jsdoc3

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  1. An important point for me to realize (as a non IT person only beginning to be functionally literate in linux) when first introduced to containerized apps and linux (which was about the same time) was that with Dockers (docker is basically synonymous with containerized app i.e. Kleenex vs. tissue) they are able to use CPU and memory resources as needed, yet with little to no unnecessary overhead like a VM which needs to support the entire OS stack (as per Squid's comment) but also that by using a VM you are confining it to the set amount of RAM and CPU threads allocated by your VM Config, which also segments that off and arbitrarily carves up your resources - where Dockers play nice and both have access to whatever they need, yet typically need very little because they're such a self-contained mini-version of an OS effectively. My docker vs VM analogy is more like a train - any traincar with a couple of axles and a hitch can hook on and be pulled by the (UnRaid) train, but not every traincar needs a locomotive (IE a VM with full OS). In fact, there's economy of scale by only having one set of strong locomotives pulling all of the train (your host hardware running nice lean Linux based UnRaid) and they can simply all share in the power available, while nicely and efficiently segmented from one another. Plus your docker (as current as the wonderful community member fostered UnRaid centric Dockerized apps are kept here) is trivial to update (can even autoconfig that to happen) while VM's of course have the usual chore of needing to manage the host OS, keep Windows free from malware, etc, even in a VM. Not that dockers are free from risk, but practically speaking it's largely mitigated (and quite easily wiped and reinstalled if anything goes wrong, UnRaid will even save your config settings for you) Conversely, with the hardware most people use to host UnRaid on their first time around, there's ample capacity to run lots of dockers, even on old / cheap / modest hardware. But if you run very many VM's, that hardware requirement will be quite a bit steeper to have a good experience Your Host OS UnRaid takes <1GB to run in RAM, leaving lots of resources in Docker app terms even on a low powered low RAM machine. However bloating up a VM (particularly Windows) with alot of utilities running would potentially hinder performance if, say you try to get by with a "skinny" Windows VM with 4GB RAM and 2 or 4 CPU threads, etc. Then the VM's performance suffers with whatever else you're trying to use it for - or crashes your utility every time that new game crashes and leaves you with BSOD if the utility is running on that Windows VM. I guess the attempted advisement (aimed at new / novice user who like me marginally understands any of this stuff) is to not be afraid to experiment a bit (perhaps keep treasured data off the NAS at this stage til you're past the initial learning curve) and best leverage the neat hat trick of UnRaid which is to offer on one Prosumer platform a robust and easy to navigate (and cheap) NAS, a very slick Docker "hypervisor", and for that matter the smattering of free/open source Linux OS's out there that can do amazing things with stability and very low resource use. And we can't end without mentioning the otherworldly App "store" that isn't even from UnRaid, it's Squid's creation, a community member, turning this platform into a treasure trove of nifty stuff. And of course you certainly can and should dive into Limetech's very competitive KVM based VM hosting platform that is increasingly flexible / powerful and because of enhancements, increasingly accessible to novice users, thanks in no small part to Gridrunner (SpaceInvader)'s videos to take the scary out of it for us. Don't forget to pay it forward, either with compliments or better yet by contributing to these folks "buy me a beer" / Patreon accounts to continue to foster their continued TLC and involvement in this platform). There's a bit of a learning curve, but it's fast, and if you can master using / leveraging UnRaid for general poweruser features for home use purposes, you'll be in a place of much more independence and power in terms of managing your own computing experience going forward. For example, install Airsonic docker, point the config to your music shares, run it, watch what it does, and then try it out and see that you've just created a music streaming self-hosted service without needing anything but Linux (UnRaid + dockerized app), even if you know nothing about setting up a server. Install a compatible phone app and now you've just conquered the need for dependency on a subscription service. Etc. Etc. Rejoice, Rinse and Repeat lol... And welcome to Open Source software. PS another tip for things that you aren't finding in "Apps" - load a linux VM like Ubuntu or Solus (I suggest the KDE desktop versions (KDE Neon = Ubuntu, Solus is just about to release KDE out of beta but it's already rock solid). If moving from Windows, particularly the Solus "sane default" KDE implementation (it'll be familiar) is designed to "just work" out of the box. Then learn about Snap packages https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/snappy and how simple it is to use those in various linux distros now by simply issuing the "snap install xyz" command (this is effectively another more sophisticated type of containerization). You'll have to use the terminal and text based commands to install them, but google is laden with info on how, and after you've done this you will have impressed yourself. Another very nifty way to expand past the comfort of just Windows. One last hint - I prefer Windows-centric icons in KDE (I find the "flat" icon themes they use can be disorienting otherwise as a "Windows migrator"). There are icon packages that can be installed to mimick WIndows icons, and they will simply make KDE feel even more familiar and easier to use. The newest KDE desktop in my opinion is now knocking on the door of a truly enjoyable and fully featured daily driver replacement capable desktop environment from which there's less and less you need Windows for. There's only one problem - there's dozens of other linux desktops and hundreds of "distro's" that are also quite compelling and each have their own merits lol... www.distrowatch.com
  2. +1 for me on this - thanks for the post! I have had my ASUS board with PIKE slot in service with a Supermicro card I thought was LSI but is Marvell. Waited around and now the PIKE 2008 adapter card is $30 on ebay (from China) so thought I'd update the post a bit as I make the move to PIKE, and add a few more links that came up while I was researching making it EFI friendly. Pic and Description page of the PIKE 2008 Basically it's the LSI 9220-8i (or IBM M1015), all LSI SAS-2008 chip based. LSI was acquired 2014 by Broadcom. So most searches will point you back to Broadcom for drivers (tho should be functional out of box with virtually any OS). But some firmware updating might be pertinent. LSI Search - start with "LEGACY" as your Product Group ---> Legacy Raid Controllers in the search I was also able to find a live (non-end of life) Broadcom SAS 9210-8i product that's LSI SAS-2008 based, has driver and Firmware link that's active, which might be smart thought for newer Linux Kernels. Who can guess after all what Intel will be messing around with microcode wise trying to react to the recent vulnerabilities. I/O streams are probably not sacred from being spared I'm guessing. 9210's a Host Bus Adapter (vs. RAID centric card), but that'd be more appropriate for UnRaid anyway if it flashes - it's using the same I/O 2008 chip for sure so I may try it when my card arrives, I'm guessing it will work. https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9210-8i#tab-archive-drivers3-abc One helpful hint might be to consider putting your cache SSD's on other MB SATA ports since for some older MB's these are only PCIe 2.0 x4 or 2.0 x8 ports, so could bottleneck with several SSD's going at once. Obviously not as relevant if it's a PCI 3.0 x 8 port. Probably going to look something like this in UnRaid 03:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03) Pics for installation for the curious... A non-battery backup low height RAID card that can do JBOD, nicely misses the pricer SAS server aftermarket crowd AND frees up a slot on ASUS boards that have the PIKE slot, so kind of a UnRaid perfect storm. Definitely more convenient SATA port placing (why don't all MB's do it like that?) For any doubters, ASUS confirms the PIKE is an LSI SAS 2008 (ASUS refers you directly to LSI website). It's SAS II (meaning cross compatible for SATA III drives @ 6Gbps). Not UEFI friendly out of the box from what I'm reading, but also seemed that the flash updates mentioned above may improve upon that if that's important to you. ASUS PIKE FAQ page Fast Facts about the LSI SAS 2008 The RAID controller supports both SAS 2 and SATA III at 6.0gbps Approximately 9w of power consumption for common cards Single PowerPC core at 533MHz No onboard cache PCIe 2.0 x8 interface Supports SAS expanders (with dual linking) Uses sas2flash utility to flash to IT/IR mode (when possible) Here's a page showing other analagous OEM's based on the LSI 2008 (can likely save money using one of those if PIKEs not in your future after reading this). the 2008 LSI cards Seem to be one of the most popular historical RAID cards out there. servethehome.com info for OEMs Flash advisements from Broadcom I have the ASUS dual xeon Z9PA-D8 board, just boosted up the CPUs to E5-2667 V2's, for much better single thread / VM performance from the 2.6Ghz E5-2670s, which kind of lags a bit in VMs. Sho I should be futureproofed for awhile now, meaning these boards and V2 Xeons might be an ebay target for value conscious folks - mine is an ATX sized board which made it nice to get into a smaller and very quiet case. The board has USB 3.0, meager onboard VGA (Aspeed which I think is an ARM chip?), has onboard sound and a weird tiny little iKVM board support add in card. PIKE SATA/SAS slots are conveniently at the edge of the motherboard and vertically connect for cleaner cabling, well out of the way of the GPUs (why don't all boards do that?) ***FYI, for those with a PIKE slot collecting dust that don't need another SATA/SAS card, the front port can also function (allegedly) as an extra PCIe slot it's a PCIe 4x slot turned around backwards), so if you happen to have a card that could do something for you in that config with some jury rigging, etc it might be worth a look. For example maybe a SATA expansion port card that you already have lying around, or a card with USB headers, or maybe USB 3.1 card comes to mind if bracket removed, it would be amenable to some gymnastics with a port adapter/extension cable, etc. I'm in NO WAY guaranteeing this to work for you or advocating it, just noting that the rearward of the 2 slots actually is PCIe spec. with opposite orientation, and have read posts where folks have used PCIe devices in it successfully.
  3. I'm quite ignorant compared to the posters, however had a thing that makes you go HMM thought - if flashdrive has good controller and most of the wear-out is from erase cycles, would a larger (storage capacity) disk in a light usage scenario like this last longer for that reason of having more blocks? (you're talking a couple of bucks on the USB2 Sandisk Cruzers for example to go from 16 to 32GB). I'm also a little confused about the discourse since simply clicking on the Flash icon leads you to a "flash backup" option, so since a failed USB doesn't seem to harm the array other than GUI freakout, and since it's easy to automate backups of the Flash, maybe with an erase and restore once a year or so to refresh all the writes, seems you're pretty secure. At any rate, it would seem the "hit by a bus" theory (sorry Tom, I'm a singular point of failure at work too so I get talked about like this all the time too lol) is the only significant concern, and per his comment it would take a significant coordinated Multi-Bus Attack scenario to take UnRaid down completely. Does seem pertinent I suppose to have some sort of arbitrary replacement cycle just in terms of annoyance avoidance, as important as our data is to us vs. cost of these. Mine's going on 3 yrs and hadn't given it a thought til now. Definite +1 on avoidance of the Sandisk cruzer 3.0 drives -- write speed is crazy good, but after buying in bulk Black Friday special, I've had several fail, one got hot enough to burn out the USB ports on the back of my Mac Mini. Kind of Habernero's for your USB ports... Guess we know how small is too small now... Final +1 to @limetech comment about the community here - I've seen none finer, I as a tech Noob can find detailed courteous answers on almost anything I search for (then google for an hour to unpack what it means lol), which sadly is rare in the Linux discussionboards. Thank you all for the extra features and for the knowledge I'm gaining. @gridrunner 's (SpaceInvader One) Youtube channel is simply spectacular for us non-pro enthusiasts, and hopefully all of this is widening the interest and uptake of UnRaid - seems a good fit with the Economy of Ryzen and off-lease server parts available now. It's amazing how feature enhanced this platform is due to you fine gentlemen/ladies.
  4. Just a newer update for anyone looking for good options: (2 cards 2 cables, SFP+, <$40 US free shipping) Ebay "store" seller Esisoinc. Wow, these are now down to gigabit NIC prices.... Says international shipping available. http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-2-MNPA19-XTR-MELLANOX-10GB-ETHERNET-NETWORK-INTERFACE-CARD-W-CABLES/282378634053?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41376%26meid%3D2b173a28f936471a9655c73db33fe560%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D282378634053&_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042
  5. Good logic, very classic way to start a grow as you go NAS. Dual parity is an option if you start finding that the data on it is irreplaceable. And remember the laws of 3 - 3 backup copies is a backup, otherwise it's a backup system with failure points. One of the 3 copies should be offsite. Note that Backblaze has extremely competitive online backup prices. And can of course segregate that to the truly mission critical data only that it backs up. Another great option is the CrashPlan docker on UnRaid. Can backup (for free) to a friend's drive / another drive of yours offsite or another drive you own and automate the process. Even use it to load a drive locally then take it offsite and connect that data back to the Crashplan backup scheme
  6. Now (good news) we're down to the hair splitting, but just so we keep you off balance lol, wanted to throw in that though my suggestion of drive is not a NAS drive per se, there's also the thought that if you're mostly just using the NAS features of UnRaid in a typical home user setting, there's the reasonable option in unraid to spin the drives down @ idle to save power - however that's not necessarily a typical NAS feature and not what most NAS drives are built for -- and I've read where NAS rated drives aren't necessarily the happiest to be doing that and that can potentially become it's own early failure point for them. So just as a devils advocate I'll throw in that I've found cheap ($<100 US) prices quite frequently on the Seagate ST4000DM000 (4TB Seagate 5900 RPM drives in Seagate's removable storage external cases (caveat, I pulled them from the case to install them in UnRaid after some light testing, thus likely damaging my warranty options). These drives would not necessarily guarantee the max time between failure (statistically speaking) like a NAS drive, but then if you do choose to spin them down alot and (as seems to be the case) aren't trying to use them in some enterprise high demand use case, it's a thought that their design to be friendly to that use case of popping external storage drive in and out would be a potential advantage towards longevity. You can find the 5 or sometimes the 6TB versions of this drive now getting cheap ($<150 US) on sale at times, at least here in the states. I also find they run extremely cool and quiet. Zero issues with my set of 4 of them so far (>2 years). Not throughput performance champions due to the lower RPM, but basically for a home NAS if they'll saturate the speed of your Gigabit LAN, that's rather irrelevant unless you're doing gigantic file transfers routinely. Again, until we get 10Gigabit per second networking equipment in our homes, that bottleneck is the main one for NAS to be subject to. Meaning hard drive choice (speed wise) is not mission critical for the array drives. Obviously advantageous for the Cache (Docker / VM) drive to be speedy (SSD). Most SSD's now have very low failure rates if kept cool and safe. sd I certainly would second the thumbs up for HGST as a solid choice, just wanted to point out there's no one school of thought (and thus long story short, no right answer). I think the one right answer is to say if this data is important to you a new hard drive (not what you have lying down) for the array drive and particularly the Parity drive (which gets the most use) is the main point. But frankly with your sample size of 2-4 drives, you're more subject to random chance of getting a dud drive from any vendor than you are having some early failure where this vendor vs. that vendor would have likely made a difference. Most failures are going to occur in first minutes / hours / days. Some folks like to stress test the drives for a 2-3 day stretch (while warranty / receipt info is handy and often the vendor you bought them from will take them back vs. a warranty claim) and see if they can root out the duds. Seems like a good strategy. UnRaid's Pre-Clear feature also gives them a shakedown. I recommend the podcast TechSnap (just a week or two before this post actually) where they are talking about replacing / stress testing drives in a big storage array. Lots of "good hygeine" information there. Hope we've thoroughly perplexed you - now the hard (but fun) part -- YOU have to decide In the end, the beauty of UnRaid is the flexibility. Budget / baby NAS build, massive build, industrial strength build, screaming speed build, etc - all possible and supportable on this platform.
  7. Yes, it's worth restating too that this is a key advantage of UnRaid for home enthusiasts- the drives are not dependent on a hardware raid card / motherboard / appliance, that can die and kill your data array (weak point for RAID), so UnRaid can survive hardware failure (or hardware migrations / upgrades) quite well. And the other advantage is the drives don't have to match, a key advantage (esp for up front cost) vs ZFS or similar RAID formats where you have to plan/buy/build in advance and can kind of lock yourself in. And for simple migration up to that nicer machine, the XFS partition format for the array is even individually readable by most Linux distributions even if a drive is just plucked from the array (don't do that, I was just making a point for disaster recovery options) Theres good guides here and YouTube videos about this (check out Spaceinvaders YouTube channel) for replacing / upgrading drives, best of breed plugins to help automate things / hold your hand etc. THAT is the real secret sauce of unraid - the custom built apps the community has built for us to enjoy. And these forums of course ? Remember to back up your USB boot drive and keep your config settings documented well. Strategic decisions are to be careful where your docker and VMs "live" - great to put them on a cache drive (SSDs) for speed and learn good hygiene for the system management, then back them up into the array (lots of great plugins to help you there) to keep you out of trouble and keep the system as simple and cost effective as per design of Limetech. Then as as budget allows, grow to that new maotherboard / CPU and plan toward that second parity drive and second or third cache drive for even more data loss AND hardware failure protection to gain back most of the benefits of the hardware based raid environments. Happy hunting!
  8. Not sure if you still need our advice at this point, but in case others are going down what I think is probably a very classic new user UnRaid decision tree (do I stay with small budget file server hardware or do I scale up to leverage VM's etc). Wanted to throw in my experience / advice - the target audience being a typical NOOB home user probably just getting into the idea of running a server / running a NAS and fiddling with VM's and using Docker, etc. Obviously you IT pros will pick this apart, but of course you are also talking about very different use cases and learning curves, so you guys just pass this post on by.... I'm kind of writing a book here, but just one that I wish I'd had for myself. OPTION ONE: If you are a NOOB and primarily just learning UnRaid and mostly need a NAS to backup files that you probably aren't properly backing up now, etc, then first off - GOOD CHOICE. But second, your BIG decision BY FAR is to decide if you are going to want to in the near future run VMs that play games or do alot of video encoding (generally this means Windows and a nice newer Video card to passthru for Games of course, and just faster/multicore CPUs for hardcore video encoding tasks -- and note I'm saying video ENCODING not transcoding - IE converting video into h.264 / h.265 etc, not just playing back recorded video (transcoding, which even your mobile phone is great at these days). This is by far the big decision point you need to make first, because that's really the only reason you need to consider a bleeding edge CPU / motherboard vs. pretty much any old decent used hardware -- and the advice I wish I'd heeded when I first forayed into UnRaid since I overbought and wasted money. So if this applies to you, then this is the most important paragraph of advice you'll get -- just stop right here, take a breath, be pragmatic, and ponder this until you are done deciding and be comfortable with your decision. In terms of both cost and choices of motherboards / CPUs, this is simply THE big decision. UNLESS you are definitely wanting to exploit VMs right away, you should probably consider going down the track of a "dirt cheap" build and then build up your experience with using the plugins and dockers and learning to use and navigate a NAS and then plan for your big upgrade to VM centric hardware down the road. By then things like used Ryzen hardware will be available and UnRaid will be good to go for that and you'll get incredible value compared to new gear available right now and get to have your cake and eat it too considering a great multicore NAS machine AND a crazy-fast rig for VMs and gaming. Kind of like waiting a couple of years to buy the hot new car you want right now and saving huge $$ for what effectively is still new gear. With a bargain build, more often than not you'll fall in love with it in this new role and find it a great idea to keep this old hardware for a backup server (for instance the backup of the backup of your really REALLY important data, etc.). Or hand it down to the kids or Dad, etc. After all, you were smart and kept this on a tight budget ! By the way, if it's a good file server rig now, it will still be a great file server rig for as long as it lives, even 5+ years from now - basically until 10GB ethernet is baked into the new motherboards and Routers at a reasonable price (still gonna be a few years). And also it's very hard to imagine you can't find a PC from a friend who uses only Windows where they have something unusable to them "slow as a dog" for windows that would be absolutely great for UnRaid File server duties. IE maybe FREE !!. Basically if it's built after 2010 or so and has lots of SATA ports and 4GB+ RAM, it's a good file server candidate - probably a great candidate. So If you think way of thinking suits you -- or you know you just want a home file server that can run some docker apps (like your PVR / TiVO mentions above) and maybe serve a little video, you are most likely good to go with almost any 2010+ used hardware you can find. Or even earlier if you're cautious (kind of that limit of return on age depreciation value vs. risk of aging electronics...). Before 2010 or so, motherboards capacitors and power controllers were still kind of suspect in cheaper gear, so quality control value newer gear is worth consideration for NAS purposes. You might also consider trying to get something that has USB 3.0 on it so you can also use that for external drive connection (using the UnRaid plugin UNASSIGNED DEVICES) and enjoy the 10x speed advantage that gives over USB 2 and the ability to do superquick transfers on / off of the NAS or the great idea of having a drive that you rotate OFF SITE with critical data to survive the big bad wolf blowing your house down, etc. So do not be afraid to go back a few generations in terms of Xeon / i3 / i5 / i7 CPUs (I'd recommend that over any new dual core CPU such as Pentium / Celeron - I dislike that idea as most likely still overspending for no good reason). The exception might be a chance to get a nicer motherboard in the deal and an option to easily upgrade the CPU later - that could be another good beginner strategy. But I wouldn't "Aim" for a Pentium or Celeron processor myself - they often still run hot and yet don't offer much if any VM expansion options -- see next paragraph. Actually personally if you're JUST file serving, for cost and low power consumption reasons, I'd recommend looking at an ATOM based server board (CPU+MBoard generally come together for good package cost with a top quality Intel onboard NIC)) and will still have a slot for a SATA card if you need more drive ports later and most have a monitor port for easy initial setup like accessing and upgrading and properly configuring the BIOS etc. You can get TDP's down in the 20 watt range or lower. My home built router / firewall is an Atom server board (has never been rebooted in >2 years and pulls about 15 watts, handles every packet of my UnRaid's LAN traffic at the max of the Gigabit capacity and rarely breaks >5% CPU use). And of course server boards are designed to run constantly for years and years. +1 on investing in good quality locking SATA cables (like what they use in server rooms), simple and cheap insurance. Actually even a mini-ATX form factor (the really tiny ones) that ATOM boards often come in still usually has a PCIe port so you could add a SATA card and have a multi-drive rig. Additionally, often ATOMs can be passively cooled (ie silent) and so can be housed right on / under your desk if that's convenient. A point to underline several times is that even with an ATOM board, you'll still barely make the CPU break a sweat regardless of how much file transferring you do. The only disadvantage of an Atom is that you won't generally have the VT-d / VT-x functionality required for UnRaid to do VM's, so you're committing to a NAS / Docker machine (which is still great and very flexible for HTPC purposes). The general point here is the CPU is usually the first thing you look at in a system build, but for a NAS the CPU is almost never going to come into play as a rate limiter for file server duties (or most docker utilities which are mostly linux based / low overhead (efficient) programs that benefit alot more from more memory or maybe more cores than they do from more CPU speed). 4GB is fine for basic file server duties, agree probably go for 8+GB if you plan to use alot of docker apps, etc. Below 4GB is possible, but buyer beware... Also be cautious of old systems with "hot" CPU's that are probably burning thru several times as much electricity (look for TDP specs on the CPU, good is below 75, great is below 40). That can really add up if your electric rates are high and many folks forget this part. Can literally pay for itself in a few months ! If you want suggestions for max price/performance, look at Xeon L5640 CPUs (6 core, overclockable, DIRT cheap, and TDP 60watt). Look online for old used microservers from Data centers and businesses that are routinely upgrading older equipment. There are some steals out there. You could even consider ECC ram for these if motherboard supports, meaning a little more data corruption protection for your priceless data. DDR3 ECC Ram is also now quite cheap. So to summarize, if you decide you perhaps don't want to have the goal of an "all in one" machine with multiple (high performance) VMs, then the average home user should not be one bit afraid to intentionally skimp on hardware (motherboard/CPU), you can get some awesome deals out there in the used market. Maybe put a little bit more into a case with more drive bays or that nice case with hot swap bays, easy to do for just a little more $ and continue to smile with how smart a decision that was 5 years from now when you've not put a single penny into it. A mini-ATX board is probably a good value if you do buy something newer, esp. in the home enthusiast category. I'd suggest one with onboard video, or as described above a server board with the IMPI interface for GUI based headless management just to make setting it up / working on it / debugging it alot more painless (unless you're comfy with Linux command line and SSH'ing into machines, etc.). Unless you plan to have gobs of drives, even with a micro-atx board you can always add a PCIe SATA card later - the one recommended above in the thread is a great idea (don't skimp on the SATA card and don't forget you DON'T need/want a RAID card, you can get the JBOD (just a bunch of disks) models and save money. OPTION TWO So you're thinking you'd have uses for VM's in the nearer future and/or have budget to "build ahead" for futureproofing, then this is for you -- this can range from probably the most common theme of dreaming about having your gaming rig and your NAS be in one box right under your desk to save space. So in this case, I'd start with two big tenets -- spend more for QUIET (with good cooling), and consider the biggest motherboard and case you can afford for expansion capabilities (IE multiple video cards, extra SATA / USB ports, etc.) because you'll be slicing these resources up between VM's if you are wanting to run them live simultaneously. And of course still need plenty of drive space. Of note, I really like the BE QUIET case line http://www.bequiet.com/en/case as a budget line that's still very decent build quality and pretty inexpensive, and truly sound insulated in a way that works yet still offers great airflow. To whit, I have a dual CPU E5-2670 Xeon server board + video card with fan right under my desk as my current UnRaid rig and have to put my ear next to it to hear anything. >6 fans inside too. Stuffed full of drives that stay <40degrees C If you think you'll be OK with not running the VM right away while you learn the unRaid system but like futureproofing in your purchase, then I'd be alot bolder about getting the great price / performance value of a Ryzen build right now (1700 seems very appealing), as you could survive on RDP / Splashtop type of connection into the VM (IE getting around the shaky support for hardware passthru) for now until the UnRaid folks have time to work out the kinks and possibly take a kernel update or two from Linux, etc. Other users using the beta versions of current UnRaid are reporting the Ryzen support is definitely getting there. If you want bullet proof VM with bare metal passthru that works right out of the box today, then probably should stick with Intel at the moment. For VMs of course you want a multicore CPU (suports VTx VTd) and of course a motherboard that supports that too. However I'd focus more on high RAM than on high CPU thread count unless you're really planning to go nuts with the number of VM's. VM's that are active lay claim to the CPU threads / Memory resources they're assigned (a distinct difference vs. Dockers which all get to share all the cores and RAM). Additionally, you want a motherboard that has more of the things like high count of USB ports, onboard sound, etc (maybe 3.1 / thunderbolt even) and of course with as many PCIe slots / lanes as possible. This can be an advantage of a dual CPU server board (6+ 8 or 16 lane PCIe slots, etc) and of course LOTS of RAM slots. A semi-recent dual CPU Xeon board can be a great idea here if you want multiple GPU support, lots of CPU threads and lots of RAM. The E5-2670 8 core Xeon CPU's are still a fairly good deal due to a supply/demand fluke of Facebook liquidating a huge volume all at once (if you can find the motherboards...) and newer faster options are becoming possible at reasonable cost as well for last generation Xeons or i7's. 2-3 year old server farm liquidation seems to be a great place to look for UnRaid gear, particularly for large volume hot swappable drive gear, esp. if you don't mind it being a little ugly (and maybe a little loud). OPTION THREE - do Both In the end, I'm only now growing into the ability of my current ridiculous 32-core high CPUmark build with 64GB ECC RAM -- and meanwhile wound up building another UnRaid low end rig that hums along quietly sipping power for "regular" NAS duty with a few dockers (like for Crashplan, video playback (Plex / Emby etc.) and things like VPN server, web server, etc. that you might run as a home user. For NOOBS working with VM's can amount to Hacking, so might be smarter to keep the NAS role on another machine. The reality is that my initial high end purchase was not that great of an investment as I could spend same money now and get an insane Threadripper or i9 / Xeon build, etc. Or could have gotten this same build at lower cost (one that I'll never make break a sweat most likely no matter how hard I try). Short of high end video encoding, it's really hard to stress these types of machines in a home user environment. For NAS, it's actually very hard to underbuild in terms of any modern CPU. A little more caution needed with choice of motherboard, but hard to go wrong if it's got adequate onboard SATA ports for your needs and room for 4 (preferrably 8+) GB RAM Hardware recommendations: Agree with the recommendation for ASRock / ASUS boards home user boards, Supermicro boards of all flavors . And server quality SATA cards as mentioned by other posters, which are cheap on eBay. For good midrange minimal compromise builds: Consider Used microserver equipment (HP Proliant, Supermicro based equipment, Dell equivalents etc. on Ebay from Server end-of-lease routine replacements like the E5-2670 Xeons that can occasionally amount to giveaway prices due to sudden upgrade decisions by the big server farm dependent giant companies. Lots of Ebay sellers that are in the liquidation business for this type of stuff, so it's easy for them to offer replacement for DOA equipment (which is rare in the server equipment market anyway). DDR3 RAM based rigs will be cheaper if you want large amts of RAM. Hard to find the motherboards (or $$ if you do) so look for complete builds rather than buying the components, or at least ensure you have all you need before buying. For Dirt cheap low power NAS builds: look for Xeon L5640 CPU based rigs (hex core hyperthreaded with virtualization, cheap DDR3 Ram, and <60 watt TDP - almost doesn't need air cooling when idling). Can get the CPU's almost for free, but hard to source the boards unless you get it in an old system build. Dell / HP microservers are prime candidates. Or the X8 series Supermicro boards etc with the LGA 1366 sockets for newer / faster and more future proof Xeon builds that also is high CPU frequency (for gaming), agree that the E3-1270v3 and similar is a great idea (though the idea of Threadripper builds could get really exciting in the near future, as could the price war on newer Xeons that may ensue later this year) For micro or basic NAS builds - look at ATOM boards, particularly NAS centric server boards like this Supermicro line, gain on your investment over time with power savings / easier cooling https://www.supermicro.com/products/nfo/atom.cfm or older models for cheaper options: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=supermicro+atom Here's what I use as my firewall / router: Can probably ebay that for alot cheaper as it's aging. Nice that you can use RAM you steal from an old laptop, etc. Look at picoPSU power supplies if you really want a micro build. https://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-Motherboard-X7SPE-H-D525-Atom-PCI-Express/dp/B0058A0MIM/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1502569784&sr=1-19&keywords=supermicro+atom+sodimm Or contradicting myself and including Celeron / Pentium range (who knew it was this cheap??) here's a sub$100 MB/CPU combo for NAS duty. Add a case and RAM you have lying around and a picoPSU power supply (also on Amazon) and Voilla. Just add a SATA card when it's time to expand the drive array https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Motherboard-Combo-Motherboards-J3455B-ITX/dp/B01M7OUO62/ref=pd_cp_147_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3CW32GPYXZTZGFHY7AN9 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JO1DIIM/ref=psdc_1048424_t2_B0038GVR82 Man I did write a book - hope it helps posters like BSM2K1 - it is meant to be advice I would go back and give myself.... Joe
  9. Limetech / JonP: Another Plus one for Spaceinvader's request. Would seem a pretty simple addition (fine if it's in advanced mode if you have concerns it makes the screen too busy, etc.) As a Noob, I was previously not aware this hinders performance and is not recommended to assign non-matched threads to isolate the CPU to the VM properly. Thx
  10. The size of the new parity disk to use is a chicken vs. egg question - the parity drive needs to be as large as the largest disk on the array. So of course bigger is better in terms of future proofing your drive replacement as your array grows over time. for the 4 vs 5 vs 8 vs 10 TB discussion it's perhaps more of a value proposition for you than anything, unless you have strict storage requirements to hit or a set number of drives you have room for. For example you could go for better value with a 4 or 5TB parity for now, and unless you're prodigious with the rate of growth of your data, you can then always move that 5TB onto the array and replace it as needed (or as you find a good deal) gaining array space along the way -- then if/as you can afford larger drives as you move thru that replacement cycle you move the old parity drive over into the array and newest largest drive becomes parity. So both the parity and array grow "organically". Of course then we bump against the space in your case / options for your motherboard, etc. There are plugins to reallocate the data and balance the shares over the drive pool for you for this type of strategy. Or of course you can bite the bullet and go big on parity. Think of the lifespan of the devices of course when making the value calculation, IE will your 10TB drive be old by the time you can afford enough of them to fill up your array? If so it's probably overkilll However, consider splurging also on redundancy - IE 2 parity drives, meaning you can survive 2 simultaneous drive failures on the array without losing data. For Noobs (error prone while mucking about with changing out hardware, esp. in a data loss "emergency" scenario where replacing one drive leads to error or trauma that leads to another...), And for the average home user with cheaper/older/less redundant hardware, less sophisticated UPS / power conditioning and less experience knowing what NOT to do... Well, again a multi-device failure (or "assisted failure" as I like to think of it) may be where you want to pony up and guard against. There will almost always be a single point of failure somewhere (even fat fingering a single command @ Amazon can take down the East coast as we just found out), so the sanity check is to decide up front what level of risk your comfortable with and where (which component) worries you the least and work toward that. THAT in many cases will provide the answers you seek....... A final point to drive home about the Cache drive - if you use more than one cache drive UnRaid can set up a mirrored array between the two (or more) drives so that there is some improved protection against short term data loss, IE information that you've just pushed to the server (since that data typically sits on the cache drive until the mover program sweeps it into the array). So the Cache mirror drive and Parity can work in complement to minimize data loss - also helpful with things like brownouts / power outages (failure during a disc write due to the nature of how SSD's work - and Btrfs as well). Also of Course if you keep your VM's and Dockers stored on the cache it allows a way of backing that up automatically. The size of the cache drive(s) / whether to use one is up to you.... UnRaid is your oyster....
  11. I infrequently get these errors as well, interspersed with successful TM backups to the same share, same Mac device (LAN connected Mini saving to server grade NAS box with ECC memory, etc). Definitely agree with the pondine web reference provided by John_M advising to delete the backup when you see this error. Frankly I think the phase of the moon could be a culprit -- IE Time Machine is pretty fragile and basically not happy unless backing up to a directly attached drive (even the Time Capsule Apple offers is flaky trying to use Apple Wifi Routers). I've had the LAN backup fail when there's no traffic on my network, and succeed when I'm torturing the network (and UnRAID) like crazy. Not something that makes you sleep well at night (half the purpose of UnRAID, right?). I'll sound like a salesman shill here, and this is way more answer than you're asking for, but since I'm so happy with what I'm doing and how it blends nicely with UnRaid I'm going to blather on anyway: For quick restore purposes, make a periodic simple clone of the Mac with something like SuperDuper, and for the Time Machine features, try Arq (Arqbackup.com). These are both OS-X native apps, so they're stable (but Arq works with Windows too). Both are perfectly happy to work with the apple file system and backup to UnRAID or any NAS. Arq has all the features of Time Machine (and much more) -- deduplication, versioning, and the great and soon to be industry standard feature of encryption on device before the archive (so your UnRaid backup archives can easily/safely be pushed up to go "industrial strength" with your backup strategy -- such as to the cloud for your offsite backup strategy if you like, with easy button options for targets like Amazon S3/Glacier, Dropbox, Google Drive etc - on device encryption meaning that no cloud service has a copy of the encryption key if there's ever a major breach. Amazon G3 is $.03/GB/Mo, Glacier is only $.007/GB/Mo and Glacier is a nickel a GB for upload (but crazy fast) - Arq happily automates the upload so you don't have to tangle with Amazon's complicated GUI's each time). I personally feel that user possessed encryption keys should be the rule for your major data backups, and sneakermail "analog" key storage is what bank safety deposit boxes (and maybe 1Password) are for -- can't Ransomware a bank vault!! And Glacier will have your data pulled from the catacombs by the time you get back from the bank and have a beer to celebrate the fact that you made that extra off site backup and how it just saved your bacon when the basement flooded or whatever lol. You get all this with Arq for a single price that's around $50. Superduper has a free option if you're just making a simple drive clone, or alot more features and automation if you pay the $30 (such as incremental clones that overwrites only the changed info, so much faster). These are both experienced open-source friendly developers with great track records in the OS-X ecosystem. I'd give the price for both just to make half of the flakiness with time machine go away so I could trust it - turns out the answer was to make time machine go away and put my trust elsewhere, or at least relegate it to third string... The whole purpose of a backup mechanism is to make your data backup bulletproof automated and mindless after all... Previously I used Crashplan, which definitely is flexible and does all the above (and is dockerized for UnRaid), and frankly seems similarly bulletproof and is actually very reasonable cost if you don't push backups to their cloud (IE could use it backing up to UnRaid in place of Time Machine without charge), but their interface isn't as easy to use and their cloud storage (unlimited data for the monthly fee) is still pricey for a home user, using their restore process is IMO kind of clumsy, and I think it's Java based so theoretically not quite as impenetrable (certainly not OS-X intuitive...). BackBlaze is another similar service that's more OS-X centric. And if you really also want an easy button option for simple hard drive recovery, you can use a simple cloner like Superduper or Paragon's new Disk Manager (Paragon also provides you improvement over Disk Manager for formatting etc. and also gives the ability to read/write NTFS and EXT Windows/Linux drive partitions using OS-X, overcoming another Mac silo problem inside a mixed network). My point being, if you go to the trouble of building a nice UnRaid NAS, you might consider expanding your horizon to look at something that plays nice with it so you don't have to fight Time Machine, which is in best circumstances is kind of a love/hate relationship... I think the new Apple File system is just another variable to throw in there - will Time Machine have growing pains with that too? I now use Time Machine as a redundant process - IE plug in an external drive to the MAC periodically to make an episodic "cold" copy (weekly or monthly, etc) then keep the drive in an off grid safe place in your house which is also a hedge against data loss in case of Ransomware, or in case of theft of your Mac (and NAS) -- if you hide the drive well. Where Time Machine does shine is that it's a really simple restore option from a damaged OS install - IE can restore it from the rescue partition of the Mac. Having a slightly old backup also injects a low tech protection against Ransomware or a Router/Firewall malware penetration where you don't trust anything on your network anymore - situation that forces a Nuke N Pave response, etc. - or a response to crooks simply absconding with your entire physical network, which could be keeping an OS-X install USB stick with the drive, so all you need is a trip to Best Buy or Apple Store to be back in Biz even in a catastrophe). That external drive is also a good place to keep an archive of things like your 1Password backup and other things you might need (or could grab and go with in a natural disaster scenario), keeping that in a simple encrypted folder on the drive. Make it an SSD if you can afford it and now it's got long term archival durability potential as well. I think one other thought in Nuke N Pave scenario is I don't think Time Machine keeps some of the settings (App activation ID #'s and the like) if I am recalling that right, complicating the restore process and there's probably your $80 back right there for software activation keys you can't find for purchased Mac software add ons.... Since it's a short thread I thought the extra detail might be a useful posting for folks interacting with Time Machine with UnRaid, esp. those new to UnRaid / NAS. Esp. with Limetech's strategy to get a more novice level of users drawn into the UnRaid ecosystem... Joe