Tkohhh’s recommended Unraid setup

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NOTICE: please see the current recommendation here: Tkohhh’s recommended Unraid setup - #2 by tkohhh

Given some of the particulars of Unraid, there are some deviations from the official template that I recommend. You should use the following settings if you have an SSD cache disk/cache pool. Your appdata user share should be set to cache=prefer.

These settings use your SSD cache to store speed-sensitive files like the database and previews, while your larger photo files are saved on the array where you have more space.

Library Path
Container path: /ps/library
Host path: /mnt/user/appdata/photostructure/library

Temp Path (use the template default)
Container path: /ps/tmp
Host path: /mnt/user/appdata/photostructure/tmp

Config Path (use the template default)
Container path: /ps/config
Host path: /mnt/user/appdata/photostructure/config

Logs Path (use the template default)
Container path: /ps/logs
Host path: /mnt/user/appdata/photostructure/logs

Originals Directory
note: This is only necessary if you enable auto-organzation.

First, add a path with the following:
Container path: /orgphotos
Host path: Set the value to a location on your array where you would like your auto-organized files to be saved. Examples might be /mnt/user/Photos/organized or /mnt/user/william/photos.

Add a variable to your docker setup with the name PS_ORIGINALS_DIR, and set the value to /orgphotos

Source Location
Container path: /photos
Host path: [path to your photos on Unraid]

I hope this is helpful… let me know if you have any questions!

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As of 2.1.0-alpha, we now have Docker Easy Mode! This simplifies the setup quite a bit.

If you have a cache disk/cache pool, then your appdata user share should be set to cache prefer. If you do not have a cache disk/cache pool, no worries; this setup is still good for you!

Library Path
Container path: /ps/library
Host path: /mnt/user/appdata/photostructure/library

Source Location
Container path: /photos
Host path: [path to your photos on Unraid]

Originals Directory
If you have a cache disk/cache pool and you have auto-organization enabled, then you should add an Originals Directory on your array in order to not fill up your cache with large photos. If you do not have a cache disk/cache pool, or you do not have auto-organization enabled, then this directory is unnecessary.

Container path: /ps/originals
Host path: [location on your array where you would like your auto-organized files to be saved]

And that’s it! Feel free to post here if you have any questions!

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thanks for this! I hope to try the new alpha photostructure – hoping it will be easy to install into unraid. I will also make sure my directories and files have the nobody user as per your other post.

btw I think i will like unraid – I did a lot of reading about other solutions but unraid seems like it should be best. Plus, if I end up hating it, the disk itself will be accessible from any linux distro. One of my goals is to continue to be able to use the machine as a desktop linux computer. time will tell. also i may try adding nextcloud for importing cell phone photos etc. suggestions/corrections welcome!

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Well I am struggling with unraid-- I had hoped it would allow me to continue to use my desktop pc as a desktop – inside of a vm would be ok if it could use my i7-6700k built-in graphics card. but no luck yet in getting that working… So, I may either drop unraid completely, or switch to another desktop pc which isnt as powerful but might be good enough for unraid’s main purpose. I dont regret spending a couple days kicking the tires – learned a lot. but i can’t give up this desktop pc.

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I would 100% put Unraid on an old computer and keep your i7 box as your daily driver. Unraid’s primary purpose is a NAS… always on, always ready to serve your files. I’d be willing to bet that no matter what your old PC is, you’ll be able to run Unraid and a bunch of docker apps with no problem.

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thank you for your help getting up and running with unraid and photostructure. I do like unraid but besides not handling my graphics card, I have other concerns – and I’d appreciate your input on those – having to use a usb thumbrdrive seems so old school. and what about security updates – do they come just once a year or more frequently as needed? besides photostructure, I would need syncthing or some such to sync our cell phone photos. do you have the automated updates enabled, and if so, how does that work for you? security in general I mean.

I have considered a couple other options – proxmox, which at least uses debian rather than slackware. And just running ubuntu desktop and adding photostructure docker to my daily driver – it is a tower – i mean, no unraid or proxmox - just ubuntu desktop and docker contains for photostructure and syncthing.

but to your point the other computer is a small dell desktop. i may just try sticking my unraid thumdrive in it and continue my ‘trial’ on it instead.

proxmox vs unraid vs just plain old ubuntu desktop – comments welcome and thank you

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Those are some big existential questions! I’ll try to answer them all as best I can, but keep in mind I’m not an expert, just more of a power user.

  1. Thumb drive: The OS doesn’t actually run on the thumb drive; it gets loaded into RAM when you boot up. So it’s basically just there to hold your configuration when the computer isn’t running. Personally, I think it’s nice that all of the space on my disks is actually used for data.

  2. Limetech pushes security patches when needed. It’s probably important to keep in mind that Unraid is NOT meant to be exposed to the internet, and you will get pwned if you forward 80/443 directly to your Unraid box. If you need to access anything on your Unraid box from the outside world, you should use a reverse proxy or a VPN.
    I have several services running on reverse proxy, including Nextcloud, Grafana, Bitwarden, and Home Assistant. I do not expose Photostructure on the reverse proxy because it does not have any built-in security (yet). Once it does, I will probably put that on my reverse proxy as well.

  3. Speaking of Nextcloud, that’s what I use to get photos from my phone onto my Unraid server. Nexcloud automatically syncs the phone’s photo directory to my Nextcloud account. From there, I manually move the photos from Nextcloud to my Unraid photos share. I’m sure this could be automated, but I haven’t bothered to figure that part out yet, and it’s not much work anyway. Once the photos are in my Unraid share, Photostructure will pick them up the next time it syncs. I’m happy with this workflow.

As for what you should do… that’s really up to you! I like Unraid because I like having a NAS. I got annoyed with having to copy all of my files every time I got a new PC. I got annoyed with being required to keep my PC running in order to use my Plex server. Unraid solved all of that for me, and also allowed me to get better about doing backups (including off-site). Best of all, I don’t have to spend my time wrestling with the OS and installing updates and then updating dependencies. Doing so can be interesting, but it’s only useful unto itself. Unraid lets me spend time doing things that are both interesting AND useful (like tweaking my home automations or ripping my music library).

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any further questions!

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Yes that is very helpful and encouraging about security patches. I had considered Nextcloud in the past but havent tried it yet. Do you have it running on the unraid box? Which reverse proxy do you use and is it also on unraid box? thanks.

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Yes, Nexcloud is running in a container on Unraid. The reverse proxy is a container developed by linuxserver.io that includes NGINX, letsencrypt, and fail2ban. It’s called SWAG, and you can read up on it here: Introducing SWAG - Secure Web Application Gateway | LinuxServer.io