How to do a proper initial setup of unRAID

[mhweb]

So, I finally built my first unRAID server, and I'm pretty happy on how it came out.

However, I'm still a newbie to the software, and I have a lot to learn.

I have watched tons of videos, but I'm unsure if I'm doing the right configurations.

My questions are:

1. How to do I enable encryption correctly? And how to tell the data is encrypted? Where do I set up the encryption password?

2. What's the proper way to set up a folder structure knowing that there are different settings to configure data distribution across drives? My data includes media files, user files, backups, work files.

3. Do I have to schedule party check? If so, how often?

4. What are the best plugins I should install? Should I use the default settings to install plugins?

5. I'll be building a Plex server with a subscription is there any special way to set up Plex? I heard about adding a SSD for caching metadata of Plex, is this something recommended, and how do I do that?

6. How to do transfer the data from my external to unraid without using the network for faster speeds?

7. Are there any other configuration should I use for the best experience?

 

Thanks,

 

[JonathanM]

I recommend going to youtube and watching spaceinvader one's videos. He has a BUNCH of good videos covering pretty much every question you asked.

[Frank1940]

36 minutes ago, mhweb said:

2. What's the proper way to set up a folder structure knowing that there are different settings to configure data distribution across drives? My data includes media files, user files, backups, work files.

Using the defaults will work for most users.  The defaults will tend to keep the data together.  The default basically writes to one disk until the allocation method specifies that it should start using another disk. 

 

36 minutes ago, mhweb said:

3. Do I have to schedule party check? If so, how often?

YES!!!   You go to     Settings   >>>   Scheduler    >>>  Parity Check    Most folks do it monthly and use the non-correcting option. 

 

Another important thing to do at this time to setup Notification.    Settings   >>>   Notification Settings    Be sure to set the SMTP settings and test them.  Start out with daily notifications and checked to be notified for everything by both the browser and e-mail.  Basically, you will only get one e-mail per day so the server will not be 'spamming' you with a lot of messages.  The reason for this is that you will be notified within 24 hours whenever a major problem occurs on your server.  Fixing one problem at a time is much preferred to dealing with multiple problems with the potential of data loss!

36 minutes ago, mhweb said:

6. How to do transfer the data from my external to unraid without using the network for faster speeds?

There is the Unassigned Devices plugin which will allow you to mount a devices on Unraid server.  You can then copy files from that device directly to your array.  If you need a file manager, I would suggest that you use the Krusader Docker.  (I am assuming that you have the APPS plugin installed.  If not, support thread is here:  https://forums.unraid.net/topic/38582-plug-in-community-applications/  )   There is a built-in file manager, Master Commander, that is available from the command line by typing   mc  but is not as intuitive to use as Krusader.

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Frank1940