Hi

 

Can someone confirm that this UPS (800Va APC BR800i ) is suitable for use with unRAID so I can automatically powerdown in the event of a power cut (once I've installed the necessary customisation):

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/800Va-APC-BR800i-Tower-UPS-Retail-Boxed

 

I'm guessing the 650Va may not be enought?:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650VA-APC-Tower-UPS-with-Internet-DSL-Fax-Modem-Protection-Retail-Box

 

I have an 11 disk array (which will become 14). It will be on 24/7 but used infrequently and I want it to automatically (and immediately) powerdown without manual intervention. Power cuts where I live are infrequent but the wiring in my house leaves a little to be desired (am re-wiring room by room as we go along) so I expect any power failure to last longer than the UPS could supply power.

 

Also, and this is probably a very silly question, I'm also using the directory cache function so my disks don't spin-up unnecessarily - would this prevent the UPS from powering down unRAID? (I only ask because I have to press 'stop' a couple of times before powering down).... told you it was a silly question...

 

Thanks

 

No personal experience here, but both look fine with nice feature sets, and both claim USB connectivity, so I can't think of any reason why they would not be fully compatible with the standard APC software tools, such as are used here.  The 650VA should be enough for you, but the 800VA includes AVR, which may be helpful if you have a lot of power issues.  With your wiring issues, it is even more important to have a good UPS.  Of course, the most important aspect of bad wiring is making sure you do not have a shock risk to your family around ungrounded appliances, then making sure wire current capacities are sufficient to avoid fire hazards to your home and family.  After that, make sure that hot and neutral are not miss-wired.

 

I would like to comment on your intended policy of immediate power down.  It is my understanding from a long ago reading of a study about power disruptions, that most power glitches were less than 2 minutes long (I believe they referred to the '80/20 rule').  The rest of the power loss durations (eg. 3 minutes to 3 days) were more evenly spaced out.  In other words, if you can cover the first 2 minutes, then you cover most of the problems, and you might as well power down after that, because the rest of the possible durations were just as likely to be much longer as they were likely to be short.  Increasing it from 2 minutes to 5 minutes does give a little more coverage, because you are still sliding a little down the curve, but with increasingly diminishing improvement.  With your wiring issues, I think a 2 to 5 minute power down delay is even more important than for most, and that is what I would recommend.

 

Concerning cache_dirs, I think you will want to use the -B option, with the most recent unRAID releases, to avoid the need for multiple 'stops'.

Concerning cache_dirs, I think you will want to use the -B option, with the most recent unRAID releases, to avoid the need for multiple 'stops'.

The recent versions of unRAID do not enable the "Stop" button while waiting for a disk to not be busy... Therefore, "-B" option or not, you only need to press Stop once if on 4.5b7 onward.

 

Joe L.

Thank you both for your replies - good points, all noted. I won't opt for immediate powerdown.

 

Concerning cache_dirs, I think you will want to use the -B option, with the most recent unRAID releases, to avoid the need for multiple 'stops'.

The recent versions of unRAID do not enable the "Stop" button while waiting for a disk to not be busy... Therefore, "-B" option or not, you only need to press Stop once if on 4.5b7 onward.

 

 

One thing - I'm not keen on using a beta (currently on 4.4.2) - I'd rather wait for the 'official' release. I've read through the cache_dirs post and presumably the -B option won't work on 4.4.2. Does that mean that the array won't auto-powerdown? Perhaps the only way to be sure is to buy the UPS and try it out (hook-up the UPS by USB but keep the unRAID box plugged into the mains, turn off the UPS power, let it drain down and see what happens!). I guess it won't be too long until 4.5 is out?

 

Thanks again

Thank you both for your replies - good points, all noted. I won't opt for immediate powerdown.

 

Concerning cache_dirs, I think you will want to use the -B option, with the most recent unRAID releases, to avoid the need for multiple 'stops'.

The recent versions of unRAID do not enable the "Stop" button while waiting for a disk to not be busy... Therefore, "-B" option or not, you only need to press Stop once if on 4.5b7 onward.

 

 

One thing - I'm not keen on using a beta (currently on 4.4.2) - I'd rather wait for the 'official' release. I've read through the cache_dirs post and presumably the -B option won't work on 4.4.2. Does that mean that the array won't auto-powerdown? Perhaps the only way to be sure is to buy the UPS and try it out (hook-up the UPS by USB but keep the unRAID box plugged into the mains, turn off the UPS power, let it drain down and see what happens!). I guess it won't be too long until 4.5 is out?

 

Thanks again

If you install the "powerdown" script the apcupsd process will use it to cleanly shut down the server.  The "powerdown" script has code in it to kill any processes accessing the disks if a powerdown is needed. 

 

Neither the use of the cache_dirs "-B" option, or not affects it.  The "-B" option is only to eliminate the child processes keeping disks busy so you won't press "Stop" and see most of your disks as "Unformatted" when they are actually just un-mounted.  Even that is not harmful on the older releases unless you press the then visible "Format" button.  It just disturbed some users (me too when I first saw it).

 

On a newer release, the "-B" option to cache_dirs may be used, or not... really does not make any difference.  You will only need to press "Stop" on the user-interface once.

 

It is entirely up to you when to use the 4.5 release series.  I expect it will be 4.5-final soon enough.  Tom has been focusing on some performance issues in making it far better for users of high-bitrate media..  If the unRAID server is currently handling your needs,  then 4.4.2 is as good as any release to be on.

 

Joe L.

Thank you both for your replies - good points, all noted. I won't opt for immediate powerdown.

 

Concerning cache_dirs, I think you will want to use the -B option, with the most recent unRAID releases, to avoid the need for multiple 'stops'.

The recent versions of unRAID do not enable the "Stop" button while waiting for a disk to not be busy... Therefore, "-B" option or not, you only need to press Stop once if on 4.5b7 onward.

 

 

One thing - I'm not keen on using a beta (currently on 4.4.2) - I'd rather wait for the 'official' release. I've read through the cache_dirs post and presumably the -B option won't work on 4.4.2. Does that mean that the array won't auto-powerdown? Perhaps the only way to be sure is to buy the UPS and try it out (hook-up the UPS by USB but keep the unRAID box plugged into the mains, turn off the UPS power, let it drain down and see what happens!). I guess it won't be too long until 4.5 is out?

 

Thanks again

If you install the "powerdown" script the apcupsd process will use it to cleanly shut down the server.  The "powerdown" script has code in it to kill any processes accessing the disks if a powerdown is needed.   

 

Neither the use of the cache_dirs "-B" option, or not affects it.   The "-B" option is only to eliminate the child processes keeping disks busy so you won't press "Stop" and see most of your disks as "Unformatted" when they are actually just un-mounted.   Even that is not harmful on the older releases unless you press the then visible "Format" button.  It just disturbed some users (me too when I first saw it).

 

On a newer release, the "-B" option to cache_dirs may be used, or not... really does not make any difference.  You will only need to press "Stop" on the user-interface once.

 

It is entirely up to you when to use the 4.5 release series.  I expect it will be 4.5-final soon enough.  Tom has been focusing on some performance issues in making it far better for users of high-bitrate media..  If the unRAID server is currently handling your needs,  then 4.4.2 is as good as any release to be on.

 

Joe L.

 

Thanks Joe L. I'll think I'll go for it.

Re: 4.5 I'll be keen on upgrading as I have all of my BluRays ripped to unRAID. If only my Popcornhour C200 played ball..........

 

Cheers