Release 2.060315 available for limited release

I'm looking for a couple volunteers to download and install the next release of the UnRaid firmware.  As soon as we've worked out the kinks (if any) in this process, then we'll make the release generally available.  The download consists of a 26MB zip file.

If you are interested in participating, please send email to [email protected].

Here is the contents of the download readme.txt file:

Lime Technology, LLC

UnRaid Firmware 2.060315 Release Notes
======================================

Firmware Upgrade Instructions
-----------------------------

Upgrading the UnRaid system firmware consists of unpacking the downloaded zip file and copying the contained files onto the USB Flash.  The following 3-step procedure assumes this will take place using a Windows XP system.

Important: Do not use any utility to re-partition or re-format the USB Flash; doing so may render the Flash unbootable.

STEP 1. Navigate to the 'system' directory of the Flash share on your server, and, delete the 'previous' directory and rename the 'current' directory to 'previous'.

Find your server under My Network Places and click on the 'flash' share.  Then click on the 'system' directory. The 'system' directory contains three directories:

current - contains the "current" firmware
previous - contains a "previous" revision firmware
grub - contains system files necessary for booting

There is enough room on the Flash for two sets of system firmware, contained in the directories 'current' and 'previous'. By default, when the UnRaid system boots, it will load the firmware contained in the 'current' directory. It is possible to interrupt the boot process by pressing any key during the "GNU GRUB" menu that appears immediately following the motherboard bios startup. You may then have the system boot the firmware contained in the 'previous' directory by selecting it in the GRUB menu. This feature has been implemented as a way to "fall back" to a previous firmware version.

STEP 2. Copy the 'current' directory from the unpacked 'UnRaid-2.060315' folder to the Flash 'system' directory.

Using Windows explorer, drag the 'current' directory into the Flash 'system' directory.

STEP 3. Reboot the server.

You may either simply power-off/power-on the server, or at the console, or telnet window, after logging in, type the command "reboot".


Additional Information
----------------------
Starting with this release, the 'go' script has been moved from the root directory of the Flash to the system firmware directory, i.e., either 'system\current' or 'system\previous'.  If you made any customizations to the 'go' script you will need to edit the new 'go' script and place your changes there.  You can leave the old 'go' script on the Flash if you want, in case you ever boot version 1.050930 again.

The firmware directory also contains a 'go-sata' script.  This can serve as a template for creating your own 'go' script which sets up SATA drives.  Refer to the Support page on our website for more information about SATA support in this release.


Summary of changes from 1.050930 to 2.060315
--------------------------------------------

- New Feature: SATA support. Upgraded to Linux kernel 2.4.31 for added SATA stability.  Supports Intel SATA (ata_piix module) and Promise SATAII150-TX4 (sata_promise module).

- New Feature: Added timezone support.

- Improvement: Incorporate latest Marvell Yukon GigEthernet driver.

- Improvement: Enable RX Polling (NAPI) in both Intel PRO/1000 and Marvell Yukon GigEthernet drivers.

- Improvement: Numerous changes to the Management Utility to improve responsiveness.

- Improvement: Improved parity-sync performance.

- Improvement: Disk statistics are now cleared each reset.

- Improvemeht: For Intel D865GLCLK motherboard bios, no longer necessary to set Advanced/Drive Configuration to [Legacy] (it can be set to either [Legacy] or [Enhanced] - latter needed to access on-board SATA). Note that if  you want to re-boot version 1.050930 firmware, however, you must ensure this is set to [Legacy].

- Bug Fix: Fixed interoperability problem with Firefox 1.5 where clicking a button would cause the window to continually refresh.

- Bug Fix: Fixed problem where 'System' and 'Hidden' bits were not working correctly on shared files.

- Bug Fix: Correct SO_RCVBUF typo in smb.conf.

- Bug Fix: Fixed problem recognizing "factory-cleared" status on certain new disks.

- Bug Fix: Fixed problem which caused Management Utility to crash if a disk is disabled and exactly 1 other disk is missing or wrong.

- Bug Fix: Fixed problem where system still "remembered" removed disabled disk identity.

- Other: Added missing license.txt file and included source code of modifed GPL files.


Known Issues
------------

- When the array is stopped, there is a button on the Management Utility to re-boot the system.  After clicking this button the UnRaid server will reboot and the Management Utility will display the message "Wait...".  The Management Utility will not automatically reconnect to the server, however.  After the server has been rebooted, you can manually reconnect by clicking the Refresh button.

- SATA support has the following restrictions:
1. Can not read SATA hard drive temperatures.
2. Can not spin down SATA hard drives.
3. Supports only Intel on-board SATA controllers, and Promise SATAII-150 TX4.
4. System occasionally will "hang" writing the Master Boot Record of new SATA disks.  Upon manual reset, the disk MBR is correctly written and you can proceed.

Hi all,

When I would rip a DVD to my number one unRaid server with CloneDVD it would take 15-20 minutes to rip a standard 2hr DVD with just the main title and AC3 sound track.

Since upgrading to the new OS (2.060315), the same 15-20 minute rip is indicating up to 3 hours!

So I deleted the new OS current folder and renamed the original previous OS to "current" and rebooted.

Going back to the original OS resulted in a 15-20 minute rip indication for a 2hr DVD.

There is definitely something wrong with the new OS as far as ripping or streaming a large block of data to the server.

Regards,

TCIII

Yes, that's right.  Very strange problem.  If you just move files over to the UnRaid via Windows Explorer, all is fine.  It's only certain Windows apps writing directly to the network share which is slowed down.

Version 2.060315 included the "latest" version of Samba (the software which provides Windows networking services).  We ugraded to this version just so we'd have the latest patches in preparation for integrating security features.  We've spent quite a lot of time trying to indentify where this slow down is occuring.  In the meantime, for release 2.060324, we went back to the version of Samba we were originally using.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the response.

Should I go back to Release 2.060315 since it does have a faster web page response as I do not mind ripping locally and then transferring the ripped DVD to the server?

Regards,

TCIII