Examining unRAID Storage
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
I'd not use it in an enterprise production environment but I use it at home, have done so for the last 2 or so years. Works just fine for my use, plus I get to use the hardware it's on for other things such as some docker containers and one or two VMs.
Before that I ran FreeNAS, and was not as happy with it, kept having kernel issues and could not get it to update.
Why not just use KVM? What does unRAID bring to the table?
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@scottalanmiller said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
I'd not use it in an enterprise production environment but I use it at home, have done so for the last 2 or so years. Works just fine for my use, plus I get to use the hardware it's on for other things such as some docker containers and one or two VMs.
Before that I ran FreeNAS, and was not as happy with it, kept having kernel issues and could not get it to update.
Why not just use KVM? What does unRAID bring to the table?
A very large library of pre-made docker containers, plugins and customizations that allow you to do all manner of things and a very active dedicated community. Great for a home network since most of them can be deployed in a few clicks.
As an example, I had a pre-made Emby server up and running in about 30 seconds with a pre built docker container.
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@scottalanmiller said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
I'd not use it in an enterprise production environment but I use it at home, have done so for the last 2 or so years. Works just fine for my use, plus I get to use the hardware it's on for other things such as some docker containers and one or two VMs.
Before that I ran FreeNAS, and was not as happy with it, kept having kernel issues and could not get it to update.
Why not just use KVM? What does unRAID bring to the table?
A very large library of pre-made docker containers, plugins and customizations that allow you to do all manner of things and a very active dedicated community. Great for a home network since most of them can be deployed in a few clicks.
As an example, I had a pre-made Emby server up and running in about 30 seconds with a pre built docker container.
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
That's why you have a standard linux vm template that you can deploy in a few seconds.
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@scottalanmiller said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
I'd not use it in an enterprise production environment but I use it at home, have done so for the last 2 or so years. Works just fine for my use, plus I get to use the hardware it's on for other things such as some docker containers and one or two VMs.
Before that I ran FreeNAS, and was not as happy with it, kept having kernel issues and could not get it to update.
Why not just use KVM? What does unRAID bring to the table?
A very large library of pre-made docker containers, plugins and customizations that allow you to do all manner of things and a very active dedicated community. Great for a home network since most of them can be deployed in a few clicks.
As an example, I had a pre-made Emby server up and running in about 30 seconds with a pre built docker container.
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
But isn’t a Linux install faster? How does unRAID make it easier? Docker installs are trivial.
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@travisdh1 said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@scottalanmiller said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
I'd not use it in an enterprise production environment but I use it at home, have done so for the last 2 or so years. Works just fine for my use, plus I get to use the hardware it's on for other things such as some docker containers and one or two VMs.
Before that I ran FreeNAS, and was not as happy with it, kept having kernel issues and could not get it to update.
Why not just use KVM? What does unRAID bring to the table?
A very large library of pre-made docker containers, plugins and customizations that allow you to do all manner of things and a very active dedicated community. Great for a home network since most of them can be deployed in a few clicks.
As an example, I had a pre-made Emby server up and running in about 30 seconds with a pre built docker container.
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
That's why you have a standard linux vm template that you can deploy in a few seconds.
Right. I feel like I could have a Linux server up and running before I could complete the purchase transaction of something.
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
It HAS to be faster to deploy Linux than unRAID. I mean, it literally seems like an impossible thing to say. And Docket is this...
dnf install dockerThat's all that there is. Docker is super fast and easy to install.
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unRAID is a turnkey solution, with hundreds, if not thousands, of pre-build add-ons, plugins and docker containers. This lowers the barrier to entry significantly for most people and for me it means deploying services on my home network with minimal need for research or parsing how-tos.
Would a vanilla Linux install with KVM and Docker to what unRAID does, yes it would. Would that be a "better" way to go? Well that entirely depends on how you define better. In my case, no it would not as I do not have the time or inclination to spend the time to tune that just right for my needs, instead I want to click on the library of add-ons/pre-built docker containers, find the one that I need and click install and start using it.
Do I care that I am not getting the performance of a true RAID 5 or 10? No, I do not. Do I care that the redundancy of the server is not as good as a RAID 10? Once again, no, not really. The unRAID setup can suffer a single drive failure and still allow me to rebuild, and I am ok with that. It can suffer more than one drive failing, with some data loss as opposed to a RAID 10 where multiple drive failures = all data gone, and I am ok with that too.
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@strongbad said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
It HAS to be faster to deploy Linux than unRAID. I mean, it literally seems like an impossible thing to say. And Docket is this...
dnf install dockerThat's all that there is. Docker is super fast and easy to install.
Yeah, that's just docker installed. You then need to create the container with the solution in it that you want to use, and this would be far more time consuming that just a single command. In unRAID I locate the pre-built docker container with the app in it that I want to use and click install. 30 seconds later it is installed and ready to go.
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@strongbad said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
It HAS to be faster to deploy Linux than unRAID. I mean, it literally seems like an impossible thing to say. And Docket is this...
dnf install dockerThat's all that there is. Docker is super fast and easy to install.
Yeah, that's just docker installed. You then need to create the container with the solution in it that you want to use, and this would be far more time consuming that just a single command. In unRAID I locate the pre-built docker container with the app in it that I want to use and click install. 30 seconds later it is installed and ready to go.
That's how Docker works universally.
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@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@strongbad said in Examining unRAID Storage:
@jrc said in Examining unRAID Storage:
Yes, I could do this with a stand alone linux install, but ain't no one got time for that.
It HAS to be faster to deploy Linux than unRAID. I mean, it literally seems like an impossible thing to say. And Docket is this...
dnf install dockerThat's all that there is. Docker is super fast and easy to install.
Yeah, that's just docker installed. You then need to create the container with the solution in it that you want to use, and this would be far more time consuming that just a single command. In unRAID I locate the pre-built docker container with the app in it that I want to use and click install. 30 seconds later it is installed and ready to go.
Yeah, unRAID isn't doing anything special to help you out with that. That's just how docker works.
docker run onlyoffice/documentserveris all it takes from a command line even. -
This is all part of why I dislike unRAID. Not only do they offer literally nothing that I can tell of value, but they act like a bunch of normal features are special. They pretend that they are doing something special with KVM and Docker and RAID 4 - all things that you already have in equal or superior form, for free, with an enterprise Linux distro. Install Fedora for free, and you have a simpler, safer, more powerful alternative to unRAID that is only upsides, I think. More power, less effort, less cost, easier to support, easier to get support.
