March 10, 201214 yr I've been happily using an unRAID server for some time now, but I've always sort of treated it as a "get it built and leave it" sort of product. It does what I want for my data and I couldn't ask for much more. However, for whatever reason, I have noticed some intermittent power failures in my area. I think as a result I got two errors on my parity drive and I had no idea of just how long they were there for. I simply did a parity check and all seems fine now (all green). The errors and power failures now have me thinking I should probably put this server in a position so that it doesn't suffer these issues any longer. Another app and a UPS is what I suspect I need here. So I've been trying to research this via the forum and from the sounds of it I think I have the general direction I need to go, but I thought I should confirm here. My range of technical expertise here is just enough that I could have actually built the unRAID server, which pretty much puts me in the same category of someone who could do something that screw everything up. In other words I'm a danger to myself unless I know exactly what I'm doing My understanding of LINUX is very poor. So here are my questions I hoped others with more experience might help me with: 1. My unRAID sever (V4.7) only has 4 drives in it including the parity (5TB of data). Can someone recommend what UPS they think is a good option. Naturally, there is the chance I'll increase data drives over time, but probably not at a very fast pace. Also, I would like to put my Windows 7 HTPC on this UPS. 2. I need some way to receive e-mail notifications when an error is found on the unRAID server. Is this done via unMENU or do you need unMENU and another add-on? 3. I need for when the power is shut down for the UPS to kick in and then send a signal to my HTPC and unRAID server so that they then shutdown smoothly. Given the two different OS's being used here I'm not sure what is best or even how this is configured. Is it via USB or is there an option to send signals over the LAN to shutdown? I guess in that case I would need to put the router on the UPS as well. As you can see I'm pretty new and naive to try and fully understand what I might need. Any guidance from others who have already pursued this would be appreciated.
March 10, 201214 yr 1. My unRAID sever (V4.7) only has 4 drives in it including the parity (5TB of data). Can someone recommend what UPS they think is a good option. Naturally, there is the chance I'll increase data drives over time, but probably not at a very fast pace. Also, I would like to put my Windows 7 HTPC on this UPS. An APC with a USB cable. Older models with a serial cable work as well. 2. I need some way to receive e-mail notifications when an error is found on the unRAID server. Is this done via unMENU or do you need unMENU and another add-on? unMenu has a an email notification package. 3. I need for when the power is shut down for the UPS to kick in and then send a signal to my HTPC and unRAID server so that they then shutdown smoothly. Given the two different OS's being used here I'm not sure what is best or even how this is configured. Is it via USB or is there an option to send signals over the LAN to shutdown? I guess in that case I would need to put the router on the UPS as well. apcusd is available on unmenu. Its also available for Mac and Win. You can slave the HTPC to the server.
March 10, 201214 yr Author Thanks. I guess I'll dive in to unMENU to see if I can figure out how to get it to work. I'll also need to understand how the slaving works from the unRAID server to the HTPC. That is new to me.
March 10, 201214 yr Author I got unMENU installed. Now I guess I need to install SMTP and unRAID Status Alert from the Pkg Manager. However, when I attempted to install SMTP the unMENU reflects that a C Compiler isn't installed. I went back to the Pkg Manager and saw that it has one listed there, but it also says that it would almost never need to be installed? Should I install it and then go back to try and install SMTP or is something else wrong with this scenario?
March 10, 201214 yr Author Thanks again. Everything appears to be working perfectly now. E-mail notifications came through and its pretty slick. The only thing left is to get a UPS, install the appropriate package to work with the UPS and shutdown the unRAID server if a power loss occurs. Of course one other thing I have rattling around in my head is how you configure the HTPC to be a slave to the unRAID server when it does have to power down so that both equally power down. If anyone has any guidance for this I would appreciate it. I just thought I might have to get two UPS's.
March 10, 201214 yr Set the slave to use the server and the slave should power down before the server. E.g. the slave powers down after 4 min. and the server after five. The package manager has all fields for all of the settings. Google apcupsd for info.
March 11, 201214 yr I'm also interested in getting a UPS. Are the master/slave settings manageable with the apcusp daemon in Unraid? I'm thinking of a Cyberpower or APC UPS.
March 11, 201214 yr Author I'm not sure if this helps, but from what I'm reading Cyberpower doesn't appear as reliable working with unRAID as APC is and even then you have to be a little careful which APC unit you buy. If you check the project home page for apcupsd you'll see they try to steer you away from certain models: http://www.apcupsd.org/ As for how the Master / Slave operation works there is mention of it in the apcupsd program for unRAID, but I'm still confused as to how it actually works and how it is supposed to be setup. If I find out more I'll post back what I know.
March 11, 201214 yr I'm not sure if this helps, but from what I'm reading Cyberpower doesn't appear as reliable working with unRAID as APC is and even then you have to be a little careful which APC unit you buy. If you check the project home page for apcupsd you'll see they try to steer you away from certain models: http://www.apcupsd.org/ As for how the Master / Slave operation works there is mention of it in the apcupsd program for unRAID, but I'm still confused as to how it actually works and how it is supposed to be setup. If I find out more I'll post back what I know. Yes, you have to add an AP9620 legacy card to the APC to get it working. How weird, after a special Serial cable you now have to buy the interface separately.Please APC!!!
March 11, 201214 yr But APC have many UPS that will work out of the box, cables included. Just two examples at random... http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BK650EI http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR900GI Or do you have some unusual need that prevents using these kinds of UPS
March 11, 201214 yr I'm also interested in getting a UPS. Are the master/slave settings manageable with the apcusp daemon in Unraid? I'm thinking of a Cyberpower or APC UPS. Apcupsd installed on unRAID, by default, is always a "master" on the LAN and automatically broadcasts to anything listening when power is lost. You can install the window's version of apcupsd and have it listen as a "slave" for network notifications and shut itself down... Just be sure any router or switches between the two are also powered by a UPS. (or the slave will never hear the announcement that power was lost) Joe L.
March 11, 201214 yr Author Wow, thanks Joe. In a few short sentences you answered many of my questions that I've been struggling to understand from the web. I guess I'll get the APC UPS, test with unRAID, and then install the Windows version of APCUPSD on my HTPC to shutdown ahead of unRAID. Thanks again.
March 11, 201214 yr Author But APC have many UPS that will work out of the box, cables included. Just two examples at random... http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BK650EI http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR900GI Or do you have some unusual need that prevents using these kinds of UPS I was sort of expecting that too. If these can't be used OOTB I would be pretty disappointed. Unfortunately, I have heard of people having all kinds of issues though. One thing I've heard a few times is that some of these UPS's that produce a stepped sin wave won't work with certain power supplies. I don't plan to do much research around it though. My hope is whatever I buy will just work. So if anyone has any specific models they could recommend please let us know. It sounds like it could many of us here. Specifically, in my case I'm hoping to have a single UPS to power only my unRAID server (4 drives for now), an HTPC, and a router. Best case would be to add a projector too, but I think the draw would be too much. I need the UPS to provide power for those three items long enough so that the two PC's can shutdown properly. Hopefully, this isn't asking too much out of single UPS.
March 11, 201214 yr But APC have many UPS that will work out of the box, cables included. Just two examples at random... http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BK650EI http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR900GI Or do you have some unusual need that prevents using these kinds of UPS Not really, what are unusual needs? I plan to put the switches and router in my LAN on it plus 2 NASes and a Unraid server (up-to 15 disks). Don't know if a 900VA will do for that. Also the BK-series seem to have a rather crude output waveform (more of a square-wave than sinusoidal) don't know about the BR-series. Don't know if all power supplies play nice with that but a hate to burn-out a power supply because of it. The smart-ups series are much better in that aspect. From the APC-forum: http://forums.isxusergroups.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5611&start=0&tstart=0 Problems with active PFC PSUs?
March 11, 201214 yr Wow, thanks Joe. In a few short sentences you answered many of my questions that I've been struggling to understand from the web. I guess I'll get the APC UPS, test with unRAID, and then install the Windows version of APCUPSD on my HTPC to shutdown ahead of unRAID. Thanks again. Here is a link to a post where a person configured his window's laptop as a slave to the apcupsd program running on unRAID. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1528.msg27123#msg27123 Have fun. Joe L.
March 11, 201214 yr This is what I have... http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=br800i (540W, 800VA) It powers my unRAID server (idle 35W, spin-up approx 100W), my cable modem, my router, my switch, my KVM switch, my 22" LCD monitor and my desktop PC (Phenom II 1100T, 6 core). With the desktop PC running flat out (6 cores at 100% running Prime95), the UPS is loaded up to about 80% which gives a very few minutes run time but enough for a clean shut down of the hardware. If I am not using the PC much but it is switched on, then I get about 8 minutes reserve (way more than enough for occasional mains outages). If the PC is off completely, I can get double that time. The ACPUPSD configuration (I use the unMenu package manager) allows you to specify the amount of time the mains is gone before forcing a shut down, or a minimum runtime left in the batteries. I just set a shorter time on the desktop PC so that when that is told to shut down it does so before the unRAID server is off. Last thing that happens is that unRAID tells the UPS to switch off after some delay to preserve the battery energy for the next time. To be honest, it sounds more complicated than it really is. And I have had no issues with the "stepped sine-wave" output. I have Corsair 430W in the server and Corsair 650W in my main PC.
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