Few last questions before purchasing (parity, adding drives, VPN-ing to my UNRaid, etc)


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Hi. I've been looking around regarding unraid, finally got all the gear I need to convert my PC to a unraid PC. I currently have a 1x 6TB drive, 2x 8TB drive and a 256GB M.2 SSD (which currently houses Windows). I have another 8TB drive laying around and have plans to add 5x more 8TB drives in the immediate future, bringing me up to 8x 8TB drives and 1x6TB drive.

 

1. How exactly does unraid distribute data across disks? When I install Unraid and set it up, will the files between drives be immediately shuffled around and a disk will be chosen for parity or does it remain as-is?

 

2. Once unraid is done setting up, I'll have one huge virtual disk that I can simply network map in my Windows devices? How do I determine which files go on which disk in my NAS system, or is it all done automatically?

 

3. What's the easiest way to have my NAS' disk available to me when I'm outside my home network? I've heard about VPNing in into my home network, how does that work, what's the easiest way to do it? Part of the reason why I'm doing a NAS build is because I want to have all my files available to me 24/7, whether I'm on a mobile phone, my laptop or my tablet.

 

4. Cache drive - how important is it to have a cache drive? I have the 256GB m.2 ssd I've mentioned before and can add one more to the secondary mobo M.2 slot.

 

5. Virtualization. I've heard that unraid runs docker, which is perfect, however I'd also need to run Windows in a VM for a Windows app that has no Linux port - where does unraid store VM containers (in terms of data)? Could I possibly just set a 512GB SSD in my secondary M.2 slot on MOBO, partition it to 2x 256GB partitions, use one for my secondary cache drive, use second for docker, VM, etc within unraid?

 

I think I've forgotten something else but I'll ask if I remember. Thank You for the help in advance!

 

(I'm terribly sorry, posted the other topic in the wrong section, deleted it now)

Edited by Victor90
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#1 - An 8TB needs to be the parity (has to be equal or larger than other data disks).  It sounds like you have existing data on them.  You can assign parity, data, cache disks, but keep in mind they will be formatted.  It is also recommended to pre-clear them first with unassigned devices pre-clear plugin.

 

#2 - You can define file distribution on a per share basis and also choose to include or exclude specific disks.  Fill up, span evenly, most available space. etc.

 

#3 - It's not recommended to expose your server to the internet.  Most routers have VPN option.  You can use that with openvpn software/mobile app to connect.

 

#4 - Cache disk is not required, but definitely recommended for performance; especially if you plan to run dockers/VMs.  If you set your share(s) to use cache, files are copied faster to cache and moved slower to parity protected array off hours via scheduled job.  Data while on single cache disk is susceptible to loss due to failure, but a 2nd cache in a pool buys you fault tolerance.

 

#5 - You can store a VM on any disk, but this is typically your cache disk.  There is a plug-in called Unassigned Devices which allows the ability to mount a disk and use it outside of parity protection.  You can control the location of the virtual disks from VM setup settings.  Unraid places them by default in a domains share on cache.  I don't think unraid supports direct disk VMs. I haven't used unraid for VMs much. 

 

Hope this helps you.

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3) Unraid has the WireGuard VPN Server+client built in and this provides a secure way to access you server from the internet. This is what I use to be able to access my files, etc remotely from my Apple Devices and from a remote Windows system.  Unraid also provides the MyServers plugin that provides (amongst other features)  for remotely administering your Unraid servers.

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Thank you all for the answers.

 

3 hours ago, dboonthego said:

#1 - An 8TB needs to be the parity (has to be equal or larger than other data disks).  It sounds like you have existing data on them.  You can assign parity, data, cache disks, but keep in mind they will be formatted.  It is also recommended to pre-clear them first with unassigned devices pre-clear plugin.

 

Ah, so the moment I assign a drive in unraid it gets automatically cleaned? So essentially I need to migrate data away before setting up unraid?

 

2 hours ago, itimpi said:

3) Unraid has the WireGuard VPN Server+client built in and this provides a secure way to access you server from the internet. This is what I use to be able to access my files, etc remotely from my Apple Devices and from a remote Windows system.  Unraid also provides the MyServers plugin that provides (amongst other features)  for remotely administering your Unraid servers.

 

This sounds extremely nice. Tell me, if you've mapped your disk as a network disk in Windows, how does it behave when you're out of network? Does it just stand there in "My PC" and then when you VPN in it starts working exactly like it works when you're on your home network (just slower)?

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- Yes, once you install a disk and assign it to the array if its not erased and formatted for unraid it will prompt you to format it using btfrs or xfs. 

 

or

 

- You can insert drives into your machine and use them as an Unassigned.Device.  With this you can use your existing drives and data and you can browse to it via the network, but it will not be in a Protected array. This would allow you to copy data to other drives in the Array as well. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Victor90 said:

This sounds extremely nice. Tell me, if you've mapped your disk as a network disk in Windows, how does it behave when you're out of network? Does it just stand there in "My PC" and then when you VPN in it starts working exactly like it works when you're on your home network (just slower)?

If you are remote it just acts like a standard network disk that is offline until you establish the WireGuard tunnel, and then it behaves just as it would on your local LAN

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