Advice on building a solid base for future customization.

[speedkills]

There is so much to read and so little time before I start building my unRAID server (I would like to start tonight).  I just want to make sure I don't start down a path I will regret or that will waste huge amounts of time, can someone take a look at my goals and offer some advice on the right path to start down?

 

I would like to have my unRAID server be my central media/backup server.  With that in mind here are apps I plan to install on my unRAID box in the future that I already have running on my Mac Mini right now.

 

SabNZBD+

SickBeard

CouchPotato

Transmission or something like it.

CrashPlan

 

While that is all I have planned for this month that should give you an idea that I like to stay on the bleeding edge even if it hurts sometimes.  Given my goals where should I start?

 

unRAID 4.6 or 5.0 beta?

unRAID plus packages in unRAID (unMenu) or would I be better off running unRAID as an add on either with SlackWare or vmWare?

 

Which path seems to have the greatest momentum right now?  I don't want to be the sole guy trying to make something work, for example I would hate to install unRAID with Slackware and then struggle to install CrashPlan only to find out that everyone is already running CrashPlan but they are using unMenu to do it and that I have gone down an isolated road all by myself the opposite direction of the rest of the group.

 

I'm not looking for a step by step breakdown, just a general "Users who desire advanced functionality tend to do X" type recommendation.

 

-Shane

[ohlwiler]

At this point I would choose 4.6, the path to 5.0 final will be a fairly easy transition.

 

I would run unRAID with packages on top. Many have gone before you and a large majority are choosing this path. If you choose to install a full distro or the virtual machine route, you would be virtually on your own.

[BRiT]

If you choose to install a full distro or the virtual machine route, you would be virtually on your own.

 

Not true. Many of us have gone the path of a full Slackware distro.

[lionelhutz]

SabNZBD+, SickBeard and CouchPotato are very easy to get working on a stock unRAID by installing a package and then running the programs. The only issue is where to run them. I run off a cache disk (make a directory starting with a "." and it stays on the cache drive) but you could mount another non-array disk too or partition your cache disk.

 

I believe Transmission or something similar is an unMENU package.

 

Installing CrashPlan on stock unRAID has been well documented here as well. It's a little more involved but not too much work.

 

However, having posted that, if you really want to be bleeding edge than a slackware install would allow you much more future versatility. You could then basically run anything on your server that you could run on slackware.

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

[Joe L.]

However, having posted that, if you really want to be bleeding edge than a slackware install would allow you much more future versatility. You could then basically run anything on your server that you could run on slackware.

Running a full Slackware distribution is not needed for 99.99% of what unRAID users do.  If you have successfully configured and compiled a custom kernel in the past, you might want to give it a try.  If you do not yet know the difference between the "ls" command and the "cat" command, then I'd say it is completely the wrong choice for you.  You'll constantly be on the outside edge of everything and upgrades will always be difficult.

 

 

Need proof... easy... take note of how many people are still running BubbaRaid on version 4.4.2 of unRAID since it is tied to a custom kernel.  Now, most of them have no way to compile their own kernel, but the developer BubbaQ does not even want to go through the bother until the 5.0 series is stabilized. (it is that much work)

 

[prostuff1]

I was running 4.4.2 and BubbaRAID up until a couple months ago because of the addon's and customizations that it offered.

 

I have switched over to 5.0b2 (but would suggest 4.6 for new, none linux users).  5.0 will be going through a lot of changes as it develops that most users will probably not want to mess with.

[speedkills]

It sounds like upgrading is not a huge issue if I need to step it up a level in the future so for now I will just run 4.6 with unMenu and see where that gets me.  Thanks for the different viewpoints, it's nice having more than one reply to help weigh the pros and cons of each approach.