unRAID Server release 3.0-beta1 available


limetech

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This release marks a significant milestone for Lime Technology and unRAID.

 

We are shifting the focus slightly of our business, to concentrate primarily on unRAID Server software development and hardware compatibility testing.  We are in the process of signing up a team of system integrators to provide complete unRAID server system solutions and will make another announcement concerning this soon.  Until then, the current unRAID server products are still being offerred.

 

But we are now offering three versions of the unRAID Server operating system available for download onto your own USB Flash device:

 

unRAID Server Basic - support up to 3 hard drives (FREE)

unRAID Server Plus - support up to 6 hard drives

unRAID Server Pro - support up to 12 hard drives

 

In addition, we have moved to a new licensing implementation. Gone is the "model.cfg" file; and instead, for the Plus and Pro versions you get an encrypted unlock key which expands the capability of the unRAID Server Basic download.

 

Here's what this means for all current unRAID customers:

  • The unRAID Server software fully supports all systems shipped by Lime Technology
  • Everyone who has a Lime Technology Flash device, whether purchased along with a system or on it's own, is entitled to 2 free Pro version unlock keys.

 

Along with a new product strategy has to come a new website! For the time being, you can access the new website, along with a link to access the latest unRAID Server release HERE.

 

This website is built using the wordpress publishing platform. The great feature provided by this platform is the ability for anyone to attach comments to any page on the website (like a blog).  For the present time, we have enabled ALL pages to have comments, and we would very much appreciate any constructive feedback.

 

Regarding the beta software... The first hurdle everyone has to get over is migrating your system onto a new Flash and obtaining a registration key. We hope to make this as smooth as possible and we have someone dedicated to generating keys as soon as requests come in (within business hours PST).

 

Some of the items I'm especially looking for in the beta test period are:

  • Which Flash devices are problematic?
  • Where are errors in the documentation?
  • Of course, bug reports

 

There are numerous changes and enhancements. Probably of most interest is "full SATA support" and "consolodated Share views".

 

Also I want to say a word here about read/write performance: there are not many changes in the -beta1 release that address this issue; but rest assured, it's now at the top of the list.

 

Well finally, I want to just say, "Thank you" to all the people who have contributed here on the boards and on AVSForum.

 

Regards,

Tom

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Wow, this is awesome news for early adopters Tom, thanks!

 

One heads-up. As you hopefully saw a bit ago I sent you email concerning how to get the USB media serial number. This is for a client that I'm consulting with who had been interested in creating a security device using generic USB media and the USB media's internal serial number. Well, we've discovered some things that may be problematic for you depending upon how you do your protection. It seems that very FEW USB Flash keys properly follow the USB spec. You will find that the keys either have NO serial number (all zeros), a serial number that is the SAME as all media manufactured by that company (they don't make it unique!), or they actually follow the spec - likely only the name brand stuff. That's what the develeopers are telling us anyway :-(

 

I'd still be interested in a Linux command to easily bring up the serial number though as I've got a handful of Flash I'd like to check including two 1Gig pieces from MicroCenter that were only $15 apiece! :-D It was posted somewhere I thought in the AVS forum but danged if I can find it! That serial is R/O too, it cannot be programmed by mortals who don't have circuit diagrams for their media. (lol)

 

My point is - if you're using an internal serial number on the media you MAY need to decide which brands\types are suitable to avoid problems....

 

Anyway, I look forward to testing this out for you. I'm not sure I want to use the two new 1Gig pieces I've got though since I don't think we'll need that much space. What size media should we be shopping for? Do we need to buy new media to replace our existing keys? I'm getting the sense that we will and I'm okay for that.

 

I'm willing to spread the word on your offer for "free" trials but I'd like one clarification before I do - is 3 drives 3 data drives and the parity or 2 data and 1 parity? I'm hoping the former as it would provide greater capacity and more opportunity for interest!

 

Edit okay, if I READ the page Tom referred to I see some answers <ahem> This is TWO data drives in the free version and a 128 or bigger Flash disk to hold it. He also mentions using "high quality" media, lets hope that the serial # thing isn't an issue :D

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I can answer one of the questions above, the 3 free is parity and two data disks.....! Got the new version to run on an old 256MB Kingston DataTraveller with zero issues but without the unlock key code it only found two data drives and the parity drive.

 

Tom how do we go about getting the 2 free pro keys....?

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rharvey,

 

How did you manage to download the free version as the download link unRaid Server is broken?

 

Did Tom pull the link?

 

You can get your 2 keys by following the instructions for Pre-3.0 Upgrade users. The link to Pre-3.0 Upgrade Instructions is the first line under Instructions on the new Download page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

TCIII

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rharvey,

 

How did you manage to download the free version as the download link unRaid Server is broken?

 

Did Tom pull the link?

 

You can get your 2 keys by following the instructions for Pre-3.0 Upgrade users. The link to Pre-3.0 Upgrade Instructions is the first line under Instructions on the new Download page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

TCIII

You can go to this URL:  http://www.lime-technology.com/dnlds/  and download both the beta release and syslinux.exe. 

As you suspected, in Tom's sleep deprived state he mis-typed the URL when he created the download link.  I'm sure he will fix it once  he gets back on-line. 

(I suspect he is taking a nap... hopefully he'll be back before the end of the year  ;))

 

Joe L.

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Tom,

 

Your new "hardware  compatibility" page has the following text:

 

The current OS is based on the Linux 2.4 platform

 

Is this true?, you did not upgrade to the newer Linux  kernel?  Is this why there is no real speed improvement  over the current unRaid release many  of us are running?

 

When do you plan to migrate to the 2.6 kernel?

 

Joe  L.

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Tom, have you considered creating a version that would boot from a CD and then check a USB key for a license key? I know it might sound a bit silly but hardware that boots from CD is MUCH easier to find than hardware that boots from USB - at least in my bone pile it sure is :-)

 

Been telling a few folks about this and at least a couple are looking to buidl 3 drive systems to test ASAP. I thnik having the smaller system for free is a VERY smart move - people can test out their hardware if nothing else.

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Wow, this is awesome news for early adopters Tom, thanks!

 

One heads-up. As you hopefully saw a bit ago I sent you email concerning how to get the USB media serial number. This is for a client that I'm consulting with who had been interested in creating a security device using generic USB media and the USB media's internal serial number. Well, we've discovered some things that may be problematic for you depending upon how you do your protection. It seems that very FEW USB Flash keys properly follow the USB spec. You will find that the keys either have NO serial number (all zeros), a serial number that is the SAME as all media manufactured by that company (they don't make it unique!), or they actually follow the spec - likely only the name brand stuff. That's what the develeopers are telling us anyway :-(

 

I'd still be interested in a Linux command to easily bring up the serial number though as I've got a handful of Flash I'd like to check including two 1Gig pieces from MicroCenter that were only $15 apiece! :-D It was posted somewhere I thought in the AVS forum but danged if I can find it! That serial is R/O too, it cannot be programmed by mortals who don't have circuit diagrams for their media. (lol)

 

My point is - if you're using an internal serial number on the media you MAY need to decide which brands\types are suitable to avoid problems....

 

Anyway, I look forward to testing this out for you. I'm not sure I want to use the two new 1Gig pieces I've got though since I don't think we'll need that much space. What size media should we be shopping for? Do we need to buy new media to replace our existing keys? I'm getting the sense that we will and I'm okay for that.

 

I'm willing to spread the word on your offer for "free" trials but I'd like one clarification before I do - is 3 drives 3 data drives and the parity or 2 data and 1 parity? I'm hoping the former as it would provide greater capacity and more opportunity for interest!

 

Edit okay, if I READ the page Tom referred to I see some answers <ahem> This is TWO data drives in the free version and a 128 or bigger Flash disk to hold it. He also mentions using "high quality" media, lets hope that the serial # thing isn't an issue :D

 

Hi BLKMGK,

 

No, I didn't get an email from you, but Yes the Flash serial number issue is a concern and the main reason why the new website and 3.0 release is in "beta".  I want to see what kind of issues people have with the Flashes and see what kind of GUID's people are finding.  It could very well turn out that we'll support only certain brands of Flash.

 

SanDisk 512MB "Cruzer Micro" seems to be very good AND faster than others.

 

I have a Kingston "Data Traveler" 512MB which doesn't have a serial number (all zeros) and is slower than others.

 

I have a Memorex 2GB "travel drive" which seems to have a proper GUID, but I can't get it to boot - too big perhaps - I haven't spent any time trying to figure this out yet.

 

I'd be interested in conversing more with you on this subject.  Try [email protected]

 

Regarding viewing GUID's in linux - it's pretty easy.  Telnet into your server and...

 

cd /proc/scsi
ls

 

You'll see directories listed here of the form "usb-storage-N", where N is 0, 1, 2, etc.  (0 is for the Flash that you booted off).

 

If you type:

 

cat usb-storage-0/*

 

You'll see the info for that Flash.

 

If you plug in another flash into one of the other usb ports, a new entry in /proc/scsi will appear for that device. You can view it's info similarly, eg,

 

cat usb-storage-1/*

 

 

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Tom,

 

Your new "hardware  compatibility" page has the following text:

 

The current OS is based on the Linux 2.4 platform

 

Is this true?, you did not upgrade to the newer Linux  kernel?  Is this why there is no real speed improvement  over the current unRaid release many  of us are running?

 

When do you plan to migrate to the 2.6 kernel?

 

Joe  L.

Yes it's running 2.4.33, which has updated SATA library (libata) that allows "pass-through" commands - this is needed to get SATA disk temperatures and be able to spin them down/up.

 

Eventually we will migrate to 2.6, but for several reasons this won't happen for a while.  Main reason is there are significant driver changes that require significant testing, and we just haven't had enough test time to make me feel comfortable about moving the product over to 2.6 yet.  Also, you'll find many sys admin's who still feel the 2.6.x kernel is "experimental", though I don't necessarily agree with that for unRAID purposes, some customers have indicated they still prefer 2.4.

 

Also, speed issue has nothing to do with 2.4 vs. 2.6.

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Hi all,

 

I just bought two of the SanDisk 512MB "Cruzer Micro" from outpost.com for $14.95 each plus shipping. I would have bought them at Fry's Electronics here in CA, but they do not stock them.

 

Make sure that you do not get the SanDisk 512MB "Cruzer Micro" with the USB connector retractor/extender. It is $49.95 and is only a jazzed up version of the $14.95 version!

 

Regards,

TCIII

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Sounds like it might be a good idea for folks to post GUIDS here as I think we'll find some surprises. One of the folks I spoke to who had been looking at this was finding a pretty low rate of success with GUIDS as indicated earlier. I'll try to check out the MicroCenter media I just picked up but I think using it for this would be waste. :D

 

Appreciate the info for checking this out in Linux Tom. I just upgraded my system with another 3 drives and it's currently rebuilding - it's now 100% FULL of drives +2 power supplies. When it's done and I can find a good candidate stick I'll be beta testing too. I'll shoot you a note tonight about the USB stuff, I think for now my customer has pretty much decided that trying to use this ID# in the manner we'd wanted to is a dead deal <shrug>

 

For those looking for FAST media look at the Lexar Lightning. To date it's been the fastest media we've tested at work and being a name brand it SHOULD have a valid ID on it. 8)

 

Oh, Tom have you any thoughts on booting from a CD? Does that make any sense? Where are speed improvements on the work list?

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Tom,

 

Far be it for me to speak my mind  ::) .......but I don't see anything new here short of real SATA support.  I know that true SATA support has been a highly requested feature and one that you needed to keep at or near the top of the list but in my opinion there are several other bug or enhancements that are at least as important that did not yet get addressed.  The shares stuff may be nice but I have yet to test it for lack of instructions as to how it works.  OK yes I did see that read/write performance is at the top of your list now and that's great but that leaves me with 2 questions:

 

1. When will we see a release that fixes read/write

2. When will the many other issues/enhancements be addressed

 

What I see here more than anything else is a major shift in your business model, one that I think quite frankly is a very smart one indeed.  I know most of us out here kinda wondered how you could make a profit from the hardware side of the business so moving to totally software in my view is smart.  I also see that you have taken steps to make it far harder to pirate and/or duplicate your code using an encrypted key this time rather than the visable number.  Again a smart move on your part but none of this makes the UnRaid product any more feature rich or useful. 

 

Lastly, again I for one have no right to be critical of you nor how you run your business.  My thoughts and comments are focused only on the product, one that I saw months ago to be a god send but then quickly found it was not there yet.  I still have high hopes that it will all come together for you and the UnRaid will become the only flexible choice for large volume protected storage.  My comments here are only an atempt to help not to be critical, I can only hope you see them that way.

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Rharvey in Tom's defense - I'll bet that solving the R/W issues isn't a simple thing and that Tom has put effort into it already, he's indicated as much more than once. If this were "easy" it would've been solved long ago since performance tends to be something important when talking about mass storage. Personally I'd love to see some in the Open Source community take a stab at this but I have no idea if this is even of interest to anyone out there skilled enough to poke at it. I'd be happy with incremental improvements but not having tested this I don't know if we're there yet.

 

As for the serial ID - it was encrypted before. This was discussed on the AVS forums some time ago when Tom wasn't around for awhile. The encryption system was indeed figured out but the information wasn't ever released as no one wished to harm Tom's business.

 

I'd agree that Tom's change in business plan is a VERY good one. I spoke to at LEAST two people today who were VERY interested in trying this in the past but hadn't due to cost. Now they will be able to "test drive" and decide without having to risk any cash. Not shipping media around is also smart and lowers overhead I'll bet.

 

A side note - I tested the MicroCenter 1Gig flash keys that are on sale for $15 apiece tonight. Much to my surprise they had unique serial #s and GUIDs. I've been led to believe that this isn't normal for such cheap media. We have a pile of name brand stuff at work that I will ask to test using Knoppix to see how it fares. If I can I will also look at it under Windows to see if there's any differences in reported numbers lack of numbers etc.

 

Edit: checked a Lexar Jump Drive that's several years old - looked goofy in Windows but the number is there and in Linux came up as 0000000134420858424000000000000 Note that each time you plug in a new one it gets incremented. This one was storage-3 and was the 3rd I'd plugged in. Might use this one as one of my keys :)

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I've got a very strong suspicion that if you buy a unRaid  key today it will be the beta version described  in this thread unless you ask Tom to supply the older release.  And yes,  a USB key with the older release can be upgraded.  Instructions  are on Tom's new web-site on how to upgrade a current USB key.

 

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rharvey,

 

How did you manage to download the free version as the download link unRaid Server is broken?

 

Did Tom pull the link?

 

You can get your 2 keys by following the instructions for Pre-3.0 Upgrade users. The link to Pre-3.0 Upgrade Instructions is the first line under Instructions on the new Download page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

TCIII

 

Is there a way to pull this information off the flash key directly?  My server is not able to get on my new network and figured this would be the perfect time to upgrade.

 

Thanks

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At the present time the Flash product from the normal website is not available.  We will be re-offering it when 3.0 gets out of beta.

 

Is it already possible to buy an unraid server pro registration key from the link below?

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=21

 

If for any reason the flash key stopped working, do I need a new registration key? And do I have to pay for the new key?

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Is it already possible to buy an unraid server pro registration key from the link below?

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=21

 

If for any reason the flash key stopped working, do I need a new registration key? And do I have to pay for the new key?

 

Yes, the 'Buy now' links are active.  Soon the main lime-technology.com website will be replaced by the "new" one.

 

Regarding the keys.........

 

If your Flash dies, or gets eaten by the dog, then Yes, you will need to purchase a new key.

 

So, first reaction is, "Man that's harsh", so that's why we offer the ability to puchase 2 keys at the same time for a substantial discount on the 2nd key.

 

The alternative is that we don't offer keys for download; instead just provide unRAID Server Basic for download, and offer unRAID Plus and Pro available on a Flash (like we used to). That way we can offer a warranty on the Flash.

 

Reality is this: anyone who sends me an email saying their Flash went belly up, I'm just going to send them a new key (within reason).

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Reality is this: anyone who sends me an email saying their Flash went belly up, I'm just going to send them a new key (within reason).

 

I don't think it gets more fair than this.....!  Much like Microsoft, if you attempt to register a pre-registered version of a Windows key it will force you to call them.  If you tell them your PC went belly up and your installing your copy on a new machine they will validate you.  But if you try to do that a few times they get wize and deny you.

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