Lime Tech unRAID Server OS 6.6.3
Languages:English| 
Wheremanycompetitorshavefocusedoncreatinganapplianceoffering,unRAIDhastakenahardware-agnosticapproachtonetwork-attachedstorage.ThebenefitisunRAID’sabilitytobootonnearlyanyx8664-bitcapablesystemandmanageanarrayofdisksthatvaryinsize,speed,brand,andprotocol.Inaddition,byeliminatingtheuseoftraditionalRAID-basedtechnologies,wecanscaleon-demandbyaddingmoredisksandwithoutneedingtorebalancedata.

unRAID’sstoragecapabilitiesarebrokendownintothreecomponents:thearray,thecache,andtheusersharefilesystem.

unRAIDArray
TheprimaryconceptbehindanunRAIDarrayisitsabilitytomanageanaggregateofdiskdevices(JBOD)thatisprotectedbyadedicatedparitydevice.Aparitydeviceprovidesawayforyoutoreconstructdatafromafaileddiskontoanewone.Whileitseemsmindbogglingthatonedrivecanpossiblybackupotherdrivesthathavewaymorestoragecapacitythantheparity,itisabletoreconstructthemissingdatafromafaileddriveusingbinarylogiccalledXOR(eXclusive-OR).Sinceharddrivesstoredataaszeroesandones,whenadrivefailstheparitycomparesthebinarydataonallthesurvivingdrivesandcandeducethemissingdatatorebuild.

unRAIDCache
ThecachedrivefeatureofunRAIDprovidesfasterdatacapture.Generallyspeaking,byusingacachealongsideanarrayof3ormoredevices,youcanachieveupto3xwriteperformance.Whendataiswrittentoausersharethathasbeenconfiguredtousethecachedevice,allofthatdataisinitiallywrittendirectlytothededicatedcachedevice.Becausethisdeviceisnotapartofthearray,thewritespeedisunimpededbyparitycalculations.SubsequentlyanunRAIDprocesscalled“themover”copiesthedatafromthecachetothearrayattimeandfrequencyofyourchoosing.Oncethedatahasbeensuccessfullycopied,thespaceonthecachedriveisonceagainfreeduptofront-endotherwriteoperationstocache-enabledusershares.

CachePool
Withasinglecachedevice,datacapturedthereisatrisk,asaparitydevicedoesn’tprotectit.However,youcanconfigureacachewithmultipledevicesbothtoincreaseyourcachecapacityaswellastoaddprotectionforthatdata.Thegroupingofmultipledevicesinacacheisreferredtoasbuildingacachepool.TheunRAIDcachepooliscreatedthroughauniquetwistontraditionalRAID1.Herearejustsomeofthebenefits:

ImprovedDataProtection
Withasinglecachedevice,there’sapossibilitythatyoucanloseyourdataifthedevicefailsbeforethedatagetsmovedtothearray.Withacachepool,however,allwriteoperationsarereplicatedacrosstwoseparatediskstoensurethatthelossofanyonedriveinthepooldoesnotresultindataloss.

IncreasedSystemUptime
Ifacachepooldevicefails,thesystemwillcontinuetooperateasnormal.Noneedtodropeverythingtodealwithasystemoutage.Youcansimplychangethedevicewhenconvenient.

BetterScalability
Addmoredevicesofdifferentsizestoyourpoolasyouneedtoandgrowon-demand.

OptimizedforSSDs
unRAIDnowhasnativesupportforTRIM,whichcansubstantiallyreducethenumberofwriteoperationswhenusedasacachedevice.BenefitsofSSDsvs.HDDs:

-Theydon’trequiretimeto‘spinup’orconsumealotofpowertooperate(theyarefastandefficient);
-Theyarealsosmaller,soyoucanfitmoreofthemintoasmallerspaceforhighlycompact,crazyfaststorage.
-Whenusedforstoringlargequantitiesofsmallerfiles(e.g.,metadata),SSDscanprovideafasterresponsetimeforthesefilestotheapplicationcomparedtospinningharddisks;and
-SSDsaremostidealforsupportingvirtualmachines.VMperformancebenefitsonanSSDarecomparabletowhatauserwouldexperiencewiththemonadesktopPCvs.aspinningdisk.

OptimizedforVirtualization
Virtualmachinesandapplicationscanhavetheirdataresideonthecachepoolpermanentlyforoverallimprovedperformance,whilekeepingmass-storagecontentonthearraystillaccessibletothosevirtualinstancesusingVirtFS(forKVMVirtualMachines)andDocker(forContainers).Giventhedesirefor“fast-as-you”responsivenessinapplicationandmachineperformance,usingthecachepoolforvirtualmachine/applicationstorageisano-brainer.UseofSSDsinacachepoolextendsthisbenefitevenfurther.

unRAIDShares
UnlikemostRAIDsystems,unRAIDsavesdatatoindividualdrives.Tosimplifymanageability,userscancreatesharesthatallowfileswrittentothemtobespreadacrossmultipledrives.Eachsharecanbethoughtofasatop-levelfolderonadrive.Whenbrowsingthroughashare,alldatafromalldrivesthatparticipateinthatsharewillbedisplayedtogether.Usersdonotneedtoknowwhichdiskafileisoninordertoaccessitunderashare.Sharescanbetunedtoinclude/excludespecificdisksandtoutilizevariousmethodsfordetermininghowfilesareallocatedacrossthosedisks.

Inadditiontocontrollinghowdataisdistributedacrossdrives,userscanalsocontrolwhatnetworkprotocolstheshareisvisiblethroughaswellasdefineuser-levelsecuritypolicy.WhenaccessingyourunRAIDserveroveranetworkprotocol,allsharesexportedthroughthatprotocolwillbevisible,butyoucantoggleprotocolsforbothindividualsharesaswellasataglobalsettinglevel.Shouldyouhaveprivatedataonyoursystemthatyouwishtoprotectfromanonymousaccess,useraccountscanbecreatedandpoliciesdefinedtolimitaccesstoonlytrustedindividuals.Inadditiontothisconceptofusershares,entireindividualdiskscanbesharedindividuallyaswellforadvancedmanagementcapabilities.Thesimpleconceptwithsharesisthattheyenableyoutoorganizeyourdataanywayyouwant.
ReleaseNotes:

HardwareRequirements:
ContainsdetailedinformationaboutthehardwarerequirementsforeachofthethreeprimaryfunctionsofunRAIDServerOS6.

USBFlashDevice
unRAIDServerrunsentirelyfromRAM,minimizingwritestotheFlashdevice;however,itisalsousedtostorevitalsystemconfigurationdataandmustremaininstalledinyourserverduringoperation.Inaddition,toobtainaregistrationkeyforunRAIDServerOS,yourflashdevicemustcontainauniqueGUID(GloballyUniqueIdentifier)andneedstobeatleast1GBinsize,butnolargerthan32GB.Afewofthebrandsthatareknownforthisinclude:

-LexarFireflyorJumpDrive
-SanDiskCruzerFit
-SonyMicroVaultTiny

ThereareanumberofUSBFlashdevicesthatdonothaveavalidserialnumberandcannotberegistered:
-LacieMosKeyto
-DelockUSB2.0NanoMemorystick
-MaxellONYX
-Theremaybeothers.

StoreandProtectData
InordertoinstallandbegintakingadvantageofthebasicNAScapabilitiesunRAIDServerOS6hastooffer,youwillneedtomeetthefollowingminimumhardwarerequirements:

-A64-bitcapableprocessor(1.0GHzorbetter)
-Atleast1GBofRAM
-Linuxhardwaredriversupport(forstorage,Ethernet,andUSBcontrollers)
-Atleastoneharddiskdrive(twoifyouwishtoprotectyourdatawithaparitydisk)

Homepage
https://lime-technology.com