We define mandatory accessory, but there's no real support for it.

There's a kludge right now that has to be refined shortly after this.

 

Good point.  I really think UnRAID is missing two CRITICAL items for it's core functionality:

(a)  UPS support

(b)  e-mail notification

 

If it had those two functions, those of us who use it as purely a NAS storage device would likely not have ANY add-ons.

 

We define mandatory accessory, but there's no real support for it.

There's a kludge right now that has to be refined shortly after this.

 

Good point.  I really think UnRAID is missing two CRITICAL items for it's core functionality:

(a)  UPS support

(b)  e-mail notification

 

If it had those two functions, those of us who use it as purely a NAS storage device would likely not have ANY add-ons.

We can add those once the ability to store files without losing data is accomplished... although an official package manager would make the task easier.

 

Interestingly enough, my very first post regarding unRAID, on avsforum.com, in September of 2005  here:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/573986/limetech-un-raid-media-storage-server-support-thread/60#post_6138636

I asked:

Could you answer a few questions that I did not find in your FAQ:

 

1) Since the NAS storage continues to be available when a drive fails, and we all know that eventually a drive will fail, is there any external indication of the failed drive? Does the OS send an e-mail, flash lights, sound an alarm or do something to let me know I need to attend to the failed drive before a second disk fails? In my mind it is not sufficient for the status to be only available on the administrative screen on the NAS server since that screen is likely to never be visited frequently once initial configuration is done, especially since there is no other outward indication a drive is in trouble (the recreated data from the failed drive is still available, so we will not notice when a single drive fails).

 

2) Can you share your ideas on how software updates will be handled/made available to early customers? (you mentioned an upgrade to the latest Linux kernel and possible changes to your raid driver to allow a consolidated name space on a single "network share" spanning multiple physical drives as two potential upgrades)

 

3) Are there any plans to add to your OS software that can monitor an attached UPS? Since it is very likely that some of us will use a UPS, can the UPS signal (through the serial port perhaps) the OS to perform an orderly shutdown when its batteries are nearing depletion in a power outage? Yes, I know this is very advanced for most users and that the software to monitor the UPS is likely brand specific, but it would be nice if it was possible.

Interesting in that questions 1 and 3 are EXACTLY the same as you requested as built-into unRAID.

 

(The limetech download page did not exist back then, and eventually it made the downloads of updates possible) 

 

More interesting was Tom's response just few posts further in that thread (in Sept 2005)

http://www.avsforum.com/t/573986/limetech-un-raid-media-storage-server-support-thread/60#post_6141636

At the present time the only indication of disk failure is on the browser main page; which means you have to look at it once in a while. Having said that, all the code is already "under the hood" to be able to send email alerts. This feature is near the top of the list for the next software release.

 

and

Yes, UPS support is part of our package that includes shutting down into standby mode after a (configurable) period of inactivity. The UPS control/monitor s/w is brand specific, but most manufactuers provide the s/w we need.

 

So short answer... don't hold your breath for built in UPS support to e-mail alerts, etc. 

(it has been nearly 8 years and we're still waiting) 

The unRAID release at that time was version 1.0508XX (2005, August)

 

Joe L.

Joe L, you made me laugh so hard. The world is paved with good intentions!

 

From what I remember, the shared filesystem was once on the root filesystem as symlinks, Today we have a user filesystem with cache.

Soon a btrfs cache pool and 64 bit.

 

We have some really cool and innovative features.  I guess we know where Tom's mind wanders. (no disrespect meant whatsoever    )

 

I guess once we are stable saving data reliably, we can work with Tom and/or the community to refine the topics mentioned so we can get those basics integrated.

 

Also FWIW, I'm home and working with my crashtestdummy script on 5.0-RC16 under ESX on real disks. We'll see how it goes.

 

Joe L ==>  Just read your post r.e. the UPS support and e-mail notifications !!

 

What I laughed about wasn't your posts asking about those issues (they seem pretty obvious things that the system should support) ... but Tom's replies -- EIGHT YEARS ago !!

 

Tom => if you're reading this,  perhaps you should bump those features back up to the top of your change list !!!  8)

These have been requested by myself and many others MANY times (JoeL. may have us all beat as to how long ago).

I appreciate that Joe L. has brought this up once more and at the very least it now has made it to a dedicated request thread.

I have UPS(s) yet don't want to use a plugin, I want this and email notification provided natively from unRAID itself (supported by Tom); so it would also require Tom to provide a supported powerdown natively as well, that could shutdown/kill all that is required to unmount the array and sync it, etc.. to power down unRAID cleanly and gracefully in an event of power loss. You cannot state you support third party plugin's yet unRAID can't shut down properly do to some plugins. Even though I personally don't run application based plug-ins and don't have this issue, logically its the only way. As we have already learned from others the powerdown plugin created its own issue with unRAID not too long ago.

 

Email notification would alert of this condition (power lose) no matter where one is in the world, and also provide notification of any health degradation to a disk(s)/array, parity check execution, errors found in a parity check,  and also for third party plugin developers to piggyback on for more advanced alerts should it be deemed necessary to extend addition email alert capabilities.

 

This foundation need to come from unRAID itself, even though Tom is only human and can make a bug in his code, he is the owner and definitely knows his stuff inside out and is a big difference in my book that the support came from unRAID versus a third party plugin for these features.

 

So once again +1 to make this happen. 

As we have already learned from others the powerdown plugin created its own issue with unRAID not too long ago.

I would like to add a note to this, Tom had stated the mere act of mounting and unmounting filesystems without unraid active was causing kernel crashes at one point.

 

 

However I do agree that emhttp should handle a shutdown request via TERM signal with grace.

There also needs to be a timer that says, if plugins have not given up access to the filesystem by x period of time, they will be terminated forcefully. Once that is handled well, UPS integration should be easier.

As we have already learned from others the powerdown plugin created its own issue with unRAID not too long ago.

I would like to add a note to this, Tom had stated the mere act of mounting and unmounting filesystems without unraid active was causing kernel crashes at one point.

 

 

However I do agree that emhttp should handle a shutdown request via TERM signal with grace.

There also needs to be a timer that says, if plugins have not given up access to the filesystem by x period of time, they will be terminated forcefully. Once that is handled well, UPS integration should be easier.

 

Are some people having problems with the UPS plugin? I my mind, this is not core functionality. unRAID is a file system server, not a data center management tool. For those who want to use  UPS, the plugin if fully function in my experience.

... this is not core functionality. unRAID is a file system server, not a data center management tool.

 

Clearly that's a matter of opinion.  But UnRAID isn't just a file system server => it's a FAULT-TOLERANT file server.    Folks use fault-tolerant systems because they want RELIABILITY.  And UnRAID can have notable issues if it's not cleanly shut down -- that's why it does an automatic parity check on reboot whenever that happens.    A UPS eliminates almost all of those cases.

 

The same is clearly true for e-mail notification => it's clearly not "necessary" ... you can simply check the system's status whenever you want;  but with a solid, reliable file server like UnRAID it's easy to "use and forget" ... and without some notification you could be running "at risk" for a LONG time without realizing that you'd had a failed disk.  You'd sure notice the SECOND failure, however !!

 

I am not sure that anyone could make a case to me that would convince me that UPS support and notifications aren't missing core features.

 

 

I am not sure that anyone could make a case to me that would convince me that UPS support and notifications aren't missing core features.

 

+1  [as I said in the first post  ]

 

If you're willing to spend the $$ for a fault-tolerant file server, it should certainly have rudimentary power protection ... AND should have a mechanism to notify you of failures.

 

...

If it had those two functions, those of us who use it as purely a NAS storage device would likely not have ANY add-ons.

 

You are right... sometimes I feel that the people who just need a NAS and lost in the noise and scrable for more and more features.

 

I consider myself a higher end data user only because of the volume of data but the actual addons i run on my primary array are:

 

SNAP - for mounting USB disks, a feature I have said many times should be native

Perl - because i am rubbish at anything else

Cache dirs - to get the performance from unRAID i think it should have. This should native or some other change happen so it is not needed

 

The crowd that want unRAID to do the dishes and make their coffee have the right to ask and make addons but the core community are probably the silent majority that want a NAS and not much more

Hmmm ... I missed the add-on that makes my coffee => is that one of the UnMenu packages ?? 

I've owned quite a few commercial NAS boxes.

 

The most basic core features that we are missing.

 

Visual indication of current drive and system health. (gui alerts)  SMART.

Automated notification of drive health which could impact the system (email alerts).

UPS support with automated graceful power down.

Automated mounting of USB drives for export and sharing.

ssh access.

users and groups (unix like permission from the gui).

 

unRAID has a few features that the other nas boxes don't, but these are the basics that each I've owned had.

Well what can one say, its been requested too many times to count, Tom has expressed many times he agrees, polls have been made, and here we are in a roadmap thread.

 

Beating a dead horse, Tom would have to state if and when its going to happen. It should not have to come to thrashing or someone losing it or round-robin requests.

 

I think you guys should open a separate "unRAID OS 5.x Feature Request" thread under Company like you did for "unRAID OS 5.x Issue List". As there are requests in the "unRAID OS 5.x Issue List" and can be separated. Tom would comment in this new thread that mods move items to just like the Issues List.

 

Each feature should be separate in that thread, e.g. UPS support would be one, email support would be a second.

As this thread here seems to be way too remote to ever happen.

scoot over, let me join the choir...

 

 

yes, I want all of the above PLEASE.

Here's what i see as missing core functionality.

 

1. Scheduler for Parity Checks/Corrects.

2. built in UPS support.

3. Email notifications for various items (errors, info, etc.)

4. Drive error handling and notification.

5. Pre-clearinging built in.

6. GUI for smart tools and diagnostics.

 

These not only need to be coded into the system, but have the ability to use them via the webGUI. CLI only is not "built in" as far as I'm concerned.

 

None of these are non-NAS functionality.

I would dare to add (as far as I know): no iSCSI support

 

thanks

 

(i'm evaluating several nas solutions and *IF* iSCSI would be available unRAID would be my choice)

ISCSI requires access to physical disks. Unraid seperates physical disks from the data store by utilizing FUSE and calculating parity.

 

Personally if ISCSI was a requirement, I'd look into ZFS systems.

 

I would dare to add (as far as I know): no iSCSI support

 

thanks

 

(i'm evaluating several nas solutions and *IF* iSCSI would be available unRAID would be my choice)