Do I have to cache? unRaid with Sickbeard

[JP]

I'm trying to understand the best way to install Sickbeard and Sabnzbd for my unRaid server.  Bear with me because I'm a little technically challenged and I'm a complete newbie when it comes to Linux.  Basically, I've installed Sabnzbd and Sickbeard on my flash drive before, but I'm told that is not a good thing because of all the writing to the flash drive will eventually lead to it crashing.  Also, I hated the fact that every time I rebooted the server Sickbeard would lose its configuration and settings so it seems pretty clear that the flash drive is not a good option.

 

I've read some things around installing the latest Beta version of unRaid that might give me a few new options to consider, but I'm really not too comfortable with that either.  I would much rather wait until Lime Tech announces that 5.0 is indeed their most stable version.  So for now I feel most comfortable staying with 4.7.

 

So I think this brings me back to the cache drive option, but here is what concerns me.  I've never really considered the option of a cache drive because I feel like it introduces some risk which is sort of what having an unRaid server tries to avoid (reducing risk for loss of data).  I'm typically passing numerous files back and forth from my unRaid server and if something were to happen somewhere with the transfer between the cache drive and the data drives I'm likely to just get confused. 

 

So given all this do I have any other options?  Is there a way to sort of have the cache drive there, but have it act as an apps drive instead, without it actually doing any cacheing? 

[joyless]

you can plug in a HDD, format it to reiserfs and tell unraid to mount it on every boot using /boot/config/go script.

you just have to add two lines, really:

 

mkdir /mnt/apps
mount -t reiserfs /dev/sdb1 /mnt/apps

 

first one will create "apps" folder in "/mnt" directory (which already exists), second one will mount HDD there.

 

only thing left is to point sickbeard, plex, sabnzbd and whatever else you like to /mnt/apps/

 

very, very simple and works like a champ for me

[lainie]

I'm trying to understand the best way to install Sickbeard and Sabnzbd for my unRaid server.  Bear with me because I'm a little technically challenged and I'm a complete newbie when it comes to Linux.  Basically, I've installed Sabnzbd and Sickbeard on my flash drive before, but I'm told that is not a good thing because of all the writing to the flash drive will eventually lead to it crashing.  Also, I hated the fact that every time I rebooted the server Sickbeard would lose its configuration and settings so it seems pretty clear that the flash drive is not a good option.

 

I've read some things around installing the latest Beta version of unRaid that might give me a few new options to consider, but I'm really not too comfortable with that either.  I would much rather wait until Lime Tech announces that 5.0 is indeed their most stable version.  So for now I feel most comfortable staying with 4.7.

 

So I think this brings me back to the cache drive option, but here is what concerns me.  I've never really considered the option of a cache drive because I feel like it introduces some risk which is sort of what having an unRaid server tries to avoid (reducing risk for loss of data).  I'm typically passing numerous files back and forth from my unRaid server and if something were to happen somewhere with the transfer between the cache drive and the data drives I'm likely to just get confused. 

 

So given all this do I have any other options?  Is there a way to sort of have the cache drive there, but have it act as an apps drive instead, without it actually doing any cacheing?

 

If you ran Sickbeard on the flash drive, it was not part of the parity protected array.

 

Yes, you can set Sickbeard & Sabnzbd to run from the cache drive (or a SNAP drive or some other mounted disk outside the array) & then move any of your downloads once they are complete to their final home on your parity protected array. Just create an apps share that uses the cache drive only then set Sickbeard to move & rename the files to their correct parity protected location.

 

If you are afraid of the cache drive dying, occasionally run a backup of it to your parity protected array. If you are keeping your media stored on the array, it is only your app settings that will need to be backed up & those are not likely to change often.

tar -pczf name_of_your_archive.tar.gz /path/to/directory

should work well. Replace "name_of_archive" with something like "/mnt/user/user_shared_directory/apps_backup_YYYY-mm-dd" (YYYY-mm-dd for the date). The "/path/to/directory" would be something like "/mnt/cache/apps" or whatever you name the share.

 

As a side note, unRAID 5RC10 has been working great for me.

[Helmonder]

I'm trying to understand the best way to install Sickbeard and Sabnzbd for my unRaid server.  Bear with me because I'm a little technically challenged and I'm a complete newbie when it comes to Linux.  Basically, I've installed Sabnzbd and Sickbeard on my flash drive before, but I'm told that is not a good thing because of all the writing to the flash drive will eventually lead to it crashing.  Also, I hated the fact that every time I rebooted the server Sickbeard would lose its configuration and settings so it seems pretty clear that the flash drive is not a good option.

 

I've read some things around installing the latest Beta version of unRaid that might give me a few new options to consider, but I'm really not too comfortable with that either.  I would much rather wait until Lime Tech announces that 5.0 is indeed their most stable version.  So for now I feel most comfortable staying with 4.7.

 

So I think this brings me back to the cache drive option, but here is what concerns me.  I've never really considered the option of a cache drive because I feel like it introduces some risk which is sort of what having an unRaid server tries to avoid (reducing risk for loss of data).  I'm typically passing numerous files back and forth from my unRaid server and if something were to happen somewhere with the transfer between the cache drive and the data drives I'm likely to just get confused. 

 

So given all this do I have any other options?  Is there a way to sort of have the cache drive there, but have it act as an apps drive instead, without it actually doing any cacheing?

 

I'm guessing your probably not looking for a whole lot of technical background:

 

Advice:

- invest in a 128gb ssd (solid state) drive and set it up as cache drive.

- install your plugins to /mnt/cache/

 

This will make sure using plugins is fast and no drives spin up due to stuff getting downloaded and or processed. Allmost everyone does it .

[JP]

First, thanks so much for the replies.  I hadn't even considered the SSD option.  That sounds really nice and I loved Helmonder's comment that "Everyone does it." I'm feeling some peer pressure

 

However, I really like joyless's option.  It allows me to keep my comfort factor of staying with 4.7 and not upgrade to 5.0 or plugins just yet.  I know I'll probably go there in the future, but I would prefer waiting until Lime Tech confirms 5.0 is their most stable version. 

 

The only problem is, as I said before, I'm pretty dull when it comes to Linux.  Just the command reiserfs throws me, but I think joyless gave me enough information for me to at least start.  I'll get my hands dirty this weekend and see where it might lead me. 

 

[JP]

One thing I forgot to ask, I may or may not have an additional drive at home to use as an apps drive.  In the event I don't have one available I'll need to buy one and I might as well make it SSD now.  Later on I can probably use it as a cache drive.  Is there a consensus on who makes a good SSD drive for a cache drive with unRaid?

[neilt0]

- invest in a 128gb ssd (solid state) drive and set it up as cache drive.

- install your plugins to /mnt/cache/

 

This will make sure using plugins is fast and no drives spin up due to stuff getting downloaded and or processed. Allmost everyone does it .

I don't think the majority of users have an SSD for a cache drive. 128GB (or 256GB for that matter) is too small for me, that would fill up instantly. Well, in 2.9 hours, anyhoo! 

[dgaschk]

you can plug in a HDD, format it to reiserfs and tell unraid to mount it on every boot using /boot/config/go script.

you just have to add two lines, really:

 

mkdir /mnt/apps
mount -t reiserfs /dev/sdb1 /mnt/apps

 

first one will create "apps" folder in "/mnt" directory (which already exists), second one will mount HDD there.

 

only thing left is to point sickbeard, plex, sabnzbd and whatever else you like to /mnt/apps/

 

very, very simple and works like a champ for me

 

Be aware that Linux disk letter assignments are not static and may change on any reboot. See here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-server-73/hard-drive-device-assignment-question-887976/

[lionelhutz]

Is there a way to sort of have the cache drive there, but have it act as an apps drive instead, without it actually doing any cacheing?

 

Yes. For each user share set the use cache drive setting to no. It can't get much simpler.

 

You can even get fancy and decide that for TV shows you can live with losing 1 day so you can set the use cache drive setting to yes for the TV shows user share only.

[JonathanM]

Yes. For each user share set the use cache drive setting to no. It can't get much simpler.

AFAIK, that option is not available in 4.7

[lionelhutz]

Yes. For each user share set the use cache drive setting to no. It can't get much simpler.

AFAIK, that option is not available in 4.7

 

Your knowledge is wrong. That setting is available.

[JonathanM]

Yes. For each user share set the use cache drive setting to no. It can't get much simpler.

AFAIK, that option is not available in 4.7

 

Your knowledge is wrong. That setting is available.

DOH!! I was thinking cache only share. My bad. 

[Helmonder]

Any brand will do..

 

128 or 256 will be sufficient for allmost everyone.

 

You would setup downloading and processing on the cachedrive abd stuff thats completed you let sickbeard and couchpotatoe process into the array.

[JP]

I really appreciate all the input here.  I elected to go the direction joyless mentioned since it seemed to get me the closest of where I hoped to go without introducing too much change.  However, I'm a LINUX dunce and ran in to one issue.  I was able to add the drive and then telnet in to tower to try and format it to reiserfs (had to look that up because I didn't even know what it was).  It is an IDE drive and listed as HDC1.  I followed some directions I found online and was able to delete the partitions, create a new primary partition, and write to the partition table.  However, I then tried to format the drive to reiserfs using the "mkfs -t <reiserfs> /dev/hdc1" command and got back the message, "-bash: reiserfs: No such file or directory".  Any idea what I might have done wrong here?

[lionelhutz]

Why don't you assign it as the cache drive and then start the array and format it from the web interface. Then, you have a drive that could be left set in the cache slot or it could be unassigned and mounted another way. Also, this will make sure the drive can be added as a cache again at a later date without losing the contents.

 

[JP]

Why don't you assign it as the cache drive and then start the array and format it from the web interface. Then, you have a drive that could be left set in the cache slot or it could be unassigned and mounted another way. Also, this will make sure the drive can be added as a cache again at a later date without losing the contents.

 

Thanks Lionel.  I think I understand.  I'm in the middle of a parity check at the moment so I can't try anything just yet.  I could probably just add it as a cache and leave it that way since I don't plan on enabling any of the shares to use the cache...right?  I could also just leave it as unassigned as well.

 

Then I suspect I could just create a folder on the cache from Windows and call it something like apps and install sickbeard and sabnzbd to it...correct?

 

I suspect by doing this I don't need to touch the GO script.  What about when a reboot happens?  Do Sickbeard and Sabnzbd just start automatically or do I need to change something in the GO script for that to happen?

[Helmonder]

All correct.

 

Make sure though to create the top level directory you make as a cache-only share.

 

So if you create /apps on your cache drive then also create a share called apps and in cache settings set it to cache-only.

 

If you do not do this the unraid system will think it is a dir that needs to be moved off your cache disk and into the array.

[lionelhutz]

Why don't you assign it as the cache drive and then start the array and format it from the web interface. Then, you have a drive that could be left set in the cache slot or it could be unassigned and mounted another way. Also, this will make sure the drive can be added as a cache again at a later date without losing the contents.

 

Thanks Lionel.  I think I understand.  I'm in the middle of a parity check at the moment so I can't try anything just yet.  I could probably just add it as a cache and leave it that way since I don't plan on enabling any of the shares to use the cache...right?  I could also just leave it as unassigned as well.

 

Then I suspect I could just create a folder on the cache from Windows and call it something like apps and install sickbeard and sabnzbd to it...correct?

 

I suspect by doing this I don't need to touch the GO script.  What about when a reboot happens?  Do Sickbeard and Sabnzbd just start automatically or do I need to change something in the GO script for that to happen?

 

Since you're on 4.7 you can't have a cache only share because the mover will always try to move the files off the cache disk. However, you don' want to use the cache disk as a cache disk so you have no need for the mover. It's should be possible to disable the mover by simply telling it to only run in a certain year. Setting the schedule to "* * * * * 2099" would do this. The problem is that I can't say it will work. So either test it by putting a directory with a few files on the cache and see if it gets moved or you post a specific question asking if that is valid.

 

Read this, it gives a basic explanation of the schedule. Some of it only uses the 5 fields but the 6th for year is explained part way down.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron

[lainie]

If you create a directory on the cache drive that begins with a period (for example: ".apps") the mover will not touch it.

 

When I initially installed sick & sab, the instructions I used recommended using a directory named ".custom" on the cache drive to contain the apps. Later I moved to using plugins, but never changed the location. I am on version 5 & could make a cache only share (& might some day), but have not wanted to change all my settings to use a new path.

 

Only problem I have seen was when a specific program on my Windows PC did not list the ".custom" directory when browsing the cache drive. I typed the directory name / path in manually & it worked.

 

Hidden directories - an option to consider.

[JP]

Ugh...just when I thought I understood what might be best now my head is spinning.  I'm not really sure I understand why I need to somehow fix a way around not using the cache.  I thought I understood it and here is what I planned to do.  Basically, I only have two shares and I only move data to the shares.  If I don't enable the cache to be used on either share does it really matter about the move script?  There won't be anything there to move...right?  And any data that is moved through the share will go directly to the data drives with parity and ensure protection.

 

If all that is true then what I had planned to do was now install the linux version of sabnzbd and sickbeard following the steps found here:

 

http://www.lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Install_Python_based_servers

 

Am I crazy? 

[lionelhutz]

Any directory you create on the cache disk which does not have a leading period (.) will become a user share. So, if you create a directory called say "Apps" then you will have a user share called "Apps". Any files in user shares on the cache disk get moved to the array when the mover runs.

 

If you follow those directions I believe they suggest using the period so the directory your create for the applications doesn't become a user share and it won't get moved.

 

You can also just stop the mover from moving the "Apps" share to the array.

 

Lots of people get hung up by the fundamental low level way user shares work. Any top level directory on a disk (array disk or cache disk) becomes a user share when user shares are turned on. User shares aren't only limited to the ones created using the web interface.

 

[Helmonder]

Forget my statement on setting the share to "cache only" and in stead make sure that your dir on the cache drive starts with a period, so make it .APPS instead of APPS.

 

The rest is the same.

[Helmonder]

So yes: even if you have set all your shares to not use the cache drive, you still need to make the dir on the cachedrive one with a leading point. (.APPS instead of APPS).

[dalben]

So yes: even if you have set all your shares to not use the cache drive, you still need to make the dir on the cachedrive one with a leading point. (.APPS instead of APPS).

 

*Removed, incorrect information. *

 

[lionelhutz]

So yes: even if you have set all your shares to not use the cache drive, you still need to make the dir on the cachedrive one with a leading point. (.APPS instead of APPS).

 

No you don't.

 

I have a cache drive and none of my shares on it start with a leading point / period. None get moved across.

 

My apps drive is /mnt/cache/apps and I've never had any issues with unraid trying to copy the contents to the protected raid.

 

You are only confusing the questions. The OP is not asking about the 5.0 series.

 

In 4.7 you have to use the period or modify the mover script to another character or disable the mover script.