How are you using unRAID Server?



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Warning, these are off-topic comments, but I felt it was important to add a caution here.

 

1 - pictures archive - it is extremely important that I be able to recover these in case of failure - I look forward to a 2-parity drive system

 

I know you had the best of intentions, and I do agree that the additional RAID features will add to the SAFETY of this backup copy, but therein lies the danger.  It becomes easy for you and anyone else who reads this to assume that their backup strategies are SAFE *because* it is on a RAID system, and no further backup is necessary.  The general 'rule' here is, RAID is not backup. 

 

The safety of a particular backup copy is certainly a factor in good backup strategies, but the most important factors are copy redundancy and location diversity, of said copies.  The next most important factor is temporal diversity, to limit the propagation of error (things like the JournalSpace disaster).  Rather than take up more off-topic time here, please see something I wrote awhile back on the Jungle Disk forums:  http://forum.jungledisk.com/viewtopic.php?t=16096.  By the way, I do recommend Jungle Disk and similar offsite storage, to complete your backup plan, especially good for things like non-video media collections.

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Warning, these are off-topic comments, but I felt it was important to add a caution here.

 

1 - pictures archive - it is extremely important that I be able to recover these in case of failure - I look forward to a 2-parity drive system

 

I know you had the best of intentions, and I do agree that the additional RAID features will add to the SAFETY of this backup copy, but therein lies the danger.  It becomes easy for you and anyone else who reads this to assume that their backup strategies are SAFE *because* it is on a RAID system, and no further backup is necessary.  The general 'rule' here is, RAID is not backup. 

 

The safety of a particular backup copy is certainly a factor in good backup strategies, but the most important factors are copy redundancy and location diversity, of said copies.  The next most important factor is temporal diversity, to limit the propagation of error (things like the JournalSpace disaster).  Rather than take up more off-topic time here, please see something I wrote awhile back on the Jungle Disk forums:  http://forum.jungledisk.com/viewtopic.php?t=16096.  By the way, I do recommend Jungle Disk and similar offsite storage, to complete your backup plan, especially good for things like non-video media collections.

 

Because the pix are so important, I actually have backups of them in 2 different geographic locations in MI and a copy in CA ;)

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One server - all IDE - is general file storage. ISO of all things like my Vista and XP disks, pictures, downloaded TV shows, and backups from my desktops. This machine is a general dumping ground for downloaded "stuff" and has a decent amount of free space available despite using smaller IDE drives. TV shows stream to XBMC. I will upgrade this to SATA one of these days...

 

Second server - mostly SATA. I had two IDE in this one, now just one being used as cache. ALL of my DVD and blueray rips here and my music as well. Too much to backup in a second place but I DO have my music backed up in about 3 other spots since reripping it *AGAIN* would suck - badly! Journalspace disaster is possible, cannot be helped I am afraid so I am careful. This machine streams to a Linux XBMC box  and an old XBOX machine around the house.

 

So, not much different than the others. I am using unMENU and really appreciate the additional information it provides including access to SMART data which is proving VERY interesting. I intend to move to using BubbaQs software as well once I'm done moving disks and updating the SATA box with a couple of Seagate 1.5s - fingers crossed on these suckers as they have spit some SMART errors. <sigh> At the very least I would echo that the unMENU stuff shoudl be considered as it's added flexibility is terrific!

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  • 3 weeks later...

my 4 TB Unraid is networked with 2 PC (1XP, 1 Vista) and I use it for backup personnal archives and media server (music mp3, video, pictures..).

to be cautious, I backup also my important documents and all my pictures on a smaller NAS (synologie DS 207+, 2x500 GO Raid1)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very easy answer: Media Server.

 

I have my XBOX360 hooked upto it via Windows XP machine and sharing the data out that way over Media Center.  It took a registry hack to get it to work but now it's working flawlessly. 5TB of space waiting for my browsing enjoyment.

 

Elaborate on the registry thing?

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Primarily a media server for Microsoft Media Centers for me, but I also use it as a file NAS.  I have 4 Vista Media Centers and 1 XP Media Center next door(mother-in-laws) with 4x1TB and 5x500GB carrying movies, TV shows and home videos.  A 10th 320GB drive is used for photos, applications, drivers, etc.

 

Home videos and photos (i.e. the only things irreplaceable) are also sent to tape.

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  • 1 month later...

Right now I'm just using it for storage of EVERYTHING, music, movies, TV, documents, you name it.  My network is all Gigabit LAN, except for the Xbox 360.  I'm brand new to unRAID, so I'm sure I haven't seen its full potential yet.  In the future, I hope to use it to serve media to my two computers (one laptop, one desktop, both running Windows Vista x64), to server media to my Xbox 360, and to seed torrents from it.

 

The one improvement that I would absolutely cream over is if a torrent client such as uTorrent or rTorrent could be installed and run directly from the unRAID server.  I know I can just redirect torrents from my desktop computer to seed from the unRAID server (though I haven't actually tried this yet), but running both the desktop and the unRAID server 24/7 just to seed torrents seems wasteful to me.

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Survey seems a little HTPC weighted lol...

 

I do use my server for HTPC use, but also for my household's files, pictures, applications etc.  I have even gotten my gf to only save data to the server, a mantra that I brought home from work.

 

I only use 1 share and try to have my folder structure work for a split level 2 spread across all disks.

 

Hopefully I will be able to run bubbaraids slimserver, but if not I can run it on my new project a ubuntu XBMC box...

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  • 4 weeks later...

I use mine (only 2TB currently) for media streaming to a Mac Mini running Plex, and for general file storage and backup for the 2 Macbooks in the house.

 

I'd welcome AFP support!

 

I also second the call for more/better web screens (although the standard ones do the basics very well!). unMENU does seem to show a lot more useful info, and have some other very handy features.

 

Justin

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am using my unRaid server as a NAS.

 

I also run a Windows Home server. I replaced a Drobo with unRaid because unRaid does pretty much the same thing, but allows > 4 drives.

 

I have a SnapStream Beyond TV Server setup with 4 link clients, shows are recorded and saved to the Windows home server which also backs up 10 pc's in the home.. I know - alot of PC's but most are not on all the time.

 

The WHS backs up the network PC's:

1. Main HTPC running Vista Ultimate hooked to a Sony 61" HDTV.

2. Kitchen HTPC

3. Bedroom HTPC

4. Teen 1 PC

5. Teen 2 PC

6. Spouse PC

7. BTVServer

8. DVD Ripper (I have 1,400 DVD's) so I setup a machine with a Sony VGP-XL1B Firewire changer and am about 1/2 way through ripping my dvd's to Divx.

9. Laptop 1

10.My Main workstation.

 

There are also 3  Xbox 360's on the network, 1 PS3 and 1 Wii

 

All media is saved to WHS for serving the media through it's shares and WebGuide Plugin.

 

I use Microsoft SyncToy with unRaid to backup my Home Server once or twice a month (or after about every 10 dvd are added), then shut it down till next time.

 

WHS has 6x 750GB HDD

unRaid has 2x 1.5TB HDD, 4x 750GB HDD, 2x 200GB HDD.

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  • 2 months later...

Just switched from a custom, also usb-key-based (ie, ram fs), raid5 nas. I was thinking of expanding capacity, *again*, and I couldn't bear the procedure that I'd have to go through, *again*. Basically, using raid5 in linux, you have to update all the drives to be able to expand. You swap one drive, rebuild the parity (loong time), swap another drive, rebuild, etc. Takes an eternity, and like I said, you need to swap all drives in order to expand, at least if you want to keep the same amount of drives.

 

The NAS is mainly used for backup (don't worry; I also backup offsite) and, of course, for media storage. I have a pretty good HDTV movies collection, and while I do have them in bluray/hddvd, for the most part, it's SO much better to be able to browse through your library in XBMC, in all aeon-theme glory, and be able to start a movie with the push of a button ;) I also use that machine as my torrent downloader, currently using uTorrent in a VMware machine (need the SOCKS support; I would use rtorrent, as I did for a long time previously, if this wasn't necessary).

 

It was also used as a print server, previously, but since I'm brand new to unRAID (<2 weeks of usage), I haven't looked at replicating that functionality, yet.

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Mac media storage (relocated iTunes library), Time Machine target (need to fix this after a failed drive and carelessness with the parity rebuild procedure on my part caused scattered array corruption - TM would be easier with AFP! Tried to hack it in for only a disk share but failed cause of password issues). Also, AppleTV is fed by iMac iTunes which in turn uses unRAID smb mount.

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I use my unRaid server for various tasks, but it is heavily used on the HTPC side. My house runs on a gigabit network and an Asus router running DD-WRT provides internet and wireless access.

 

Configuration

  • Cooler Master Centurion 590 case
  • GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P motherboard
  • Intel Core2 Duo 2.6Ghz
  • 2 Gigs of memory
  • 3x Cooler Master 4 in 3 hard drive cages. I took the front bezels off so they all fit perfectly inside behind the perforated 5.25 drive covers.
  • 4x SYBA 2 port PCIE Sata controllers
  • 12x drives of various sizes (from 250 to 1.5TBs) for a total of 8.5TB. As the server is now full, next I'll be replacing the smaller drives with the 1.5TB.

 

 

1. HTPC

The HTPC runs XBMC with MediaStream Redux skin on Vista and is connected to a Denon 4308ci and Samsung 61 " LED-DLP. I stream all kinds of HD, DVD, and SD content stored in the unRaid server. The library and web scraping functionality of XBMC is truely the icing on the cake. To tell you the truth, it was unRaid and its ease of expansion that finally got me to build out a full blown HTPC network. I've worked with all kinds of raid systems in the past and I just dreaded having to deal with the whole process of adding additional capacity to traditional raid hardware and the cost of the controllers for the kind of space I'd want was just ridiculous.

 

I also have a modded Xbox running XBMC in my bedroom, though it's limited to only DVD and SD media. About the only times anyone watches TV in there is if someone is sick. Hell the TV is a 12+ year old CRT hehe. It also provides "background" music as well. ;)

 

2. Movies and TV Shows

There are roughly 600+ movies and tv shows, of which I still have some 200 more in DVD format to finish ripping.

 

3. Music

All my music is accessed throughout the house by either XBMC or one of the networked computers.

 

4. Pictures

I keep copies of all my pictures to be viewed through XBMC. I'm currently looking for a wireless picture frame that can access my pictures over the network.

 

5. Home Videos

All my HD home videos are here and I will eventually convert all my digital 8 videos too as soon as I finish converting my DVD movies. I play them through XBMC as well.

 

6. Weekly backups

I use Acronis to create and store full images of the OS partitions for all networked computers.

 

  • My workstation
  • My laptop
  • Wife's PC
  • Windows Server
  • HTPC

 

7. Nightly Backups

Besides using Jungledisk (highly recommended) for nightly backups of my documents, pictures and source code, I also keep backup copies of all my pictures and home videos. Can never have to many copies. The videos are all HD, so uploading them to offsite backup has always been a pain due to their size, but I now have 20Mbit/2Mbit connection so I may try it out.

 

8. General File Storage

Anything that I download and keep gets stored here as well.

 

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I was quite enamoured with Kaleidescape when I first saw it a few years ago, but the price was just a little prohibitive at $30,000 for a "starter" setup.

 

I decided I wanted to do it on the cheap, and knowing that the Kaleidescape people aren't allowed to rip Blu-ray discs due to licensing issues, I figured I could actually create a higher quality experience.

 

This is a screenshot of the Kaleidescape interface:

 

zn8spz.png

 

And this is a screenshot of my default interface:

 

seufrs.png

 

N.B. The zoom effect on the selected movie had to be simulated on this screenshot, as it doesn't work on a PC web browser. On a Popcorn Hour, it looks a lot nicer.

 

The Kaleidescape system comprises a server or servers and players.

 

 

Kaleidescape 3u server

 

2r4j01t.jpg

 

I believe this is their largest server, it has 14 hard drive cartridge slots, the largest drive they are currently using is 1TB. Price for one 14TB server + a single player - $38,000.

Kaleidescape servers use K-RAID for redundancy.

 

My unRAID server

10y1ffa.jpg

 

The case is an Antec Twelve Hundred.

 

I chose this case because it has a large number of 3.5" drive bays as standard (9) and has exemplary cooling for the drive bays -- 3x 120mm fans. I've replaced the drive cages with Scythe 4-in-3s, making 16 drives in total. More info at this post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2031.msg34915#msg34915

I'm now at 16 drives, over 16TB. I have over 500 HD movies stored, mostly unmolested Blu-ray rips.

 

Kaleidescape Player

242hlc7.jpg

 

My player: Popcorn Hour A-110

11buo9c.jpg

 

The PCH isn't very pretty, but it's small and hides away so you don't really see it in my living room. And it only costs £179.

 

The major benefit of the PCH is that it will play HD rips -- Blu-ray rips, HDTV etc. The Kaleidescape is limited to just playing DVDs.

When it's released, I'll replace the A-110 with the C-200:

 

2dchoic.jpg

 

My Popcorn Hour connects to an Onyko TX-SR606 AV receiver via HDMI, bitstreaming HD audio tracks out to a 5.1 speaker setup. Video is output to a Sanyo Z2000 1080p projector, projecting on to a 110" electric projector screen.

 

Software

What really ties all the hardware together to make a user-friendly system is software.

The Kaleidescape front end is very nice, and is seamless.

 

I had to put quite a bit of effort in to getting a similar look, and the maintenance of adding new movies is a bit more of an effort than with Kaleidescape, but I don't mind that, as I have automated most of the work. It's possible for the addition of movies to be completely automated using my setup as well, but I do a bit of tweaking to get the best presentation of the movies on screen.

 

 

Server software

uNRAID, of course.

 

On the server, I run llink. This is an HTTP server which streams all types of movie file except DVD ISO and VIDEO_TS structure.

I have no SD DVDs in my system, so that is not a limitation for me, but it is still possible to stream DVDs using the server and the PCH if required.

unRAID has Samba and NFS built in, and these can be used to stream movies, but the Popcorn Hour works most efficiently when streaming over HTTP.

 

 

Movie Jukebox

 

The Popcorn Hour has no hard drives built in, and originally I used Yet Another Movie Jukebox to build a Movie Jukebox menu which resided on the unRAID server.

This works fine, and means the only systems that need to be running are the PCH and the unRAID server.

 

However, having tried out nmtserver, I decided to use this as the front end. nmtserver is a dynamic Movie and Music Jukebox that has significant benefits over the normal static YAMJ.

Unfortunately, nmtserver currently only runs on Windows, so I have a little Netbook on when I watch movies, running nmtserver in the background. Fortunately, mine has a button to turn off the display, so I leave it running next to the sofa with the display off. Hopefully someone will port the app to linux or to the PCH itself, as it's not very taxing to the hardware.

 

nmtserver lets you view your movie collection in a number of different ways on the fly. Some examples:

 

25ppeur.png

Movie wall -- sorted alphabetically, small thumbnails and all menus hidden.

 

 

 

25f7tiw.png

Large thumbnails, both menus on, showing movies from the 1960s, sorted by "mix" -- release date combined with rating.

 

 

33es95j.png

Main movie information.

 

 

 

34j27m0.png

Movie details (formatting looks a little off, as screenshot was made on a PC browser, not on the PCH)

To get the movie posters "boxed" with appropriate cases, I use BoxMeHQ as an add-on to nmtserver. I also automated BoxMeHQ by editing the batch file within, so it runs automatically after YAMJ has finished scanning.

 

Adding movies is now completely automated -- nmtserver is set to scan the movie collection on the server and add any new movies to the interface.

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Neil.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Neil - great post!

 

I am just building my UnRaid server this weekend ( burning in at the moment ).  I have the PCH A-110 and I am running YAMJ .  If I understand what you have done, you've reduced the need for the continual manual updating of the index file that is necessary for YAMJ each time a movie is added.

 

It's too bad that the setup doesn't support ISO's as that is what I my collection primary consists of.    I'm going to the PCH thread to see what can be done in my case :)

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Neil - great post!

 

I am just building my UnRaid server this weekend ( burning in at the moment ).  I have the PCH A-110 and I am running YAMJ .   If I understand what you have done, you've reduced the need for the continual manual updating of the index file that is necessary for YAMJ each time a movie is added.

 

It's too bad that the setup doesn't support ISO's as that is what I my collection primary consists of.    I'm going to the PCH thread to see what can be done in my case :)

 

Thanks! I just got my C-200 yesterday, so can't actually use YAMJ with it yet!

 

NMTserver has an option to scan for new movies on a schedule, which is what I was referring to.

 

Are you referring to BD ISOs or DVD ISOs? DVD ISOs should be fine. BD ISOs, not supported yet.

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My unRAID box hosts my media collection (videos, music, movies). Also acts as a backup for important data.

 

I access it via my E-Great NMT directly or via my Cinemar Home automation system (running a NMT plugin) and a music application.

 

All runs over Gb copper network.

 

W2K3 runs MainLobby server.

3 x Fujitsu Stylistic tablet pcs running main lobby clients.

5 x 300 DVD Sony changers.

1 x 400 CD Sony changer.

1 x E-Great NMT.

1 x DLink media streamer.

1 x Xbox media streamer.

1 x netgear MP101 music streamer.

1 x Rotel 3 ch music amplifier. 

1 x cable TV box

4 x Toshiba DVD players for local DVD watching.

Panasonic or LG flatscreens in the rooms. 

 

Component video is switched down dedicated CAT5e cabling to each room or composite if the TV isn't component capable. Music is sent via Rotel to each room. Two bedrooms and the main lounge are all DTS HD capable with Yamaha receivers. TV is piped down coax.

 

Global cache IP/IR/Serial gateways controls virutally everything.

 

Ulimately hope to remove the tablets and do everything via remote control and the new Cinemar IRE global cache plugin direct to each room. System gives control over lighting, movies, music and displays the weather.

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  • 1 month later...

You guys have done some great networking/home automation!

 

I run my server as a back-end to my Popcorn Hour A-110 primarily.

 

It linked to my Gigabit switch , so i can also access the content from my primary workstation ( I run dual monitors so often I will have one monitor running a movie/show and the other for playing on ).

 

I've got about 750 DVD's on the server now and about 1200 more to transfer over ( ya... its a long process ).  I've been ripping them to DVD5 format , movie only , however some I leave in DVD9 as otherwise I feel I might start getting compression errors.

 

My server has over 6TB of storage, however that will not be sufficient for my entire collection.  I will need to expand my CoolMaster 590 case with additional drives ( It can hold 12 comfortably ), but I will need to add a SATA Controller(S).

 

I haven't played around with my server for music yet as the movie project is a multiple month one to start.  Once I add music, I plan to use my Ethernet Over PowerLine Adapters to setup a small system in my room to stream audio  ( I think ... still in the "maybe" stage ).

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  • 2 months later...

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