Migration to new server - any tips?


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I'm building a new server to replace my current one, this will be my switch to unRAID whilst taking the opportunity to upgrade hardware for more power and drives. My current server is running Ubuntu Server (16.04) from a USB drive, with four WD Red 3TB drives in a soft RAID 5 array for my data. It was originally built and used primarily as a media server, I've done the occasional tinkering and whilst it's been fun I no longer have the time to deal with the aftermath of things breaking and bringing the whole system down... I've decided to use unRAID as it looks like a great alternative.

 

I plan to build the new server starting with three newly purchased WD Red 3TB drives. Once unRaid is setup I'll move the 5TB of data on my current server over to the new server via GbE; the current array easily saturates the GbE over FTP and I estimate it will take around 12 hours to move everything. Once the data is migrated and everything is running nicely, I will move the four drives in my current server into the new server.

 

I'm posting here in hopes that you might be able to give me some tips to ease my switch over and to ensure unRAID is running optimally. I haven't detailed the builds in full as I wanted to keep this post short(ish); I plan to make a separate post of the build once complete however I'd be more than happy to post any more details on this thread if you so desire :)

 

Some specific questions:

I plan to add an SSD (128GB) as a cache drive once I have all seven HDD's in the new server, would there be any benefit to doing this from the start?

I plan to use FTP to migrate the data, would there be a better way to do this?

When the time comes to move the four drives from my current server over, should I reformat them externally?

I plan to install applications I use on my current server (e.g. SABnzbd & Sonarr) as Docker Containers where available, I've never used Docker but I want to use this opportunity to learn it, would there be any drawbacks in doing so? (over plugin variants)

 

Edited by Carrosive
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Hello and welcome.  Here are some thoughts:

 

The SSD you have for the cache drive will be best suited to function as an "application" drive for Dockers, it really won't help with the data migration.

 

You should definitely plan to install the Community Applications plugin and you might want to try the Unassigned Devices plugin to mount your current array from your new unRAID server.  You're generally going to use Dockers for all your media server functions but these plugins extend the OS and are very useful.

 

If you wait to setup the Parity drive until after the data migration the copy will go much faster.  unRAID will be unprotected during this time, but that should be Ok since you still have your original server.

 

When you move the old drives over you should let unRAID format them when adding them to the array.  Make sure all your drives are healthy though - check SMART reports.

  • Upvote 1
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@tdallen Really helpful - thank you!

 

Community Applications plugin looks great. Have installed Unassigned Devices however I was unable to mount my current array for whatever reason, currently copying via lftp in a SSH session on the new server and it's working well enough.

 

+1 for leaving Parity out of the array for the initial copy, I forgot about this bit and was surprised to see the copy going at a measly 20MB/s... Once sorted I'm at 105MB/s :)

 

Will be sure to check the SMART reports of the re-purposed drives, it's been months since I bothered to check them... :$

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