Cache almost always full, mover doesnt help

[Kuleinc]

I've read through some other threads and I'm sure I have something configured wrong. My cache drive is 120 GB, is this big enough? My cache drive always has 111GB used no matter how many times I invoke the mover. Pretty new at this unraid stuff. I have three dockers, although I only ever run Plex and Zoneminder.

nas-diagnostics-20220614-1828.zip

[JorgeB]

First set appdata to cache=no then run the mover so that data from the other share can be moved to the array, once that's done set appdata back to cache=prefer and run the mover again, then post new diags.

[Kuleinc]

OMG I think I messed up. I thought I set appdata cache=no and apply, but somehow now I have no shares...

nas-diagnostics-20220615-2009.zip

[trurl]

With such a small cache I wouldn't use it for caching any user shares and only use it for the "system shares" (appdata, domains, system) used by dockers and VMs. Also, you have allocated 40G of your small cache to docker.img, which is probably twice as large as it needs to be.

 

Your user shares may be broken because you have filled cache and corrupted it. Since it is XFS it may be possible to repair.

 

Disable Docker and VM Manager in Settings until you get things working well.

 

Reboot and post new diagnostics.

[Kuleinc]

rebooting with those changes, then I will get you the new diag. How big of a cache do you recommend? I have a 500 GB ssd sitting on my desk I can add it or replace it, if there is a how to?

[trurl]

 

[Kuleinc]

what size cache would you recommend?

nas-diagnostics-20220615-1414.zip

[kizer]

I used to use 240GB, which seemed like enough for my needs with Dockers and Data, but not to long ago I upgraded to a 1TB SSD. I'm sure for my needs I could get along with a 500GB drive. The price for the 1TB was to good to pass up so I jumped to an even larger drive.  

 

How much honestly would depend on what you normally put on it and have time to store until mover runs. If you are moving mass data constantly and the mover isn't moving enough then you'll need a much larger drive. All my Dockers take up around 32GB and my docker.img file. So I have plenty of space for other items. 

[trurl]

What do you get from the command line with this?

du -h -d 1 /mnt/user/appdata

 

[Kuleinc]

how long should this take to process?

 

It doesnt seem to do anything...

Edited June 15, 2022 by Kuleinc

[trurl]

Could be several minutes

[trurl]

If your user shares are still broken it might not work. I was just trying to get an idea of how much cache would be used by your system shares.

 

You can ctrl-C out of that command and try again after you get us new diagnostics.

[kizer]

To be fair it took a few minutes for me to run the same command that @trurl asked you to run. 

 

For instance Plex is a large folder on my system and it had to crawl every folder and subfolder gathering up totals. You just don't see it. 

Also don't forget to account for the docker.img file that is sitting on your Cache drive too. 

[trurl]

Just now, kizer said:

Also don't forget to account for the docker.img file that is sitting on your Cache drive too. 

 

1 hour ago, trurl said:

you have allocated 40G of your small cache to docker.img, which is probably twice as large as it needs to be.

 

[Kuleinc]

do we need more diag data again?

also, since the reboot, the shares showed up again...

 

I suffered a power outage and my zoneminder database got corrupted, so I saved it as .backup and reinstalled to get it running, I dunno how to fix that...

Edited June 15, 2022 by Kuleinc

[trurl]

Why is Zoneminder.backup so large? I don't use that.

 

1 minute ago, Kuleinc said:

do we need more diag data again?

Yes

[trurl]

Just now, trurl said:

Why is Zoneminder.backup so large?

Can you set that up so it isn't in appdata and instead on a share on the array?

[Kuleinc]

Its a security camera database that is corrupted, I saved it incase I can restore it, which I dont know how to do. It happens everytime we have a power outage. i dont want to delete it if I dont have to...

 

It takes footage from cameras and analyses them for movement and records it if it sees something moving. I dunno why its on cache, it doesnt need to be. I dont know how to move it.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Kuleinc

[Kuleinc]

nas-diagnostics-20220615-1440.zip

[trurl]

2 minutes ago, Kuleinc said:

I dunno why its on cache, it doesnt need to be. I dont know how to move it.

Its on cache because appdata is on cache, or at least some of appdata is on cache. Ultimately you want all of appdata, domains, system shares on cache so your docker/VM performance won't be affected by slower parity array, and so array disks can spin down since these files are always open.

 

Your camera footage should be on the array and not in appdata. Surely Zoneminder can be configured to put that in another share on the array.

[Kuleinc]

well, zoneminder will keep array spun up with the cameras footage...

 

Perhaps I need to replace cache drive with bigger drives... I didn't realize when I built it... Can I simply add the 500gb to the cache pool and leave the 120 GB drive too?

 

Zoneminer does go back and delete old footage so theres room for new footage. I had it setup better before the power crash, perhaps I need to work on getting the database fixed for that and add more cache space?

[trurl]

Install Dynamix File Manager plugin and use it to move those Zoneminder files to another share.

 

Delete and recreate your docker.img as only 20G and reinstall your dockers.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Docker_Management#Re-Create_the_Docker_image_file

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Docker_Management#Re-Installing_Docker_Applications

 

Stop Zoneminder and leave it stopped until you figure out how to get it to store its footage in another share on the array. Looks like you just need to change the mapping for the data path.

 

[trurl]

2 minutes ago, Kuleinc said:

Perhaps I need to replace cache drive with bigger drives... I didn't realize when I built it... Can I simply add the 500gb to the cache pool and leave the 120 GB drive too?

Better if you put these in separate pools. You could put your appdata, domains, system shares on the 120G pool, and use the 500G pool for Zoneminder footage and caching.

[trurl]

Just now, trurl said:

You could put your appdata, domains, system shares on the 120G pool

I have a pool named "fast" for that,

1 minute ago, trurl said:

use the 500G pool for Zoneminder footage and caching.

and a pool named "cache" for that.

[Kuleinc]

also, a new use of this server is my wife backing up her youtube videos and files that she makes her videos with. I had not forseen this being a problem when I assembled the server as I didnt understand the cache. If she tries to move files larger than freespace on the cache drive the transfer fails. This is actually easy to do when she is trying to move video footage, edited video, music, clip art, etc from folders on her working machine to the unraid server for backup to free space on her machine and of course backup....

 

that file browser is super helpful! thanks for the tip!

Edited June 15, 2022 by Kuleinc