Hi everyone!

 

I am planing on upgrading to a pro licence and I was wondering what the procedure is if I have unraid installed to a HDD? Of course I would have to stick in the USB drive but where do I copy the licence file? To the hard drive or to the (empty) usb drive?

And: Do I have to copy the unraid files to the usb drive even when I am not booting from it?

 

I tried to search for this but there are way to many posts containing "hard drive" (what a surprise :-P )

I presume all you'd do is just upgrade using the GUID of the HDD and then placing the key file on the HDD like this:-

 

and then restart.

no, I would like to use the GUID of the USB drive. Currently, my server can not boot from an usb drive but when I upgrade my hardware in the future I would like to use only the usb drive.

no, I would like to use the GUID of the USB drive. Currently, my server can not boot from an usb drive but when I upgrade my hardware in the future I would like to use only the usb drive.

 

Pretty sure unraid only cares about the device it boots from, not the device that's connected. Your best bet would probably be to email Tom (No idea the address, try [email protected]?) and ask him if you can buy a pro key now but change the GUID later on.

 

EDIT:- I thought I'd note that I've never tried this, so, it may just scan all devices for a pro key, but, I highly doubt it.

 

EDIT2:- I was right on the email:-

http://lime-technology.com/company/contact

On my first days getting familiar with the software I asked on how to install it to a HDD, http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22020.msg195191#msg195191

I assumed I could just use the usb drive only for the GUID like Joe L. said in his post?

 

edit: Another topic http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9025.0

On my first days getting familiar with the software I asked on how to install it to a HDD, http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22020.msg195191#msg195191

I assumed I could just use the usb drive only for the GUID like Joe L. said in his post?

 

edit: Another topic http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9025.0

 

I think what he was referring to (Joe will probably correct me if I'm wrong) is to use software to load from a CD/HDD, then instantly swap over to the USB device and boot from that.

 

Here's what the wiki has on it:-

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation#If_the_Flash_will_not_boot.2C_read_over_the_following_tips

 

With some older motherboards, it may not be possible to boot from a USB drive. Sometimes, upgrading to the latest BIOS for your board will add support. But if not, there are still other choices. The best may be to find a newer motherboard! There also are ways to boot from another device, which then continues the boot process from your unRAID USB flash drive. See this post, and the following posts, for a 'kicker' floppy disk. See this post for a 'kicker' CD. There are also other threads about kicker disks, search kicker. You may be able to adapt the kicker disk to a bootable CD, and there are efforts under way to boot from a small extra hard disk or a Cache disk, see the PLoP topic for one method. The unRAID system still requires a valid USB flash drive installed, and labeled correctly, but a kicker disk can handle the initial booting, and then transfer control to the unRAID flash drive to continue booting unRAID. More information can be found in the UnRAID Topical Index, Kicker disks section. [editor note: may later move this to separate section below. this needs more kicker-related links]

 

The links are clickable if you follow the wiki link above, but, here's one of the links:-

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=244.msg43236#msg43236

I have tried kicker disks, its not an option since it takes ridiculously long to boot. I just wanted to know IF its possible that unraid read the guid of the usb drive while booting from an HDD. To me it sounds like it does but maybe some who knows can help us out :-P

unRAID will boot from just about anything if you are skilled enough...  I've seen floppy "kicker" disks,  hard disks, and compact flash drives in IDE disk emulators.  They just need a a boot loader (syslinux, or grub will both work) configured to boot from that disk and use the bzroot  and bzimage files distributed by unRAID to boot from.    The only time a "kicker" disk is needed is when the BIOS is unable to boot from a USB flash drive.  (yes, it is slow.. but you do not boot that often)

 

To complete the boot process, there must be a disk volume labeled as UNRAID.  It will be mounted at /boot

The files extracted from the unRAID distribution must exist on it.  It must have the "config" directory with all the expected unRAID distribution files in that directory.

 

The unRAID .key license file must exist in either the /boot directory or in the /boot/config directory on the volume labeled as UNRAID  (pretty sure it looks in both locations and uses the first .key file it finds)

 

This is not for beginners... but it can be done.    Good luck.

 

Joe L.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your reply, but I am still strugeling to understand what the conclusion of this is :-D

I already have unraid running installed and booted on a hard drive. Now, can I access pro features when I:

-take a fresh usb drive with lets say GUID 123456

-purchase a pro licence .key file for GUID 123456

-copy the .key file to the hard disk currently running unRaid and shut down the server

-stick in the USB drive with or without the unraid software files on it

-start the server.

 

Or simpler: Is there a way I can boot unraid pro from a hard drive with a key file purchase for an usb drive? Does unraid compare the .key file only with the device it booted from or also with others pluged into the system?

unRAID will boot from just about anything if you are skilled enough...  I've seen floppy "kicker" disks,  hard disks, and compact flash drives in IDE disk emulators.  They just need a a boot loader (syslinux, or grub will both work) configured to boot from that disk and use the bzroot  and bzimage files distributed by unRAID to boot from.    The only time a "kicker" disk is needed is when the BIOS is unable to boot from a USB flash drive.  (yes, it is slow.. but you do not boot that often)

 

To complete the boot process, there must be a disk volume labeled as UNRAID.  It will be mounted at /boot

The files extracted from the unRAID distribution must exist on it.  It must have the "config" directory with all the expected unRAID distribution files in that directory.

 

The unRAID .key license file must exist in either the /boot directory or in the /boot/config directory on the volume labeled as UNRAID  (pretty sure it looks in both locations and uses the first .key file it finds)

 

This is not for beginners... but it can be done.    Good luck.

 

Joe L.

 

Since I have two flash drives with two keys, can I just dump both keys on both drives and it'll select the key that's valid for that drive? Just wondering, in case I ever mix the drives/keys up and I don't want to take a 50/50 guess.

 

@OP, once again, unless Joe proves me wrong, I still think the best way to do is to PM tom and ask if you can buy a key now (for the HDD) and change the HWID later on (for the flash drive).

 

EDIT:- Tom proved me wrong.

Or simpler: Is there a way I can boot unraid pro from a hard drive with a key file purchase for an usb drive? Does unraid compare the .key file only with the device it booted from or also with others pluged into the system?

re-read my prior post.

 

The registered GUID must be from a USB drive, that drive MUST be labeled UNRAID, it will be mounted at /boot, the .key file will be read from /boot or /boot/config.  The GUID in the .key file MUST MATCH the GUID of the USB drive with the UNRIAD label.. 

 

You cannot do it only with a hard disk.  You cannot "boot" from a .key file.  (It is just an encrypted registration file containing your registration details and the GUID of its affiliated USB flash drive.)

 

You can do as you like in mounting a disk volume at /boot for the .key file, but nothing you do will change where it looks for a matching GUID.  That must be a USB Flash drive labeled UNRAID.

 

No, you cannot put both .key files on the same drive. unRAID uses the first one it finds, and it does not even sort the directory, so basically, you cannot have any other file named anything*.key

 

You cannot get a registered .key file for a hard disk.

 

Obviously, you can ask Tom at lime-tech, but odds are not in your favor of getting a response.

 

Joe L.

Just for competeness, I have my two keys on each of my flash drives, but named like this:

-rwxrwxrwx  1 root root    256 2006-12-01 07:28 Pro2.kkkeeeyyy

-rwxrwxrwx  1 root root    256 2007-03-23 12:27 Pro1.key

 

Only one has the .key extension.

 

Joe L.

I am not trying to upset you, but I am still missing a final yes or no statement. I understand all the circumstances you described but I am still not sure if it matches my situation.

From what you said I would say YES it works with the following setup:

 

Copy all unraid content to the usb drive, name it UNRAID and give the hard drisk another name: The computer will boot from the hard disk, but mount the UNRAID labeled usb as /boot and it will work with the purchased key

I am not trying to upset you, but I am still missing a final yes or no statement. I understand all the circumstances you described but I am still not sure if it matches my situation. From what you said I would say YES it works with the following setup:

 

Copy all unraid content to the usb drive, name it UNRAID and give the hard drisk another name: Unraid will boot from the hard disk, but mount the UNRAID labeled usb as /boot and it will work with the purchased key

That would work.  The hard disk you are booting from cannot be part of the protected array, but you probably already know that.  When upgrading you'll need to replace the bzroot/bzimage files on the hard disk, not the flash drive.  you can probably put them in both places though.

 

You could, if desired, also mount a hard disk's partition at /boot as described here;

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=23008.msg210384#msg210384

That way, the UNRAID labeled flash drive is used only for the license check.

 

(you did not upset me)

 

Joe L.

I am not trying to upset you, but I am still missing a final yes or no statement. I understand all the circumstances you described but I am still not sure if it matches my situation. From what you said I would say YES it works with the following setup:

 

Copy all unraid content to the usb drive, name it UNRAID and give the hard drisk another name: Unraid will boot from the hard disk, but mount the UNRAID labeled usb as /boot and it will work with the purchased key

That would work.  The hard disk you are booting from cannot be part of the protected array, but you probably already know that.  When upgrading you'll need to replace the bzroot/bzimage files on the hard disk, not the flash drive.  you can probably put them in both places though.

 

You could, if desired, also mount a hard disk's partition at /boot as described here;

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=23008.msg210384#msg210384

That way, the UNRAID labeled flash drive is used only for the license check.

 

(you did not upset me)

 

Joe L.

 

Thank you very much, i was hoping for this :-) Cool idea to change the device mounted as /boot after the checks for the .key file have been performed... 

What files would I need on that usb drive? Only /config/go and /config/pro.key ?

You will need to experiment.  The issue is how to get unRAID to properly record a clean system start and shutdown and when it reads all the files in the config directory.  I think you'll need more than just the two files you mentioned. (I've never done it, so I cannot guide you)

 

Joe L.