unRAID Server release 4.4 (final) available

Download.

 

Release 4.4 (final) is ready and has already shipped with several servers.

 

The main new feature here is something called a "constrain string" for user shares.  This is another way besides "split level" to specify that a directory should not be split among more than one hard drive.

 

The way it works is that you can enter a string in the share "split level" field instead of a number, for example "[" (without the quotes).  Now when an object is created in that user share, if that string appears anywhere in the directory path for that object, then the object will be created in whatever disk the object's parent directory is on.

 

For example suppose you name directories like this:

 

Movies/Alien [dvd]

Movies/Dark Knight [bluray]

 

Then when any object is created in the "Alien [dvd]" directory, or the "Dark Knight [blueray]" directory, it will get created on the same disk that that directory happened to be created on.  (Because the string "[" exists in the parent path.)

 

I know this quick explanation may be confusing & we will be writing a better article on this subject for the wiki.  The idea here is to create a simpler, alternative scheme to "split level" for keeping related objects together on the same disk.

 

unRAID Server 4.4 Release Notes
===============================

Changes from 4.4-beta2 to 4.4
-----------------------------

New features:
- Added per-disk spindown controls.
- Share 'split-level' may now be a string which marks 'constrained' directories.
- Experimental PAE support (support memory up to 64GB).

Improvements:
- Upgrade to linux kernel 2.6.27.7.
- Upgrade to samba 3.2.3.
- Upgrade to slackware 12.1
- Upgrade memtest86+ to version 2.01.  Note in addition to the ususal upgrade instructions below, you must also copy 'memtest' from this releae to the root of your flash.
- Restore driver logging of disk 'import' messages to allow for better debugging.
- Changed 'pseudo permissions' for the Flash device.
- Get rid of annoying "kernel time sync status change" messages generated by ntpd.

Other:
- Get rid of smbfs, use CIFS instead.
- Auto-generate '/etc/hosts' file to add server's hostname as additional alias for 'localhost'.
- Include 'wins' as last step in tcp hostname resolution.
- Added 'wget' package.


Changes from 4.4-beta1 to 4.4-beta2
-----------------------------------

Improvement: added more spin-down delay settings (15, 30, 45 minutes, 6, 7, 8, 9 hours) and changed method of disk spin-down/spin-up:
- No longer use disk's internal spin-down timer; instead monitor I/O directly.
- A spun down drive will spin-up on demand when it recieves an I/O command (this is unchanged).
- The 'Spin Up' button in the System Management Ultility now uses a SMART command to spin up the disks.

Bug fix: if a drive took longer than 10 seconds to spin up, then a driver timeout error and subsequent SATA channel reset would appear in the system log.
[fix is to increase scsi_execute() timeout (from 10 to 30 sec) in drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c]

Bug fix: the 'Clear Statistics' button will now also clear the Cache Drive statistics.

Bug fix: fixed crash which could occur if multiple disks fail in the same stripe simultaneously.

Improvement: upgrade smartmontools package to version 5.38.


Changes from 4.3.3 to 4.4-beta1
-------------------------------

New feature: support SMP (multi-core processors).

Improvement: read performance enhancements.

Improvement: update to linux kernel 2.6.26.5.

Bug fix: fixed race condition in network initialization which would sometimes result in DHCP failure to get IP address.



Upgrade Instructions (Please Read Carefully)
============================================

If you are currently running unRAID Server 4.2-beta1 or higher (including 4.2.x 'final'), please copy the following files from the new release to the root of your Flash device:
    bzimage
    bzroot

If you are currently running unRAID server 4.0 or 4.1, please copy the following files from the new release to the root of your Flash device:
    bzimage
    bzroot
    syslinux.cfg
    menu.c32
    memtest

This can be done either by plugging the Flash into your PC or, by copying the files to the 'flash' share on your running server.  The server must then be rebooted.

If you are currently running unRAID Server 3.0-beta1 or higher, please follow these steps to upgrade:

1. Referring to the System Management Utility 'Main' page, make a note of each disks's model/serial number; you will need this information later.

2. Shut down your server, remove the Flash and plug it into your PC.

3. Right-click your Flash device listed under My Computer and select Properties.  Make sure the volume label is set to "UNRAID" (without the quotes) and click OK.  You do NOT need to format the Flash.

4. Copy the files from the new release to the root of your Flash device.

5. Right-click your Flash device listed under My Computer and select Eject.  Remove the Flash, install in your server and power-up.

6. After your server has booted up, the System Management Utility 'Main' page will probably show no devices; this is OK, navigate to the 'Devices' page. Using the model/serial number information gathered in step 1, assign each of your hard drives to the correct disk slot.

7. Go back to the 'Main' page and your devices should appear correctly.  You may now Start the array.


If you are installing this release to a new Flash, please refer to instructions on our website at:

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=19

Wooohooo.... kernel 2.6.27.7, samba 3.2.3, per-disk spindowns, and wget in stock distro.

 

Nice Xmas present.

Memtest86+ is now at version 2.10

 

 

http://www.memtest.org/

 

    *** Enhancements in v2.10 : ***

 

        * New Features

              o Added support for Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) CPU

              o Added support for Intel Atom Processors

              o Added support for Intel G41/G43/G45 Chipsets

              o Added support for Intel P43/P45 Chipsets

              o Added support for Intel US15W (Poulsbo) Chipset

              o Added support for Intel EP80579 (Tolapai) SoC CPU

              o Added support for ICH10 Southbridge (SPD/DMI)

              o Added detection for Intel 5000X

              o Now fully aware of CPU w/ L3 cache (Core i7 & K10)

 

        * Bug Fixes

              o Added workaround for DDR3 DMI detection

              o Fixed Intel 5000Z chipset detection

              o Fixed Memory Frequency on AMD K10

              o Fixed cache detection on C7/Isaiah CPU

              o Fix Memtest86+ not recognized as Linux Kernel

 

 

Torrent Download Available, Please Seed.

 

Info Page

http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=2193ab81b29d1560fde22eed1f70e4c2d16e270f

 

Direct Torrent

http://linuxtracker.org/download.php?id=2193ab81b29d1560fde22eed1f70e4c2d16e270f&f=unRAID%20Server%204.4.zip.torrent

 

 

 

 

The info page link should be:

http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=2193ab81b29d1560fde22eed1f70e4c2d16e270f

 

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I couldn't find anywhere else for this release. Anyway, I'm running unRAID 4.4 Beta 2 and I tried upgrading to the final 4.4 release. I'm getting stuck when it tries to load the bzroot image (I'm by far not a Linux expert). I tried copying the files again to the flash drive and same results. I restored to the Beta 2 files and it works fine like before.

 

All I did was copy the following files to my flash drive: bzimage, bzroot and memtest.

 

Has anybody else had issues with the new releases?

 

Thanks in advance and please let me know where should I post issues related to the latest releases (I didn't see anywhere else in the forum to do so).

I upgraded my server a few hours ago and has no issues.  Is it possible your copy to the flash drive was not completed?  Did you do it on your PC? did you safely eject the hardware (flash drive) when done?  If your 4.4 bzroot and bzimage files are still on the flash drive, you can verify their checksum while booted up under 4.4-beta2.

 

I've got the past few versions on my flash drive.  Here are their md5 checksums.   You can type

md5sum bzroot bzimage

and verify their completeness.

 

root@Tower:/boot# md5sum *bz*

73cb5ace6c75ae6a42e3705432fab96b  bzimage                <--- this is 4.4 final

3ca6ef45d5efae243452745815ec575b  bzimage432           <-- 4.3.2

0d8fcd57ca15dca542724cb04895d4ff  bzimage433            <-- 4.3.3

1045a8b5ce4bc64e6d1d75539f765c5b  bzimage442          <-- 4.4beta2

d79d6849897908df3e64179414202c55  bzroot                 <--- this is 4.4 final

40e2fa8144538e4780d757ce41d7b9b6  bzroot432            <--- 4.3.2

c1f295a715e577230134598a2d255a8b  bzroot433             <--- 4.3.3

fe34c6e9d929aa1fa0917f692d522d85  bzroot442               <-- 4.4beta2

 

 

Working for me

Is per-disk spindown only in the registered pro version? I just updated and I don't see it in the basic version.

Is per-disk spindown only in the registered pro version? I just updated and I don't see it in the basic version.

Not sure, but I had a tough time finding it in the pro version.  At first I thought it was missing too.

 

On the "main" page, click on the "disk" name.  It is now a link to a page with the setting of the individual timeout for that drive.

Is per-disk spindown only in the registered pro version? I just updated and I don't see it in the basic version.

Not sure, but I had a tough time finding it in the pro version.   At first I thought it was missing too.

 

On the "main" page, click on the "disk" name.  It is now a link to a page with the setting of the individual timeout for that drive.

ahhh yup, there it is, thanks.

Did my drive die?  I have the red disk_disabled indicator.  Here is a syslog.  Thank you very much for any helpful information.

Shares don't seem to be working the same from 4.4 beta2 to 4.4 final.  You can see the disks listed below.  I attempted to copy a 45 gig file on to a User Share that is set to "high water".  I expected it to add the file to disc 3.  Instead it attempted to add the file to disc 1.  I had to manually go in and add it to the appropriate share folder on Disc 3. 

 

Previous to upgrading yesterday, all of my recent file additions to this share had been going on disc 3.  Any ideas on what's going on?

 

 

It appears as if /usr/sbin/smartctl is broken in the 4.4 release. 

 

When I attempt to run it, it complains of a missing library.  (the same library that was missing in the last beta...  ) 

 

root@Tower:/boot# smartctl -a -d ata /dev/hdk

smartctl: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

 

Installing the cxxlibs-6.0.8-i486-4.tgz package fixes this.

 

If this required library is not installed, it will cripple the ability of some less technical users of unraid to diagnose their drive's health.

 

Do I see a 4.4.1 release in the future?

Joe L.

... is this why Beta releases are usually followed by a Release Candidate?

Let's not bite the hand that feeds us... 

 

version: 4.5-beta1 working fine here, 2 servers

 

VERY NOTICEABLE PERFORMANCE INCREASE!  -  THANKS

I reverted back to 4.4 beta 2 and tried copying the same file.  It sent it (correctly) to disk 3.

I just upgraded my test machine with no problems.

 

FWIW I used the unraid_upgrade.awk script from this post:

 

  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2577.msg20877#msg20877

 

and it worked properly.

It appears as if /usr/sbin/smartctl is broken in the 4.4 release. 

 

When I attempt to run it, it complains of a missing library.   (the same library that was missing in the last beta...  ) 

 

root@Tower:/boot# smartctl -a -d ata /dev/hdk

smartctl: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

 

Installing the cxxlibs-6.0.8-i486-4.tgz package fixes this.

 

If this required library is not installed, it will cripple the ability of some less technical users of unraid to diagnose their drive's health.

 

Do I see a 4.4.1 release in the future?

Joe L.

 

This is because we updated to new version of Slack & in so doing, only include packages that standard 'unRAID OS' uses.  We don't use 'smartctl' so there's nothing in our test procedure that checks if it's working.

 

You probably have noticed the 4.4 release itself is much larger than previous.  This is due to Samba 3.2.3, where the various tools are almost twice as large as previous.

Shares don't seem to be working the same from 4.4 beta2 to 4.4 final.

 

Looking into this...

I did some testing of 4.4 w/r/t querying drive temps and spindown.

 

I've confirmed that under 4.4, refreshing the unRAID management screen does *not* prevent spindown.

 

I've also confirmed that under 4.4, using hddtemp to query temps does *not* prevent spindown.

 

I haven't tested smartctl yet, but my impression is that the results should be the same.

Does the real life (read&write) performance is improved by the new version?

For example as a reult of the new samba version?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

Hey there,

I installed 4.4 final just fine but after a pcheck I got 4 errors which do not appear at all in the syslog.

Do you have any idea if something changed in that procedure?

Not working at all. No problems with 4.3.3, but with 4.4 (final) unable to boot. Errors:

 

ATA 1.00 FAILED TO IDENTIFY (IO_ERROR, ERR_MASK=0x4)

SOFT RESET FAILED (DEVICE NOT READY)

FAILED DUE TO HW BUG

 

and this is repeating over and over for ATA 1.00 and ATA 2.00. Had to downgrade back. Pretty recent hardware ( ASUS M3A-H/HDMI, AMD 780G). 

 

Dusan

These reports make me a bit weary to go to 4.4, might wait and see how everything turns out.