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denmalley

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Posts posted by denmalley

  1. Hey all, I've been running xpenology for about 7 years now, at the time I had acquired a Dell t30 at a great bargain of around $300 USD and this hardware has been serving me well throughout this time.  Back then, the search that lead me to xpenology was in the vein of "what software can I use with my hardware."  Now I'd like to reverse the search and find hardware that best fits the software. 

     

    What would this community recommend for me to find a baremetal option:

     

    In the $300-$500 USD range. 

    No OS or HDDs needed.

    Willing to upgrade memory, but looking to land at 32GB, ECC compatibility preferred.

    Room for up to 8 HDDs preferred, but can live with 4, if there's room to squeeze in a SSD as a 5th drive. 

    Not too noisy

     

    Even just a few second-hand model recommendations, or links to vendors/ebay sellers to keep an eye on would be most helpful.  I'm also willing to build from mobo/cpu combos.

  2. I built two different loaders for baremetal machines using ARC and went through the standard process (i.e., I did not choose any but the suggested options). I ended up with two machines that have the same serial number.  I didn't notice until I used Synology Assistant and saw them side by side.  Is this normal and/or ok?  I've seen this question asked back in 6.x days but just wanted to verify I won't have any issues in 7.x

  3. As the topic states, my unit (baremetal running arpl loader, DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 2) never responds to a reboot/shutdown request.  Waited an hour, no audible disk activity, I'm just back in the interface after refreshing the screen that says "your diskstation will shut down shortly."  Any tips on how to overcome this issue?

  4. I've been using xpenology for about 6 years now, started out on a Dell T30 baremetal using jun's loader (let's call it server 1).  With the build starting to age, and disks reaching capacity, I thought it would be a good time to get a fresh set of disks.  This old build has 2 RAID1 pairs of 8TB HDDs. 

     

    Around December of last year I started to consider upgrade options.  Since I had a running server, I felt the best path was to create a new build on different hardware so I'd be able to just fall back to server 1 if things went wrong.  I also saw that there were now methods becoming prevalent for loading the newer 7.x software.  Since I had acquired 2 14TB and 2 8TB disks I though I'd try out SHR to take advantage of the extra capacity that it affords.  I dug out an old PC and used ARPL to create a new loader and used migration assistant to attain all the data from server 1.   So now server 2 is running DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 2.   Server 1 has been shut down for a while.

     

    Server 2 is running fine, but has 8GB of RAM where Server 1 has 16TB ECC RAM.  I'd now like to move my disks back to the Server 1 but I'm unsure of the best way to go about it.  I've read up on the importance of disk order with RAID builds and migration, so I think I have the correct order of disks documented and can handle that part fine.  I'd like to be able to create a build with the latest version of DSM available on the new loader for server1.  I was hoping to just reinitialize the 8TB disks in that machine with a new raid config (probably SHR as well) so I can migrate them to server 2 to use as a backup.  My question is, once I set up Server 1 with a new loader, what will happen when I insert the disks from server 2 into this machine?  What will happen when I insert disks from a machine running an older version of DSM?  Should I rebuild the loader and upgrade server 2 to the newest DSM version before migrating the disks?

  5. 10 minutes ago, Orphée said:

    Mine works perfectly fine withit.

    Did you get the prompt to update your app automatically or did you have to download the updated spk from Synology?  That's more what my question is about - is it ok to pull the spk from synology servers?   I know it is always frowned upon the utilize synology resources but I guess that's more like using some of those types of services that are ongoing connections like quickconnect or whatnot.

  6. According to this article AI object recognition is finally available in the latest version of Photos.  However, it is currently in phased rollout.  The article includes a link where you can download the spk and do a manual install.  Just wanted to make sure this is a safe option for xpenoligy builds.  I would assume so but figured I would check here.  I do have a build that corresponds to models that support the feature.

  7. I have old tower PC running baremetal DSM 7.x with an SHR storage pool and two volumes.

     

    I constantly hear the drives grinding away from where it sits across the room from me, but cannot figure out what is causing this activity.  I've tried shutting down every docker container as well as any running package that I am able to stop, still the spinning continues.  The noise is a little annoying but not unbearable, but I am mainly concerned with premature drive failure if these drives are constantly reading/writing 24/7.  How to I figure out what the culprit is?  Task manager doesn't seem to show a level of activity comparable to the constant grind I am hearing.

  8. I just finished a migration from my Dell T30 server (xeon, standard specs, 16GB ECC RAM, running baremetal DSM 6-something on jun 1.03b,) to an old desktop PC I had from back before NAS days (baremetal, converted to xpen using ARPL, latest possible DSM7-whatever).  I actually built this thing like a tank since at the time it was my data hub as well as my center of operations.  Nice big Antec case with plenty of room for drives (4 side facing bays with drive rails plus two more front facing), six SATA ports on the MB (ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen 3), Core i3 3.3GHz, 680W PSU.   

     

    My original intent was to build my new SHR with all new disks on this old PC temporarily and then build a new loader for the T30, adding two more ports for SSD cache or extra storage via an LSI 9211-8i PCIe card if I can get it to work without much hassle.  Then move the drives over to the T30.   However this old PC is actually running DSM pretty darn well.  The only downside is that it only has 8GB of RAM.  I have two empty slots and see I can buy two more sticks relatively cheap.  Just wondering if I should go for it and if the loader will need to be rebuilt to do so? 

     

    As a side question, any opinions on using that much RAM on that board?  I am not really well-versed in all the ins and outs of RAM and "when is it too much/diminished returns?"  Will that Z68/i3 make good use of 16GB of memory? 

     

    I think if I just let this thing carry on as my prod NAS, I can keep the T30 waiting in the wings whenever something fails on the old PC hardware.  Maybe even keep it up as a test box.  For now I'm just going to sit tight and hang on to that working system in case something crumbles in the first few weeks on this "new old" build. 

  9. Ah yeah that makes sense.  I'll probably skip the source update then, I see a lot of successes in the updates reporting thread but one guy lost all his settings on the upgrade which is really the whole point for me to do the migration.  If the migration fails for whatever reason I still have the data (plus backups) and can do all my setups again if I have to.

     

    Actually this old PC has six sata ports so I could always bring over one raid volume at a time and move the shared folders.

  10. Synology Migration assistant has listed this "suggestion" in their requirements, and I am trying to understand what the implications are of not adhering to this:

     

    "We recommend updating the source device to DSM 6.0.3, 6.1.7, or 6.2.4, as well as updating all packages to the latest version."

     

    I am on 6.2.1 on the source device and from what I'm reading on this forum, going up to 6.2.4 doesn't look like a good option (mostly seeing failures in the updates reporting threads and most are jumping ship with the availability of the shiny new 7x and TCRP).  Not sure if I should move forward with the version I have (and what problems might be associated) or if I should try to go through the trouble of possibly downgrading to a lesser version to meet the subversion requirement/suggestion.  Anyone have any insight on why synology is making that recommendation?

     

    The TLDR of what I'm doing if you need context or have further insight/alternate methods:

     

    I have DSM running baremetal on a Dell T30 server that has been rock solid for several years.  Current version  DSM 6.2.1-23824 Update 6.    I am trying to upgrade my storage pool with all new disks and opted to make an SHR volume with 2 x 8TB and 2 x 14TB disks.  Since my current setup is running 4 x 8 TB disks in two RAID1 pairs, and no extra room for disks, I opted to pull out an old PC that was up to the task and managed to create a new baremetal DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 2 using ARPL.  I am building the SHR pool on that PC with the intent of running migration assistant to pull the data/settings from the T30 and then using ARPL to build a new loader on the t30 and swapping disks after the setup is done.  Once everything looks good there I'll probably reformat my old disks to a new SHR volume and use the old PC as a test/backup box.

     

     

  11. Hey there,

     

    I am currently running 4x 8TB in a Dell Poweredge T30, 16GB ecc ram, baremetal, DSM 6.2.1 , jun's loader, DS3617xs

     

    Want to go to DSM 7.? (whatever is current) plus upgrade HDs. 

     

    The western digital BF sales got me buying up enough drives to build a new 30TB SHR volume with 4 drives (2x14TB and 2x8TB) 

     

    Originally I was just going to change up what was in the server now (the current 4 drives are in two raid1 pairs), but the server is getting up there in age so I thought I might just build everything anew - especially since I need to upgrade to version 7 anyway, just makes sense to build a new server and do a migration00000 once complete. 

     

    I am not at all familiar with the world of servers, but I have seen some good deals on some hefty hardware on ebay.  Just looking for some advice on specs to choose, perhaps a model name recommendation?  I looked at the hardware FAQ and it looks pretty outdated, only mentioning what runs 6.x well.

     

    Asks:

    under $300 used

    no OS needed 

    at least 16GB ram

    at least 4 bays (hot swappable is a bonus but not necessary)

    SATA compatible

    relatively quiet (it will be in a music studio so typical workstation fan noise is about the tolerable level)

    Several (maybe 6+) usb ports to connect peripherals 

     

    my main usage is as a plex server plus a radarr/sonarr/lidarr machine and general home NAS

     

    I see a lot of ebay hits for the "real" poweredge servers like r710, 720 etc for pretty cheap.

  12. 20 hours ago, IG-88 said:

    the list of units supported is not static, so there is not ultimate answer (especially if there would be a dsm *.pat for a unit with kernel 5.x like

    maybe use syno own website, in the compare you can check anything above 8 (like 12 and above, https://www.synology.com/en-global/products?bays=12%2Cmore12) and see all units potentially needing syno's own drives, just check that against the list of the loader you intent to user, there is more then one loader, tcrp and arpl come to mind first but you might find other git's and sources to derived versions

     

    Yeah that makes sense that it would be hard make a blanket advisory about specific model to use.  Thanks for that link, that will help inform me better on what to use for my situation.

  13. I did watch the whole vid and noted the number of bays requirement.  Guess I was trying to shortcut the answer vs looking up every model in the list to see which ones have less than 9 bays (and further looking on the synology specs directly to see if the wording about drive usage is as expected).  Especially if others have already done the upgrade and have a recommended model in mind.    But I will try not to bother anyone with questions and just read read read

  14. Ok now I've disconnected the SSD drive and reconnected the original raid drives. 

    Rebooted the system, and it shows up in find.synology.com  

    it gives the option to migrate data...but

    Still asking for an update, but it allows you to provide a pat file rather than download the latest.

    Tried using the one provided in the tutorial, but the system will not allow it - "must be 23739 or later"

    so I got Jun's 1.03b loader so it can handle the 23739 update.

    went to the synology archive and navigated to the 23739 folder, got the ds3617 pat file

    rebooted the machine with jun 1.03b

    went to find.synology.com and continued the install process, choosing "migrate"

    -then on the next screen chose "manual update" and browsed to the 23739 pat file I downloaded

    -started the update, machine went through it's thing, and I'm BACK baby!

     

    FIRST thing I'm gonna do is figure out how to enable ssh access

    edit: looks like I had changed the port number, which was why I couldn't access on the standard port 22.  Gonna save a putty session profile now.

    • Like 1
  15. Ok, so here's where I'm at:

     

    - created a new loader usb stick. 

    - booted successfully

    - find.synology.com took me to a screen asking me to install the DSM software (everything had been running on my four raid drives so I had them unplugged and instead have a blank ssd plugged in.

    - software installed, then the reboot cycle started.  When it finished, it said it couldn't find the device.

    - gave the option to "detect manually" which redirected to find/.synology.com.

    - now it is sitting at this screen:  

    image.thumb.png.bdecab9322dd0c965a75a698181e1dd4.png

     

    Only the "newer DSM" it wants to install is a 6.2, which the tutorial on this forum specifically says will not work with this loader.  So I'm kind of stuck!  Any suggestions?

  16. 12 hours ago, bearcat said:

    Was your NAS using static or dynamic IP?

    If DHCP was in use, do you see the adress it gets from you router, and can you ping that adress?

    Have you checked your cable?

    The server is present in the router's device list.  Set to static. Pings fine.  (based on those facts I don't see it necessary to check the cable)

     

    9 hours ago, sbv3000 said:

    does the server have an idrac port? you can check boot status from there.

    also maybe try a new boot usb, disconnect your raid drives and boot with that and see if you get the server back. if yes then might point to a 'corrupt' dsm installation. you could then boot with the new usb and raid reeconnected and it should appear 'migratable' and you reinstall the dsm version.

    I don't think it has iDRAC, no mention in the online info for this server model.

     

    I guess I'll try to build a new boot usb.   Is there a better option for a more stable boot solution than a usb stick?   Sure don't wanna do this again in 6 months.

  17. Hi, I am running jun loader 1.02b, installed per tutorial.  Running on bare metal Dell T30 server as DS3617xs.

     

    It had been running fine for about 6 months or so.  I think I maybe updated the DSM once in that time, so I think I'm running 6.1.7-15284 if I recall correctly.  Didn't take the jump to 6.2xx and beyond.

     

    A few weeks ago, I got the "Sorry, the page you are looking for is not found." synology splash page when trying to access via web browser.  Doing a little googling presented a handful of solutions that involve putty, but I am getting "connection refused" when trying to go that route.  While the server was still running, it meant I still had access to all of my SMB shares, so I made a backup of all of my shared folders and tried rebooting the machine, first a soft press, waited a few hours, no response, so then I took the dreaded hard reset.  Now nothing is accessible at all.  Still getting the same splash screen on the web interface, no putty access, and now the added bonus of no access to any of the SMB shares, plex server, sonarr, etc.  I attached a monitor to the server to see if the jun splash page is still loading and it is.  I'm just kind of stuck on what to do next.

  18. On 11/28/2017 at 3:22 AM, Polanskiman said:

    Synology is tightening security. They figured what the generated SNs are and simply made them invalid. This is all thanks to those using QC with generated SNs. This is the price to pay for selfish members who simply couldn't care less for the community. Unfortunately for them they are now also going to be affected by this since SNs are now also being used to validate some functionalities within certain Synology packages, like in your case, DS Photo.

    Do you speculate that they'll continue to "root out" past generated S/Ns or would it just be a problem for those generating new S/Ns in the future?

  19. Fellow noob here.  I just got a Dell t30 that came with 8GB ECC and added another 8GB stick.  Put 4 - 3GB WD Reds in there and followed this guide:

     

    It took me a few read-throughs to really "get" it, but I am also totally linux illiterate and had this up and running within 1/2 hour.  BTW I used a sandisk cruzer mini flash drive (32GB for $12 on amazon) - better to use a known brand name for your flash drive than some scrappy junk drive you have laying around.  And this minis sit flush in the port.

     

    Currently running using jun's 1.02b loader as a synology DS3617XS, DSM version 6.1.3-15152 update 8.  Plex is awesome.  Sonarr is flawless running in docker.  Continuing to work on more addons but this is better than any synology product I could have gotten at twice the price (other than better purpose-built hardware options like hot swappable HD trays of course)

     

     

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