I'm sure it will be back soon. He might be switching hosts or plans.
It is back.

Looked a lot like the web-host had an issue on the server.
(Wonder if there will be another POLL?)

Joe L.

I'm sure it will be back soon. He might be switching hosts or plans.

Thanks. I suspect that the answers to some of my questions may be on LimeTech's forums, but since I remain curious I thought I might ask here to see if anyone knows:

1. I essentially just took some of my somewhat dated equipment and built a test unraid server. I am very pleased with how it went since I'm new at much of this and it seems to work :) In my test setup I'm only using a couple of 250 gig ide hard drives, but where I am hoping to take this to is to have 2 2TB drives and 1 1 TB drive giving my 3TBs of space. However, due to probably a number of different factors I am only currently able to transfer data from one machine to the unraid server at 10 megs/second (write speed). I suspect the reason behind the slow transfer rate is I have this in an environment that is probably far from optimal. 1) The motherbooard on the unraid server is an ASUS A78NX - VM which does not have any PCI Express slots, only PCI. 2) the drives I'm using are all IDE right now. 3) The router I'm using is only 10/100, and not a gigabit network. What I'm curious about is in what order do each one of the items relate to performance? Basically, what is the primary bottleneck here, secondary, and tertiary?

2. Given that my write speed is what it is right now (10 megs/second) I'm wondering what people do when they initially load data on to the unraid server. Since it is a transfer of data I already have a backup so there really isn't a need for redundancy until all the data is transferred. Is there anything I can do to speed up this initial transfer of data? I've read something about turning off the parity until all the files are transferred, but I'm not quite sure how to do this and whether this is the optimal process to take.

3. Finally, I've also read some somewhat dated posts on other forums claiming that the buffer size of unraid can be increased from 256KB to 2 meg to greatly increase performance. Is this recommended in all situations? Since these posts appear to be somewhat dated did the latest version of unraid perhaps include this update already? I wonder how I can check to see what the current buffer size is?

Thanks for any help.

This is odd. I'm still receiving an "Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL" when attempting to access Lime Technology's home page.

Not working for me either :(

I tried flushing my DNS caches, didn't help.

Yeah he must have changed hosts and it hasn't fully propagated yet. I can log on!

Thanks. I suspect that the answers to some of my questions may be on LimeTech's forums, but since I remain curious I thought I might ask here to see if anyone knows:

1. I essentially just took some of my somewhat dated equipment and built a test unraid server. I am very pleased with how it went since I'm new at much of this and it seems to work :) In my test setup I'm only using a couple of 250 gig ide hard drives, but where I am hoping to take this to is to have 2 2TB drives and 1 1 TB drive giving my 3TBs of space. However, due to probably a number of different factors I am only currently able to transfer data from one machine to the unraid server at 10 megs/second (write speed). I suspect the reason behind the slow transfer rate is I have this in an environment that is probably far from optimal. 1) The motherbooard on the unraid server is an ASUS A78NX - VM which does not have any PCI Express slots, only PCI. 2) the drives I'm using are all IDE right now. 3) The router I'm using is only 10/100, and not a gigabit network. What I'm curious about is in what order do each one of the items relate to performance? The primary bottleneck is your router.
If you were to purchase an inexpensive 1000Mbit switch, keep your existing router, but connect it, the unRAID server, and the other PC all on the switch you should be able to double the speed of transfer to the array. (assuming the PC has a 1000Mbit LAN connection)

Basically, what is the primary bottleneck here, secondary, and tertiary?
Network speed. You are getting just about all you can expect out of a 100Mbit LAN., then PCI bus/IDE drives.

2. Given that my write speed is what it is right now (10 megs/second) I'm wondering what people do when they initially load data on to the unraid server. Since it is a transfer of data I already have a backup so there really isn't a need for redundancy until all the data is transferred. Is there anything I can do to speed up this initial transfer of data? I've read something about turning off the parity until all the files are transferred, but I'm not quite sure how to do this and whether this is the optimal process to take.That is exactly, how to speed things up, once you have a faster LAN connection. You are already limited by the LAN. Basically, do not assign a parity drive until after your data is transferred. It is that easy.

3. Finally, I've also read some somewhat dated posts on other forums claiming that the buffer size of unraid can be increased from 256KB to 2 meg to greatly increase performance. Is this recommended in all situations? Since these posts appear to be somewhat dated did the latest version of unraid perhaps include this update already? I wonder how I can check to see what the current buffer size is?
,
Thanks for any help.
Buffer size was optimized long ago. It is set by default to 1024k. No need to set anything, but you can experiment if you wish.

As far as what people do... They start the data copying, and go to sleep, letting it work through the night.

I just recently built a second unRAID server and over the course of three days copied the contents of the old to the new. Granted, it was over a 1000Mbit LAN, but it was also 5.5TB of data, and since I wanted to exercise the parity disk on the new server I did have it assigned.

I just let it run and went about my business. I used "rsync," a program that verifies the copy is correctly accomplished by using checksums on the copied files. I averaged about 30MB/s with peaks to 35MB/s. (New server has all 7200RPM SATA drives on modern MB, old server is PCI bus only, with a mix of IDE drives from 400G to 750Gig. It also holds a pair of 1TB drives. (Old MB could support a pair of SATA drives)

Joe L.

Awesome help Joe L. Thank you so much! I'm off to research what new gigabit router (wireless) I should get.

Awesome help Joe L. Thank you so much! I'm off to research what new gigabit router (wireless) I should get.
A gigabyte router is expensive. You do NOT need a gigabyte router.

All you need is a gigabyte "switch"

They are inexpensive.

You connect the wire from your existing router to the switch, and connect all your other PCs and the unRAID server to the Gigabyte switch. That is exactly how I have my LAN configured. My 8 port Gigabyte switch was purchased a few years ago for approx. $30.

Joe L.

A gigabyte router is expensive. You do NOT need a gigabyte router.

All you need is a gigabyte "switch"

They are inexpensive.

You connect the wire from your existing router to the switch, and connect all your other PCs and the unRAID server to the Gigabyte switch. That is exactly how I have my LAN configured. My 8 port Gigabyte switch was purchased a few years ago for approx. $30.

Joe L.

Thanks. Just to have less components I thought I would purchase a gigabit (10/100/1000) wireless router to replace the wireless 10/100 router I currently have, however, now you have me thinking. Admittedly, I am not an expert with much of this. Is there an advantage for using the configuration you have and having a seperate wireless router and a gigabit switch?

Gigabit switch or router AND Gigabit network card. (Intel recommended).

>> the drives I'm using are all IDE right now.
Insure that each IDE drive is on it's own channel/cable.
If you must share a cable i.e. master/slave, then insure the parity drive is on it's own cable.
Keep in mind with IDE, if drives share the cable, one drive can take down the bus and you may have two drives go offline simultaneously.

Thanks. Just to have less components I thought I would purchase a gigabit (10/100/1000) wireless router to replace the wireless 10/100 router I currently have, however, now you have me thinking. Admittedly, I am not an expert with much of this. Is there an advantage for using the configuration you have and having a seperate wireless router and a gigabit switch?

Yes. A cheap switch will be a better switch than the switch in an expensive router. Also, the switch will allow you to separate your client (wireless) traffic from having any impact whatsoever on your media traffic).

Yes. A cheap switch will be a better switch than the switch in an expensive router. Also, the switch will allow you to separate your client (wireless) traffic from having any impact whatsoever on your media traffic).

I'm sorry, I think most might see this as the dumb question of the day. I hadn't really thought through what the best way to connect the switch to the wireless router would be but based on what you are describing I assume my cable modem should be connected to the WAN port on the wireless router and then use one of the available ports from the wireless router to connect to the switch THEN all the wired PCs are simply connected to the switch. This should allow any media streaming from the unraid server to only go through the switch. Only internet access would go through the wireless router to the switch and then out to the PC's. Correct?

Hi all. Has anyone had any experience of the Highpoint 2680 SAS/Sata 8 port Raid card with unRaid? I was planning to run with RAID 5 with 8x2TB drives, but I like the idea of unRaid. The brief glimse of the unRaid forum before it went down was it was not stable yet and that the card does not support a non-raid setup, only jbod. Obviously I would want to utilise unRaids own spindown functionality and do not want the card to get in the way.

I do have 4 free sata ports on the mb, but wanted to keep room for future expansion (doing full blu-ray rips - so need the space!!) Unfortunately time is not on my side and I'm hoping to get a plug and play solution and not have to spend too much time testing different cards (plus the wife complains when the media server is down :rolleyes:). I'm tempted to just get a 4 port dumb sata card (the supermicro 8 port is like rocking horse droppings here in the UK) or maybe 2 and leave the mb ports for future...

Any thoughts...

Just want to make sure we are on the same page, and ensure that you know that using Unraid does not need, or accept any hardware raid schemes. The 8 port raid cards work in JBOD mode, and then the unraid software calculates parity off those disks, and writes that to the parity disk. No hardware raid is needed. There are many advantages, and of course some disadvantages to doing it this way, but the point is, any card that will connect your mobo to a hard drive, that unraid understands (and it can talk to more cards than the ones officially supported) will do the job. The more bandwidth the card has, the better of course.

I'm sorry, I think most might see this as the dumb question of the day. I hadn't really thought through what the best way to connect the switch to the wireless router would be but based on what you are describing I assume my cable modem should be connected to the WAN port on the wireless router and then use one of the available ports from the wireless router to connect to the switch THEN all the wired PCs are simply connected to the switch. This should allow any media streaming from the unraid server to only go through the switch. Only internet access would go through the wireless router to the switch and then out to the PC's. Correct?Exactly correct. Only traffic to/from the WAN port would pass through the router, and unless you are VERY fortunate, your cable modem is only 100Mbit/s. (No need for a 1000Mb/s connection to it, it would not get utilized at that speed)

Connected as you described, the router would still be able to be the gateway to the rest of the world and act as the DHCP server and network-address-translator, exactly as it does now. You do not need to change it at all. You can use its other LAN ports for devices that do not themselves have a 1000Mb/s network adapter. I have my network media players connected to my 100Mb/s router ports, as they only have 100Mb/s capability. One of its ports connects to my 1000Mb/s switch. I connect the PCs on my LAN to the 1000Mb/s switch, along with the two unRAID servers. They all enjoy the higher speed between them.

Joe L.

The highpoint card is software raid card - I was just wondering if anyone had any experiences in using one as a sata expansion with unraid. Ideally I would prefer to have individual drives rather than a large single JBOD setup (I could I guess set up each drive as a JBOD). I'm aready running RAID 5 with the card.

My reason for looking at unraid was the advantages of the 1 to 2 drive failure and not loosing all your data - plus ease of future expansion. The other advantages for me would be loosing a windows server install as I don't need it, and therefore removing the IDE drive it is installed on.

I'm currently in the position to do some testing with the card as I have just gone through a massive back up and I am in a position to tear down the raid array - naturally this has coincided with the unraid site going down - hence posting here.

Exactly correct. Only traffic to/from the WAN port would pass through the router, and unless you are VERY fortunate, your cable modem is only 100Mbit/s. (No need for a 1000Mb/s connection to it, it would not get utilized at that speed)

Connected as you described, the router would still be able to be the gateway to the rest of the world and act as the DHCP server and network-address-translator, exactly as it does now. You do not need to change it at all. You can use its other LAN ports for devices that do not themselves have a 1000Mb/s network adapter. I have my network media players connected to my 100Mb/s router ports, as they only have 100Mb/s capability. One of its ports connects to my 1000Mb/s switch. I connect the PCs on my LAN to the 1000Mb/s switch, along with the two unRAID servers. They all enjoy the higher speed between them.

Joe L.

Thank you!

Good evening all and sorry for the dumb question but i am very green with networking and server.

I am thinking about building an unraid movie server and i was able to gather a list of parts needed on lime hardware compatibility web page.

The dumb question is once build do i need to hook it up to a home network to be able to access it and xfer my dvd to it? Does that mean that i need a separate computer to rip and play the dvd?

Could i actually use the server to install anydvd or DVD lobby or whatever to rip the DVD , catalog it and a dvd software player to play it ?

I currently have a d-link dir-825 router for my high speed internet can it be used for the server as well ?

Anything else i need to set everything up

Thank you

Alain

Good evening all and sorry for the dumb question but i am very green with networking and server.

I am thinking about building an unraid movie server and i was able to gather a list of parts needed on lime hardware compatibility web page.

The dumb question is once build do i need to hook it up to a home network to be able to access it and xfer my dvd to it? Yes, you need to hook it to a network. Does that mean that i need a separate computer to rip and play the dvd? Yes, a separate computer is needed
Could i actually use the server to install anydvd or DVD lobby or whatever to rip the DVD , catalog it and a dvd software player to play it ? No, you cannot install anyDVD, DVD lobby, or any similar ripping software since unRAID will probably not even recognize a DVD player if you did connect it. it has no codecs for sound, and in fact, the only "sound" driver is the one to allow the server's motherboard speaker to "beep." The drivers are not in the kernel. there is NO graphical interface other than the web-management console used to start the server, stop the server, and assign the disks to it.

I currently have a d-link dir-825 router for my high speed internet can it be used for the server as well ?
You can.
Anything else i need to set everything up

Thank you

AlainSounds like you need everything. (A PC to rip the DVDs, CDs. Software on it to rip the DVDs, CDs to the server. Software to catalog your collection. Software to play your collection on your PC.)

Thanks very much J.L for the information i now know how to proceed

Alain

One last question regarding hardware if you don't mind. I've put together an unraid server from components I have had from other systems. I do have a compatible motherboard in the ASUS A7N8X, but it will require adding a SATA controller card and a Gigabit network card. This is fine, but as I start to add more I may just be better off buying an entirely new system. The one item I just noticed was that I only have 256 megs of RAM in this machine. I think I have another 256 megs lying around. I did notice on Lime Tech's hardware compatibility guide it did mention 512 megs of RAM was fine for serving media files, however, I've already achieved that with 256 megs of RAM and 10 megs/second (10/100 network). What I'm aspring to now is to increase performance so my data transfers are higher. Ultimately, my question is will a gig or 2 gigs of RAM really offer any performance gain in regards to data transfers across the network compared to 512 megs of RAM (keeping mind everything else is constant: SATA hdds, gigabit network, etc.).

With small files, the memory could help buffer the transfer to the server.

With large files, the limit is the hard drives or the data path between the ethernet port and the hard drives (ie running a PCI SATA card should be OK for a single read but could be a write bottleneck).

Yu might be able to come up with a good cost competitive AMD 740/760/780/790 type chipset deal by the time you are finished piecing together new support parts for the old hardware. I took a quick look and you could piece together parts for say maybe $115 or so without even looking for any special deals. Find a CPU/motherboard deal and you can do ever better. Just look for 6-SATA or more on board.

Peter

One last question regarding hardware if you don't mind. I've put together an unraid server from components I have had from other systems. I do have a compatible motherboard in the ASUS A7N8X, but it will require adding a SATA controller card and a Gigabit network card. This is fine, but as I start to add more I may just be better off buying an entirely new system. The one item I just noticed was that I only have 256 megs of RAM in this machine. I think I have another 256 megs lying around. I did notice on Lime Tech's hardware compatibility guide it did mention 512 megs of RAM was fine for serving media files, however, I've already achieved that with 256 megs of RAM and 10 megs/second (10/100 network). What I'm aspring to now is to increase performance so my data transfers are higher. Ultimately, my question is will a gig or 2 gigs of RAM really offer any performance gain in regards to data transfers across the network compared to 512 megs of RAM (keeping mind everything else is constant: SATA hdds, gigabit network, etc.).The additional memory will do nothing for speed. You are limited by your LAN. You are probably running very close to the limit for unRAID. I have 512Meg on one server, and it is possible for me to run out of memory if I run some memory hungry ads-on processes.

I'd not spend a lot on memory though, since for nearly the same cost you can sometimes get the motherboard, and memory for less.

I did exactly that and spent $57 on a replacement motherboard, with 1Gig of RAM and dual Xeon hyperthreaded CPUs, and Gigabyte LAN. Granted, it is PCI-X and not PCIe, and has no SATA ports on the motherboard, and I ended up using a compact-flash drive on an IDE adapter to boot from since the USB on the motherboard is USB 1.0 (very very slow) But still, I'm under $100 for a server class machine. See this thread: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6482.0

Joe L.

Any life left in this thread? I was recently at CEDIA and became smitten with all of the manufacturers demoing their gear using Kaleidoscopes and stuff like that. Being a DIY'er, I began searching ... and found this thread.

Jeff

Depends on what you mean by "life". I'm still running two of these boxes having gradually upgraded the drives and hardware as are MANY others. The Limetech support forums is the best place to get information as Tom continues to support and improve his software. One of the nicest things is a new version of SAMBA awhile back gave a MAJOR speed boost to the software. All in all NO complaints and I'm loving the software for my storage...

Any life left in this thread? I was recently at CEDIA and became smitten with all of the manufacturers demoing their gear using Kaleidoscopes and stuff like that. Being a DIY'er, I began searching ... and found this thread.

Jeff

There's plenty of life in UnRaid. One of the reasons a thread like this doesn't get a lot of posts is that UnRaid works so well. Even for the non-savvy user, getting UnRaid up and running is pretty easy. Keeping it running for months on end without a reboot is fairly commonplace.

Check out the UnRaid forum for information on hardware requirements (very modest) and a large community of experienced and helpful members. (http://www.lime-technology.com/forum/index.php)

UnRaid is flexible and easy to expand. Best of all, there aren't many surprises and "gotchas."

My original unRaid system ran like clockwork for 5 years. Only had 1 drive failure. I just rebuilt to a new system :)

My original unRaid system ran like clockwork for 5 years. Only had 1 drive failure. I just rebuilt to a new system :)

Basically the same here. I started with an old mobo and it died on me (not UnRaid's faulty, obviously). I built a new system with all new hardware, plugged in the UnRaid drives and let it reconfigure itself. Done.

The only thing you give up with UnRaid is some speed. It's limited to the speed of the hard drive you're writing to. But that's the only downside, and for my needs it's perfect.

I have a new 15X2Tb server (14X2TB storage and 2TB parity, plus a 1TB cache disk), and I know I can ask these questions in the unRAID forum, but for the sake of conversation I will post my concerns here:

1. When I set up user shares, the manual says I can specify drives, separated by a comma. Can I specify paths instead?
2. Why is it that when all of my disks are spun down (indicated by asterisks in the temp column) and I decide to write to one disk, I now see temp readings for 5 disks, not just the one that I am writing to?
3. Is unRAID really fussy about network cables? My LAN is one gigabit, but I have some cat5 cables mixed in with cat6. While Windows deals with this just fine, I am wondering if this might be the cause of the error message "please remove the write protection on <disk name>" and then the write to that disk fails, sometimes writing a few hundred megabytes and sometimes not writing at all.

Other than that last issue, I really like unRAID a LOT! :)

Wow, four quick positive replies. That's a good sign.

Have you purchased a build from them or DIY'd your own? If the latter, what hardware did you use?

Jeff

Also curious as to what device you are using to get the streamed content into your theater systems.. ?

Jeff

Wow, four quick positive replies. That's a good sign.

Have you purchased a build from them or DIY'd your own? If the latter, what hardware did you use?

Jeff

I've built 3 of my own, one because of a bad mobo. Pre-builts are easiest, of course, and not outrageously expensive, either.

I've built 3 of my own, one because of a bad mobo. Pre-builts are easiest, of course, and not outrageously expensive, either.
I probably have enough parts lying around to toss together a server. Not enough drives in my parts bins, but I'd want to buy them new anyway.

Jeff

Also curious as to what device you are using to get the streamed content into your theater systems.. ?

Jeff

I use 2 standard Windows 7 machines (ATI 5000-series HDMI video cards) on the network, with my HD displays hooked up to the sources via an Octava HDMI 4x4 matrix router. I have four devices (two HTPCs and two Dish network DVRs) going into 3 displays (32" HDTV/computer monitor, 63" 3D plasma TV and front projection system - soon to be 3D). My two UnRaid boxes are connected to the network via a gigabit Ethernet switch. I use PowerDVD to play most content. I record OTA HD via a dual ATSC tuner Hauppauge 2250 card and play that content back via Windows 7 Media Center. I record Dish satellite broadcasts via a Dish 211 modified with a Nextcom R5000, edit with VideoRedo and either archive to UnRaid or burn to AVCHD DVDs or Blu-ray discs.

I have USB mice and keyboards (and switches) for each of the viewing areas, as well as Harmony remotes (which control the Dish DVRs, PowerDVD and Windows 7 Media Center). No driver installation necessary in Win7 - just plug and play.

Yowsah!

I probably have enough parts lying around to toss together a server. Not enough drives in my parts bins, but I'd want to buy them new anyway.

Jeff

What's cool is that you can download the software for free. That version works with only 3 drives, but you can test out your hardware without investing anything. (You can use any old IDE and SATA drives you have lying around when you test - size doesn't matter. The parity drive must be the largest, though.) If you like it, you can buy a license and expand up to a 20 drive system (with the Pro license). You have to use a USB drive that works with UnRaid, but many do, even if they're not in the "approved" list.

I have a new 15X2Tb server (14X2TB storage and 2TB parity, plus a 1TB cache disk), and I know I can ask these questions in the unRAID forum, but for the sake of conversation I will post my concerns here:

1. When I set up user shares, the manual says I can specify drives, separated by a comma. Can I specify paths instead?
2. Why is it that when all of my disks are spun down (indicated by asterisks in the temp column) and I decide to write to one disk, I now see temp readings for 5 disks, not just the one that I am writing to?
3. Is unRAID really fussy about network cables? My LAN is one gigabit, but I have some cat5 cables mixed in with cat6. While Windows deals with this just fine, I am wondering if this might be the cause of the error message "please remove the write protection on <disk name>" and then the write to that disk fails, sometimes writing a few hundred megabytes and sometimes not writing at all.

Other than that last issue, I really like unRAID a LOT! :)

1. I set up shares for HD movies, HD DVDs, Blu-ray disc images, photos, music, video editing projects, etc. When I write to the share, UnRaid finds the drive with the most unused space and writes the data there. So, for instance, the Blu-ray share (which shows up in Windows as a shared folder) has Blu-ray disc images spread across all the drives in the array. When I open that "Blu-ray" network share in Windows, it shows all the Blu-ray disc images on all the drives in the array. The downside is that, without some special software, and if you have a lot of drives, opening the share can take a while (as each drive is awakened sequentially in the array). There are ways around that.

2. Don't know. I don't think I've run into this issue. Drives that have been written to recently will have a solid green light next to them in your browser. Flashing green means the drive is inactive. (This may have changed. I know the interface has been due for an upgrade, but I haven't updated my version for a while.)

3. Best to ask this in the UnRaid forum.

I may have mentioned this (too lazy to check which thread), but My Movies is a great, free plug-in for Windows 7 Media Center. I've used it to create a visual database of all my movies and TV shows on disc and disc images, spread across my two UnRaid boxes and disc library (if I haven't ripped them to iso's). It lets me search by movie, actor, genre, etc. It's a very slick front end, and it integrates my collection in an interface that's fun to play around in.

I'm using it with Sage and extenders. Only downside right now is the spinup speed but I'm working on that.

I'm using it with Sage and extenders. Only downside right now is the spinup speed but I'm working on that.

Joe L has a Linux utility that addresses that. You can find him over in the UnRaid forum, too.

THere was a hack written to spinup on screen start, but I didn't see anything else and that was written for v6 I believe. I'll poke around again.

THere was a hack written to spinup on screen start, but I didn't see anything else and that was written for v6 I believe. I'll poke around again.

Joe's utility "fools" the system into thinking the array has just been accessed. There's supposed to be no delay. I actually don't use it, although it's supposed to work well. When I want to open things up fast, I have shortcuts on my desktop that call up the web interface. There's a button that tells UnRaid to spin up all disks immediately. My UnRaid boxes have two power supplies each, so it doesn't stress the system to do that. A marginal power supply might fail if all the drives were spun up at the same time.

I'm actually working on learning enough Java to write a spin up plugin :)

Is everybody ripping from a PC to the unRAID? Editing/cleaning up the unRAID from a PC?

I rip local, compress local, mux to the unRAID for final copy. Local is always faster than networked storage. I do rip normal DVD to the unRAID though.

I use XBMC on tiny ION based ATOM powered system for playback. I do have some issues where drives take a moment to spin up and I get timeouts. I know what's causing it and I just retry - no biggie. There's also an issue, I've only seen it once, where if a drive is sleeping and paired to a drive you're watching video from and is spun up the drive you're watching pauses. Yes, SATA has this issue and no it's a Linux issue not unRAID. Tom is trying to solve it, dunno' status but I've seen this all of one time.

System uptime on my boxes is usually measured in weeks and for awhile probably months but I upgrade about as fast as Tom puts out new code (not on V5 yet though). Adding drives means a power cycle but oh well <shrug>

Is everybody ripping from a PC to the unRAID? Editing/cleaning up the unRAID from a PC?

I do all that. I'm lost in Linux. I'd feel a little better if I knew more, but after years of using UnRaid it's never been enough of a consideration for me to learn. My UnRaid boxes sit in the basement (along with my PCs and Dish DVRs). They don't have monitors, keyboards or mice connected to them unless I need to reboot, and usually not even then. I manage everything within the web interface in Windows, or with Windows Explorer (copying and transferring files). There's seldom a need to approach it any other way. Even upgrading UnRaid can be done within Windows. You copy UnRaid files over to the flash drive and reboot in the web interface.

Also curious as to what device you are using to get the streamed content into your theater systems.. ?

Jeff

You name it I stream to it. WD media player live, xbox360,PS3, I even stream to my iPhone with it using airvideo app. If I am somewhere like the doctors office and bored I watch movies from my server using this app. I have also used ORB so friends can log onto my server and watch movies.

I have never had any bandwidth problems even when streaming 3 movies at once.

I rip local, compress local, mux to the unRAID for final copy. Local is always faster than networked storage.
Good point. Thanks.

It's good to have found unRAID and to have decided this is the way I want to go, but it is only one detail out of the way. I now find myself looking at multi-drive cages that hold 3, 4 or 5 drives in 3 x 5.25" bays. And I still need to decide on the device that will reside at my pre/pro .. Dune or Popcorn Hour ....

Jeff

I do all that. I'm lost in Linux. I'd feel a little better if I knew more, but after years of using UnRaid it's never been enough of a consideration for me to learn. My UnRaid boxes sit in the basement (along with my PCs and Dish DVRs). They don't have monitors, keyboards or mice connected to them unless I need to reboot, and usually not even then. I manage everything within the web interface in Windows, or with Windows Explorer (copying and transferring files). There's seldom a need to approach it any other way. Even upgrading UnRaid can be done within Windows. You copy UnRaid files over to the flash drive and reboot in the web interface.
I must admit to being a Windoze fan, too. And that has been firmly cemented since Windows 7 came out. I did recently install Linux Mint in a dual boot on my main rig, but I do nothing in Linux and it seems like I really only wanted to overcome the technical difficulties and successfully get it running.

Any issues of dampness in your basement? I have an area in our "lower level' that I have been eying as a server closet and have been considering sealing the concrete and taking other measures to keep the humidity down. But then if I do that, will I have a heat issue? It's never more than 70° down there, but a closed closet? Any thoughts?

Jeff

Jeff

You name it I stream to it. WD media player live, xbox360,PS3, I even stream to my iPhone with it using airvideo app. If I am somewhere like the doctors office and bored I watch movies from my server using this app. I have also used ORB so friends can log onto my server and watch movies.

I have never had any bandwidth problems even when streaming 3 movies at once.
I'll be googling that soon!

How do you get your content into the cloud?

Jeff

Good point. Thanks.

It's good to have found unRAID and to have decided this is the way I want to go, but it is only one detail out of the way. I now find myself looking at multi-drive cages that hold 3, 4 or 5 drives in 3 x 5.25" bays. And I still need to decide on the device that will reside at my pre/pro .. Dune or Popcorn Hour ....

Jeff

And go with a gigabit network for sure it is 3 to 4 times faster when transfering files!

And go with a gigabit network for sure it is 3 to 4 times faster when transfering files!
I retrofitted my now 20-yr old house 4-5 years ago and used CAT6, so I am good to go there.

Jeff

I must admit to being a Windoze fan, too. And that has been firmly cemented since Windows 7 came out. I did recently install Linux Mint in a dual boot on my main rig, but I do nothing in Linux and it seems like I really only wanted to overcome the technical difficulties and successfully get it running.

Any issues of dampness in your basement? I have an area in our "lower level' that I have been eying as a server closet and have been considering sealing the concrete and taking other measures to keep the humidity down. But then if I do that, will I have a heat issue? It's never more than 70° down there, but a closed closet? Any thoughts?

Jeff

Jeff

I decided a long time ago to keep as much of my equipment as possible in the basement. It keeps the upstairs uncluttered, and it's cooler for the gear (not to mention me). Dampness has never been an issue. I run Cat 5/6 and USB from the computers downstairs. This gives me Ethernet access, mouse and keyboard, and external DVD/Blu-ray drives for playback and ripping. I solved the long USB cable problems with USB-over-Cat5, active USB cables and USB hubs. I do end up having to go down there sometimes for reboots/crashes, but overall it's worth it to keep the noise and clutter down. Heat could well be a problem in a closed closet. I'd do that only if I had a good way to vent hot air.

It's easy to bash Windows, but I've worked a lot with Macs, too, where I used to teach. Trick out a Mac and you're faced with just as many problems as a PC. I created a Hackintosh to run within one of my PCs. Accomplishing that was a technical struggle with hardware and software, but I got it working. Problem was, there was nothing I wanted to do on the Mac that I couldn't do in Windows - and doing it in Windows was invariably cheaper. Also, there were lots of things I could do in Windows that I couldn't do at all on a Mac, no matter how much I spent. Finally, as a DIYer, I like the PC more because it's a lot more fun than the stuffy, closed Mac universe.

Heat could well be a problem in a closed closet. I'd do that only if I had a good way to vent hot air.
Is there any benefit to using a whizbang quad core processor for an unRAID server, or would some low power (read: low heat generation) dual core suffice?

Jeff

Is there any benefit to using a whizbang quad core processor for an unRAID server, or would some low power (read: low heat generation) dual core suffice?

Jeff

I'm using a new single core without a problem.

Is there any benefit to using a whizbang quad core processor for an unRAID server, or would some low power (read: low heat generation) dual core suffice?

Jeff

Your hard drives will be your main source of heat. I have several brands of 1tb drives. Seagate ones tend to run the hotest. I have swaped it's position around in the server and it still has the highest temp compared to my hitachi, sanding, wd drives.

Your hard drives will be your main source of heat. I have several brands of 1tb drives. Seagate ones tend to run the hotest. I have swaped it's position around in the server and it still has the highest temp compared to my hitachi, sanding, wd drives.
I am looking at the WD Green drives .. low power and heat. But they also have drives specifically for A/V servers .. also low power/heat made for 24/7/365 operation. My understanding is that unRAID will power down drives not in use further reducing power consumption and heat generation.

Jeff

Is there any benefit to using a whizbang quad core processor for an unRAID server, or would some low power (read: low heat generation) dual core suffice?

Jeff

I use a low end Intel dual core. No need for a fast processor, lots of RAM or a big USB drive, unless you plan to do a lot in Linux. As a Linux idiot, it would have been a real waste for me. Low power, low heat components are best. Just pick a mobo that allows you to expand the SATA ports easily - you might just end up with a 20 drive system one day. I use PCIe SATA cards in one server, which gives me a little more speed than PCI SATA cards for parity checks (which are very lengthy with a lot of drives). The UnRaid forum is the best place for up to date info on which hardware to buy.

I am looking at the WD Green drives .. low power and heat. But they also have drives specifically for A/V servers .. also low power/heat made for 24/7/365 operation. My understanding is that unRAID will power down drives not in use further reducing power consumption and heat generation.

Jeff

That is correct, there Is a drop down box that gives you choices of what time to spin down including never. I use off the shelf 7200 rpm 1tb drives and one 2tb drive for parity. They run around 38C.

I use a low end Intel dual core. No need for a fast processor, lots of RAM or a big USB drive, unless you plan to do a lot in Linux. As a Linux idiot, it would have been a real waste for me. Low power, low heat components are best. Just pick a mobo that allows you to expand the SATA ports easily - you might just end up with a 20 drive system one day. I use PCIe SATA cards in one server, which gives me a little more speed than PCI SATA cards for parity checks (which are very lengthy with a lot of drives). The UnRaid forum is the best place for up to date info on which hardware to buy.
Thanks, I joined there but haven't posted yet. Got an anamorphic lens installation up next, and then installing more bass traps before I can execute on this.

Jeff

I am looking at the WD Green drives .. low power and heat. But they also have drives specifically for A/V servers .. also low power/heat made for 24/7/365 operation. My understanding is that unRAID will power down drives not in use further reducing power consumption and heat generation.

Jeff

Before you buy, post your projected equipment list over at the UnRaid forum. People will spot any potential problems quickly. UnRaid powers down the drives after a set time (mine after an hour of non-use). Drive spin up can delay reading the array as it wakes the drives sequentially to avoid a power surge in the system.

Thanks, I joined there but haven't posted yet. Got an anamorphic lens installation up next, and then installing more bass traps before I can execute on this.

Jeff

A real home theater enthusiast! :D

I installed bass traps a year or so ago in one of my rooms. Do you have any pictures of yours?

I also have a JVC RS40 projector on pre-order here at AVS, because it's 3D capable. It's due in Nov/Dec. Can't wait.

A real home theater enthusiast! :D

I installed bass traps a year or so ago in one of my rooms. Do you have any pictures of yours?

I also have a JVC RS40 projector on pre-order here at AVS, because it's 3D capable. It's due in Nov/Dec. Can't wait.
The traps installation can be seen here (http://www.peparsplace.com/pg23.html).

The RS40 sounds exciting. Having picked up an HD750 earlier in the year .. replacing a 5-yr old Sony HS20, I didn't even know that there was an RS40. :o

Jeff

I bet that takes a little time with 22hdds. I only have 6 and I get a little anxious!

You name it I stream to it. WD media player live, xbox360,PS3, I even stream to my iPhone with it using airvideo app. If I am somewhere like the doctors office and bored I watch movies from my server using this app. I have also used ORB so friends can log onto my server and watch movies.

I have never had any bandwidth problems even when streaming 3 movies at once.
Looking at the app you mentioned. Does that work somehow with an unRAID server?

Jeff

I use an i3 myself simply because there are so many cool things you CAN do with unRaid if you want.

I use an i3 myself simply because there are so many cool things you CAN do with unRaid if you want.
I envisioned that I would rip discs locally and clean up the files locally before passing them over the network to the server. But I see an i3 and mobo are only about $200.

What other cool things *might* I want to do with unRAID beyond serving media content?

Jeff

Looking at the app you mentioned. Does that work somehow with an unRAID server?

Jeff

I downloaded the program off the Internet to my main pc that is always on and pointed the drives for it to see to my video share on the unraid server. Then it gives you a pin number that you enter into the phone app and bingo it finds the server share thru my pc. Just make sure to check your modems firewall settings. You might have to open the port.

I envisioned that I would rip discs locally and clean up the files locally before passing them over the network to the server. But I see an i3 and mobo are only about $200.

What other cool things *might* I want to do with unRAID beyond serving media content?

Jeff

Look up Sickbeard and sabNZB ;). Not going to discuss it here. Beyond that you can do web serving, home monitoring, all sorts of different streaming software, etc; check out the user mods section at lime.

I downloaded the program off the Internet to my main pc that is always on and pointed the drives for it to see to my video share on the unraid server. Then it gives you a pin number that you enter into the phone app and bingo it finds the server share thru my pc. Just make sure to check your modems firewall settings. You might have to open the port.
Gotcha! An always-on PC points and serves the shares. It would be nice if the "always-on" device was the unRAID server, 'cause it will always be on and I'd rather not leave anything else in that state.

Jeff

It might be possible. I know people use a torrent running programs on their unraid box but I have not experimented more than putting bubaraid and I have not done much with that.

http://www.inmethod.com/forum/posts/list/420/34.page

There is talk of a Linux port for Air Video. I am just wading into it ...

http://www.inmethod.com/forum/posts/list/420/34.page

There is talk of a Linux port for Air Video. I am just wading into it ...

Cool! Keep us posted. I would be willing to try it on my unraid box if someone gets it to work. The only draw back is on the airvideo app you have a choice of live conversion which let's you start streaming the movie right away like a YouTube video. This is possible because my computer does the encoding on the fly. If you chose regular conversion it first has to convert the movie and that means if you never did that to that movie you will have to wait 30 minutes or so to see the movie and it leaves the converted file in with the regular file on your server.

The traps installation can be seen here (http://www.peparsplace.com/pg23.html).

The RS40 sounds exciting. Having picked up an HD750 earlier in the year .. replacing a 5-yr old Sony HS20, I didn't even know that there was an RS40. :o

Jeff

I spent a lot of time with an electric knife and Owens-Corning, too. :D There was a huge difference in sound when I was finished. The RS40 won't be released until late November or December. The only reason I'm interested in upgrading at this point is for 3D front projection. Otherwise, I'd stick with my current projector. I was actually shocked to learn the new RS series would all be 3D, and priced even lower than this year's models (except for the high end RS-60).

Have fun with UnRaid.

r.e. not having another "always-on" PC ...

Doesn't bother me to have a few "always-on's" -- my UnRAID server; our HTPC (to record TV); and my main PC.

... but if you don't want anything but the UnRAID server look at the UnRAID forums and read the details on how to configure it to run VMWare. Once it's set up for that, you can run as many other "machines" as you want on the same box ... UnRAID runs natively; all the others run in virtual machines under VMWare.

Have fun with UnRaid.
Thanks! And thanks to everyone for their help.

Jeff

You name it I stream to it. WD media player live, xbox360,PS3, I even stream to my iPhone with it using airvideo app. If I am somewhere like the doctors office and bored I watch movies from my server using this app. I have also used ORB so friends can log onto my server and watch movies.

I have never had any bandwidth problems even when streaming 3 movies at once.

Orb is great. I use it to stream photos and music from my always on HTPC (local storage, RAID 0). You can, of course, use Orb for UnRaid content, too.

I just finished replacing a bad gig switch today (which has been flaky for some time, causing UnRaid and other network problems). My next project is to hook up an HD Slingbox to my Dish 622 DVR - to use Slingplayer on my Android phone.

For content that's purely in the cloud, I use Image Shack for photos and Microsoft's free Skydrive - 25GB of free storage (though the file size limit is a bummer - long videos are out). Check out some interesting info here. (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/30/access-skydrive-from-windows-explorer-my-computer/)

Drive cages - Supermicro makes a 5in3 that I use. It's about $100 each but they reduce the number of power plugs needed, make swaps EASY, and they have a cooling fan. Using these I can stuff more than 15 drives in my case, with a little work 20 will fit. I use lower power Celeron CPUs - dual core is available. If the i series is lower wattage use that after making sure it's compatible. There are also many AMD CPUs being used. Get a board with lots of SATA slots and make sure it has PCIE as well. Some of the expansion boards for PCIE are pretty sick and not uber expensive. I have one from Supermicro raring to go and another I may use to do a mirrored parity drive one day just for grins...

Drive cages - Supermicro makes a 5in3 that I use. It's about $100 each but they reduce the number of power plugs needed, make swaps EASY, and they have a cooling fan. Using these I can stuff more than 15 drives in my case, with a little work 20 will fit. I use lower power Celeron CPUs - dual core is available. If the i series is lower wattage use that after making sure it's compatible. There are also many AMD CPUs being used. Get a board with lots of SATA slots and make sure it has PCIE as well. Some of the expansion boards for PCIE are pretty sick and not uber expensive. I have one from Supermicro raring to go and another I may use to do a mirrored parity drive one day just for grins...
Thanks, I had "found" the SuperMicro part after searching Newegg, finding a few from companies I had never heard of and then drilling down on Lime Tech's site to see what they used ... SuperMicro. Way back when, I had a SuperMicro dual CPU motherboard. Since then, I have owned nothing but Asus, but the SM was a good product and I certainly trust that Lime Tech would select top notch parts.

Now I just need to fund my new project .... :)

Jeff

I need some help configuring UnRaid for a friend's system. He had trouble getting it running, so I did the troubleshooting and everything seems to be working properly now. UnRaid boots up and I'm greeted with "Tower login," as expected. I think this system is ready to be configured. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with a number of network issues with my systems, and I can't get at "Tower" in my network. (My two UnRaid servers are renamed Tower 1 and Tower 2, so that's not a conflict.)

He wants to network his HTPC (which isn't connected to the Internet) with this UnRaid box. That's all. What will I need? Will a gig switch work, or will it need to be a gig router? I should know this, but integrating my UnRaid systems has always been a plug and play proposition. He lives an hour away, and I don't want to truck out there and end up scratching my head for 4 hours. Any advice, or a how-to link would be appreciated.

I need some help configuring UnRaid for a friend's system. He had trouble getting it running, so I did the troubleshooting and everything seems to be working properly now. UnRaid boots up and I'm greeted with "Tower login," as expected. I think this system is ready to be configured. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with a number of network issues with my systems, and I can't get at "Tower" in my network. (My two UnRaid servers are renamed Tower 1 and Tower 2, so that's not a conflict.)

He wants to network his HTPC (which isn't connected to the Internet) with this UnRaid box. That's all. What will I need? Will a gig switch work, or will it need to be a gig router? I should know this, but integrating my UnRaid systems has always been a plug and play proposition. He lives an hour away, and I don't want to truck out there and end up scratching my head for 4 hours. Any advice, or a how-to link would be appreciated.


I have never got the http://tower thing to work on my network. This is what I do. Log in to the server as root.
Then type:
ifconfig

Yes, that's "ifconfig", not "ipconfig"

The resulting text should yield what the IP number of the tower is.
You can then go into the browser and connect by typing in the ip number as the location. From there you can configure the server to have a fixed IP address if you wish. I hope this works for you.

I need some help configuring UnRaid for a friend's system. He had trouble getting it running, so I did the troubleshooting and everything seems to be working properly now. UnRaid boots up and I'm greeted with "Tower login," as expected. I think this system is ready to be configured. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with a number of network issues with my systems, and I can't get at "Tower" in my network. (My two UnRaid servers are renamed Tower 1 and Tower 2, so that's not a conflict.)

He wants to network his HTPC (which isn't connected to the Internet) with this UnRaid box. That's all. What will I need? Will a gig switch work, or will it need to be a gig router? I should know this, but integrating my UnRaid systems has always been a plug and play proposition. He lives an hour away, and I don't want to truck out there and end up scratching my head for 4 hours. Any advice, or a how-to link would be appreciated.

A GigE hub, switch, or router will all work - no need to get fancy. Localhosts can be used to access it by name once you know the IP and fix it.

There needs to be a router somewhere on a network to assign IP addresses. Beyond that one router, switches can be used for additional ports or for running one cable to a different floor (of the house) and running drops from there to wallplates.

Not true, you can fix the IP addresses yourself and not use DHCP. Localhos files can allow access by name...

Not true, you can fix the IP addresses yourself and not use DHCP. Localhos files can allow access by name...
You probably meant localhost :), but thanks I did not know that. I suppose a network not connected to the internet would not need a router anyway.

I've deleted my bogus information ...

Jeff

I have never got the http://tower thing to work on my network. This is what I do. Log in to the server as root.
Then type:
ifconfig

Yes, that's "ifconfig", not "ipconfig"

The resulting text should yield what the IP number of the tower is.
You can then go into the browser and connect by typing in the ip number as the location. From there you can configure the server to have a fixed IP address if you wish. I hope this works for you.
Works just fine for me. Granted, I did fiddle with the network configuration file so IP address is static and the server name is "unraid" before I even plugged in the flash drive to the unRAID server hardware.

I got:

inet addr:127.0.0.0 Mask:255.0.0.0

Typing 127.0.0.1 into Firefox gives me a "Oops. Firefox could not connect to 127.0.0.1" message. Prefacing that with http:// doesn't get me there either. Am I missing something simple?

I got:

inet addr:127.0.0.0 Mask:255.0.0.0

Typing 127.0.0.1 into Firefox gives me a "Oops. Firefox could not connect to 127.0.0.1" message. Prefacing that with http:// doesn't get me there either. Am I missing something simple?

There's no DHCP server on the network it sounds like. 127.0.0.0 is localhost aka whenever any machine tries to contact that it contacts itself. You may need to set an IP manually. Pull the Flash, stick it into another machine, and look at the path \config. Look for a file named network.cfg and make a copy of it as backup. Then using something like notepad edit this. Mine looks like this:


# Generated network settings
USE_DHCP=yes
IPADDR=
NETMASK=
GATEWAY=

I use DHCP, your friend won't want that it seems. Change USE_DHCP to no. Then you need to find out what his other machines are using on the network. Say for instance one of them is using "192.168.1.200". 192.168.1.xxx numbers are non routable - IE they won't be fond on the internet and are reserved for use for networks like your friends. There's also a 10.xx range that I cannot recall :D

Okay, so you now know the IP address of a machine on his network. In a console window do this: Ping 192.168.1.201 and hit enter. Assuming he's using 192.168.1.xxx you either will or won't get a response. If you DO get a response then something else is using the address, try another. When you find one that does NOT respond use that address in the network.cfg file and save it. Make sure the extension is NOT changed to .txt and do NOT use Wordpad.

Boot the unRAID box with that stick now and see what ifconfig says. Got an address that matches what you put in? Can you goto that console on one of his machines and ping it? If so you're now in business! Next up will be editing the localhosts file but lets go one step at a time :D

Umm, this is sort of Networking 101 so if others have suggestions jump in. I don't think I'm forgetting anything and I hope I'm not dumbing it down too mcuh or skipping too much. Google is your friend too BTW ;)

Edit: use 255.255.255.0 for netmask - think that will work. skip gateway.

Thanks. Networking 101 is an advanced level course for me. :D

I'll give this a try later today and report back. I appreciate the help.

Edit: Found one: 192.168.0.24

Gotta run now, but this looks promising. Thanks so much. I'm still probably going to need some fairly specific guidance from here. Some basic networking links would be appreciated, too. :D

OK, now I'm really late, but I had to get this going. I'm in and I have a Flash GUID. Later, I'll contact Limetech and order the key to activate all the drives. Still more questions, though, if you're willing to continue this remedial education.

Now, I HAVE to fly. Thanks, again.

I'm happy to help and provide you with what I have learned - I cannot guarantee that it will be textbook perfect answers however :) There are certainly some areas of networking that make my head SPIN like subnets with different masks - gah! Anyway, I and others can likely help you out so fire away!

I'm happy to help and provide you with what I have learned - I cannot guarantee that it will be textbook perfect answers however :) There are certainly some areas of networking that make my head SPIN like subnets with different masks - gah! Anyway, I and others can likely help you out so fire away!

Great.

First of all, I've been working on this build at my house, so this server will be transplanted to my friend's house when it's done.

I found my own UnRaid IP addresses (two UnRaid servers) in their management software in Firefox. How do I go about finding my friend's computer's IP address when I put it and this UnRaid server together on a gig switch (with no Internet access)? The computer is Windows 7.

Right now, while I wait for the UnRaid Pro key, I'm formatting the first 3 drives in the system. As of this point, the array is not showing up in my network in Windows 7. Do I have to wait for the parity check before the new server becomes a part of the network?

I'd also like to assign fixed IP addresses to my own network gear. I'll need some help with that when the time comes.

I guess I'll owe you a beer or three when this is done. :D

Seriously, this is why I love AVS so much. I started the day a networking pre-schooler, and I'm already peeking into the kindergarten room. This is just what I needed to begin to fill in the massive whole in my computer skill set.

BTW, the parity check on these drives is moving along fast - at about 56,000 KB/sec, and these are all slower green drives.

Great.

First of all, I've been working on this build at my house, so this server will be transplanted to my friend's house when it's done.

I found my own UnRaid IP addresses (two UnRaid servers) in their management software in Firefox. How do I go about finding my friend's computer's IP address when I put it and this UnRaid server together on a gig switch (with no Internet access)? The computer is Windows 7.

Right now, while I wait for the UnRaid Pro key, I'm formatting the first 3 drives in the system. As of this point, the array is not showing up in my network in Windows 7. Do I have to wait for the parity check before the new server becomes a part of the network?

I'd also like to assign fixed IP addresses to my own network gear. I'll need some help with that when the time comes.

I guess I'll owe you a beer or three when this is done. :D

Seriously, this is why I love AVS so much. I started the day a networking pre-schooler, and I'm already peeking into the kindergarten room. This is just what I needed to begin to fill in the massive whole in my computer skill set.

Okay, to find his IP address have him bring up a CMD window and type ipconfig. It will look like this ->

F:\blah>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter My Local Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : yourisp.dns
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fd80::c514:2de3:2c38:f64f%11
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.117
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

Tunnel adapter blah.home:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : blah.home

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Now MY address is 192.168.1.117, his will be different - see it there? He will also have a different gateway maybe, it doesn't matter since this is a standalone network. On Winders ipconfig gives IP info, Linux it's ifconfig.

Showing up in Winders neighborhood is controlled by Wins I believe. unRAID will try to become the master for that I think. Personally I've not had much luck with that and instead use a localhosts file. The locahosts file will be named hosts - no extension but it's text. Inside of it you will find something like this->

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
192.168.1.117 myunraid #this is the IP for my unRAID server

Here's how you edit the silly thing in Win7. (http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/edit-hosts-file-in-windows-7-windows-vista/)

You can guess from the format what you will want to do. the IP address you have assigned, a tab (I think...), and then the hostname - like "myunraid" for instance. Oh, do NOT put a # in front of the line you want as that makes the line a comment and not a valid host.

FWIW, my network has a router with a DHCP server in it - it gives out IP address to my machines. However, my DHCP server will allow me to assign IP address statically to specific hosts based on their internal MAC address. That way every time my one unRAID checks in the DHCP server recognizes which one it is based on it's MAC address (internal address of the network adapter) and always gives it the SAME address. This way I have NOT had to twiddle all of my machines and track which one is which in a notebook somewhere so I don't reuse ip addresses. Having two machines with the SAME IP address is bad - is like trying to deliver mail on a street where all homes have the same address - it doesn't work. Now, not all networks have DHCP servers and not all of them have this feature but it sure is nice! It's a must have for me, my internal router\firewall\gateway\NAT server is a small PC actually - it kicks butt.

Homework - go Google MAC address and DHCP server so you know what they are without me having to try and explain :p DNS server would also be a good term to understand :D

Getting clearer?

Okay, to find his IP address have him bring up a CMD window and type ipconfig. It will look like this ->

F:\blah>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter My Local Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : yourisp.dns
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fd80::c514:2de3:2c38:f64f%11
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.117
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

Tunnel adapter blah.home:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : blah.home

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Now MY address is 192.168.1.117, his will be different - see it there? He will also have a different gateway maybe, it doesn't matter since this is a standalone network. On Winders ipconfig gives IP info, Linux it's ifconfig.

Showing up in Winders neighborhood is controlled by Wins I believe. unRAID will try to become the master for that I think. Personally I've not had much luck with that and instead use a localhosts file. The locahosts file will be named hosts - no extension but it's text. Inside of it you will find something like this->

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
192.168.1.117 myunraid #this is the IP for my unRAID server

Here's how you edit the silly thing in Win7. (http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/edit-hosts-file-in-windows-7-windows-vista/)

You can guess from the format what you will want to do. the IP address you have assigned, a tab (I think...), and then the hostname - like "myunraid" for instance. Oh, do NOT put a # in front of the line you want as that makes the line a comment and not a valid host.

FWIW, my network has a router with a DHCP server in it - it gives out IP address to my machines. However, my DHCP server will allow me to assign IP address statically to specific hosts based on their internal MAC address. That way every time my one unRAID checks in the DHCP server recognizes which one it is based on it's MAC address (internal address of the network adapter) and always gives it the SAME address. This way I have NOT had to twiddle all of my machines and track which one is which in a notebook somewhere so I don't reuse ip addresses. Having two machines with the SAME IP address is bad - is like trying to deliver mail on a street where all homes have the same address - it doesn't work. Now, not all networks have DHCP servers and not all of them have this feature but it sure is nice! It's a must have for me, my internal router\firewall\gateway\NAT server is a small PC actually - it kicks butt.

Homework - go Google MAC address and DHCP server so you know what they are without me having to try and explain :p DNS server would also be a good term to understand :D

Getting clearer?

The veil is starting to lift. :) I should be able to get this UnRaid box up and running for my friend in his home this weekend, when we plan to get together. Meanwhile, I'll use this as an opportunity to solve some of my own networking issues, including the sporadic disappearance of my UnRaid servers from the network. Many thanks.

Okay, to find his IP address have him bring up a CMD window and type ipconfig. It will look like this ->

F:\blah>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter My Local Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : yourisp.dns
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fd80::c514:2de3:2c38:f64f%11
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.117
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

Tunnel adapter blah.home:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : blah.home

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Now MY address is 192.168.1.117, his will be different - see it there? He will also have a different gateway maybe, it doesn't matter since this is a standalone network. On Winders ipconfig gives IP info, Linux it's ifconfig.

Showing up in Winders neighborhood is controlled by Wins I believe. unRAID will try to become the master for that I think. Personally I've not had much luck with that and instead use a localhosts file. The locahosts file will be named hosts - no extension but it's text. Inside of it you will find something like this->

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
192.168.1.117 myunraid #this is the IP for my unRAID server

Here's how you edit the silly thing in Win7. (http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/edit-hosts-file-in-windows-7-windows-vista/)

You can guess from the format what you will want to do. the IP address you have assigned, a tab (I think...), and then the hostname - like "myunraid" for instance. Oh, do NOT put a # in front of the line you want as that makes the line a comment and not a valid host.

FWIW, my network has a router with a DHCP server in it - it gives out IP address to my machines. However, my DHCP server will allow me to assign IP address statically to specific hosts based on their internal MAC address. That way every time my one unRAID checks in the DHCP server recognizes which one it is based on it's MAC address (internal address of the network adapter) and always gives it the SAME address. This way I have NOT had to twiddle all of my machines and track which one is which in a notebook somewhere so I don't reuse ip addresses. Having two machines with the SAME IP address is bad - is like trying to deliver mail on a street where all homes have the same address - it doesn't work. Now, not all networks have DHCP servers and not all of them have this feature but it sure is nice! It's a must have for me, my internal router\firewall\gateway\NAT server is a small PC actually - it kicks butt.

Homework - go Google MAC address and DHCP server so you know what they are without me having to try and explain :p DNS server would also be a good term to understand :D

Getting clearer?

I need a clarification.

In order for this UnRaid server to show up in Windows Network Neighborhood, do I have to create a file called "Hosts" in "C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ or %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\"? In Notepad, should I enter (with all the comments before the actual entry):

192.168.0.24 Tower #this is the IP address and server name for my friend's unRAID server (in my system anyway)
192.168.0.14 Tower1 #this is my first unRAID server tower
192.168.0.10 Tower2 #this is my second unRAID server tower

And do I need to reboot for it to take effect and have all three servers appear in the Network for my system? And can I assume that on his system I shouldn't have to worry about this, because he'll only have the one UnRaid server on the gig switch?

Could the fact that I have two UnRaid servers be causing the problem of one of them disappearing from the network when I reboot or make changes sometimes? Right now, they're both set up to "Obtain IP Address Automatically" in the UnRaid management software.

The thing is, I'm going to be making some changes in my system soon (new modem and router), and I want to understand the potential consequences of changes that I make now for when I change hardware later.

Not sure how clear I made my concerns here. :o

Edit: AVS eliminated the 8 spaces (tab?) after the IP entries and before the comments. Is the tab important, or is a single space before the comment all that's needed?

BTW, is there a way of opening his "Tower" in Windows Explorer even though it's not recognized as part of the network right now? I seem to recall being able to do that with shortcuts on the Win7 desktop in the past.

Followup

Now, why didn't I come here a long time ago with this issue? My computer has survived 3 reboots and it's recognized the 3 UnRaid servers connected to my gig switch each time. Problem solved. I'm glad my friend was having issues with the hardware side of his build and came to me for help. I fixed his hardware issues, and with the help I got here was able to solve my own software problems.

This procedure should help anyone with two or more UnRaid servers.

I still could use some more help with other network questions that seem related, but for now it looks as though the immediate issues are resolved.

A gazillion thanks. :D

Not only are all the UnRaid servers on my network connecting consistently, but also my Samsung 3D TV. I've been having problems downloading 3D content and applications because of these network issues. Thanks again.

Weird, I wasn't getting notifications that you were responding up until just now :o

Sounds like you got it working well though? As for being able to access "tower" even though it's not in your network neighborhood - that is what the hosts file allows. You shouldn't be creating one though, there should already be one there to edit.

Having the unRAID servers obtain their own IP address can cause you problems in that you won't know which address they obtain consistently. If you create an entry in the hosts file and the new IP for the server changes then you won't be able to access them by name - it's like having an ad in the yellowpages and then changing your phone number. Make sense? Some routers will allow you to pin an IP address to a specific computer using DHCP. It recognizes the MAC address of the adapter asking for an IP and always gives it the one you assigned in the router. If your router cannot do this then assign one manually yourself in the unRAID configuration.

That help?

Weird, I wasn't getting notifications that you were responding up until just now :o

Sounds like you got it working well though? As for being able to access "tower" even though it's not in your network neighborhood - that is what the hosts file allows. You shouldn't be creating one though, there should already be one there to edit.

Having the unRAID servers obtain their own IP address can cause you problems in that you won't know which address they obtain consistently. If you create an entry in the hosts file and the new IP for the server changes then you won't be able to access them by name - it's like having an ad in the yellowpages and then changing your phone number. Make sense? Some routers will allow you to pin an IP address to a specific computer using DHCP. It recognizes the MAC address of the adapter asking for an IP and always gives it the one you assigned in the router. If your router cannot do this then assign one manually yourself in the unRAID configuration.

That help?

The "hosts" file was there, but there was nothing but comments in it. I added the addresses I determined with ifconfig on the new server (which at this point is not obtaining an IP address automatically). My own towers were being recognized when I did this, so I added their addresses to "hosts" after noting them in UnRaid. With several reboots, all 3 servers are still there. I also used the same techniques to determine another free address for my Samsung 3D TV. I added it manually in the Samsung's Internet setup routine, and it worked the first time I tried it.

I haven't tried pulling the power cord from my 24 port gig Ethernet switch yet, or unplugging the Samsung. (I'm not going to experiment with that until I get my friend's server finished. I'm adding the last 4 drives right now and want to get it installed with his computer this weekend.) Are you saying that the addresses may change when I power down and I'll be back in the same boat again? DHCP is still fuzzy to me, but it sounds like what I need in my setup for a permanent solution. Another thing is that I'll be changing out my modem and router soon.

The other problem I have is that my ISP's Internet service randomly drops out and when it comes back up, I often have to power down the integrated-modem/router and Ethernet switch to regain Internet access. Charter won't help, because they don't support any modems and routers but their own. That's another wrinkle.

Anyway, first things first. My friend's UnRaid box is cookin' away and I'll have it out of my hair tomorrow. Then, I want to make certain I have a permanent solution for my own network that's repeatable even through power cycles. The irony is that I have a cousin who works for a cable company, and one of his areas of expertise is networking. But he lives in East Jeezus and we can never seem to get together. :D

I've experienced the same thing a few times with AVS, where I don't get notifications about some subscribed threads for days. Still haven't figured that out.

BTW, I also have a couple of Brother multi-function printers that I used to have in my network, and they stopped being recognized at some point. How do you determine the IP address of something like that and configure it into the system? It was great having them accessible to all my computers at the same time. I'm using the USB connections now, so only one computer can use them at one time.

BTW, I also have a couple of Brother multi-function printers that I used to have in my network, and they stopped being recognized at some point. How do you determine the IP address of something like that and configure it into the system? It was great having them accessible to all my computers at the same time. I'm using the USB connections now, so only one computer can use them at one time.

Okay, you've setup your various devices to be what's called static. As such they will NOT request an address from DHCP so you're good. I happen to like DHCP on my network but devices that are used most often are always assigned the same address from the service. What you have is fine and shoudl survive power cycles without issue.

Printers - you have a router\modem. It most likely has an internal address on your network of 192.168.1.1 - in ipconfig this will probably be your gateway aka address used to get to the outside world. Access that address with a web browser, you may have to use https though. You should get a web page and it may ask you for a userid\password that you should have been provided. Once you're in there poke around and you will most likely find the DHCP page and it will show you what addresses it has assigned. You may see your printers on the network using this! you may also be able to access a web page on the printers address to try and modify them to have static IPs too :cool:

Last but not least, depending on the OS and the printer you MAY be able to "share" the printer that's on a USB port. Google is likely the best way to learn how to do this so search something like "share printer" followed by the model name and maybe the OS. You'll find it - just know that it's possible with many, but not all, printers to be shared via the host computer. :D Personally I prefer them right on the network though...

Okay, you've setup your various devices to be what's called static. As such they will NOT request an address from DHCP so you're good. I happen to like DHCP on my network but devices that are used most often are always assigned the same address from the service. What you have is fine and shoudl survive power cycles without issue.

Printers - you have a router\modem. It most likely has an internal address on your network of 192.168.1.1 - in ipconfig this will probably be your gateway aka address used to get to the outside world. Access that address with a web browser, you may have to use https though. You should get a web page and it may ask you for a userid\password that you should have been provided. Once you're in there poke around and you will most likely find the DHCP page and it will show you what addresses it has assigned. You may see your printers on the network using this! you may also be able to access a web page on the printers address to try and modify them to have static IPs too :cool:

Last but not least, depending on the OS and the printer you MAY be able to "share" the printer that's on a USB port. Google is likely the best way to learn how to do this so search something like "share printer" followed by the model name and maybe the OS. You'll find it - just know that it's possible with many, but not all, printers to be shared via the host computer. :D Personally I prefer them right on the network though...

Yeah, I love having the Brother devices available for all systems on the network. I've had scenarios where I was working on multiple projects, doing a variety of things on different systems (video editing and rendering on one, burning discs or scanning pictures on another, surfing on another) and all the while being able to share these Brother devices.

I'll dig up the documentation and follow the steps you outline here.

you could always just use a network scanner to see what you have and where its at...
something like this (http://softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/)

you could always just use a network scanner to see what you have and where its at...
something like this (http://softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/)

Cool. One more piece of the puzzle.

Love your username, BTW. Exactly how I feel most of the time. :D

Oops. Ever since I ran Netscan, I've lost the ability to access UnRaid's management software in the browser for one of my servers. I can still get at the files, and it shows up in the network just as it should, but no joy on getting at the software in the browser. The other server is fine.

Also, when I reconnect another computer (a part of the network and working properly a while back) and type ipconfig on it, it returns a value of 169.254.197.77. All my other systems are on the same switch and return a value somewhere in 192.168.0.xxx. I have no Internet or network access on the new system, but one of my other systems can see it, and it can see the other system, as a public network.

I don't have a clue what's going on. It also has me nervous about getting my friend's UnRaid server running on the gig switch that will connect his Windows 7 computer with his UnRaid server. I was going to run ipconfig on Windows and ifconfig on UnRaid, if necessary, to make sure Windows could see the UnRaid box.

Any thoughts?

Let me make my question specific (and hope the answer is not too complicated).

Here's what I plan to do with my friend's system:

1. Hook up UnRaid and his Windows 7 HTPC to a simple gig switch (no Internet access).

If they see one another, fine. I'm done. If not...

2. ipconfig the Windows box and get the address
3. ifconfig UnRaid and get the address
4. add the UnRaid server name and its IP address to the "hosts" file in Windows so UnRaid appears in the network; reboot

But what if ipconfig and ifconfig yield different address ranges? What do I do then?

netscan cant break anything... might make existing problems show up a bit more though...

on one of the windows PC's you are having issues with type "ipconfig /renew"
if it takes more than a second or so to get its ip address from your DHCP server you should stop doing whatever else you may be doing and figure out why your DHCP server is unhappy...

as for your unRAID for a friend, I would just set it up as a static IP, preferable outside you freinds DHCP range, assuming he has a DHCP range...

that way you will already know what the ip address is... and if he has the same DHCP issues you seem to that will be one less thing to fight...

netscan cant break anything... might make existing problems show up a bit more though...

on one of the windows PC's you are having issues with type "ipconfig /renew"
if it takes more than a second or so to get its ip address from your DHCP server you should stop doing whatever else you may be doing and figure out why your DHCP server is unhappy...

as for your unRAID for a friend, I would just set it up as a static IP, preferable outside you freinds DHCP range, assuming he has a DHCP range...

that way you will already know what the ip address is... and if he has the same DHCP issues you seem to that will be one less thing to fight...

I'm extremely limited in my knowledge of how this stuff works. The only things in his setup will be a Windows 7 HTPC, the UnRaid server and a 4 port Netgear gig switch. He doesn't want (for whatever reason) the PC to be connected to the Internet. There is no DHCP server in such a configuration, right? I don't know how to set up a static IP address for the PC or the server. Could you guide me through it or link me to a site that explains how to do it?

I Googled the procedure for assigning a static IP address in Win7, but the procedure seems to be for use with a router (not just a switch) and an Internet connection. Maybe I should take this over to the UnRaid forum? It seems so close, but my ignorance of networking is not to be underestimated. :)

Couple of things... yes scanners CAN tip over services on machines that reside on the network. It's not common but it is possible. Doing a pentest on a network once upon a time I corrupted a VERY large NAS, folks were NOT pleased :D Never say can't. To me it sounds like the unRAID web server on that machine fell over for some reason. You can likely still SSH into it with Putty, do so using root as userid and nothing for the password. If you ask on the unRAID forums someone can tell you how to restart the web service or further troubleshoot it.

To set an IP in Win7 goto Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center then look for the "my local network" link that will be on the right side for the network you're connected to. Click it and the status for this will come up. Click Properties. Select "Internet Protocol Version 4" and click Properties. You can probably figure it out from here - set the IP, subnet mask, and whatnot - ignore DNS. Exit, shoudl be done.

The 169.x.x.x address is from a network card not setup, possibly a machine that doesn't even have a cable plugged in. You get funky default settings when this occurs...

I found this over in the UnRaid forums:

------------------------------------------------------------

Connect Your PC Directly to the UnRaid Server:

Here is what you do:

1. Plug the flash drive into your windows PC.
2. Go to folder "config" on the flash drive, and open the file "network.cfg" in Notepad.
3. Write the following there:
USE_DHCP=no
IPADDR=192.168.1.1
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=
4. Save, quit Notepad, and use the "safely remove hardware" thingie before unplugging the flash disk.
5. Setup your PC to have a fixed IP address: 192.168.1.2 with netmask 255.255.255.0
(Start -> Settings -> Network Connectios -> Properties -> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties)
6. connect the two boxes with a network cable, plug the flash drive in the unRAID box, and start it.

Done.

On your PC, point your web browser to 192.168.1.1
You should be able to see your unRAID main web page.

If you don't see the unRAID main window, then please do the following two things:
1. From a dos box on the PC, type: ipconfig /all
2. From the unRAID console (login:root ; no pass) type: ifconfig -a
and post the results here so we can further help you.

Note: Most gigabit NICs don't need a cross-over cable. They can detect the type of cable and adjust for it.

Make sure you use a good CAT-5e or CAT-6 network cable!

------------------------------------------------------------

I may do this for now, just to get it working, but the better solution is to get it working with a switch, so he can go to the Internet when he figures out he wants to do that. :)


Thanks for the tips on getting back up properly with the server where I can't get access to the web management software.

Couple of things... yes scanners CAN tip over services on machines that reside on the network. It's not common but it is possible. Doing a pentest on a network once upon a time I corrupted a VERY large NAS, folks were NOT pleased :D Never say can't. To me it sounds like the unRAID web server on that machine fell over for some reason. You can likely still SSH into it with Putty, do so using root as userid and nothing for the password. If you ask on the unRAID forums someone can tell you how to restart the web service or further troubleshoot it.

To set an IP in Win7 goto Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center then look for the "my local network" link that will be on the right side for the network you're connected to. Click it and the status for this will come up. Click Properties. Select "Internet Protocol Version 4" and click Properties. You can probably figure it out from here - set the IP, subnet mask, and whatnot - ignore DNS. Exit, shoudl be done.

The 169.x.x.x address is from a network card not setup, possibly a machine that doesn't even have a cable plugged in. You get funky default settings when this occurs...

This is Greek to me. You are suggesting, aren't you, that I should not attempt to do anything to resolve this problem until I consult over in the UnRaid forum?

The post you found on the unRAID forums is pretty much what we've told you to do here except that it blindly gives yuo an IP to assign which is foolish, best to test for an IP first before assigning.

As for putty - that's an SSH client. A Google for SSH and Putty will tell you this. I told you to got the unRAID forums because those guys are likely to KNOW what service needs to be restarted. I could figure it out, probably by looking over there myself, but I cannot do everything for you. The web service crashed for some reason, it needs to be restarted, a commandline remotely, or heck even at the unRAID console, can be used to do this but I don't recall the name of the service off the top of my head - go research and find out what it is in the place that knows best.

P.S. Your friend can connect perfectly fine to the internet on a network using a hub, switch, or router. He will need a router connected to a cable modem or whatever plugged into the switch or hub but those devices won't stop him from connecting to the 'net.

I appreciate the help.

I know he'll be able to connect to the net behind a router. I was just hoping for a quick solution to the immediate problem - a direct-connect cable between his Windows and unRaid boxes (using the only available Ethernet ports). That way, he could get started with unRaid and I could concentrate on a huge video editing project. Then, I could revisit both our problems a couple of weeks from now for a more permanent solution. So long as I'm not likely to create more problems for myself, I'm going to try it. Any final warnings before I take this over to the UnRaid forum?

Thanks so much for your time. :)

I appreciate the help.

I know he'll be able to connect to the net behind a router. I was just hoping for a quick solution to the immediate problem - a direct-connect cable between his Windows and unRaid boxes (using the only available Ethernet ports). That way, he could get started with unRaid and I could concentrate on a huge video editing project. Then, I could revisit both our problems a couple of weeks from now for a more permanent solution. So long as I'm not likely to create more problems for myself, I'm going to try it. Any final warnings before I take this over to the UnRaid forum?

Thanks so much for your time. :)

Oh, you want to do this sans any extra hardware? I didn't catch that part! Sure, you can do that with a crossover cable easily! However finding one is likely to be an issue as it's not exactly standard. You can make one pretty easily but it requires a crimper, connectors, wire, and patience. If you know someone with all of that they can do it for you :D

Oh, you want to do this sans any extra hardware? I didn't catch that part! Sure, you can do that with a crossover cable easily! However finding one is likely to be an issue as it's not exactly standard. You can make one pretty easily but it requires a crimper, connectors, wire, and patience. If you know someone with all of that they can do it for you :D

Gb ethernet is supposed to have crossover detection and auto-configuration built in.

Two comments r.e. this fairly lengthy discussion of a simple problem:

(1) By FAR the best way to connect your friend's two boxes (UnRAID and Windows) is to just use a router and let it handle the address assignments (i.e. with DHCP). This is literally plug & go -- just plug both PCs into the router; then it will work ... PERIOD.
[With the possible exception of needing to change one or both boxes to use DHCP, since you may have already modified that setting]

Note that if you do that, and connect a broadband connection to the router as well, the UnRAID box will be able to use NTP to keep its clock correct ... and the Windows box will have internet access (if for no other reason than to also keep synchronized time & perhaps updates).

(2) If you don't want to use a router; and don't have any other PCs involved except the Windows box and the UnRAID box, all you need to do is connect them via an ethernet cable. Modern GB adapters are auto-detecting in terms of the type of device, so no crossover cable is needed. All you have to do is ensure the two PCs each have an assigned address in the same subnet, and that they're different addresses. Just assign a static IP to both computers ... e.g. 192.168.55.100 and 192.168.55.102 with masks of 255.255.255.0

Gb ethernet is supposed to have crossover detection and auto-configuration built in.

ah cool, I wasn't aware of this! That makes life much easier!

As for using a router and going DHCP etc. Umm, if for some reason he decides to access them via IP address and the lease has expired or it's been assigned a new address it will be an issue. for some reason the unRAID boxes don't always seem reachable reliably by machine name. It has to do with the Master Server or somesuch. I tried to figure it out once upon a time but finally just used hosts files and nailed the DHCP addresses down. No issues since. <shrug>

Most routers today allow you to reserve ip addresses. I do this with my printer, unRAID box, and my IPMI connection on my unRAID box. I tie the ip address to the units MAC address. I have had zero problems with floating ip addresses.

I'm looking to buy a new motherboard and the ones with the highest tested level on the unraid site are all old/unavailable. Is there something well tested that someone could recommend? I don't think I'll ever have more than eight drives. I'm hoping to use an extra ATX tower case.

Thanks

How does UNraid compare to a home server product such as the just-announced Windows Home Server 2011?

TIA!

Jeff

How does UNraid compare to a home server product such as the just-announced Windows Home Server 2011?

TIA!

Jeff