Hey guys!!

 

I ginally built my system and was about go get unRAID going when I had a 'crap' moment. I guess I am not properly versed in networking and I can't seem to get my un-RAID server to show up on my main PC's network. I havent created the parity drive or anything yet, I just boot up unRAID and login using 'root'

 

I bought a gigE switch, Netgear GS605, and thought I was going to be able to just plug and play but I guess not. I use brand new cat5e cable and connect the two using the ethernet plug and then turn on the switch, I get a notice of "little or no connectivity" and cant see my un-RAID.

 

I am running windows XP home and would really LOVE to get over this hurdle, I think its a 'duh' moment, hopefully something simple I just don't know about.

 

Thanks guys for any advice and help.

OK, a few things to check.

 

I just boot up unRAID and login using 'root'

 

I take it you are logging in on a screen connected to the UnRaid server.

 

1st. IP Address.  Are you using DHCP?  I'm guessing you don't have DHCP running on XP Home?  In which case you will need to give the UnRaid Server a fixed IP Address.  Do you know the IP address of your PC?  It will probably be something like 192.168.0.1 if it is you could give your UnRaid Server the IP address 192.168.0.2 manually by editing the network.cfg file in the config folder of you USB Key.

 

USE_DHCP=no
IPADDR=192.168.0.2
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1

 

Would be the most likely settings

 

2nd Workgroup  What network workgroup is your XP PC in?  Make sure that your Unraid is in the same workgroup (probably MSHOME, but you can call it what you like HOMENET for example).

 

Once these are done, can you access your server via a web browser by typing "http://192.168.0.2" (not including the quotes) in the browser address bar ?

 

If you can, is the array "STARTED" in the command area of the UnRaid system status webpage?

 

If you can't access it via a web browser, can you get the server to respond to a Ping?  Start a "Command Prompt" by finding it in your Windows Menu & type:- "ping 192.168.0.2" (not including the quotes).  If you get a response (as opposed to a timeout) then it's on the network.

 

Try these & post how you get on.

 

Mark.

 

You purchased a network switch, you really need a router.

 

A router will provide DHCP service and hand out TCP/IP addresses to devices on your LAN.  A Switch is just used to route packets to and from devices that already have TCP/IP addresses.

 

As already described, you can manually assign an IP address to your unRaid server, you will need to edit the network.cfg file on the flash drive.

 

First, on your XP machine open up a dos command window.  Once open type ipconfig and press enter.

 

It will list an IP address and subnet mask.  Report back here with what you get as the output of the ipconfig command.

You will probably get something like this:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

 

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : Belkin

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.3

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

 

The gateway is how I get to the internet, the IP address is the address of my PC.

 

Now, plug in the flash drive and use wordpad to edit the network.cfg file in the config folder.

My file looks like this, but I have a DHCP server.

# Generated network settings

USE_DHCP=yes

IPADDR=192.168.1.4

NETMASK=255.255.255.0

GATEWAY=192.168.1.1

 

Change your file to say USE_DHCP=no and to set the IPADDR to an iP address unused on your LAN.  if your PC has a IP address starting with 192.168.1. then you MUST use the same start for your unRaid server address.  You might make it 192.168.1.100   (Odds are it will not be in conflict on your network)  The gateway should be set to the same as on your PC.

 

Then save your network.cfg file, move the flash drive to the unraid server, and boot it up.

 

Then, from your PCs browser, type http://192.168.1.100 in its URL field.  Odds are you will be able to see the management screen.

 

Joe L.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe L.

Thanks for the awesome advice guys I was able to get it working I can login into the managment page!!

 

I ran into a little problem however, I stopped the array, assigned the hard drives by SN and then tried to start the array again. The Command area says "starting" with a red indicator and the 3 disks above each have blue indicators, they each list temp and size, under 'free' the 2 data drives say "mounting" and the parity drive says nothing.

 

On my monitor attached to the un-RAID it says"

 

mount : wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/md1,

missing codepage or other error

In some cases useful info is found in the syslog - try

dmesg | tail or so

 

mount : wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/md2,

missing codepage or other error

In some cases useful info is found in the syslog - try

dmesg | tail or so

 

and now it has just been sitting here forzen for some time, it seems they have a bad file system? I thought they were going to be formatted with the ReiserFS system? Is that wrong, again any help to get over these hurdles would is very appreciated. Thanks.

 

Were you given the option to format the data drives???  If so, and if you said yes the unraid server first clears the drives, then formats them, then builds parity.

 

It will look "frozen" while the clearing occurs.  This can take a LONG time if you have large size disks.

 

The status web-page does not refresh itself, use the refresh button to see current status.  I've never started an array as you are... I would not worry about the error messages as they simply seem to indicate no file system exists on the data drives and it sound like that was what you expected.

 

Did you manually assign an IP address as I described?  Or did you connect a router that supplied DHCP services?

 

Joe L.

I ended up grabbing this old linksys router I had from a while ago, and like you said it assigned everything for me automatically. 

 

There wasn't an option to format the drives, and when I just hit refresh it took me to towerrecords website  so i guess it wasnt reformatting them.

 

I can't connect back to the server management page atm, hmm ? I have the rootTower: ~# on the un-RAID monitor

 

btw my XP system reads this:

 

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : @home

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

 

Think I should I try edit the network.cfg file in stead of doing it automatically?

Now when I reboot the un-RAID server it says :  "login" then quickly the word "mount" appears with the same message before about the wrong file system, then I have the "root@Tower " option.

 

I cannot connect to the management page anymore either.

Now when I reboot the un-RAID server it says :  "login" then quickly the word "mount" appears with the same message before about the wrong file system, then I have the "root@Tower " option.

 

I cannot connect to the management page anymore either.

Are the disk activity lights flashing?  how big are the disks you are using?

Sorry I'm not sure what the disk activity lights are?

 

I am using 1 WD 320GB SATA and (2) WD 250GB SATA dri

 

I ended up connected al three hard drives through an external USB enclosure and deleted each partition, I then reformatted and installed 3.0 on the USB flash. I booted un-RAID and assigned the disk drives and then started the array. It said the same FS error on my un-RAID monitor but the array startted anyway. Currently a parity-sync is being run and it gives options to format the 2 other drives.

 

So far so good, I plan to let the parity-sync finish then format the drives. Btw I have my ISP -> a router -> a switch that both my regular computer and un_RAID are connected to. While I run the internet on my computer with a firewall/anti-virus, the question, is the un-RAID server (with no firewall/anti-virus protection) vulnerable to internet attacks while it is connected to the switch?

 

 

There error messages are normal; they're a result of system trying to determine what file system, if any, is on your data drives.  When it determines there is no file system, then you will see the status 'Unformatted' and the 'Format' button will be present.  You do not have to wait for parity sync to complete before formatting.