May 2, 201016 yr Hi everyone, after some testing with the free version in a VM, I have made up my mind to migrate my existing home server to a solution, based on unRAID. I've read and researched the information in this excellent forum and the wiki, but still some questions are unanswered or left me with some degree of uncertainty. I'd appreciate any comments or hints for the following before I will start with my first build... Is it possible to use/boot a PLUS or PRO version of unRAID based on a hdd-based full slackware install? If yes: is it required to have/leave the USB-Stick (with the license) in the system, although booting from hdd? [br/] When adding a cache drive, is it possible to use just a part/partition of the physical device as a cache drive with unRAID? If yes: how's the procedure adding a partition as opposed to a whole disk device? Will unRAID allow to make use of LVM based logical volumes for the cache drive? (I am going to use a "FAST" SSD, so performance is not an issue to me, here) Many thanks in advance! regards, Fred Here are some background infos, if you care to read on... I am currently running a setup based on PROXMOX VE, a debian virtual hosting solution that supports kvm and openvz guests. Although using an undervolted AMD X2 64 3800 SF EE (2.0GHz Dual Core with 35W TDP), my setup seldom runs on less than 70W and my tower needs to move into a small, wall mount 19" rack (10HE, ultra short depth). So I've been looking for a greener & smaller solution.... I also need to supply various services for which I employ different VMs (Windoze, UPnP/DLNA, NAS(Openfiler), ... to name a few) to the family. Using the File Services/NAS in a VM, with a - even thin - layer for disk access is not giving me a good night's rest. So I came up with the following unRAID setup: MoBo: supermicro X7SPA-HF (in a supermicro SC503-200B case, 80plus 200W PSU) Ram: 4GB (Kingston Hyper-X S0-667/CL4; hopefully the MoBo will eat them, but they were cheaper than the CL5 standards) USB-Stick: Transcend JetFlash T3, 8GB First Disk: Kingston 128GB V+ SSD (TRIM and GC support) 5 more disks in a cremax ICY Dock MB455SPF-B enclosure; starting with 2 WD20EARS and filled with the remaining disks after successful migration. Software: unRAID 4.5.3, full slackware install with virtualbox (the MoBo's ATOM D510 CPU has no VT-x support; but running a Windoze VM is fine with VBox). After this, my internal SATA connectors are used up, but I won't need more in the near&far future. I rather tend to save the PCI-E slot for adding a dual DVB-S2 card later (using tvheadend or VDR for live streaming and recording) unRAID PLUS with/on full slackware, SWAP, cache drive and root-disks for the VMs will reside on the SSD. That's why I'd prefer to use LVM in order to remain flexible with the assigned local storage to these functions... ...hopefully the equipment will be delivered during next week, so I can start building (and purchasing the PLUS version). Oh, yes I am aware that the config will not pay off in terms of consuming lesser energy to deliver an ROI for the hardware during the next 10 years...but the setup inside the 19" rack is part of the WAF
May 2, 201016 yr Is it possible to use/boot a PLUS or PRO version of unRAID based on a hdd-based full slackware install? Yes If yes: is it required to have/leave the USB-Stick (with the license) in the system, although booting from hdd?Yes, it must be present. When adding a cache drive, is it possible to use just a part/partition of the physical device as a cache drive with unRAID?Yes, but the partition1 must be the cache drive partition. If yes: how's the procedure adding a partition as opposed to a whole disk device?Use fdisk, or cfdisk to partition it. This has been discussed in the forum in the past. A search should find it Will unRAID allow to make use of LVM based logical volumes for the cache drive? (I am going to use a "FAST" SSD, so performance is not an issue to me, here)The LVM manager is not part of unRAID. The entire "md" driver has been replaced, so I highly doubt if it (LVM) can even be added. You can use "hardware" raid on some SATA chipsets for the cache drive, but that is it. Reports are it will work, but that drive-spin-down does not occur and disk temperature not reported. The need for a cache drive has largely been eliminated for most users since current "write" speeds to the protected array have been reported in 4.5.3 unRAID as high as 40 to 45 MB/s with no cache drive present. The cache drive concept was added to unRAID years ago when it had performance in the 9 to 12 MB/s range on older slower IDE based hardware and older versions of linux still using the pdflush process. That is no longer the case. I personally do not use a cache drive. Many thanks in advance! regards, Fred
May 2, 201016 yr Author ...wow! That was a fast response...thanks for the useful infos provided Joe L. ! When adding a cache drive, is it possible to use just a part/partition of the physical device as a cache drive with unRAID?Yes, but the partition1 must be the cache drive partition. Ahhh! good to know! If yes: how's the procedure adding a partition as opposed to a whole disk device?Use fdisk, or cfdisk to partition it. This has been discussed in the forum in the past. A search should find it Hmm, yes I know how to do that. Partitioning is not an issue. Adding the drive via the WebUI is what I am uncertain of. Since I am not a native english speaker, let me rephrase... Every disk is added via WebUI, that holds true for the cache drive, right? It's called a "drive", so I assumed that unRAID would partition and format it during the "add process" in the UI. Adding a pre-setup partition is possible through the UI, though? Since I only have seen the free version, I could not tell exactly on how to do that... Will unRAID allow to make use of LVM based logical volumes for the cache drive? (I am going to use a "FAST" SSD, so performance is not an issue to me, here)The LVM manager is not part of unRAID. The entire "md" driver has been replaced, so I highly doubt if it (LVM) can even be added. You can use "hardware" raid on some SATA chipsets for the cache drive, but that is it. Reports are it will work, but that drive-spin-down does not occur and disk temperature not reported. OK, LVM is logical devices only and does not know of RAID or underlying md stuff ... LVM and md should be stackable in any order, AFAIK. But I want to use it for the first disk (SSD) only...when running a full slackware, LVM is available...since I need that disk/drive for hosting my root-FS for the VMs, I thought of using parts of it as a cache drive as well...LVM brings some freedom for the other features I desire. The need for a cache drive has largely been eliminated for most users since current "write" speeds to the protected array have been reported in 4.5.3 unRAID as high as 40 to 45 MB/s with no cache drive present. The cache drive concept was added to unRAID years ago when it had performance in the 9 to 12 MB/s range on older slower IDE based hardware and older versions of linux still using the pdflush process. That is no longer the case. I personally do not use a cache drive. Yes, you have a point there....in my final vision I will run some kind of video/DVB service&live-streams...when using the internal cache drive on SSD for recordings/time-shift, ad-removal & transcoding before the final data hits the array, I'd save power and resources (spin up/down cycles) and spare a manual move of the data as well. Besides the array I only have one sata slot to spare for all of these features...that's why I'd put in a SSD and focused on using LVM to adjust sizes on the fly as needs will turn out during lifecycle.
May 2, 201016 yr ...wow! That was a fast response...thanks for the useful infos provided Joe L. ! When adding a cache drive, is it possible to use just a part/partition of the physical device as a cache drive with unRAID?Yes, but the partition1 must be the cache drive partition. Ahhh! good to know! If yes: how's the procedure adding a partition as opposed to a whole disk device?Use fdisk, or cfdisk to partition it. This has been discussed in the forum in the past. A search should find it Hmm, yes I know how to do that. Partitioning is not an issue. Adding the drive via the WebUI is what I am uncertain of. Since I am not a native english speaker, let me rephrase... Every disk is added via WebUI, that holds true for the cache drive, right? It's called a "drive", so I assumed that unRAID would partition and format it during the "add process" in the UI. If partition 1 of the drive is already formatted as a reiserfs file-system it will be used and not re-formatted. Adding a pre-setup partition is possible through the UI, though? Since I only have seen the free version, I could not tell exactly on how to do that... No, you'll need to do that on the command line. unRAID is not made for multiple partitions via the web-interface. It can only deal with the first partition. Will unRAID allow to make use of LVM based logical volumes for the cache drive? (I am going to use a "FAST" SSD, so performance is not an issue to me, here)The LVM manager is not part of unRAID. The entire "md" driver has been replaced, so I highly doubt if it (LVM) can even be added. You can use "hardware" raid on some SATA chipsets for the cache drive, but that is it. Reports are it will work, but that drive-spin-down does not occur and disk temperature not reported. OK, LVM is logical devices only and does not know of RAID or underlying md stuff ... LVM and md should be stackable in any order, AFAIK. Ah, but the LVM manager is not compiled into the unRAID kernel. But I want to use it for the first disk (SSD) only...when running a full slackware, LVM is available...since I need that disk/drive for hosting my root-FS for the VMs, I thought of using parts of it as a cache drive as well...LVM brings some freedom for the other features I desire. The need for a cache drive has largely been eliminated for most users since current "write" speeds to the protected array have been reported in 4.5.3 unRAID as high as 40 to 45 MB/s with no cache drive present. The cache drive concept was added to unRAID years ago when it had performance in the 9 to 12 MB/s range on older slower IDE based hardware and older versions of linux still using the pdflush process. That is no longer the case. I personally do not use a cache drive. Yes, you have a point there....in my final vision I will run some kind of video/DVB service&live-streams...when using the internal cache drive on SSD for recordings/time-shift, ad-removal & transcoding before the final data hits the array, I'd save power and resources (spin up/down cycles) and spare a manual move of the data as well. Besides the array I only have one sata slot to spare for all of these features...that's why I'd put in a SSD and focused on using LVM to adjust sizes on the fly as needs will turn out during lifecycle. Good luck. If you are skilled you can get it working, if not comfortable with compiling, I somehow doubt you will do all that on one box. It really depends on your skills. As I said, there is no LVM management or capability. There are people that record HDTV transport streams to the unRAID array, and that is much much higher MB/s than video surveillance. Joe L.
May 3, 201016 yr Author Ah, but the LVM manager is not compiled into the unRAID kernel. Hmm, yes..I see what you mean...device-mapper is not part of unRAID md source as it seems..so no easy LVM...pity.. Good luck. If you are skilled you can get it working, if not comfortable with compiling, I somehow doubt you will do all that on one box. It really depends on your skills. As I said, there is no LVM management or capability. Yes, thanks for the good wishes...I am on linux since kernel 0.9x...not a kernel hacker but I've learned my lessons building some kernels & systems since back then. LVM is just nice2have for my setup...Support for VBox and extra space for VMs root-FS is vital though...I'll report how things are going. regards, Fred
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