unRAID Server release 4.5 "final" Available

Download | Torrent (thanks Biggy!)

 

Finally, the "next release" is done.  It took way too long and I should have released previous "final" versions rather than continue this beta series.  Anyway, live and learn I guess.

 

Some people have asked me, what's really the difference between a "final' release and a "stable beta".  Aside from the fact that a stable beta might not actually be stable, LimeTech server products are only shipped with non-beta firmware.  So even though we could just keep going and going with the "betas", I need to drive a stake in the ground and say the current firmware is "final" so that I can start shipping it with servers.

 

That said, the 4.5 series will continue with much smaller number of changes per "release".  For example, will probably soon produce a 4.5.1 "final" version that includes a linux kernel update.  Maybe followed by 4.5.2 which includes perhaps bug fixes or minor features.  You get the idea.  But "big" code changes will no longer be made in this series (for example, spinup groups was a big code change).

 

What's next then?  I've already started work on the 5.0 release, with two main goals:

 

1. Redesign of how unRAID manages share and file secruity.  In the beginning, the only protocol supported was SMB (Windows Networking).  Actually the entire design of unRAID OS is optimized to be a NAS in a Windows world.  As a result, and to speed development, unRAID OS relies on Samba for most security purposes.  The problem with this approach is that other protocols, especially AFP and NFS, do not integrate smoothly.  This has turned out to be a big problem & so it will be addressed.

 

2. Redesign of the webGui, aka, System Management Utility, aka, "that ugly inflexible user interface".  Along with this is better support for user-created customizations: I want any user-created "plugin" to be able to also be integrated into the webGui - goal being to isolate end user completely from the linux command line.  Actually first release of 5.0-beta1 will include a new webGui framework which uses a completely novel approach and open the door to some very interesting capabilities.

 

Timeframe?  I wanted to release 5.0-beta1 simultaneous with 4.5-final, but it's going to take some more time.  But I do want to get it out before Christmas to give you guys something to experiment with in-between catching up with watching all those movies you have on your servers!

 

unRAID Server 4.5 Release Notes
===============================

Changes from 4.5-beta13 to 4.5
------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- If no array disks, still export at least the 'flash' share.

Other changes:
- Updated version banner to read "4.5".


Changes from 4.5-beta12 to 4.5-beta13
-------------------------------------

Other changes:
- Tweak disk spinup/spindown detection to notice drives spun up/down by external programs.
- Added Spinup Group enable/disable on webGui Disk pages (default is enabled).
- Upgrade memtest to version 4.00.
- Added Atheros L1C GigE driver.
- Added JMicron JMC250/260 GigE driver.
- Added Intel 82576 Virtual Functions driver support.


Changes from 4.5-beta11 to 4.5-beta12
-------------------------------------

New features:
- Added 'Spinup groups' feature.

Bug fixes:
- Fix user share I/O freeze problem when spinning up disks.

Other changes:
- Disable Samba async I/O by default.  Can be re-enabled by adding these lines in 'config/smb-extra.conf':
      aio read size = 1
      aio write size = 1


Changes from 4.5-beta10 to 4.5-beta11
-------------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- Fix webGui crash caused by uninitialized md_num_stripes.
- Restore Samba default "unix extensions = No"


Changes from 4.5-beta9 to 4.5-beta10
------------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- Fix user security mode password handling.


Changes from 4.5-beta8 to 4.5-beta9
-----------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- Fix race condition on startup where smbd was not always started.
- Fixed enabling Samba asynchronous I/O, which wasn't really enabled in -beta8.
- Fixed symlink creation and handling in user share file system.

Other changes:
- Upgrade samba to 3.4.3
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.31.6
- Make unraid driver tunables (md_num_stripes, md_write_limit, md_sync_window) configurable via webGui Settings page.
- Upgrade pkgtools in order to support slackware packages which have .txz extension.
- Change e100 and Broadcom GigE drivers from module to built-in so that kernel includes the firmware.
- Enable name and attribute caching in user share file system to speed up SMB large directory operations.


Changes from 4.5-beta7 to 4.5-beta8
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Enable 'Cache Drive' feature with 'Plus' registration key.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed path length limitation in user share file system.
- Fixed incorrect handling of file/directory mode and extended attributes in user share file system.
- Fixed intermittant kernel crash with more than 19 hard drives in array.

Other changes:
- Increased write peformance and added three user-tunables:
        md_num_stripes to set the stripe cache size
md_write_limit to set a ceiling on most number of active write stripes
md_sync_window to set the parity sync/check window size in stripes
- The 'mover' script now uses 'rsync' to move files from the Cache drive to the array.
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.31.5
- Changed linux kernel preemption model to "Voluntary Kernel Preemption".
- Enable Samba asynchronous I/O.
- Changed 'ide_core' from module to built-in.


Changes from 4.5-beta6 to 4.5-beta7
-----------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- If 'config/style.css' is not present, then don't tell browser to load it.
- Fixed kernel crash when number of drives > 17, now correctly supports up to 20 drives ('Pro' issue only).

Other changes:
- Prevent disks appearing 'unformatted' as a result of incomplete Stop Array operation.
- Add driver for Adaptec 2410SA PCI RAID card (untested).
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.30.8
- Upgrade samba to 3.3.7
- Upgrade fuse to 2.8.1


Changes from 4.5-beta5 to 4.5-beta6
-----------------------------------

Bug fixes:
- Fix ntp startup problem.
- Fix bogus temperature values being displayed when disks are spun down (bug introduced in -beta5).

Other changes:
- Permit spaces in Active Directory account login username.  Any valid AD character should now be possible EXCEPT for the percent '%' symbol.  This is because the '%' symbol is used by linux 'net' command as a separator between username and password, as in:
net ads join -U username%password


Changes from 4.5-beta4 to 4.5-beta5
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Added new share allocation method called "Fill-up".
- Added "Min free space" setting for each share.
- Special handling of split level explictly set to "0".
- The 'mover' will now delete empty directories on the cache disk.
- After looking in the 'config' directory on the Flash for the license key file (for backward compatibility), if not found, unRAID Server OS will look in the root of the Flash.  This allows easier backup/restore of the 'config' directory contents.

Bug fixes:
- Fix wrong 'memtest' in zip file - oops.
- Fix powerdown script.
- Fixed problem where drives would sometimes spin down immediately following spin up.

Other changes:
- Don't store AD adminstrator password, and don't display personal information in the system log.
- Can now use any printable characters in password strings.
- When disabling NCQ don't try to set queue_depth to 1 if it's already set to 0.
- Upgrade ntp from version to 4.2.4p0 to 4.2.4p6.  Also save/restore ntp drift file to/from Flash.
- Upgrade linux kernel to 2.6.29.1
- Support Marvell SAS driver.


Changes from 4.5-beta3 to 4.5-beta4
-----------------------------------

New features:
- Increased maximum number of array devices from 16 to 20 (Pro only).
- Pressing Power button gracefully shuts down the server.
- Disable NCQ on all disk devices that support NCQ.  This typically results in much better write throughput.  A setting called "Force NCQ disabled [yes/no]" is also available in the Disk section of the Settings page of the System Management Utility to override this new behavior.  That is, if this setting is 'yes', then we force NCQ off; if setting is 'no', we leave NCQ queue_depth as-is, ie, whatever linux driver sets it to.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed syslog rotation problem - syslog was rotated, but then syslogd was not restarted.

Other changes:
- Support SAS (Serially-Attached SCSI).
- Support Initio 162x SATA chipset.
- Support the motherboard speaker (beeping).
- Added 'lm_sensors' package.
- Upgrade Samba to version 3.3.3.
- Upgrade memtest to version 2.11 in release zip file.


Changes from 4.5-beta2 to 4.5-beta3
-----------------------------------

Known issues:
- The 'reiserfs' file system is built with kernel-option to enable extended attribute support.  This is necessary for Active Directory.  Even if file system is not mounted with extended attributes, reiserfs still seems to create a hidden file called '.reiserfs_priv' in the volume root. This file is harmless and does not appear in any share.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed problem where all Flash files appeared to have Hidden/System/Archive all set.
- Fixed upgrade problem where 'simple security' was not being initialized properly.
- After formatting a new disk, the 'File system type' was not being updated.
- If cache disk present, should allow 'use cache disk' option in creating new share.
- Fixed problem with mover not moving.

Other changes:
- Changed name of samba include file introduced in -beta2 from 'boot/config/smb.extra' to 'boot/config/smb-extra.conf'.
- Upgrade Samba to (patched) version 3.3.2.  The patch is a bug fix that prevented windows client from removing Read-only attribute (previous versions of samba 3.3.x fail with 'Access denied').
- If security model is not Active Directory don't mount the data disks with acl & extended attributes enabled.
- Prevent recording (ie, writing) 'last access time' when directories and files are read on the Flash.
- Added 'lsof' command.
- Include 'Hardware Monitoring' in the linux kernel build along with this device support:
  AMD Athlon64/FX or Opteron temperature sensor
  Intel Core (2) Duo/Solo temperature sensor
  ITE IT87xx and compatibles
  Winbond W83627HF, W83627THF, W83637HF, W83687THF, W83697HF
  Winbond W83627EHF/DHG


Changes from 4.4.2 to 4.5-beta2
-------------------------------

New features:
- Support Active Directory Service (ADS).  This lets an unRAID server join an Active Directory (AD) domain.
- System Management Utility will now use a CSS style sheet file on the Flash (config/style.css) if present.
- May now read syslog directly via browser by referencing 'http://tower/log/syslog' (substitute 'tower' with your server name).  Actually any 'file' in the /var/log directory can be read via 'http://tower/log/file'.
- May now read arbitrary files on disk and user shares via http protocol by referencing URL 'http://tower/share/<diskN>/...' or 'http://tower/share/user/<sharename>/...' (substitute 'tower' with your server name).
- Samba configuration now 'includes' the file on the Flash 'config/smb.extra' if present.  This is included at the end of the 'global' section just before the share definitions.  This may be used to customize the Samba configuration.
- Added control to enable/disable 'mover' logging.

Bug fixes:
- With user mode security enabled, would not accept 'root' share login until password was set at least once.
- Fixed problem in 'mover' script where mover would attempt to move objects in a top-level directory staring with a '.' character.  These would all fail and cause excessive syslog messages.
- Fixed bug in 'logrotate' which would prevent syslog from rotating.

Other changes:
- Part of adding AD support: Removed "User security [enabled/disabled]" control from Shares page, and added "Share security [simple/User Level/Active Directory]" control to Settings page:
  unRAID 'Basic' (free version) supports only 'Simple' share security model;
  unRAID 'Plus' supports 'Simple' and 'User Level' share security models only;
  unRAID 'Pro' supports all share security models ('Simple', 'User Level', and 'Active Directory').
- Removed System Management Utility control for setting SMB ports; this can be done via 'config/smb.extra' if desired.
- Change spin-down logic to account for external programs spinning drives up/down.
- Per user request, added '/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.9'
- Upgraded to linux kernel 2.6.28.4.
- Upgraded to samba 3.3.0.


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/joomla/unraid-os

Thanks...

If we're upgrading from pre-4.5b13, should we also be copying the updated memtest to the usb stick?

If we're upgrading from pre-4.5b13, should we also be copying the updated memtest to the usb stick?

 

Sure.

EDIT :-)

Bug fixes:

- If no array disks, still export at least the 'flash' share.

 

Spotted this yesterday whilst "testing" another system (couldnt backup my super.dat as flash wasn't available). Gave me chance to rebuild my array though...

 

;-)

4.5 Final Torrent

 

http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=b1a968ee3226f902cb1f8d4b2b4fd5e43aa7e26f

 

Cheers,

Matt

Will there be a 4.5 sub forum shortly?

Is this something to be worried about?

Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk0: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk1: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk2: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5

Is this something to be worried about?

Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk0: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk1: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk2: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5

 

errno -5 means "I/O error".  Are your drives spinning down?

On the main page what does the sync filesystems first checkbox actually do?

On the main page what does the sync filesystems first checkbox actually do?

It would flush anything in the disk buffer cache memory that is not yet written to the disks first, then spin them down.

 

Exactly the same as typing

sync

at the linux command line.

 

 

Is this something to be worried about?

Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk0: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk1: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk2: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5

 

errno -5 means "I/O error".  Are your drives spinning down?

On this machine the "Default spin down delay" is set to "Never".  Should they be spinning down?

 

I haven't seen this message before 4.5-final.

Reverted to 4.5-beta11, and confirmed that there is no such message there.

 

 

Purko, do you see those messages in 4.5beta12 or 4.5beta13 ?

Purko, do you see those messages in 4.5beta12 or 4.5beta13 ?

I never tried 4.5beta12 or 4.5beta13 because they didn't bring anything that I need.

4.5beta12 is not available for download anymore. I suppose I could try 4.5beta13 if I have to.

Anyway, 4.5beta11 and below don't show this message.

 

It's not a big deal, really: 4.5beta11 meets all my requirements 100%.

There's nothing more I could possibly want from this server.

 

 

Thanks 

 

I'm really looking forward to trying 5.0beta, I have (at least) 1 spare unraid with non-critical data on it and some spare time over the holidays so I'm hoping you'll get that beta available soon.

 

Mark.

 

 

On the main page what does the sync filesystems first checkbox actually do?

It would flush anything in the disk buffer cache memory that is not yet written to the disks first, then spin them down.

 

Exactly the same as typing

sync

at the linux command line.

 

That's correct.  The reason this was added was that somewhere along the way, the kernel handling of syncing file systems changed, or rather, it's handling of file system super blocks changed.  Any time you issue a 'sync' operation (that is, sync the file system - not to be confused with unraid 'sync' which generates parity), the superblocks of mounted file systems get flushed to disk, and then they are left marked 'dirty' (or else something happens immediately to mark them dirty again), so another sync would cause another write, in fact any sync now causes at least 1 write to any disk with a mounted file system on it.

 

The effect is this: before I added that checkbox, if you clicked 'Spindown all' and some some drives were already spun-down, well those drives would spin back up, then immediate spin back down(!)  This was very baffling until I realized what was happening.  The spindown-all code would first issue a 'sync' command (to make sure all data was flushed to disk), then do the actual spin-down.  That 'sync' command was causing already spun-down disks to spin back up & then the spin-down code was spinning them back down...

 

So, if the checkbox is not checked, unraid will not 'sync' before spinning down.  Actually there's a little bug - the checkbox should be checked by default - but this is not a big issue.

Is this something to be worried about?

Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk0: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk1: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5
Dec  9 11:46:07 Tower kernel: md: disk2: ATA_OP_SETIDLE1 ioctl error: -5

 

errno -5 means "I/O error".  Are your drives spinning down?

On this machine the "Default spin down delay" is set to "Never".  Should they be spinning down?

 

I haven't seen this message before 4.5-final.

Reverted to 4.5-beta11, and confirmed that there is no such message there.

 

 

 

Those are commands to spin up your drives - a 'spinup' is issued when system initially starts and when array is Stopped (even if they are already spun up).  Are those old drives?

It's not a big deal, really: 4.5beta11 meets all my requirements 100%.

There's nothing more I could possibly want from this server.

 

And, 640K ought to be enough for anybody. 

Hmmm, I have a script named spin_drives.sh and now with final 4.5 my disc spunn down even when my TviX is online ?? what have been changed ?

 

This script should not let unRAID spunn down my disc when TviX is on.

 

EDIT

 

i also have this script running ->  s3_notHrHdTcpIp.sh EDIT: this script works, have set to sleep 5minutes after all disc is spunn down, but this script also check for a MP and if the MP is online the script don't let unRAID sleep ,and after 15 minutes after spunn down my server still is online :-)

 

so something needs to be updated regarding  spin_drives.sh to avoid spinn down disc while a MP is online

 

And Enable spinup groups: YES

 

//Peter

Hmmm, I have a script named spin_drives.sh and now with final 4.5 my disc spunn down even when my TviX is online ?? what have been changed ?

 

This script should not let unRAID spunn down my disc when TviX is on.

 

EDIT

 

i also have this script running ->  s3_notHrHdTcpIp.sh EDIT: this script works, have set to sleep 5minutes after all disc is spunn down, but this script also check for a MP and if the MP is online the script don't let unRAID sleep ,and after 15 minutes after spunn down my server still is online :-)

 

so something needs to be updated regarding  spin_drives.sh to avoid spinn down disc while a MP is online

 

And Enable spinup groups: YES

 

//Peter

Since this is your own script, this question belongs in the customizations forum...  You script needs to change, as it now needs to use the spinup commands Tom has provided.

 

Joe L.

Since this is your own script, this question belongs in the customizations forum...  You script needs to change, as it now needs to use the spinup commands Tom has provided.

 

Joe L.

Thanks Joe, but the scripts is actually yours  is it any upgrade lately ?

Since this is your own script, this question belongs in the customizations forum...  You script needs to change, as it now needs to use the spinup commands Tom has provided.

 

Joe L.

Thanks Joe, but the scripts is actually yours  is it any upgrade lately ?

I do have a replacement I've been playing with.  It is only two days old.  So far I like it.

 

I'll start a new thread with it.  It does not look for media players, but does look for open files and directory access under /mnt/user

OK looks good, need to give it a try when is up. but if MP is online and not access the server, will it spinn down anyway ? bu we can take that discussion in your new thread 

It's not a big deal, really: 4.5beta11 meets all my requirements 100%.

There's nothing more I could possibly want from this server.

 

And, 640K ought to be enough for anybody. 

 

Yep!  People just don't know how good they have it!