How to handle lost of replacement keys and damaged USB

[Josh O]

After a lot of research and decided what my new server would be I went with UNRAID. I thought it would be fine on speeds for backup and small items(can use my faster NAS for video editing) and it had some nice features, docker, VMs, etc.  

I went through setting things up and getting them good and tested then decided to go all in and purchase a Pro key. I'm already at 11 drives and have 4 more to go this month. However, I ran into issues. My first USB had problems with it being huge and a test so I purchased a new USB small drive and got that up and running. I used the replacement Key tool and it was great. 

Now that became not working with a /boot error and it being USB 3 and other odd behavoirs which I have no idea but after doing A LOT of reading I discover UNRAID does not support USB and other modern day devices. In fact, their tool won't even see my new drive. 

 

Fortunately I purchased a USB2 32GB small drive and decided to move to that. The USB create Tool works fine and I was able to copy over my 'config' directory so thought all was good. 

 

Nope.  

 

It binds the license to USB key and as such I can't use it. On top of that I can't use the replacement key tool from before because evidently you may only use that 1 time a year?????   What? I have many licenses and tools and None of them have such a limitation. Many allow me to disable license on one set of hardware and move to another or re-issue a license and then if I go back to another device it won't work. A few have a limited time like 5-10 times max(without a call to support), but to have such a long time it seems like a waste of time for so many people. I have a ticket into support to help resolve but that means, 1. I'm wasting their time. 2. My server is down so I'm wasting my time. 3. my users of the server can't access the features so wasting their time. 

 

My question, How do you all manage this? How do I manage a way to replace a broken USB, lost, fire damage, etc. and rebuild with the save "config" directory within a year? What do I do so I'm not down for hours while I wait for support? There has to be a way to have a local and offsite backup for a key to be replaced immediately and not have to waste so many peoples time. 

 

thanks, I do hope there is some simple solution as I have yet to find one other than contact support and deal with the server being offline for hours if not days. 

 

 

[testdasi]

6 hours ago, Josh O said:

...My first USB had problems with it being huge...

...UNRAID does not support USB and other modern day devices....

...

My question, How do you all manage this? How do I manage a way to replace a broken USB, lost, fire damage, etc. and rebuild with the save "config" directory within a year? What do I do so I'm not down for hours while I wait for support? There has to be a way to have a local and offsite backup for a key to be replaced immediately and not have to waste so many peoples time.

Your post suggests you were reckless with the server e.g. doing things without understanding the implication / reasons behind it. So your complaining doesn't change the fact that you (and your users) really only have yourself to blame for the blunder.

• You seem to refer to "huge" and "small" as the physical size of the stick. It has been widely recommended on the forum to avoid small sticks (e.g. the micro kind) because they have the tendency to overheat. So your changing to a small stick (while having a good working large stick) was already not something you should have done.
• USB stick replacement is intended to be a last resort i.e. because it's broken. And in most production environments, the best practice is "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".
• Unraid boots and runs fine with USB 3.0 sticks and USB 3.0 ports. It has nothing to do with Unraid "support".
  • The recommendation to use 2.0 stick and/or 2.0 port is to slow things down to reduce the probability of overheating.
  • Some old motherboards also don't boot with USB 3.0 port so obviously use the USB 2.0 port in that case.
• Your "other modern day devices" backhanded comment is typical blame-shifting nonsense. USB sticks are modern day device.
  • You can complain about why Unraid boots off a stick because USB sticks aren't reliable and so on and that would be fine. But please don't blame-shift your own blunder.

Having said that, the LT folks are understanding so just be patient and wait.

You probably haven't had to deal with the true bureaucracy of big corporations to see the "it's your problem, not our problem" response.

 

 

 

With regards to how I manage it.

• I don't change the stick willy-nilly and reserve the replacement for when it's an emergency.
  • I have gone through several complete hardware changes without even having to resort to the replacement process yet i.e. it's still the same stick I have been using since my first Unraid server a very long time ago.
• I have a backup stick ready and periodically synced to my main stick so I can promptly replace when it's an emergency.
• I use 3.0 micro sticks because of aesthetics but I understand the tendency to overheat so I use 2.0 port to slow things down (which reduces heat output)

Edited August 3, 2020 by testdasi

[Energen]

6 hours ago, Josh O said:

It binds the license to USB key and as such I can't use it. On top of that I can't use the replacement key tool from before because evidently you may only use that 1 time a year?????  

 

My question, How do you all manage this? How do I manage a way to replace a broken USB, lost, fire damage, etc. and rebuild with the save "config" directory within a year? What do I do so I'm not down for hours while I wait for support? There has to be a way to have a local and offsite backup for a key to be replaced immediately and not have to waste so many peoples time.

When you originally were looking at buying Unraid, and went to the pricing page, you read "If your USB Flash boot device fails, you can transfer your registration key to a new USB Flash device initially at any time, and subsequently up to once per year." in the details.
 

When you read the wiki page about replacing a flash drive so that you knew how the process was done, you read "You may replace your original registration key at any time. Having replaced your key once, you may next replace your key after a further period of 12 months. Should you need to replace it again within that 12 month period, then please send an email to [email protected] to discuss your options."

 

Oh, you didn't read any of that? You did "a LOT" of reading about USB3 but didn't check on the procedure to change your flash drive?  Do you see where I'm going with this?

 

How I manage my flash drive ... I run a user script daily to backup my drive to a Dropbox path.  I also don't change my flash drive.

[Josh O]

@testdasi I did do a lot of reading and yes I missed the licensing issues that Energen calls out but that is not a production quality product. I spent months deciding what to do on a replacement. I have run servers for decades and to be held up by this small issue that really could be resolved with a simple online site to enter the required information to replace seems like such a poor solution. 

 

I have other production tools that are that easy to move. That easy to fix and get back online. Other issues being although Lime tech has returned by email and asked me for information to get it replaced it is still downtime that is easily avoided. 

 

Also, just because one person has a good experince or a bad experience is not a way to judge a solution. If there are any issues it should be looked into and the solution should always be to have zero issues. The reasons to replace the USB were many but the original was just really old and something I was just testing. I just made the unknown mistake of limited ability to move a license to a produt I purchased during a testing phase. 

 

Given how easy it would be to resolve this for all customers I find it a weakness in the product that has me reconsidering the solution. Also, I have other licensing tools that are USB based, key based and authentication base. But all can be brought back online or replaced with a self-help / authenticated tool that is available from the product owner.  That is just a modern day easy to manage tool that I just expect all prodcuts to have. 

 

Just dissappointed to discover this is a limitation of UNRAID and has me hesitant to make it a primary solution.