About the FlexRAID pages in the Howto...

[fpp]

Ian,

Thanks to your work here I have finally achieved a functional system with the main pieces working (VNC/Samba/FlexRAID).

There are still a lot of minor niggles left (like spindown) which I will address in separate posts.

This one is about the two pages "How to install and configure FlexRAID on Ubuntu Server" and "Run the FlexRAID Client & WebUI on startup" :
they are a bit outdated because they were written for FlexRAID 1.4, which could maybe trip inexperienced readers following them today.

Someone getting started now would likely use the "2.0 public preview" (build 12r2 at this time).
It seems the new version does not need a separate WebUI download and installation, it has its own "web" folder.
I don't know if 2.0 FlexRAID is compatible with the 1.4 WebUI, but it certainly runs fine without.

Also, the Web UI is now started automatically with FlexRAID, so the relevant lines in the startup script throw errors.

Oh, and given the sorry state of the OpenEgg site, I'm not sure the "nice video" you mention is there any more :-)

[Ian]

Yeah, thanks for the reminder sir, I do need to overhaul that section don't I. A job for later on in the week.

I'm using version 2.x myself so if you're stuck maybe I can help here rather than you waiting for the how-to on the website to be refreshed.

Ian.

[fpp]

Thanks, but FlexRAID 2 seems to be OK here.

Actually most of that page is still valid, if you update the archive name and ignore the WebUI part everything works just fine...

And yes, I guessed you already knew :-)

[fpp]

I forgot to mention another thing that may trip the unwary...

The way the guide is set up, users first test FlexRAID by launching it manually, probably logged in as a regular user.
If they carry on to configure their host in the web UI, the corresponding database (FlexRAID-Config.db) will be stored in that user's home directory.

After that, when they move on to the next page, implement the init script and reboot, they will be surprised to find an empty web UI without the host they previously created... Some may not think of moving the db to /root and start over from scratch.

[Ian]

For those that are interested I've now updated the how-to for FlexRAID version 2.x. Thanks fpp for the warning about the config database.

Ian.

[fpp]

Great job ! Not only up to date, but simpler and more user-friendly...

Have I mentioned that I'd been I'd been wanting to build myself a FlexRAID server for maybe a year, year and a half, but kept being put off by the sketchy (and Windows-biased) information on Openegg ?...

Your site was the boost I needed, and the main reason my server is up & running now :-)

[mike]

Hi Ian

Thanks for updating your site! I was one of those waiting to see if there would be an update re Flexraid.

Anyway, I have tried to install flexraid as per your updated instructions. Each of the commands/steps appears to have been successful right up until I try and test the installation - the output I get is as below:


mike@Server:~$ cd /var/lib/flexraid
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ ./FlexRAID &
[1] 10323
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
java.io.FileNotFoundException: log.log
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
[2011-09-04 15:07:14,184] ERROR: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
java.io.FileNotFoundException: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)

Any ideas?

regards
Mike

[Ian]

Great job ! Not only up to date, but simpler and more user-friendly...

Have I mentioned that I'd been I'd been wanting to build myself a FlexRAID server for maybe a year, year and a half, but kept being put off by the sketchy (and Windows-biased) information on Openegg ?...

Your site was the boost I needed, and the main reason my server is up & running now :-)

That's satisfying to read fpp, I do feel chuffed when I read about someone feeling confident enough to take the plunge after finding my site! Thanks for sharing.

Ian.

[Ian]

Hi Ian

Thanks for updating your site! I was one of those waiting to see if there would be an update re Flexraid.

Anyway, I have tried to install flexraid as per your updated instructions. Each of the commands/steps appears to have been successful right up until I try and test the installation - the output I get is as below:


mike@Server:~$ cd /var/lib/flexraid
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ ./FlexRAID &
[1] 10323
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
java.io.FileNotFoundException: log.log
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
[2011-09-04 15:07:14,184] ERROR: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
java.io.FileNotFoundException: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)

Any ideas?

regards
Mike

Oh dear Mike, that doesn't look too good does it? What version of Ubuntu are you running? Is it the 32 bit or the 64 bit version? What release of FlexRAID did you install? I've noticed that there is now yet another new version of FlexRAID (despite me updating my guide a couple of days ago ). I'll update my guide and try the new version out. Maybe that's where the problem lies. I'll get back to you.

Ian.

[Ian]

Hi Ian

Thanks for updating your site! I was one of those waiting to see if there would be an update re Flexraid.

Anyway, I have tried to install flexraid as per your updated instructions. Each of the commands/steps appears to have been successful right up until I try and test the installation - the output I get is as below:


mike@Server:~$ cd /var/lib/flexraid
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ ./FlexRAID &
[1] 10323
mike@Server:/var/lib/flexraid$ log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
java.io.FileNotFoundException: log.log
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
[2011-09-04 15:07:14,184] ERROR: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
java.io.FileNotFoundException: /var/lib/flexraid/Locale.js
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Void.<unknown>(Unknown Source)

Any ideas?

regards
Mike

Seems the new version works slightly differently if you've not got a pre-existing install of FlexRAID on your machine already so I've updated my guide to reflect this.

Issue the following three commands and let me know how you get on:

Code: Select all

cd /var/lib/flexraid

Code: Select all

sudo su

Code: Select all

./FlexRAID &

Apologies

Ian.