Dynamix - Web GUI


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Here's my test

 

while :; do date -r /var/local/emhttp/disks.ini; sleep 1; done

 

FYI, here's a cool trick with an escape clause.

while ! read -n1 -t1 ; do date; done;

 

All very cool guys but it's done in a different way 8)

 

At the client side (browser) javascript is used to do periodic queries to obtain information from the server. A code snippet below:

 

function array_status() {
  $.ajax({url:'/plugins/webGui/include/DeviceList.php',data:{path:'<?=$path?>',device:'array',timer:timer},success:function(data) {
    if (data) $('#array_devices').html(data);
<?if ($display['refresh'] && $var['fsState']=='Started'):?>
    if ($('#tab1').is(':checked')) timer = setTimeout(array_status,<?=$display['refresh']?>);
<?endif;?>
  }});
}

 

Now the script "DeviceList.php" reads the relevant .ini files and returns the content of the disks table accordingly.

 

I did some testing here and at some point I let the script simply return the word TEST without any .ini reading and parsing, the script was just the single plain statement

 

echo "TEST";

 

The mere fact that emhttp is called and queried through the ajax function causes disk activity. I can see the activity lights go blinking on three (out of twelve) of my hard disks. This is very weird...

 

It are always the same three hard disks showing activity, regardless of array being spun-down or spun-up. Not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that these hard disks are connected via pci-x (I use Adaptec SATA controller), the ones connected directly to the SATA interfaces on the motherboard stay idle as they should be.

 

Now the real question is why emhttp is doing this disk activity, only Limetech (Tom) will know  :)

 

 

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When the front page or perhaps when some other page is updated via an emhttp call.

 

I would suggest monitoring the time and date on the .ini file as your autorefresh is occurring.

See how frequently the .ini file is getting updated.

 

I just did a test and did not access the front page, I accessed a totally unrelated page and saw it update.

I do not think it's all that big of a deal.

 

a smartctl -A (which is what Tom does) vs a smartctl -a seem to take a different amount of time.

 

Tests reveal that as soon as a call to emhttp is done - regardless of the page or content - it will update the .ini files (using smartctl in the background).

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Installed Dynamix this morning on my testbed server.  (Easy to test on this server as I just make a copy of the working flash drive onto another flash drive, make it bootable and delete unneeded files and copy over the new ones!  If anything goes wrong, plug the original flash drive back in and reboot.) 

 

Most of the features that I installed appeared to work. 

 

Dynamix is going to have the same problem as Simple Features had with parity tests if you leave the webGUI running during the parity test.  (Basically, the speed of the parity test will slow of a fraction of original speed.)  I found that the 'cure' seems to be to set the 'Real Time Page Updates' (on the 'Settings', 'User Preferences', 'Display Settings' page) to "Disabled".  Of  course, this does require that you manually refresh the page with the browser to update the page. 

 

One possible fix might be to make the 'Real Time Page Update' tunable.  That is, to allow the user to set the page refresh time.  I would be happy if it updated once a minute. 

 

A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

I would also appreciate a simple change in the user interface.  When you drill clear down the the bottom of the 'Settings' menu, you lose the second and menu bars.  It would be nice if that second and third menu bars would be available to allow one to more quickly navigate to another setting without starting over at the top of the menu string. 

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Most of the features that I installed appeared to work. 

 

Thanks, did you install any of the optional plugins or are you referring to the webGui functionality alone ?

 

Dynamix is going to have the same problem as Simple Features had with parity tests if you leave the webGUI running during the parity test.  (Basically, the speed of the parity test will slow of a fraction of original speed.)  I found that the 'cure' seems to be to set the 'Real Time Page Updates' (on the 'Settings', 'User Preferences', 'Display Settings' page) to "Disabled".  Of  course, this does require that you manually refresh the page with the browser to update the page. 

 

The problem lies with emhttp, it does more than being a web front-end. Every HTTP GET thrown at emhttp causes it to do disk readings in the background, no matter what the request is. The stock webGui is completely passive and only when clicking a button (refresh or whatever) it interacts with emhttp. This makes sense if you react only on user initiated actions, however both SimpleFeatures and Dynamix have functions running on periodic intervals to obtain status or information, these are not hard disk related but cause an interaction with the drives nonetheless. We can question here whether emhttp can work in a more selective way, but this require Limetech to make (fundamental?) changes...

 

One possible fix might be to make the 'Real Time Page Update' tunable.  That is, to allow the user to set the page refresh time.  I would be happy if it updated once a minute. 

 

The objective of Dynamix is to show status in real-time, making it tune-able and do updates every minute or longer, kind of defeats its purpose. Though I have to think an acceptable approach. One can of course always close the browser when a parity check is running :)

 

A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

This is caused by another plugin, can't remember now which one it is. Can you tell what other plugins you have running on your system?

 

I would also appreciate a simple change in the user interface.  When you drill clear down the the bottom of the 'Settings' menu, you lose the second and menu bars.  It would be nice if that second and third menu bars would be available to allow one to more quickly navigate to another setting without starting over at the top of the menu string.

 

A simple question but more difficult to implement. Though I take it aboard as a feature request for an upcoming version.

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A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

The apcupsd plugin has been known to do this.

 

This should fix it: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29605.0

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Most of the features that I installed appeared to work. 

 

Thanks, did you install any of the optional plugins or are you referring to the webGui functionality alone ?

 

Active Streams  Cache Dirs  Disk Health  Email Notify    System Info    System Stats      System Temp

 

A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

This is caused by another plugin, can't remember now which one it is. Can you tell what other plugins you have running on your system?

 

Yes, I am running the apcupsd plugin and as you will see, someone else has reported that it can cause problems.  Apparently, there is a 'fix' for it but I haven't had the time yet to check it out.  I hope to get to it in the next day or two. 

 

I would also appreciate a simple change in the user interface.  When you drill clear down the the bottom of the 'Settings' menu, you lose the second and menu bars.  It would be nice if that second and third menu bars would be available to allow one to more quickly navigate to another setting without starting over at the top of the menu string.

 

A simple question but more difficult to implement. Though I take it aboard as a feature request for an upcoming version.

 

After thinking about it for a bit, I have a couple of additional comments.  First, I really like what you did with the Main page.  Splitting it up as you have done really improves the usability and de-clutters it.  Second, I really prefer the layout of the 'Settings' page in Simple Features.  Everything is there when you click on the 'Settings' tab.  I never can remember where a particular setting is that I am looking for.  I don't want to have know what subheading it is under.  The settings page on the simple features is not that overcrowded or so long that it requires scrolling to see everything on it.  I know this is a highly personal preference and I hope others will chime in with their thoughts. 

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I renamed the other GUI plg to a plg.save to rest this one,

 

After install - it deleted it and the .txz file.  why?

 

Now I have no easy way to move back if I need to...

 

Myk

 

Dynamix webGui plugin deletes the 'other' webGui plugin and associated txz file to avoid double installation and conflicts of both running concurrently, which is not allowed.

 

If you want to keep these files move them out of the folder /boot/plugins.

 

The easy way back is to remove the Dynamix PLG file from /boot/plugins and reboot your system to make uninstallation complete. This restores the stock GUI with the possibility to install (again) the Limetech webGui from github. Nothing is really lost!

 

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Second, I really prefer the layout of the 'Settings' page in Simple Features.  Everything is there when you click on the 'Settings' tab.  I never can remember where a particular setting is that I am looking for.  I don't want to have know what subheading it is under.  The settings page on the simple features is not that overcrowded or so long that it requires scrolling to see everything on it.  I know this is a highly personal preference and I hope others will chime in with their thoughts.

 

The thing is that these are all different pages. In the stock webGui and SimpleFeatures these are loaded in a single view, the change I have made to allow tabbed viewing is that each page gets its own tab, but you get used to it. I know - been using this setup for some time now and once you get the hang of it, all goes smooth :)

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A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

The apcupsd plugin has been known to do this.

 

This should fix it: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29605.0

I already had dlandon's apcupsd fix in place when I intalled Dynamix. I can confirm that I have no issues with the syslog viewer.

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A second thing that I observed was the syslog viewer is virtually unusable on my system.  Every time I try to scroll down the page (using scroll bar, cntrl-END, etc.), it resets to the top of the page with a second of two.  Something appears to be refreshing the page...    (Same problem exists with Simple Features.)

 

The apcupsd plugin has been known to do this.

 

This should fix it: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29605.0

 

I have updated to the apcupssd plugin that dlandon wrote.  It fixed the problem. 

 

Thanks dlandon for both your reply and all your earlier work to resolve this issue!

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Second, I really prefer the layout of the 'Settings' page in Simple Features.  Everything is there when you click on the 'Settings' tab.  I never can remember where a particular setting is that I am looking for.  I don't want to have know what subheading it is under.  The settings page on the simple features is not that overcrowded or so long that it requires scrolling to see everything on it.  I know this is a highly personal preference and I hope others will chime in with their thoughts.

 

The thing is that these are all different pages. In the stock webGui and SimpleFeatures these are loaded in a single view, the change I have made to allow tabbed viewing is that each page gets its own tab, but you get used to it. I know - been using this setup for some time now and once you get the hang of it, all goes smooth :)

 

I realize that at the time and that is why I thought it would be an easy change if others felt as I did.  As I said, which layout is preferred is very personal and quite subjective.  That is why I asked that others weigh in and state if they have a preference.  The only place where I suggested the change was on the 'Settings' page.  I really do prefer your 'Main' page layout with its tabbing feature as compared to one in Simple Features (and the  standard GUI).  ...And I don't even have fifteen (or more) drives in either of my systems!  ;D

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A request for a new 'feature'.  I would like to have the ability to set the default for the 'check box' for parity check under the 'Array Operations' tab to either 'blank' or 'checked'. 

 

The reason is simple.  Those of us who do a lot of testing of new features (such as Dynamix) often run a parity check as a quick and dirty test to see  if any change in disk speed has occurred.  I also do it several times in the first few weeks after installing a new hard drive to verify that the drive can still be read.  In these cases, I am expecting that parity is correct and any error found is most likely something besides parity and needs to to be thoroughly and completely investigated before correcting parity! 

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A request for a new 'feature'.  I would like to have the ability to set the default for the 'check box' for parity check under the 'Array Operations' tab to either 'blank' or 'checked'. 

 

There is no variable defined which holds the state of the parity check box. It can either default to 'checked' or 'unchecked'. I left the default to 'checked' as is done in the stock GUI.

 

You do have an option to do a 'scheduled parity check' with the choice how to handle parity corrections, this setting is stored.

 

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I'm just installing this right now, and am looking forward to trying it out.  It looks good in the screenshots.

 

RE: slowing down the parity check due to frequent refreshes - perhaps only the parity check can be refreshed much less frequently (like every 30 or 90 seconds), as someone else mentioned.  ONLY the parity check though.  I think the other pages should refresh quite often, for the 'real-time' reporting.  If only the parity check was updated much less frequently, it should stop the parity check taking so long while the page is loaded.  I know you can close the page/browser to stop this behavior, but how often do we really need to see if it's 58.6% finished, or 58.7%?

 

Also, this seems promising; from the GitHub page...

 

The Browser function has been rewritten for improved speed and visibility of duplicate files. These are clearly indicated by displaying them in orange.

 

However, I have hundreds, maybe thousands of folders.  I don't want to open them all looking for duplicate files, is there any way to just 'find duplicates' without going into each folder looking for orange text?

 

Finally, regarding this...

 

Second, I really prefer the layout of the 'Settings' page in Simple Features.  Everything is there when you click on the 'Settings' tab.  I never can remember where a particular setting is that I am looking for.  I don't want to have know what subheading it is under.  The settings page on the simple features is not that overcrowded or so long that it requires scrolling to see everything on it.  I know this is a highly personal preference and I hope others will chime in with their thoughts.

 

The thing is that these are all different pages. In the stock webGui and SimpleFeatures these are loaded in a single view, the change I have made to allow tabbed viewing is that each page gets its own tab, but you get used to it. I know - been using this setup for some time now and once you get the hang of it, all goes smooth :)

 

I realize that at the time and that is why I thought it would be an easy change if others felt as I did.  As I said, which layout is preferred is very personal and quite subjective.  That is why I asked that others weigh in and state if they have a preference.  The only place where I suggested the change was on the 'Settings' page.  I really do prefer your 'Main' page layout with its tabbing feature as compared to one in Simple Features (and the  standard GUI).  ...And I don't even have fifteen (or more) drives in either of my systems!  ;D

 

I would agree that these tabs just cause 'extra' work.  Since all the settings are visible on one page, without scrolling in SimpleFeatures, splitting them up into tabs/more places can only cause more 'work'.  It doesn't really matter that we'll eventually remember where everything is, and it will be easy to navigate.  The 'problem' is that you have to navigate.  It will always require an extra click, since they are no longer on the same page.

 

I know that they are/can be considered different, but since they all fit on one page, there is no benefit to putting them onto different pages/tabs.

 

Thank you for your contribution to unRAID, I'm looking forward to using it.

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Lol love the people moaning about the settings page, this isn't a  simplefeatures clone get used to it.

 

If you want all the settings on one page use simplefeatures or stock, I don't see why this excellent GUI should be changed to accommodate the wingers and winers.

 

Just my two pence.

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