Hi all,

I am currently running server plus 4.7 version of unraid. In fact it has been running for several years now without a hitch, so much that I haven't kept up with all this upgrade stuff. Now I see ver 6 has come out. Do/should I upgrade to the latest ver. If so is there a CURRENT guide to help me do this? kinda need a step by step guide. The other guides i saw were several years old (2009)

 

Thanks

Kelly in San Antonio

 

PS

The only add on I'm using is unmenu

I would say to avoid the beta series 6 if you're not used to being bleeding edge. They're not even to a release candidate point and some important base functionality does not work, specifically upgrading disks to larger sizes.

 

Though you might want to have a look at upgrading to the latest stable product, 5.05.

... I am currently running server plus 4.7 version of unraid. In fact it has been running for several years now without a hitch ...

 

The only add on I'm using is unmenu

 

Unless you need support for drives > 2TB I'd be inclined to follow the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" 

 

I have 4 UnRAID servers -- a media server (still on v4.7), an "everything else" server and a backup server (both on v5.0.5); and a test box that's got the latest v6 Beta on it.    They all work fine -- but since I don't need > 2TB support on the media box, I haven't bothered to upgrade it.    It's simply rock solid (I only boot it when it's shut down by the APC UPS control box due to a power failure).

 

If you DO want to upgrade, I'd just move to v5.0.5 ... but the only real reason to do that with your configuration is for large drive support.

 

BTW I'm also in San Antonio 

 

 

I was in the same boat last week.....I used 4.7 for years, but wanted to upgrade to 5.0.5

I've been hesitating for months, but pulled the trigger last week

Everything went fine. I followed the "basic" instruction, and no problem

If everything is working and you aren't needing new features I would just stay with 4.7 and be happy.  Wait for v6 even when a stable is released for a while.

 

I upgraded from 4.7 to 5 because I wanted to run the plex plugin.  Otherwise I probably wouldn't have worried about it.

Unlike the others here I would say you should upgrade to version 5.0.5.

 

My reasoning is that if everything is running smoothly, the upgrade to 5.0.5 should be a no-brainer and all of a couple of minutes of work. However, if you have any sort of issue and are still on 4.7 the first suggestion everyone will give is to get you to 5.0.5 so that you are current and more people can assist.

 

Almost no-one is running 4.7 anymore, so in my mind it makes sense to be running the current release (I wouldn't jump to 6.0 yet unless you want to invest quite a bit of time into UnRAID).

 

The upgrade to 5.0.5 should be very quick and painless, and I would always rather do this type of upgrade when things are running properly, as opposed to in a "system down" situation.

It's certainly true that being on v5.0.5 is better from a support perspective.  But the ONLY feature that really adds for a basic NAS system that's just using UnMenu is support for drives > 2TB.    I haven't bothered to upgrade my media server simply because (a) I don't need the > 2TB support; and (b)  I like my really long uptimes        With v4.7, there's a procedure you can use to restart emhttp (the Web GUI) if it fails to respond -- something that doesn't happen often, but does happen.    This can't be done with v5, so you need to reboot in that situation on v5.    My v4.7 server was last booted on 6 Dec last year -- and that was only because the APC software shut it down due to an extended power failure.    It had 362 days of uptime when it shut down !!    I suspect the next time it shuts down I'll probably go ahead and upgrade it to v5, but there's really no compelling reason to do so other than "just because" 

 

It's certainly true that being on v5.0.5 is better from a support perspective.  But the ONLY feature that really adds for a basic NAS system that's just using UnMenu is support for drives > 2TB.    I haven't bothered to upgrade my media server simply because (a) I don't need the > 2TB support; and (b)  I like my really long uptimes        With v4.7, there's a procedure you can use to restart emhttp (the Web GUI) if it fails to respond -- something that doesn't happen often, but does happen.    This can't be done with v5, so you need to reboot in that situation on v5.    My v4.7 server was last booted on 6 Dec last year -- and that was only because the APC software shut it down due to an extended power failure.    It had 362 days of uptime when it shut down !!    I suspect the next time it shuts down I'll probably go ahead and upgrade it to v5, but there's really no compelling reason to do so other than "just because" 

 

To be fair though, you are likely in a much better situation to address any issues which arise and are likely far less likely to require forum intervention to help troubleshoot an issue. You spend a large amount of time on the forums helping others and are well versed in many UnRAID issues and potential resolutions.

 

I would say this puts you in a lower risk category than many, and therefore staying on 4.7 is less of a potential issue.

 

Thanks so much for the replies, With my current knowledge with UnRaid (which is not much) and since my current box has been running for so long and I don't plan on adding any 2TB drives I think I will leave well enough alone for now and stay with 4.7. If I do decide to do the UG I will follow the advice given here and go with 5.05. Also think I will maby look a little deeper into this and Leard what It can really do. As of now I just keep movie and audio files on it. I do have 1 1TB parity and 3 1TB SATA data drives, I don't use a cache drive but was thinking about using one if you all think its worth it. I have a spare 1TB drive laying around.

 

Kelly in SA

I see no reason to add a cache to your system.  It doesn't seem like you do a large number of writes; and a cache means that writes aren't fault-tolerant until the next day, after the mover script has run at night.    It's one more "layer" in the process of getting stuff to your server, and IMHO simply isn't worth it for most users.

 

With the new v6 support for btrfs cache pools, which provide a fault-tolerant cache, it's a different story -- but that's another topic for another day ...

 

Thanks so much for the replies, With my current knowledge with UnRaid (which is not much) and since my current box has been running for so long and I don't plan on adding any 2TB drives I think I will leave well enough alone for now and stay with 4.7. If I do decide to do the UG I will follow the advice given here and go with 5.05. Also think I will maby look a little deeper into this and Leard what It can really do. As of now I just keep movie and audio files on it. I do have 1 1TB parity and 3 1TB SATA data drives, I don't use a cache drive but was thinking about using one if you all think its worth it. I have a spare 1TB drive laying around.

 

Kelly in SA

I strictly followed the following instructions, and it was done in 10 minutes:

Version 4.7

Prepare the flash: either shutdown your server and plug the flash into your PC or Stop the array and perform the following actions referencing the flash share on your network:

        -) Copy the files bzimage and bzroot from the zip file to the root of your flash device, overwriting the same-named files already there.

        -) If present, delete these files from the flash (sorry, you will have to re-enter all your users after booting this release):

            config/passwd

            config/shadow

            config/smbpasswd

    -) Reboot your server.  Once boot-up has completed, you should see "Stopped. Configuration valid." array status with all disks assigned correctly except for the Cache disk. If you previously had a Cache disk assigned, you will need to re-assign it manually and re-apply any unique configuration settings for it.

    -) Carefully examine the Identification strings for each disk. If you see "MBR: error", or "MBR: unknown" for any disk, do not Start the array; instead post your finding in the Forum announcement thread for this release.  If everything looks ok, click Start to bring the array on-line.  Note: there is a new configuration setting on the Disk Settings page called "Enable auto start".  If you set this to "Yes", then upon next server boot, if the array is valid, then it will be automatically Started (this is the old behavior).

  -)  Go to Utils/New Permissions and execute that utility to change file ownership and permission settings.  This is necessary for proper operation of the 5.0 security model.

    -) Go to Users page and re-enter all of your users.  If you plan on using SMB and/or AFP with either Secure or Private security mode, you must enter at least one user because the 'root' user name is no longer permitted for network share authentication.

Thanks so much for the replies, With my current knowledge with UnRaid (which is not much) and since my current box has been running for so long and I don't plan on adding any 2TB drives I think I will leave well enough alone for now and stay with 4.7. If I do decide to do the UG I will follow the advice given here and go with 5.05. Also think I will maby look a little deeper into this and Leard what It can really do. As of now I just keep movie and audio files on it. I do have 1 1TB parity and 3 1TB SATA data drives, I don't use a cache drive but was thinking about using one if you all think its worth it. I have a spare 1TB drive laying around.

 

Kelly in SA

I strictly followed the following instructions, and it was done in 10 minutes:

Version 4.7

Prepare the flash: either shutdown your server and plug the flash into your PC or Stop the array and perform the following actions referencing the flash share on your network:

        -) Copy the files bzimage and bzroot from the zip file to the root of your flash device, overwriting the same-named files already there.

        -) If present, delete these files from the flash (sorry, you will have to re-enter all your users after booting this release):

            config/passwd

            config/shadow

            config/smbpasswd

    -) Reboot your server.  Once boot-up has completed, you should see "Stopped. Configuration valid." array status with all disks assigned correctly except for the Cache disk. If you previously had a Cache disk assigned, you will need to re-assign it manually and re-apply any unique configuration settings for it.

    -) Carefully examine the Identification strings for each disk. If you see "MBR: error", or "MBR: unknown" for any disk, do not Start the array; instead post your finding in the Forum announcement thread for this release.  If everything looks ok, click Start to bring the array on-line.  Note: there is a new configuration setting on the Disk Settings page called "Enable auto start".  If you set this to "Yes", then upon next server boot, if the array is valid, then it will be automatically Started (this is the old behavior).

  -)  Go to Utils/New Permissions and execute that utility to change file ownership and permission settings.  This is necessary for proper operation of the 5.0 security model.

    -) Go to Users page and re-enter all of your users.  If you plan on using SMB and/or AFP with either Secure or Private security mode, you must enter at least one user because the 'root' user name is no longer permitted for network share authentication.

 

the only things I would add is:

 

1) Before doing any of the above take a screen shot of your 4.7 GUI so that you can confirm all drive assignments once you've booted into 5.0

2) Before copying new files over to the USB drive I would do a complete backup of your USB drive.

 

While neither of these are 100% necessary, if any hiccups arise you are going to appreciate them immensely.