unRAID 6 Beta 6: Btrfs Quick-Start Guide

[Niccarter]

Hi

 

I have the Plus version of Unraid and am using a new SSD Cache Drive.

 

a) I can format using the GUI method ... but it formats to reiserfs, so Docker won't install.

OR

b) I can format with the command line method to btrfs (and can install Docker), but the GUI tells me the Cache drive is "Unformatted".

 

I am currently going with Option b), but I'd like to have a Cache drive too!

 

Help!!!

 

Cheers

 

Nic

[itimpi]

If you stop the array and then click on the cache drive in the Main tab you should be able to change the format to btrfs.  Start the array again and the cache drive will show as unformatted - and you have an option to format at this point.

[Niccarter]

Thank you.

The interface is very misleading and the default file system is reiserfs in the GUI. I had the cache formatted to btrfs, but it showed as "unformatted" when I started the array. Changed the cache drive format in the GUI to btrfs (didn't know you could do that) - started the array and all fine.

 

Thank you again.

 

Regards

Nic

[theone]

Questions:

 

If I have 320GB and 500GB HDDs and set them up as a BTRFS cache pool.

 

* How much redundant space will I end up with? 320GB? 500GB? Somewhere in between?

* Can I add the 2nd drive to the cache pool without loosing all data on the 1st exsiting cache drive?

 

[jonp]

Questions:

 

If I have 320GB and 500GB HDDs and set them up as a BTRFS cache pool.

 

* How much redundant space will I end up with? 320GB? 500GB? Somewhere in between?

 

You will be bottlenecked to the capacity of the smaller drive.

 

* Can I add the 2nd drive to the cache pool without loosing all data on the 1st exsiting cache drive?

 

Yes.  After adding the second drive and starting the array, click the word "cache" on the main page of the GUI and you will see an option to perform a btrfs balance.  In a 2 disk system, this basically will copy all bits from disk 1 to disk 2 to ensure full data protection is in place.

 

[htpcnewbie]

Was in the same situation. I had the new cache drive btrfs formatted and copied the data. Reassigning the new cache drive showed up as unformatted. I let Unraid format it but thankfully unraid recognized and it did not reformat (at least seems like that). All the copied data existed on the new drive.

 

Thank you.

The interface is very misleading and the default file system is reiserfs in the GUI. I had the cache formatted to btrfs, but it showed as "unformatted" when I started the array. Changed the cache drive format in the GUI to btrfs (didn't know you could do that) - started the array and all fine.

 

Thank you again.

 

Regards

Nic

[jonp]

Was in the same situation. I had the new cache drive btrfs formatted and copied the data. Reassigning the new cache drive showed up as unformatted. I let Unraid format it but thankfully unraid recognized and it did not reformat (at least seems like that). All the copied data existed on the new drive.

 

Thank you.

The interface is very misleading and the default file system is reiserfs in the GUI. I had the cache formatted to btrfs, but it showed as "unformatted" when I started the array. Changed the cache drive format in the GUI to btrfs (didn't know you could do that) - started the array and all fine.

 

Thank you again.

 

Regards

Nic

 

Please post and discuss these topics in the Defect Reports or General Support forums, not as replies to this topic.  The only way we fix is if they are shared there...

[itimpi]

Not sure why you are getting the error, but it is worth pointing out that is no longer necessary to have a btrfs formatted drive for docker.  Instead docker now runs from a virtual disk which is just a file on any supported file system type (although internally the virtual disk is formatted in btrfs format).

[nerdystudmuffin]

...

 

it [btrfs] makes the cache drive really slow

 

...

 

I have this same problem. Converted cache to BTRFS after updating from 5.x to b10a (I get that this is a Beta 6 thread) . Most of the documentation seems to be in the forums for b6 so I apologize if this is out of place. My cache drive is terribly slow after the conversion. I notice it mostly in my docker apps that are writing to the cache disk. Doesn't seem like I need to have it btrfs anymore so I am converting back to Reiser.

 

I am very excited about the direction I see v6 moving. Docker + KVM is exactly what I have been waiting for. I have no idea how to troubleshoot the performance issue on the SSD cache disk or what information that would be helpful but I am happy to do some digging if someone were to guide me.

[stottle]

The top post says this can be done in the webgui.  It isn't obvious how in the new dynamix gui.  I went with the command line version instead, to create a non-array disk for VMs.

 

Maybe the instructions need an update?

[jonp]

The top post says this can be done in the webgui.  It isn't obvious how in the new dynamix gui.  I went with the command line version instead, to create a non-array disk for VMs.

 

Maybe the instructions need an update?

 

Yup, definitely.  I will need to create a new guide.

[toby9999]

GUIDE OUTDATED

 

With the current versions of unRAID 6 available, you can utilize btrfs and cache pools natively from within the webGui of unRAID itself and do not need to resort to manual methods as described in this guide.

 

Btrfs Quick-Start Guide

 

I'm running the latest beta (6.0-beta14b) but can't see any GUI controls for setting up the cache POOL. I can assign one of my free drives to be the cache (as is normally done), but I can't see any way in the GUI to create a cache pool and add drives to it.

 

Doesn't that mean either (a) I'm simply not seeing the GUI controls or (b) this guide which uses the CLI is NOT outdated and is still the only way to set up a pool?

 

I've hunted around the forums and the documentation, but can't see any way to do this other than using this guide.

 

UPDATE:

Problem solved. I had made the incorrect assumption that a cache pool can contain any number of disks WHILE AT THE SAME TIME allowing me to use as many data disk slots as my licence allowed. In my case, I have the Pro licence and I had the following configuration...

 

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Disk 23: unassigned

Slots: 24

 

The problem was, the number of cache slots always showed "1" so I could never assign a second cache drive and create a cache pool.

 

The solution was to change the number of data disk slots from 24 to 23, which then looked like this...

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Slots: 23

 

After reducing the number of slots to 23, the cache slots option then gave me "1" or "2". So I chose "2", assigned the 2nd cache drive, and magically all the features in the GUI that relate to the cache pool appeared (like the "Balance" button which wasn't shown before).

 

This then begs the question: if I assign even more disks to my cache pool, aren't I eroding the number of data disks I can have and therefore limiting the maximum capacity of my array (in spite of paying for the "larger" licence)?

[jonp]

GUIDE OUTDATED

 

With the current versions of unRAID 6 available, you can utilize btrfs and cache pools natively from within the webGui of unRAID itself and do not need to resort to manual methods as described in this guide.

 

Btrfs Quick-Start Guide

 

I'm running the latest beta (6.0-beta14b) but can't see any GUI controls for setting up the cache POOL. I can assign one of my free drives to be the cache (as is normally done), but I can't see any way in the GUI to create a cache pool and add drives to it.

 

Doesn't that mean either (a) I'm simply not seeing the GUI controls or (b) this guide which uses the CLI is NOT outdated and is still the only way to set up a pool?

 

I've hunted around the forums and the documentation, but can't see any way to do this other than using this guide.

 

UPDATE:

Problem solved. I had made the incorrect assumption that a cache pool can contain any number of disks WHILE AT THE SAME TIME allowing me to use as many data disk slots as my licence allowed. In my case, I have the Pro licence and I had the following configuration...

 

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Disk 23: unassigned

Slots: 24

 

The problem was, the number of cache slots always showed "1" so I could never assign a second cache drive and create a cache pool.

 

The solution was to change the number of data disk slots from 24 to 23, which then looked like this...

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Slots: 23

 

After reducing the number of slots to 23, the cache slots option then gave me "1" or "2". So I chose "2", assigned the 2nd cache drive, and magically all the features in the GUI that relate to the cache pool appeared (like the "Balance" button which wasn't shown before).

 

This then begs the question: if I assign even more disks to my cache pool, aren't I eroding the number of data disks I can have and therefore limiting the maximum capacity of my array (in spite of paying for the "larger" licence)?

 

You paid for a license to use up to 25 devices in the system.  The arrangement of the devices is up to you (cache pool vs. array).  If being able to expand to 25 data devices in your array is more important than a protected cache pool, don't create a cache pool.

[dmacias]

GUIDE OUTDATED

 

With the current versions of unRAID 6 available, you can utilize btrfs and cache pools natively from within the webGui of unRAID itself and do not need to resort to manual methods as described in this guide.

 

Btrfs Quick-Start Guide

 

I'm running the latest beta (6.0-beta14b) but can't see any GUI controls for setting up the cache POOL. I can assign one of my free drives to be the cache (as is normally done), but I can't see any way in the GUI to create a cache pool and add drives to it.

 

Doesn't that mean either (a) I'm simply not seeing the GUI controls or (b) this guide which uses the CLI is NOT outdated and is still the only way to set up a pool?

 

I've hunted around the forums and the documentation, but can't see any way to do this other than using this guide.

 

UPDATE:

Problem solved. I had made the incorrect assumption that a cache pool can contain any number of disks WHILE AT THE SAME TIME allowing me to use as many data disk slots as my licence allowed. In my case, I have the Pro licence and I had the following configuration...

 

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Disk 23: unassigned

Slots: 24

 

The problem was, the number of cache slots always showed "1" so I could never assign a second cache drive and create a cache pool.

 

The solution was to change the number of data disk slots from 24 to 23, which then looked like this...

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Slots: 23

 

After reducing the number of slots to 23, the cache slots option then gave me "1" or "2". So I chose "2", assigned the 2nd cache drive, and magically all the features in the GUI that relate to the cache pool appeared (like the "Balance" button which wasn't shown before).

 

This then begs the question: if I assign even more disks to my cache pool, aren't I eroding the number of data disks I can have and therefore limiting the maximum capacity of my array (in spite of paying for the "larger" licence)?

 

You paid for a license to use up to 25 devices in the system.  The arrangement of the devices is up to you (cache pool vs. array).  If being able to expand to 25 data devices in your array is more important than a protected cache pool, don't create a cache pool.

Decided to give cache pool a try again. It's really not obvious that you have to reduce disk slots to gain cache slots.  After starting and stopping the array a few times, looking through settings a few time, I looked here for the answer.

[jonp]

GUIDE OUTDATED

 

With the current versions of unRAID 6 available, you can utilize btrfs and cache pools natively from within the webGui of unRAID itself and do not need to resort to manual methods as described in this guide.

 

Btrfs Quick-Start Guide

 

I'm running the latest beta (6.0-beta14b) but can't see any GUI controls for setting up the cache POOL. I can assign one of my free drives to be the cache (as is normally done), but I can't see any way in the GUI to create a cache pool and add drives to it.

 

Doesn't that mean either (a) I'm simply not seeing the GUI controls or (b) this guide which uses the CLI is NOT outdated and is still the only way to set up a pool?

 

I've hunted around the forums and the documentation, but can't see any way to do this other than using this guide.

 

UPDATE:

Problem solved. I had made the incorrect assumption that a cache pool can contain any number of disks WHILE AT THE SAME TIME allowing me to use as many data disk slots as my licence allowed. In my case, I have the Pro licence and I had the following configuration...

 

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Disk 23: unassigned

Slots: 24

 

The problem was, the number of cache slots always showed "1" so I could never assign a second cache drive and create a cache pool.

 

The solution was to change the number of data disk slots from 24 to 23, which then looked like this...

Parity

Disks 1 - 21: assigned

Disk 22: unassigned

Slots: 23

 

After reducing the number of slots to 23, the cache slots option then gave me "1" or "2". So I chose "2", assigned the 2nd cache drive, and magically all the features in the GUI that relate to the cache pool appeared (like the "Balance" button which wasn't shown before).

 

This then begs the question: if I assign even more disks to my cache pool, aren't I eroding the number of data disks I can have and therefore limiting the maximum capacity of my array (in spite of paying for the "larger" licence)?

 

You paid for a license to use up to 25 devices in the system.  The arrangement of the devices is up to you (cache pool vs. array).  If being able to expand to 25 data devices in your array is more important than a protected cache pool, don't create a cache pool.

Decided to give cache pool a try again. It's really not obvious that you have to reduce disk slots to gain cache slots.  After starting and stopping the array a few times, looking through settings a few time, I looked here for the answer.

 

Agreed.  Making this a little more intuitive is something we need to do (or at least put better help text in).

[Ulvan]

I'm considering upgrading to btrfs with my array. I recall there was a step-by-step guide to how to do that for an existing and running array somewhere on the forum, but can't find it. Anyone have a link to the post?

 

Also, would it be advisable to wait for 6.0, or would I get the benefits with 5.0.6.?

[trurl]

I'm considering upgrading to btrfs with my array. I recall there was a step-by-step guide to how to do that for an existing and running array somewhere on the forum, but can't find it. Anyone have a link to the post?

 

Also, would it be advisable to wait for 6.0, or would I get the benefits with 5.0.6.?

unRAID v5 only support ReiserFS, so it is not possible to do this with 5.0.6

[Ulvan]

I'm considering upgrading to btrfs with my array. I recall there was a step-by-step guide to how to do that for an existing and running array somewhere on the forum, but can't find it. Anyone have a link to the post?

 

Also, would it be advisable to wait for 6.0, or would I get the benefits with 5.0.6.?

unRAID v5 only support ReiserFS, so it is not possible to do this with 5.0.6

 

Ok, thanks. I'll wait for the full release of 6.0 until upgrading to it and btrfs, then!

[ElJimador]

 

* Can I add the 2nd drive to the cache pool without loosing all data on the 1st exsiting cache drive?

 

Yes.  After adding the second drive and starting the array, click the word "cache" on the main page of the GUI and you will see an option to perform a btrfs balance.  In a 2 disk system, this basically will copy all bits from disk 1 to disk 2 to ensure full data protection is in place.

 

Hi Jon.  I created a cache pool w/3 SSDs (2x 500g + 1 250g) and was surprised when it showed as 1.25t capacity.  I followed your advice above to run a btrfs balance thinking it would change it to 750g w/the 2nd 500g SSD for parity but it doesn't work.  The balance runs and I can see the progress as I refresh the page but at the end it goes right back to "no balance found" and still 1.25t.    I even backup and deleted everything out of cache and it still does the same thing even when it's completely empty.  Am I doing something wrong?

[amagri]

 

* Can I add the 2nd drive to the cache pool without loosing all data on the 1st exsiting cache drive?

 

Yes.  After adding the second drive and starting the array, click the word "cache" on the main page of the GUI and you will see an option to perform a btrfs balance.  In a 2 disk system, this basically will copy all bits from disk 1 to disk 2 to ensure full data protection is in place.

 

Hi Jon.  I created a cache pool w/3 SSDs (2x 500g + 1 250g) and was surprised when it showed as 1.25t capacity.  I followed your advice above to run a btrfs balance thinking it would change it to 750g w/the 2nd 500g SSD for parity but it doesn't work.  The balance runs and I can see the progress as I refresh the page but at the end it goes right back to "no balance found" and still 1.25t.    I even backup and deleted everything out of cache and it still does the same thing even when it's completely empty.  Am I doing something wrong?

 

The same for me too. I created a cache pool with 2 x 1 TB hd. The capacity is showed as 2T.

Some command line information:

 

# btrfs fi show /mnt/cache/

 

Label: none  uuid: 857ac0cd-b360-4ed1-a69e-9f2c8ce09c24

Total devices 2 FS bytes used 54.91GiB

devid    1 size 931.51GiB used 27.03GiB path /dev/sdb1

devid    2 size 931.51GiB used 29.00GiB path /dev/sdc1

 

 

# btrfs fi df /mnt/cache/

 

Data, single: total=55.00GiB, used=54.86GiB

System, single: total=32.00MiB, used=16.00KiB

Metadata, single: total=1.00GiB, used=60.33MiB

GlobalReserve, single: total=32.00MiB, used=0.00B

 

 

The command:

btrfs balance start -dconvert=raid1 -mconvert=raid1 /mnt/cache/ 

runs without error, but does not change the pool to raid1. It keeps showing "single".

I get the same result using GUI Balance button.

 

Any clue on how to change pool to raid1?

[limetech]

This issue is fixed in -rc3.

[zarz83]

Hello all,

 

Sorry for the n00b question. I am currently running Rockstor  and am considering switching to unRAID  .

 

I was wondering if I can import my 2*4TB BTRFS drives to unRAID without loosing any data.

 

If it is possible how do I go about it?

 

Thank you all for your help.

[itimpi]

Hello all,

 

Sorry for the n00b question. I am currently running Rockstor  and am considering switching to unRAID  .

 

I was wondering if I can import my 2*4TB BTRFS drives to unRAID without loosing any data.

 

If it is possible how do I go about it?

 

Thank you all for your help.

I very much doubt it.  A drive has to be already partitioned exactly as unRAID wants or the process of adding it to unRAID will redo the partitioning scheme thus effectively wiping its content.

[jbartlett]

If you create an UNRAID setup first with two empty 4TB data drives (or 1 8TB), you can copy the files off of the Rockstor onto it over the network, then add the two 4TB drives from the Rockstor to the UNRAID box.

[apgood]

If you have at least one spare hard drive of 4TB or greater then what you might be able to do is assign it as a data drive in unraid and then connect the 2 drives from the Rockstor using the unassigned devices plugin, but this is based on the assumption that Rockstor hasn't been configured to stripe the 2 4TB drives and that they can be read as individual drives.

Advantage of using unassigned devices if possible is that you have faster transfer speeds and once the data has been copied off of the first drive you can the assign the drive as the 2nd data drive and then copy from the remaining BTRFS drive onto this 2nd data drive. Then once the remaining on is cleared you can use it as a parity drive.

 

 

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