-array drives and it enables hot-plugging as well.  You can also assign a name to each device by s/n so that it's mounted with a name you can recognize. This is really useful for external HDDs, USB flash drives, and memory cards.  There might be more it can do but that's how I use it.  For JBOD without parity - that's easy - just don't assign a parity drive to the array.  In fact that's how my array started because you'll get much better throughput without parity.  So I copied all my data to my unprotected array and then added parity later.  If parity protection is not important then you don't have to assign a parity drive.

 

2. Not sure, but I'm interested to hear the response to this one.

 

3. All of the packages that I've installed via unMenu only required that I manually do it the first time.  Most of the time when I've installed a package it's actually a three step/click process.  First you download the package files.  Then you install the files and start the service so the package is now running on the machine. The last step is to make the installation persistent.  This usually involves a modification to the go file so that the package will be started again as part of the boot process.  Once I've completed those steps no further interaction is required by me.

I sent you a PM but, being that you are a hero member, I am sure that I can't help. I would love the chance though.

 

Thanks, but I fixed it thanks to another user here, but never received a response from Limetech.

Yes limetech (only Tom?) tends to take off for periods during the course of the year. I'm assuming it's due to personal matters (family etc.) and it really is none of my/our business. The way I see it, we already have a wonderfully working product (4.7 - excluding whatever neilt0's issue was) and anything beyond that is just gravy. This could be one of those off periods or he's just working very hard on getting 5.0 working proper. I'd rather him not focus on support and focus on stability and new features, which as mentioned, was probably the purpose of assigning the moderators (although I wish they got some form of compensation for their hard work ). Most importantly though, I'd much rather him enjoy his life!!! A relaxed and inspired dev/creator produces much better content and I believe it's directly related to happiness!.

 

The community here is absolutely fantastic and there is already ridiculous amount of issues/support that have already been stored in the forum's history for everyone to pull up as needed. The constant new support is also a big plus. Great product, great forum, great community.

although I wish they got some form of compensation for their hard work.

I feel well compensated with the privilege of participating in this great community.

It is the community as a whole that makes this a great success. y'all deserve kudos for that! y'all Rock!!

I can chime in as a newbie, myself and two other friends (they) have tried freenas, etc. moved to unraid (I am using their lesson learned to just go right to unRAID  ). I was actually the last to hold off in purchasing a license; I got my Pro 2-Pack yesterday so I am in.

 

After many long evenings and lunch hours and testing in a lab environment over and over, varies scenarios, hardware, add-ons, breaking things on purpose. We all liked what we saw and the forum was definitely what helped sell us. A+++ out to the members here. It is quite busy for one product and its offerings and the members are top notch, very helpful, contribute code themself, etc...

 

Nothing is perfect, but it is very good and has GREAT potential if it keeps moving forward. You will see this pretty quickly. Not all agree on everything, but respect each other’s opinions and preferences.

 

I cannot speak for official LimeTech Support as I have not used it or contacted it as of yet. But wishfully hope it is as good as what is found on the forums. I am confused with the dev/roadmap site at the moment but want to read more around the forums to have a better understanding how LimeTech works.

 

Now I am just scrabbling to build out my production 20+ unRaid Server.