I've Google'd 'Is it safe to turn off unraid via the power button' and it seems there was a 'powerdown' plugin that allowed safe use of the physical power button on the server but I can no longer find app.

So is it now safe to turn off the unraid server using the physical power power button or is there a different plugin I should use?

Yes.  A quick push of the power (~1 sec.) will initiate the normal shutdown procedure.  A long push (>4 sec.) will force a shutdown which will always result in an 'unclean' shutdown.

Just to clarify, a quick push of the power button will shutdown the unraid array and then the rest of the server?

Yes.  However, this is only true if the normal shutdown button on the GUI will shutdown the server cleanly.  (That are conditions where the Dock containers, VMs and plugins will prevent the array from being stopped.  The shutdown procedure, after a preset time delay, will than force a shutdown which will result in unclean shutdown.)  A power button short push is simply an alternative method to starting up the GUI and initiating the shutdown from there. 

 

Also, if you can't access the GUI because the server has stopped responding, there is a good possibility that a quick push will not shut it down.  At that point, only a long push will shut the server down.

On 1/5/2025 at 3:49 PM, Frank1940 said:

Yes.  A quick push of the power (~1 sec.) will initiate the normal shutdown procedure.  A long push (>4 sec.) will force a shutdown which will always result in an 'unclean' shutdown.

It is my understanding that if the array isn't stopped, the power button doesn't stop it. Have I been wrong in that it will stop the array cleanly before it will power down?

30 minutes ago, LimeB said:

It is my understanding that if the array isn't stopped, the power button doesn't stop it. Have I been wrong in that it will stop the array cleanly before it will power down?

That is true. The quick power button push starts the normal Unraid shutdown script. This script will wait a predetermined time (determined by the setting below) before it forces a shutdown.

If you are having problems with unclean shutdowns, manually stop the array and measure the time required. Then change the setting appropriately. If the time is exceeded, a force shutdown will proceed at that point. (This was added a number of years ago because there were folks (or a shutdown script-- think UPS) who would start a shutdown and it would never finish because the array would not stop!)