In0cenT Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Hello I've been using Xpenology for almost two years now (Synology system on a custom built PC). The updating isnt as smooth as I would like it to be, thats the reason I'm looking for a new solution. FreeNAS isnt possibility for me, as it just requires to much RAM and after just flying over the Limetech website it doesnt seem like unRAID needs any special hardware. My current server: i5 4xxx (cant remember what model excactly) AsRock Z87 EXTREME6 AC 8GB RAM 7x 4TB WD RED Running Plex and few other smaller applications How well does unRAID perform with this kind of hardware and no HW RAID controller? Is the virtualisation compareable with something like VMWare? What is the reason why you guys are using unRAID and not an other product? Is there a "test server" where I can have a propper look a the interface? What is considered as a device? (Basic, Plus or Pro) Thank you very much! Link to comment
CHBMB Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Take a look here whilst I compose a reply to your post in a more detail... Also check this out. In short, I think it's everything you're looking for. I have a similar system to you and can do all of the above on my system. Link to comment
itimpi Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 How well does unRAID perform with this kind of hardware and no HW RAID controller? Is the virtualisation compareable with something like VMWare? Should work fine. No Hardware RAID is fine - in fact if you had one you would have to disable the RAID feature to use it with unRAID. The virtualisation features are similar to VMWare. What is the reason why you guys are using unRAID and not an other product? I am sure you will get plenty of feedback on this. You might also want to look in the Lounge area of the forum where there has been recent discussion about this. Is there a "test server" where I can have a propper look a the interface? The easiest way to try this is to download the release and write it to a USB stick and boot it up. You can then get a (free) trial license if you want to try out its capabilities. What is considered as a device? (Basic, Plus or Pro) Basically any device capable of storing data (e.g. all the hard drives or SSD's). USB drives also count I think (except for the unRAID USB used for booting the system. Link to comment
CHBMB Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Hello I've been using Xpenology for almost two years now (Synology system on a custom built PC). The updating isnt as smooth as I would like it to be, thats the reason I'm looking for a new solution. FreeNAS isnt possibility for me, as it just requires to much RAM and after just flying over the Limetech website it doesnt seem like unRAID needs any special hardware. My current server: i5 4xxx (cant remember what model excactly) AsRock Z87 EXTREME6 AC 8GB RAM 7x 4TB WD RED Running Plex and few other smaller applications How well does unRAID perform with this kind of hardware and no HW RAID controller? Write speeds can be increased by two methods as I understand it, RAM cache whilst it's being written to the parity protected array (without the use of cache) and by the use of a cache drive or pool which copies the file to the appropriate user share but for an interim period these will not be parity protected but stored on the cache drive until moved to the parity protected array (user definable at hourly, daily, weekly or monthly intervals or triggered manually at any time) Write speeds I can't quote you for writing to the array as the RAM cache I think makes it difficult to interpret. So did some tests... Copying a 10GB file from the array to a client occurs at 110MB/s on a gigabit network. Copying it back to a share not using cache also occurs at 110MB/s with 32GB RAM on my system for about 80% of the file then drops to 50MB/s for the remainder. Copying it back to a share not using cache with 8GB RAM on my system (I started a VM using 24GB therefore leaving 8GB for Unraid) Copying it back to a share not using cache with 8GB RAM on my system (I started a VM using 24GB therefore leaving 8GB for Unraid) starts at 100MB/s for about 25% of the copy then levels off at about 50MB/s for the rest of the copy. Copying to cache with 8GB RAM and the whole file copy takes place at about 110MB/s Is the virtualisation compareable with something like VMWare? I've never used VMWare but KVM is awesome, easy to create guests, you can allocate CPU cores and RAM to the guest. Here's a screenshot to show you the VM creation page. Using the VM feels like using a native device running on the resources you've allocated. In addition, although it's not supported officially, you can run Unraid as Guest see the forum here. I have no experience of this and I suspect usage will decline now KVM support is included in Unraid, although there are some advantages in running as a guest OS. What is the reason why you guys are using unRAID and not an other product? Rock solid, hardware agnostic, if my motherboard, RAM & CPU died right now I could take my USB OS, plug it in to a new system with my disks connected and back up and running. Massive support for dockers, Fantastic virtualisation features, Brilliant community to turn to for support. Great price point, and the licence lasts a lifetime, not version based, I started on V4.7 4 years ago. Is there a "test server" where I can have a propper look a the interface? Not that I know of, but I think the videos I posted give a good idea EDIT: Like itimpi says above there's a trial version, ooops What is considered as a device? (Basic, Plus or Pro) Btw, what are assignable-device vs attached-device? Any storage device other than the unraid usb flash device. Thank you very much! You're welcome and I hope we see a lot more of you around here. BTW: I am not affiliated with LimeTech in any way, I'm just a regular guy who doesn't work in IT but an amateur enthusiast who has been in your position and tried other solutions in the past (WHS V1, WHS 2011, FlexRAID (Let's not go there.... I'll say no more but it was short lived) and I came back to Unraid within 10 months after a lot of persevering... Currently on Unraid I'm running a dynamic DNS service, Apache WebServer, Crashplan backup (remote site), Syncthing (remote site), Emby, Plex, Kodi Headless to keep a MariaDB updated, Guacamole RDP, VNC, SSH client accessible through a WebUI, Owncloud, TVHeadEnd PVR, ShoutIRC IRC client, VPN torrent access, VPN usenet access, Windows 10 preview Virtual Machine, and a few more bits and bobs.. Sound good? You've got 7 devices so it'd cost you $89 and a USB flash drive. I think that represents terrific value for money. Hope that helps... Link to comment
tr0910 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 The NAS parts just work, and for a Synology person, should be a no brainer upgrade. Here are the things to consider. 1 You get a system where each disk is completely separate from the rest of the system. In the case of a very nasty hardware failure, you have more recovery options since each disk can be pulled and placed into another box and read via Linux or even Windows (with the right drivers). Other raid systems will lose the entire striped set. 2. You can upgrade your storage very easily. Drive sizes don't have to match, and you get the full capacity of whatever you throw at it. It is scalable to a 24 bay monster with 8tb drives giving 184tb of usable storage (one 8tb drive will be assigned to parity). 3. The virtualization VM and dockers are fantastic, but are not yet mature. For example: Dockers for media download and consumption are awesome and work well. But we have only been testing these for a few months. The best tools have a web interface and run via dockers. Almost grandma simple to install. VM's on the other hand can handle more complex tasks, at almost bare metal speed, but depending on your implementation, you might spend a few hours getting it all configured. Huge strides forward in ease of implementation have been realized in the last few weeks in this area. 4. If you are wanting it to replace your mission critical parts of your system such as your router (via a pfSense VM under unRaid), I would wait a little longer, or also look at unRaid as a guest under VMware esxi. Stopping your unRaid array to add a disk will also stop your VM's/dockers. Your (unRaid pfSense router) internet then goes offline whenever you do unRaid maintenance. The only thing in favor of Synology is that you can buy a fully configured box from Newegg and many other places. unRaid is still limited in distribution. Other things you won't find in unRaid, Synology offers 2 disk parity, and High Availability (mirrored servers). Since you rolled your own Synology, I don't think you will have any problems with unRaid. Link to comment
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