I know we can mount drives with external plugins, but it seems that the "cache drive" feature is used to mount a system or app drive far more then it's used as a cache drive. I would love to see the ability to mount drives outside the array on start up - before plugins execute - as part of the core OS. That way we could have a cache drive as well as a separate drive for apps/vms/dockers.

That way we could have a cache drive as well as a separate drive for apps/vms/dockers.

 

Is there a use case for why you would want these on a separate drive? IMO most users I've seen have no problem with these being on the same drive, if there is a use case that supports this, it'll gain more traction.

It's more to do with performance (SSD) VS longevity (spinning disk).

 

If you are using your UnRAID box as a traditional network file server, a 7200rpm spinning disk is a better choice as it will handle the daily reads and writes better.

 

If you are using your box as a media server, an SSD provides improved read performance for an index and meta data.

 

In my case, I'm using an SSD for my cache drive for my dockers, media index/meta data, and app config files, and a spinning disk (mounted with the Unassigned Devices plugin) for Sabnzbd and Transmission to download to. If I wanted a traditional cache drive now, I would be sharing the SSD when the spinning disk is probably the better location. I tried swapping the drives, but then I ran into the race condition between Docker starting and the SSD getting mounted (I know there are work arounds, but I don't need a cache drive ATM).

 

The other factor is purely the aesthetics of my critical app drive being listed as an Unassigned Device - but that might be able to be improved in the plugin I'm using.

 

That's my $0.02

I've had a similar idea, basically an app drive similar to cache with the ability to do multi-disk btrfs.  This would allow unraid to have array, cache and app tier of disks.

 

I'm starting to notice that plex transcoding and copying from sonarr are competing for cache ssd resources and it's causing issues for my dad who just started using my plex server over vpn.  It would be really great to have a separate tier as stated above, different disk specs can be used depending on the use case.  The mid-tier ssd i have for cache is great for that purpose but i'd probably get an enterprise Intel ssd for app purposes.

+1

 

I currently use 3 x HDD's for my cache in a multi-disk BTRFS config and then SSD's using the Unassigned Device plugin for my VM's.

 

I would be interested in having an App Drive that is configured similar to the cache. You could go as far as giving start up options for Docker and VM's to start with the App Drive on boot or Array Start (current). I realise it is not that simple from reading other posts but it is something I would like to see.

+2

 

I would like an app drive too.

Purely for VMs, docker containers and image

This seems to be same as the 'app class' feature request - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=52095.0,  right?

This seems to be same as the 'app class' feature request - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=52095.0,  right?

Yes it's basically the same thing. The main theme of both threads is to have a dedicated drive to dockers and VMs rather than use the cache or data drives.

 

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Count me in for this one. I have an nvme where my vms are stored which is set in the cache pool. As this drive is quick and I can only have one at the moment I can not add anything else to my cache pool without risking slow downs.

 

Therefore all my shares are not allowed to use the cache as the space on that drive is used for my vms so needs keeping.

 

Whilst right now it would probably work fine with the UD plugin I want to be able to add potentially more nvme devices later on and have some slower ssds for caching which are entirely separate to this nvme drive

Im also down for this! If this ever makes it to beta I will be downloading ASAP

 

This would make unraid complete for me. I want to have a large cache drive for use as a torrent scratch disk which would add unnecessary wear to an SSD but I want an SSD for my Plex database, docker and VMs where it would be best used.

 

It wouldnt be too difficult in my mind. Just copy the setup for the cache pool for an app pool.