Unraid just for storage and power button for shutdown


Baggi0

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Hi everyone,

 

I am looking to set up Unraid with my old PC components and a couple of 14tb hard drives to start with so i can store and protect my ever growing media.   I'm not going to be using any VM's or dockers (i'm new to this i think its the right terminoolgy) and dont need it running 24/7.   

 

Basically i will only be using the NAS occasionaly and it will be off more than it is on,  i just want to protect and add to my data, as its took a long time to build up my collection and be able add drives (of any size) when i want without having to set everything up again and it seems like this is really easy to do with Unraid thus ticking all the boxes. 

 

So the million dollar question, is OK to use Unraid like this? 

 

If so, i'd like to power it off with the power button using the link below but its a bit vague when it comes to that in the last paragraph.  I'm just unsure if turning it off and on will hurt anything as it seems most of you guys run yours constantly.  https://wiki.unraid.net/Powerdown_script 

 

Heres my specs as well if needed;  All this is old and collecting dust so threw it all in.  Ive also found out i cant enable virtualization with my CPU but don't need GPU passthrough anyway.

 

Intel i5 3570k

AsRock h77 pro4-m motherboard

64gb Ram

600w EVGA PSU

2x 14tb HDDs

 

 

TIA

Edited by Baggi0
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48 minutes ago, Alex.vision said:

If you want to shut down your server, you are more than welcome to. It won’t hurt anything. Pressing the power button will initiate a clean shutdown of the system just like any other computer. 

@Baggi0, that is a one second push of the power button will give you a clean shutdown.  If you push and hold for approximately five seconds or longer, that will force an immediate shutdown (useful when the computer locks-up and will not respond any other way).

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11 hours ago, Alex.vision said:

If you want to shut down your server, you are more than welcome to. It won’t hurt anything. Pressing the power button will initiate a clean shutdown of the system just like any other computer. 

 

10 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

@Baggi0, that is a one second push of the power button will give you a clean shutdown.  If you push and hold for approximately five seconds or longer, that will force an immediate shutdown (useful when the computer locks-up and will not respond any other way).


Brilliant, thanks gents.

 

I was reading up on things and people were talking about having to stop the array via the gui before shutting down so I was unsure.


So just to clarify so I don’t I don’t have to do anything other than press the power button and it will shut down the array cleanly and safely?

 

Edited by Baggi0
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If you have a simple NAS setup, that should do the trick.  The problem that can come up is when you have a Docker, VM, or some user who has a file open, You (or your Unraid server) will not be able to stop the array.   It sounds like you are going to using your Unraid server as it was intended--- A storage array that is primary a write-once_read-many storage device.  Just make sure when you want to shut the server down, someone else is not doing a backup.

 

Looking at your Hardware, you are presently using a sledge hammer to drive a tack. I understand why you are in this situation.  But be aware, you may find that Unraid can be very useful tool to do a lot of other stuff and you will not longer have just a simple NAS box.  And you have the hardware to be able to do virtually anything you want!   Be sure to look at installing the Tips and Tweaks plugin as it has power setting section that will allow to reduce the power consumption of that i5 CPU.

 

By the way, I would assume that you are using SMB.   SMB is happiest if you have a 24-7 Local Master on the network.  If you don't to do this, be sure you add the following to the SMB Extras section of the SMB settings  (Settings   >>>   SMB). 

 

[global]
domain master = no
preferred master = yes
os level = 255

 

One minor problem with SMB is that it can take a long time to settle down when you add a new server to a network.   (It is just the nature of the beast---  Twenty minutes is not uncommon...)  

 

Microsoft has been really pushing SMB security on Windows computers.  (They owe the spec so they do as they want.  Plus, corporate and government entities are pushing them to have these holes plugged ASAP!)  If you find that getting to your Unraid server is being blocked, read the paper in the first post on setting things so that you won't have problems. 

 

It may seem like a lot of work but once you get things set up, you will have fewer problems in the future.

 

One more point.  Your Unraid box is not a backup of irreplaceable assets if it has the only copy of those assets.   You need (at the very least) a second copy of those assets on some other media!  

 

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Thanks for the detailed reply

 

1 hour ago, Frank1940 said:

If you have a simple NAS setup, that should do the trick.  The problem that can come up is when you have a Docker, VM, or some user who has a file open, You (or your Unraid server) will not be able to stop the array.   It sounds like you are going to using your Unraid server as it was intended--- A storage array that is primary a write-once_read-many storage device.  Just make sure when you want to shut the server down, someone else is not doing a backup.

 

So what i plan on doing predominantly is using this to store roms on for when i build my cab and use another another PC to access the roms off the NAS to play them.   I'll be the only one using it so won't need to worry about anyone else with open files ect and i will be turning it off AFTER i have powered down the main PC so the write-once_read-many sounds like exaclty what i intend to do.

 

Quote

Looking at your Hardware, you are presently using a sledge hammer to drive a tack. I understand why you are in this situation.  But be aware, you may find that Unraid can be very useful tool to do a lot of other stuff and you will not longer have just a simple NAS box.  And you have the hardware to be able to do virtually anything you want!   Be sure to look at installing the Tips and Tweaks plugin as it has power setting section that will allow to reduce the power consumption of that i5 CPU.

 

🤣 Its just what i had doing collecting dust so thought i may as well throw it in.  The plan was to use these compontents for my cab but i have no intention of building one for a while and i thought instead of spening more money to buy parts i may as well just use them. I have looked into things Unraid does and i can't say i need any of them tbh but that said i havent delved to deep into it as yet as my main concern is my gaming frontend.

 

Out of curiosity if i set this up and want to use these parts for the cab later down the line,  is the data on the bootable USB tied to any components?  Could i just build a new cheap pc and in the USB and HDDS to get back running again?

 

I'll definitely get that plugin installed as well, thanks.

 

Quote

By the way, I would assume that you are using SMB.   SMB is happiest if you have a 24-7 Local Master on the network.  If you don't to do this, be sure you add the following to the SMB Extras section of the SMB settings  (Settings   >>>   SMB). 

 

[global] domain master = no preferred master = yes os level = 255

 

One minor problem with SMB is that it can take a long time to settle down when you add a new server to a network.   (It is just the nature of the beast---  Twenty minutes is not uncommon...)  

 

Microsoft has been really pushing SMB security on Windows computers.  (They owe the spec so they do as they want.  Plus, corporate and government entities are pushing them to have these holes plugged ASAP!)  If you find that getting to your Unraid server is being blocked, read the paper in the first post on setting things so that you won't have problems. 

 

As im new to this i had to look up SMB lol. By 24/7 local master would that just be my main PC?  I won't be accessing it by anything other than that until i build my cab which will be a while.  Actually i may access it with a laptop once in a while to delete files and such if that matters.

 

My plan originally was to map the server to a drive and point my main PCs frontend to that drive to access the games folder but looking in to that as well (im doing a lot of looking up here) I don't think i need to do map a drive and i just need to create a share and point it to that instead.

 

Quote

One more point.  Your Unraid box is not a backup of irreplaceable assets if it has the only copy of those assets.   You need (at the very least) a second copy of those assets on some other media!  

 

Thanks for the heads up, this will store some important stuff although not much and i already back up that up externally as well.

Edited by Baggi0
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1 hour ago, Baggi0 said:

Out of curiosity if i set this up and want to use these parts for the cab later down the line,  is the data on the bootable USB tied to any components?  Could i just build a new cheap pc and in the USB and HDDS to get back running again?

 

 

OK, Unraid (as a basic NAS) is virtually hardware agnostic.  In fact, every time you boot up your Unraid server, a complete install is performed with the components parts (software modules, drivers, etc.)  needed for the Linux OS loaded onto a RAM 'disk' which the system will run from once the boot process is completed.  (VM's often 'break' this simplicity of hardware agnosticism...) 

 

1 hour ago, Baggi0 said:

As im new to this i had to look up SMB lol. By 24/7 local master would that just be my main PC? 

 

Possibly.  Your basic Windows computer can be either a client or a client/server.  It remains a client until you decide to share something (files, printer, etc.) then it becomes a client/server.  It has to be working in the server capacity to become the Local Master.  SMB is a Kludge.  It started out life as a peer-to-peer networking scheme back in the mid 1990's and has evolved in a system with can have multiple servers and thousands of clients while still retaining its peer-to-peer roots.  Peer-to-peer is now a stepchild to the larger big brother scheme.  It may be that everything will work fine with your very small network.  If it doesn't, or if you have problems with it behaving in a flaky manner, you have been given the tools to fix things so that it will work properly.  I suspect that you will have to set up a Share user on your Unraid server and log into the server from your Windows 'client' because MS has decided that Windows clients should not be permitted to access servers using 'guest' credentials.  ("Guest" credentials are provide for clients who do not have a login on that server but are allowed access to certain files anyways.  Unraid does allow this type of access--  Called "Public".)  I know that MS hs locked it down via the automatic monthly updates to PRO and ENTERPRISE editions but I am not certain about HOME.

 

 

Edited by Frank1940
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1 hour ago, Frank1940 said:

 

OK, Unraid (as a basic NAS) is virtually hardware agnostic.  In fact, every time you boot up your Unraid server, a complete install is performed with the components parts (software modules, drivers, etc.)  needed for the Linux OS loaded onto a RAM 'disk' which the system will run from once the boot process is completed.  (VM's often 'break' this simplicity of hardware agnosticism...) 

 

 

Possibly.  Your basic Windows computer can be either a client or a client/server.  It remains a client until you decide to share something (files, printer, etc.) then it becomes a client/server.  It has to be working in the server capacity to become the Local Master.  SMB is a Kludge.  It started out life as a peer-to-peer networking scheme back in the mid 1990's and has evolved in a system with can have multiple servers and thousands of clients while still retaining its peer-to-peer roots.  Peer-to-peer is now a stepchild to the larger big brother scheme.  It may be that everything will work fine with your very small network.  If it doesn't, or if you have problems with it behaving in a flaky manner, you have been given the tools to fix things so that it will work properly.  I suspect that you will have to set up a Share user on your Unraid server and log into the server from your Windows 'client' because MS has decided that Windows clients should not be permitted to access servers using 'guest' credentials.  ("Guest" credentials are provide for clients who do not have a login on that server but are allowed access to certain files anyways.  Unraid does allow this type of access--  Called "Public".)  I know that MS hs locked it down via the automatic monthly updates to PRO and ENTERPRISE editions but I am not certain about HOME.

 

 

 

Brilliant, thanks.  When my case arrives I'll get to setting it up and no doubt be back to ask more questions on the SMB side of things lol

 

At least now i can rest easy knowing i won't break anything by turning it on and off, and that its safe to turn it off via the power button with corrupting any drives or making it check the parity drive when i am up and running 👍

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