Docker vs Plugins?


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The ease of development and maintenance of Dockers is a huge positive for everyone. If the initial container creator disappears it's significantly easier and quicker for others to pick up what they've done and continue carrying the torch.

 

With plugins, it's more complex and you have to worry about a MFT of dependencies and incompatibilities if unRAID ever has any base changes.

 

Dockers do not conflict with one another. Each Docker Container is it's own universe.

Plugins can and have caused other plugins to fail massively. Each Plugin is sharing the same swimming pool*.

 

Other major benefits to Dockers is the storage and installation of them does not use up RAM twice. Dockers are stored inside a single docker.img file contained on your cache drive. They only use RAM when the application is run. Dockers are only installed once.

 

With a plugin you first install the plugin on each and every single boot, into the "root" filesystem which is in RAM before you even run the application.

 

The other significant benefit to Docker is I have taken my Dockers and their configuration and have run them on my Win OS development server! All I had to do was change the directory mappings.

 

*Swimming pool ==

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Thank you for replying to the question I never dare to ask. I was afraid to be the dumb idiot of the village :P

 

But thinking twice about it...

This should be explained as a front page in the UnRaid functionality.

And THERE SHOULD BE A DAMN MANUAL on about how to install container with the GUI, and description of the use of the various fields (undocumented). I was promised an up-to-date documentation 3 months ago by jonp, and obviously this has never happened until now. So I installed the Plex plugin  :-[

 

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I see a lot of pro-docker comments. Anyone wish to represent the anti-docker contingent?

 

I would be anti-docker provided the following changes happen:

1) unRAID became a layer on top of Ubuntu or Debian

2) unRAID became a full persisted OS installation, transitioning the 'cache' drive into an OS drive.

 

Then installation of applications for most could be as simple as: apt-get

 

 

 

 

 

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I have been using plugins and they work great but I can't find a plugin for sickrage, sickbeard is annoying me with the tvdb integration so I am looking into docker.

 

You can install Sickrage using Phaze's Sickbeard-alt plugin.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=33341.0

 

was not aware that sickbeard-alt was sickrage. It seams that it should say that. I did see that it was there but there was no description so I just figured it was sickbeard with some little tweak that people like.

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I have been using plugins and they work great but I can't find a plugin for sickrage, sickbeard is annoying me with the tvdb integration so I am looking into docker.

 

You can install Sickrage using Phaze's Sickbeard-alt plugin.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=33341.0

 

was not aware that sickbeard-alt was sickrage. It seams that it should say that. I did see that it was there but there was no description so I just figured it was sickbeard with some little tweak that people like.

 

sickbeard_alt still grabs it from tvdb, just tried it and it doesn't seem any different.

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I see a lot of pro-docker comments. Anyone wish to represent the anti-docker contingent?

 

Docker is still an 'early' technology and so will likely change a lot. How that will affect unraid keeping up and container compatibility remains to be seen.

 

Over time docker images / layers can get messy and consume space. There is work going on in docker to address this but see above.

 

That's devil's advocate though. In general docker is great. I've always been a fan of containers and docker is adding a management and deployment layer on top that has previously been missing. It's inclusion in unraid 6 base, the excellent web interface extension for it and the hard work of the authors of existing containers is, for unraid, remarkably progressive - and incredible work from all involved.

 

It's a perfect fit for something like unraid - embrace it! :)

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Anything and everything,  nothing specifically. I just want to be able to read up on whats about in docker format.

 

As suggested docker.io is really the main point to look as it's the central (public) image repository.

 

For unraid specific your best bet is to dive into the docker subforum here and look around. Particularly the stickies.

 

http://seandion.info/unraid/unraid-dockers/

 

Is a great unraid specific starting point.

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Thanks but i've been there and it doesnt fill in the blanks ... new users are going to shy away from this in this state.

 

What blanks are you missing? genuinely we'll answer if you tell us :)

 

If you're after official coherent docs - then as mentioned they don't exist. It's not a final product and I believe the docker web interface is still subject to change.

 

unraid docs in general have always been pretty best efforts as far as I'm concerned so I wouldn't expect to have your hand held with it too much.

 

I would also, hesitantly, suggest that plugins and docker images / containers are probably never going to be for new users. No matter what you'll still need a general understanding of what's going on to be able to sensible decide on mount points to pass through to each docker container.

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I understand what you sare saying but where do you go for the 'general understanding' you mention?

 

It's not unraids job (I don't think) to tell you how docker works? So if you want a general understanding of docker - then you have to go and look there. docker.io again as has been mentioned ;)

 

In the same way if you want a docker container for nzbdrone you wouldn't expect unraid to document how nzbdrone works - you'd go to the nzbdrone site for that info.

 

You're currently saying the documentation doesn't help. But being very resistant to telling us what it's missing. So we're all just guessing here :)

 

One things for sure there is less chance of the documentation ever telling you what you want to know - if you can't feedback what that actually is! :)

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Thanks ... i'll not bother you further then.

 

ok - my offer of help stands but you'll need to help me help you :)

 

I've switched away from using a seperate vm for all my tools to putting them back directly under unraid via docker. So I have a half decent handle on how it all works with direct regard to unraid presently.

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I'm not planning on continuing my 'docker experience' given its shortfall in an Unraid environment so i'll pull the server build. Thanks for your interest and offers of help but i'll just dip in occasionally and see whether unraid has managed to get itself up to speed with docker or whether it is still lagging way behind ...  think i already know the answer and as i'm never likely to be 'leading edge' with my understanding then maybe its time to hangup my docker boots now ... fell at the first hurdle. Lack of documentation.

 

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