Questions before moving from 5.X to 6.X

[TODDLT]

I was over helping a friend tonight get his first licensed version of unRaid up and running.  in doing so we moved him from 5.X to the current 6.0.1, of course giving me the itch to do so on my own rig here.  This was my first time seeing 6 in action and a few questions came up I'd like to figure out before making the jump. The configuration in my signature is current for hardware/software.  I'm a minimalist at times and in my mind when I make this next jump to 6, I would not install any more plugins than necessary.  So my hope would be to not need to re-install unMenu and eliminate as many others as i can.  The below list are the add ons I currently run and thoughts about each. 

 

[*]unMENU - I am hoping to not need this anymore, but I do use the Smart View under MyMain quite often.  I like the red flag attributes popping up.  Is there anything like this is 6?

 

[*]Simple Features - Not seeing a need for this at this point with 6.  Any thoughts?

 

[*]cache dirs - This is a plugin that is pretty important to me.  I found a link to install this in 6 on the plugin's page, but once we did it (on my friends rig), we couldn't stop the array, it got hung trying to unmount the drives.  We removed cache dirs and stopping the array then worked fine.  So there does appear to be a conflict with 6.  Has anyone got this to work or is there a plan to?  Or am I missing something?

 

[*]screen - This one is pretty important for running Pre-clear, so does 6 have this native or does anyone know if there are issues using it?

 

[*]clean power down - I actually didnt see a power down on the main page with 6, but we were having issues with stopping the array.  Once you stop it, does a safe power down appear?  I have to believe there is somewhere.

 

[*]pci utilities - I dont see a need

 

[*]monthly parity check - OK i read this is coming, any idea when?

 

[*]bandwidth monitor - i don't see a need.

 

[*]apcups - already in 6.

 

Any help or insight is much appreciated, thanks in advance.

[itimpi]

[*]unMENU - I am hoping to not need this anymore, but I do use the Smart View under MyMain quite often.  I like the red flag attributes popping up.  Is there anything like this is 6?

Not sure what that did?  One thing that v6 has is monitoring of key SMART attributes - is this equivalent.  You should look at the v6 Dashboard tab for a good overview of current system status.

 

• Simple Features - Not seeing a need for this at this point with 6.  Any thoughts?

Cannot be used with v6 (or even current v5).  The v6 GUI is based on Dynamix which superseded Simple Features.

 

• cache dirs - This is a plugin that is pretty important to me.  I found a link to install this in 6 on the plugin's page, but once we did it (on my friends rig), we couldn't stop the array, it got hung trying to unmount the drives.  We removed cache dirs and stopping the array then worked fine.  So there does appear to be a conflict with 6.  Has anyone got this to work or is there a plan to?  Or am I missing something?

I use cache_dirs. all the time in v6 without issues.  I can see that it might interfere with stopping the array if it is done too soon before cache_dirs has done its initial pass of the disks to get entries into RAM.  In such  case the shutdown process would appear to hang until cache_dirs finished the pass on the disk I is currently working on.

• screen - This one is pretty important for running Pre-clear, so does 6 have this native or does anyone know if there are issues using it?

There is a Nerd Pack plugin that provides a number of utilities including screen.  However there is also a Pre-clear plugin that allows you to run pre-clears via the GUI.

 

• clean power down - I actually didnt see a power down on the main page with 6, but we were having issues with stopping the array.  Once you stop it, does a safe power down appear?  I have to believe there is somewhere.

The option to power down is only available if the array is stopped.

There is also the Powerdown plugin that provides an enhanced powerdown capability that can still shut everything down safely even when the GUI is hanging (which stops the unRAID built-in powerdown completing successfully).

 

• monthly parity check - OK i read this is coming, any idea when?

Already in v6.  You set it up under the Scheduler settings.

 

Any help or insight is much appreciated, thanks in advance.

You might find the section on plugins in the v5 to v6 upgrade article to be of interest.

[garycase]

For the most part you won't need UnMenu.  The SMART status detail on the v6 dashboard is very thorough ... although it doesn't have the red flag attributes that MyMain provides (which I also like).  If you still want the MyMain features, UnMenu works just fine with v6, and doesn't "hurt" anything if it's installed.

 

v6 has built-in UPS support and e-mail notifications (temporarily broken in v6.1RC1, but that's clearly just temporary), so you don't need UnMenu to provide those functions.    The Safe Powerdown can be installed separately without the need for UnMenu.

 

As itimpi noted, Cache_Dirs works just fine in v6.  As with all versions, when you first boot the system it can take a while (I've seen well over 10 minutes) for Cache_Dirs to complete its initial read of the directories.  If you attempt to shut down during that period it will indeed cause a notable delay.    Otherwise it works just fine ... and if you have a LOT of files you can use the options to limit what is cached.

 

 

[TODDLT]

Thanks to both of you for the responses, they were very helpful.

 

1. When I complete the upgrade, what is the easiest way to remove all plugins and maintain my drive configuration?  If I just copy the full config folder won't it keep everything, including the current plugins?

 

2.  I haven't looked (yet, but will tonight)...  Are the locations for the clean power down,  nerd pack, and preclear plugins readily found in the V6 development section of the forum?

[trurl]

Thanks to both of you for the responses, they were very helpful.

 

1. When I complete the upgrade, what is the easiest way to remove all plugins and maintain my drive configuration?  If I just copy the full config folder won't it keep everything, including the current plugins?

 

2.  I haven't looked (yet, but will tonight)...  Are the locations for the clean power down,  nerd pack, and preclear plugins readily found in the V6 development section of the forum?

1. Just read the whole wiki article already linked and do a clean install, not keeping any plugins. That article will tell you what to copy and what not to copy from your old config. You must not boot up v6 with any of your old plugins.

 

2. There isn't really a separate v6 plugins section. Just go to the plugins section and the topics will tell you which version the plugin is for. Some plugins have v5 and v6 versions in their thread.

[TODDLT]

Thanks to both of you for the responses, they were very helpful.

 

1. When I complete the upgrade, what is the easiest way to remove all plugins and maintain my drive configuration?  If I just copy the full config folder won't it keep everything, including the current plugins?

 

2.  I haven't looked (yet, but will tonight)...  Are the locations for the clean power down,  nerd pack, and preclear plugins readily found in the V6 development section of the forum?

1. Just read the whole wiki article already linked and do a clean install, not keeping any plugins. That article will tell you what to copy and what not to copy from your old config. You must not boot up v6 with any of your old plugins.

 

2. There isn't really a separate v6 plugins section. Just go to the plugins section and the topics will tell you which version the plugin is for. Some plugins have v5 and v6 versions in their thread.

 

Thanks, I left the nerd pack off for now and will see what I need as i go.  I take it the "beta" preclear plugin is the only one? 

[garycase]

Yes, the PreClear plugin is still a Beta ... also note this is not supported by (or as far as I know endorsed by) Joe L.

 

There have been some issues with the Plugin, but it seems that it works fine as long as you're careful in setting it up.  I thought it was a great idea, but without Joe's endorsement, I still just use the basic Pre-Clear download and do it via command line.

 

The thread on the Plugin is here:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=39985.0