January 10, 20242 yr We are excited to announce a new and improved Update OS flow for Unraid OS. With this latest update, we have made significant improvements to make the Update OS process more user-friendly and efficient and it is available today via the Unraid Connect plugin v2024.01.09.1413 - head to the Plugins page on your server to update your plugin.  This is also coming soon for all users in an upcoming Unraid OS stable release.  Please see our blog for full details: https://unraid.net/blog/new-update-os-tool  Or, follow along with @zspearmintas he walks you through the new Update OS flow:    Changes to Downgrade OS We’ve also improved the downgrade feature and moved it to its own page at Tools → Downgrade OS. This new page allows for easier rollbacks to your previous release and has a much better interface to walk through the process. Be sure to read the release notes both current and previous versions before rolling back, as incompatibilities or manual changes could be needed before downgrading.    Â
January 10, 20242 yr 3 hours ago, SpencerJ said: This is also coming soon for all users in an upcoming Unraid OS stable release. Â Sorry, but I don't get that. Will the old "Update OS" on the "Tools" page go away? Are there two Update methods now? Is Connect plugin required now? Will it be a standard part of Unraid with the next release? Â I don't use Connect plugin because I don't need it. So I don't understand the implications of this news. Â
January 10, 20242 yr 34 minutes ago, hawihoney said: Â Sorry, but I don't get that. Will the old "Update OS" on the "Tools" page go away? Are there two Update methods now? Is Connect plugin required now? Will it be a standard part of Unraid with the next release? Â I don't use Connect plugin because I don't need it. So I don't understand the implications of this news. Â I think they mean that the new updater tool will be integrated into the unRAID OS in a future release (replacing the existing update "Update OS" tool/workflow). If you want the tool now, it is included with the connect plugin which is a separate install.Â
January 10, 20242 yr 49 minutes ago, primeval_god said: If you want the tool now, it is included with the connect plugin which is a separate install.  But why should there be two entries to the update process in single user interface? IMHO this is at least confusing. Â
January 11, 20242 yr 2 hours ago, hawihoney said:  But why should there be two entries to the update process in single user interface? IMHO this is at least confusing.  Not sure what you mean. If the question is why distribute it via the connect plugin, the answer is likely that its the best way to get it on existing systems before people upgrade to the latest version of unraid. The existing update tool is part of of webui not a separate component. So far as I know, it cant be updated short of a full os upgrade.
January 11, 20242 yr Unraid Connect have public update in few min. ago, to be honest no surprise because not much different as previous flow. 😉Â
January 11, 20242 yr 6 hours ago, primeval_god said: Not sure what you mean. Â AFAIK there's a new Update OS menu entry in the Connect plugin now (top right). And there's the standard Update OS icon on the Tools page. If you navigate to the Tools page you get two different Update OS options on the same page? To repeat my question: Why a second Update OS entry in the same GUI? Â ***EDIT*** Additional question: And both entries lead to a different Update process? I consider that at least "Confusing". Â Standard option: Â Â Â New additional option: Â Â Â Edited January 11, 20242 yr by hawihoney
January 11, 20242 yr 6 hours ago, hawihoney said: Why a second Update OS entry in the same GUI? Anyone not using Connect will only have one update tool.
January 11, 20242 yr 1 hour ago, wgstarks said: Anyone not using Connect will only have one update tool.  What an answer ...  Anyone using Connect will have two update tools. And this is the Connect announcement thread. So anyone using it will have two ...  What about a third update tool - just in case somebody misses these two  I give up. Must be my bad english. Â
January 11, 20242 yr 7 hours ago, hawihoney said: ***EDIT*** Additional question: And both entries lead to a different Update process? I consider that at least "Confusing". See my previous answers. I expect the old update process will be replaced with the new one in a future OS update. However since its built in it cant be changed short of a full os update. Thus in order to make the new updater available to people immediately limetech has added it to the connect plugin. Edited January 11, 20242 yr by primeval_god
January 11, 20242 yr 30 minutes ago, hawihoney said:  What an answer ...  Anyone using Connect will have two update tools. And this is the Connect announcement thread. So anyone using it will have two ...  What about a third update tool - just in case somebody misses these two  I give up. Must be my bad english.  I think you misunderstand. If they remove the original update tool then anyone not using Connect will have no ability to update.
January 11, 20242 yr I've been a long-time user of Unraid and have generally been satisfied with the update processes in the past. However, I wanted to share my feedback on the recent update process, which I found a bit disconcerting. The idea of redirecting the GUI to an external domain web page during the server update didn't sit well with me. I understand that the files are already being downloaded from an external domain during updates, but I still found this approach unsettling. It felt as if I was being transported outside the comfort of my home, giving me a sense of being in a different environment altogether. I appreciate the continuous efforts to enhance the Unraid experience and understand that changes are sometimes necessary. I just wanted to express my feelings about this particular aspect of the recent update process. Thank you for your attention and understanding.
January 11, 20242 yr 3 hours ago, wgstarks said: I think you misunderstand. If they remove the original update tool then anyone not using Connect will have no ability to update. From what I read on the OP (and no insider knowledge) it is until the next stable release (so 6.12.7 from what I read on the forums). Â On 1/10/2024 at 6:31 PM, SpencerJ said: This is also coming soon for all users in an upcoming Unraid OS stable release. Â Â Â Â 3 hours ago, hawihoney said: What an answer ... Â Anyone using Connect will have two update tools. And this is the Connect announcement thread. So anyone using it will have two ... Â What about a third update tool - just in case somebody misses these two Maybe don't read too much from comments from people not from Limetech ? Â Â Again, I have NO inside knowledge, but I see a lot of posts considering the worst option and based from nothing in the official information. Maybe chill a bit before crying Wolf ?
January 11, 20242 yr Author Edit: 2024-01-11 After receiving some constructive feedback, we've decided to change a few things with the new Update OS tool and we're currently working on these changes. Our team highly values our user's feedback, which is why we launched the new Update OS tool with the Connect plugin (versus shipping with the OS). Â Unraid Connect allows us to ship code to you without reboots or other annoyances, so this release method allows us to quickly gather feedback and address concerns in a more iterative fashion. Â Thanks for your feedback and keep it coming!
January 14, 20242 yr Does this mean we can finally untether the license from the array? Â It really doesn't play nicely with the built in ZFS support. Â I have just now had to reboot the whole system due to a single failed zfs disk. Â Something not typical of a ZFS array and entirely caused by having to stop the array to change a disk as far as I know.
January 14, 20242 yr 6 hours ago, Marshalleq said: Does this mean we can finally untether the license from the array? I don't see how you come to this conclusion. Â This thread is about a new Unraid feature, brought through a plugin update. In that context, Limetech can update part of the OS without a new OS version or a server reboot. Â While I have read about changes in Array and Pool management for future versions, I didn't see anything about licensing scheme changes on the forums.
January 14, 20242 yr On 1/11/2024 at 4:01 PM, wgstarks said: If they remove the original update tool then anyone not using Connect will have no ability to update. Â Hmm, would be a bummer. So as suggested - let's wait for the next OS update. Â
February 2, 20242 yr I appreciate the new process, but I think you forgot about (or haven't gotten around to it) an item I suggested a while back (Limetech "liked" the post). I'd still like to see this added to the update process. Here's a copy of my post from July 3, 2023:  It is so easy to forget to manually make a backup of a flash drive prior to an OS UPDATE. Granted, with the RESTORE button, one often does not need to use the manual FLASH BACKUP, but it is still a wise thing to do. For example, I had issues with the most recent backup, and the RESTORE option did not work. I ended up having to reformat the flash drive and used the FLASH BACKUP to get back up and running. To assist us, can you either: 1)   Add an (optional) flash-drive backup to the UPDATE OS process OR 2)   At least add a prompt to the UPDATE OS process – something like: “If you do not have a recent flash drive backup, we suggest you cancel this update and do a flash drive backup (click MAIN tab, the click FLASH, then click FLASH BACKUP and save the ZIP file to your PC). Once complete, begin the UPDATE OS again.    CANCEL update                     CONTINUE update   (I need to do a FLASH backup)          (I already have a recent FLASH backup)  BTW – in the FLASH BACKUP, it would be nice if you included the version in the filename. For example: ur1-wopr-flash-backup-20230703-0052-ver6_12_2.zip Edited February 2, 20242 yr by RobertP
February 6, 20242 yr On 2/2/2024 at 2:25 AM, RobertP said: I appreciate the new process, but I think you forgot about (or haven't gotten around to it) an item I suggested a while back (Limetech "liked" the post). I'd still like to see this added to the update process. Here's a copy of my post from July 3, 2023:  It is so easy to forget to manually make a backup of a flash drive prior to an OS UPDATE. Granted, with the RESTORE button, one often does not need to use the manual FLASH BACKUP, but it is still a wise thing to do. For example, I had issues with the most recent backup, and the RESTORE option did not work. I ended up having to reformat the flash drive and used the FLASH BACKUP to get back up and running. To assist us, can you either: 1)   Add an (optional) flash-drive backup to the UPDATE OS process OR 2)   At least add a prompt to the UPDATE OS process – something like: “If you do not have a recent flash drive backup, we suggest you cancel this update and do a flash drive backup (click MAIN tab, the click FLASH, then click FLASH BACKUP and save the ZIP file to your PC). Once complete, begin the UPDATE OS again.    CANCEL update                     CONTINUE update   (I need to do a FLASH backup)          (I already have a recent FLASH backup)  BTW – in the FLASH BACKUP, it would be nice if you included the version in the filename. For example: ur1-wopr-flash-backup-20230703-0052-ver6_12_2.zip On 2/2/2024 at 2:25 AM, RobertP said: I appreciate the new process, but I think you forgot about (or haven't gotten around to it) an item I suggested a while back (Limetech "liked" the post). I'd still like to see this added to the update process. Here's a copy of my post from July 3, 2023:  It is so easy to forget to manually make a backup of a flash drive prior to an OS UPDATE. Granted, with the RESTORE button, one often does not need to use the manual FLASH BACKUP, but it is still a wise thing to do. For example, I had issues with the most recent backup, and the RESTORE option did not work. I ended up having to reformat the flash drive and used the FLASH BACKUP to get back up and running. To assist us, can you either: 1)   Add an (optional) flash-drive backup to the UPDATE OS process OR 2)   At least add a prompt to the UPDATE OS process – something like: “If you do not have a recent flash drive backup, we suggest you cancel this update and do a flash drive backup (click MAIN tab, the click FLASH, then click FLASH BACKUP and save the ZIP file to your PC). Once complete, begin the UPDATE OS again.    CANCEL update                     CONTINUE update   (I need to do a FLASH backup)          (I already have a recent FLASH backup)  BTW – in the FLASH BACKUP, it would be nice if you included the version in the filename. For example: ur1-wopr-flash-backup-20230703-0052-ver6_12_2.zip  This is why I quit doing updates...Still on 6.12.4. Nothing is broken, no issues. If something breaks I will then look at upgrading. Don't change what isn't broke.🤣Â
February 7, 20242 yr  6 hours ago, Badboy said:  This is why I quit doing updates...Still on 6.12.4. Nothing is broken, no issues. If something breaks I will then look at upgrading. Don't change what isn't broke.🤣 I'm the same way and still on 6.9.2 which has been running without issues 🤞and I can't afford the downtime to troubleshoot unforeseen issues. I think I need to build another UNRAID server just for pre-production upgrade testing....😒 docker container ps -a --format "{{.State}}"|wc -l 162 docker container ps -a --format "{{.State}}"|grep running|wc -l 41
February 18, 20242 yr What's the idea behind all this? Â Why do we need to be signed in to now update an OS? Â It worked fine that way it was... you just clicked update. Â Now we have to be signed into unraid.net and go to an external website then click update.. Â What's actually different under the hood? Â What happens to those that dont want to use the unraid connect plugin. Â Also if your not using the unraid connect plugin (I deleted it) how is unraid.net still talking to my server!? Â How securely is the update command sent from the unraid.net website to my server? How is this verified. Â What happens if unraid.net gets hacked & issues bad firmware? Â Â Edited February 18, 20242 yr by dopeytree
February 18, 20242 yr 6 hours ago, dopeytree said: What's the idea behind all this? Â Why do we need to be signed in to now update an OS? Â It worked fine that way it was... you just clicked update. Â Now we have to be signed into unraid.net and go to an external website then click update.. Â What's actually different under the hood? Â What happens to those that dont want to use the unraid connect plugin. Â Also if your not using the unraid connect plugin (I deleted it) how is unraid.net still talking to my server!? Â How securely is the update command sent from the unraid.net website to my server? How is this verified. Â What happens if unraid.net gets hacked & issues bad firmware? Â Â I do think there are some questions that ought to be answered on this... Â The new update process is transmitting around 1KB of data about the system to unraid.net every time the "Update" button is clicked. This data has been deliberately encrypted in such a way that even the end user can't see what's being transmitted. (Also, noteworthy -- this is using a very unusual method of encrypting data between a client and server... the data is already being sent over HTTPS, additional encryption isn't required for data-in-transit protection.) Â The blog post says "When checking for an update the server's license information, flash information (vendor, model, GUID), and basic server details (like name, description, IP, version) are used to validate your license and help us provide a better customer experience." I have a hard time believing that such information creates a total of 1KB of data. Â This leaves me with several questions: Is there a comprehensive list which describes all data that is being transmitted to unraid.net? Why is this communication obfuscated so that end users cannot see what data their server is communicating? Is there a way to revert to the "Old" update method which does not require sending system-specific information just to receive updates? How does this follow the Unraid privacy policy, which says nothing about collecting server name/description/etc, and in fact states: "We only collect the minimum information needed to do business with you, provide better security, and collect feedback to improve our products and services." How does sending a server's private IP address meet these conditions? Edited February 19, 20242 yr by EDACerton
February 19, 20242 yr There's some more detail on the blog but basically it looks like it is presented as being a new fancy GUI way to update when really it's a way to modernise the licensing system. People unraid server sends info about the server including name, usb guid, unraid account etc is then checked on unraid.net end and then if ok it must send back some code to say ok upgrade? Â I would like to know if unraid.net has to power to PUSH any updates or if they always have to be ignited by the user first. Â https://unraid.net/blog/new-update-os-tool
February 19, 20242 yr 3 hours ago, dopeytree said: What happens to those that dont want to use the unraid connect plugin. They will have to wait until the new update utility is integrated into unRAID. Until then they will have to use the old update utility without any of the new features. Â Â
February 19, 20242 yr 6 hours ago, EDACerton said: Is there a way to revert to the "Old" update method which does not require sending system-specific information just to receive updates?  Didn't try it myself to update, but isn't it possible to download the release file, and copy the files onto the stick manually?  https://unraid.net/download  Edited February 19, 20242 yr by hawihoney
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