unRAID Server release 4.5-beta8 available


limetech

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Direct download | Torrent (thanks to WeeboTech)

 

This release includes bug fixes and a driver change that should result in significantly faster write performance to the array.  In addition there are some key configurable settings that can affect memory usage, write performance, and parity-sync performance.  But since it's 2:30AM I will wait until tomorrow to describe how to do that  ;)

 

One thing that delayed this release was that for the longest time, I was making driver changes which should have resulted in better write performance but were always 'stuck' at a low rate.  Finally decided to test the hard drives in my development system and what do you know?  There were some hard drives which would read at 70+MB/sec, but only write at 9-16MB/sec (raw transfer to/from drive).  Turns out these were Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB hard drives with firmware "SD15".  From the Seagate website it seems this is a known problem and there is a firmware fix called "SD1A".  So after re-flashing the hard drives, all of a sudden everything worked... nothing is ever easy  :P

 

unRAID Server 4.5-beta8 Release Notes
=====================================

Changes from 4.5-beta7 to 4.5-beta8
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Enable 'Cache Drive' feature with 'Plus' registration key.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed path length limitation in user share file system.
- Fixed incorrect handling of file/directory mode and extended attributes in user share file system.
- Fixed intermittant kernel crash with more than 19 hard drives in array.

Other changes:
- Increased write peformance and added three user-tunables:
        md_num_stripes to set the stripe cache size
md_write_limit to set a ceiling on most number of active write stripes
md_sync_window to set the parity sync/check window size in stripes
- The 'mover' script now uses 'rsync' to move files from the Cache drive to the array.
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.31.5
- Changed linux kernel preemption model to "Voluntary Kernel Preemption".
- Enable Samba asynchronous I/O.
- Changed 'ide_core' from module to built-in.


unRAID Server 4.5-beta7 Release Notes
=====================================

Changes from 4.5-beta6 to 4.5-beta7
-----------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- If 'config/style.css' is not present, then don't tell browser to load it.
- Fixed kernel crash when number of drives > 17, now correctly supports up to 20 drives ('Pro' issue only).

Other changes:
- Prevent disks appearing 'unformatted' as a result of incomplete Stop Array operation.
- Add driver for Adaptec 2410SA PCI RAID card (untested).
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.30.8
- Upgrade samba to 3.3.7
- Upgrade fuse to 2.8.1


Changes from 4.5-beta5 to 4.5-beta6
-----------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- Fix ntp startup problem.
- Fix bogus temperature values being displayed when disks are spun down (bug introduced in -beta5).

Other changes:
- Permit spaces in Active Directory account login username.  Any valid AD character should now be possible EXCEPT for the percent '%' symbol.  This is because the '%' symbol is used by linux 'net' command as a separator between username and password, as in:
net ads join -U username%password


Changes from 4.5-beta4 to 4.5-beta5
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Added new share allocation method called "Fill-up".
- Added "Min free space" setting for each share.
- Special handling of split level explictly set to "0".
- The 'mover' will now delete empty directories on the cache disk.
- After looking in the 'config' directory on the Flash for the license key file (for backward compatibility), if not found, unRAID Server OS will look in the root of the Flash.  This allows easier backup/restore of the 'config' directory contents.

Bug fixes:
- Fix wrong 'memtest' in zip file - oops.
- Fix powerdown script.
- Fixed problem where drives would sometimes spin down immediately following spin up.

Other changes:
- Don't store AD adminstrator password, and don't display personal information in the system log.
- Can now use any printable characters in password strings.
- When disabling NCQ don't try to set queue_depth to 1 if it's already set to 0.
- Upgrade ntp from version to 4.2.4p0 to 4.2.4p6.  Also save/restore ntp drift file to/from Flash.
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.29.1
- Support Marvell SAS driver.


Changes from 4.5-beta3 to 4.5-beta4
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Increased maximum number of array devices from 16 to 20 (Pro only).
- Pressing Power button gracefully shuts down the server.
- Disable NCQ on all disk devices that support NCQ.  This typically results in much better write throughput.  A setting called "Force NCQ disabled [yes/no]" is also available in the Disk section of the Settings page of the System Management Utility to override this new behavior.  That is, if this setting is 'yes', then we force NCQ off; if setting is 'no', we leave NCQ queue_depth as-is, ie, whatever linux driver sets it to.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed syslog rotation problem - syslog was rotated, but then syslogd was not restarted.

Other changes:
- Support SAS (Serially-Attached SCSI).
- Support Initio 162x SATA chipset.
- Support the motherboard speaker (beeping).
- Added 'lm_sensors' package.
- Upgrade Samba to version 3.3.3.
- Upgrade memtest to version 2.11 in release zip file.


Changes from 4.5-beta2 to 4.5-beta3
-----------------------------------

Known issues:
- The 'reiserfs' file system is built with kernel-option to enable extended attribute support.  This is necessary for Active Directory.  Even if file system is not mounted with extended attributes, reiserfs still seems to create a hidden file called '.reiserfs_priv' in the volume root. This file is harmless and does not appear in any share.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed problem where all Flash files appeared to have Hidden/System/Archive all set.
- Fixed upgrade problem where 'simple security' was not being initialized properly.
- After formatting a new disk, the 'File system type' was not being updated.
- If cache disk present, should allow 'use cache disk' option in creating new share.
- Fixed problem with mover not moving.

Other changes:
- Changed name of samba include file introduced in -beta2 from 'boot/config/smb.extra' to 'boot/config/smb-extra.conf'.
- Upgrade Samba to (patched) version 3.3.2.  The patch is a bug fix that prevented windows client from removing Read-only attribute (previous versions of samba 3.3.x fail with 'Access denied').
- If security model is not Active Directory don't mount the data disks with acl & extended attributes enabled.
- Prevent recording (ie, writing) 'last access time' when directories and files are read on the Flash.
- Added 'lsof' command.
- Include 'Hardware Monitoring' in the linux kernel build along with this device support:
  AMD Athlon64/FX or Opteron temperature sensor
  Intel Core (2) Duo/Solo temperature sensor
  ITE IT87xx and compatibles
  Winbond W83627HF, W83627THF, W83637HF, W83687THF, W83697HF
  Winbond W83627EHF/DHG


Changes from 4.4.2 to 4.5-beta2
-------------------------------

New features:
- Support Active Directory Service (ADS).  This lets an unRAID server join an Active Directory (AD) domain.
- System Management Utility will now use a CSS style sheet file on the Flash (config/style.css) if present.
- May now read syslog directly via browser by referencing 'http://tower/log/syslog' (substitute 'tower' with your server name).  Actually any 'file' in the /var/log directory can be read via 'http://tower/log/file'.
- May now read arbitrary files on disk and user shares via http protocol by referencing URL 'http://tower/share/<diskN>/...' or 'http://tower/share/user/<sharename>/...' (substitute 'tower' with your server name).
- Samba configuration now 'includes' the file on the Flash 'config/smb.extra' if present.  This is included at the end of the 'global' section just before the share definitions.  This may be used to customize the Samba configuration.
- Added control to enable/disable 'mover' logging.

Bug fixes:
- With user mode security enabled, would not accept 'root' share login until password was set at least once.
- Fixed problem in 'mover' script where mover would attempt to move objects in a top-level directory staring with a '.' character.  These would all fail and cause excessive syslog messages.
- Fixed bug in 'logrotate' which would prevent syslog from rotating.

Other changes:
- Part of adding AD support: Removed "User security [enabled/disabled]" control from Shares page, and added "Share security [simple/User Level/Active Directory]" control to Settings page:
  unRAID 'Basic' (free version) supports only 'Simple' share security model;
  unRAID 'Plus' supports 'Simple' and 'User Level' share security models only;
  unRAID 'Pro' supports all share security models ('Simple', 'User Level', and 'Active Directory').
- Removed System Management Utility control for setting SMB ports; this can be done via 'config/smb.extra' if desired.
- Change spin-down logic to account for external programs spinning drives up/down.
- Per user request, added '/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.9'
- Upgraded to linux kernel 2.6.28.4.
- Upgraded to samba 3.3.0.


Upgrade Instructions (Please Read Carefully)
============================================

If you are currently running unRAID Server 4.2-beta1 or higher (including 4.2.x 'final'), please copy the following files from the new release to the root of your Flash device:
    bzimage
    bzroot

If you are currently running unRAID server 4.0 or 4.1, please copy the following files from the new release to the root of your Flash device:
    bzimage
    bzroot
    syslinux.cfg
    menu.c32
    memtest

This can be done either by plugging the Flash into your PC or, by copying the files to the 'flash' share on your running server.  The server must then be rebooted.

If you are currently running unRAID Server 3.0-beta1 or higher, please follow these steps to upgrade:

1. Referring to the System Management Utility 'Main' page, make a note of each disks's model/serial number; you will need this information later.

2. Shut down your server, remove the Flash and plug it into your PC.

3. Right-click your Flash device listed under My Computer and select Properties.  Make sure the volume label is set to "UNRAID" (without the quotes) and click OK.  You do NOT need to format the Flash.

4. Copy the files from the new release to the root of your Flash device.

5. Right-click your Flash device listed under My Computer and select Eject.  Remove the Flash, install in your server and power-up.

6. After your server has booted up, the System Management Utility 'Main' page will probably show no devices; this is OK, navigate to the 'Devices' page. Using the model/serial number information gathered in step 1, assign each of your hard drives to the correct disk slot.

7. Go back to the 'Main' page and your devices should appear correctly.  You may now Start the array.


If you are installing this release to a new Flash, please refer to instructions on our website at:

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=19

 

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Finally decided to test the hard drives in my development system and what do you know?  There were some hard drives which would read at 70+MB/sec, but only write at 9-16MB/sec (raw transfer to/from drive).  Turns out these were Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB hard drives with firmware "SD15".  From the Seagate website it seems this is a known problem and there is a firmware fix called "SD1A".  So after re-flashing the hard drives, all of a sudden everything worked... nothing is ever easy  :P

 

Funny you should mention that as i experienced problems with that model of 1TB drives. I have 4 of them all with the older flash revision and re-flashed the firmware to SD1A a few months back, and haven't had a problems since then.

 

unRaid would not recognize a few of those drives when i restarted the server. I had the same problem with Windows 7 RC previously. Even the bios wasn't recognizing them. It was after installing unRaid that i decided this wasn't an OS or bios problem, but a drive problem, and upgraded the firmware.

 

UnRaid has been running great since the firmware update  ;D

 

Gary

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Other changes:

- Increased write peformance and added three user-tunables:

        md_num_stripes to set the stripe cache size

md_write_limit to set a ceiling on most number of active write stripes

md_sync_window to set the parity sync/check window size in stripes

 

 

Many thanks for that!!

Write performance increase from 10MB/s to 27MB/s

This is great.

 

regards

F451

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Great work, Tom! Adding the cache drive function to the Plus license will certainly please a lot of people! :)

 

Does this update include the permissions fix for user shares you mentioned?

 

Is it that we get an extra disc of Plus license ? I already use all, if so that should be great.

 

//Peter

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My apologies but I haven't kept up with the beta threads, but I have a question.

 

I wouuld love to upgrade to this for the increased write speeds, however is this beta compatible with "BubbaRaid" as well as the "cache_dirs" and automated monthly parity check scripts? I find them valuable so I don't want to lose their functionality.

 

Thanks in advance

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My apologies but I haven't kept up with the beta threads, but I have a question.

 

I wouuld love to upgrade to this for the increased write speeds, however is this beta compatible with:

"BubbaRaid"

NO

as well as the "cache_dirs" and automated monthly parity check scripts?

Yes

I find them valuable so I don't want to lose their functionality.

 

Thanks in advance

One of the things keeping me on 4.4.2 is BubbaRAID (really the only thing).  He has said that he is NOT going to release a new version of BubbaRAID until version 5 of unRAID is released. so if you want all the functionallity that his package provides with the newest beta's you are going to have to role your own install of each component he provides.

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My apologies but I haven't kept up with the beta threads, but I have a question.

 

I wouuld love to upgrade to this for the increased write speeds, however is this beta compatible with:

"BubbaRaid"

NO

as well as the "cache_dirs" and automated monthly parity check scripts?

Yes

I find them valuable so I don't want to lose their functionality.

 

Thanks in advance

One of the things keeping me on 4.4.2 is BubbaRAID (really the only thing).  He has said that he is NOT going to release a new version of BubbaRAID until version 5 of unRAID is released. so if you want all the functionallity that his package provides with the newest beta's you are going to have to role your own install of each component he provides.

 

Thanks for the answers. I'll stay on 4.4.2 for now then. The unmenu functionality, automated email, and UPS backup are too valuable for me right now to offset the write speed increase.

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- Increased write peformance and added three user-tunables:

- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.31.5

- Changed linux kernel preemption model to "Voluntary Kernel Preemption".

- Enable Samba asynchronous I/O.

OMG this is BIG!

Now I can breathe.  8)

 

I almost had an orgasm.

 

 

 

Anyone care to explain what this means for the windows geeks? :)

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Very exciting release!!!  But hope everyone remembers this is BETA, and these are some new features for unRAID.

 

If you have a test array or are the adventuresome type, install beta8, test it thoroughly, and let the rest of the community know your experiences.  If you are running a large important (to you) array, you might want to wait for others to check Beta8 thoroughly before taking the plunge.

 

Suggested tests ...

- Experiement with the new settings to determine best performance settings

- Copy some large files back and forth and use md5 to confirm they copied correctly

- Run a parity check and make sure it works

- Experiment with different drives, different manufacturers, and firmware levels

- Determine if video stuttering occurs while copying data to the array

- Carefully review the syslog for any unusual errors after "stressful" activity

- Confirm compatibility with unmenu, directory cache, powerdown, and other community developed tools you use

 

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- Increased write performance and added three user-tunables:

   md_num_stripes to set the stripe cache size

   md_write_limit to set a ceiling on most number of active write stripes

   md_sync_window to set the parity sync/check window size in stripes

 

noob question. How do I activated these? I don't have a cache drive (yet), so 'md_write_limit' and 'md_sync_window' only apply for me, right? What is a good value to set these at?

 

Many thanks, I'm still learning and having fun.

 

Edit: Both my Seagate 500GiG drives are:

Model Number:       ST3500641AS                             

Firmware Revision:  3.AAD

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- Increased write peformance and added three user-tunables:

- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.31.5

- Changed linux kernel preemption model to "Voluntary Kernel Preemption".

- Enable Samba asynchronous I/O.

 

Anyone care to explain what this means for the windows geeks? :)

 

The tunables have to do with operation of the low-level unraid driver.  This will be explained in another post.

 

The linux kernel update is the the current "latest" - like doing a 'Windows Update'.

 

The preemption model is a kernel setting that has to do with how CPU time is divided among the various running processes.  This should make the server a bit more 'responsive' to multiple I/O streams.

 

'Samba' is the linux module that provides Windows Networking capability by implementing Microsoft's "SMB" protocol.  Enabling asynchronous I/O should also make the server a bit more 'responsive' to multiple I/O streams.

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