Unraid Secretary Office

An office for your Unraid server

A whole team supports you in running your Unraid server: backups and restore, snapshots, a media cache for Emby, Jellyfin and Plex, the mover, a night watchman and every log in one place — free, open source, no account.

Mr. Backupsy: a full backup running, 82 %, 5 minutes left The Night Watchman’s watch book: what is different from usual, newest first Jack Streamer at work: one bar per person for what is watched next Your reports: one wish done, one looked at, a question received Mr. Backupsy in his speech bubble: “I checked three times. Better safe than sorry.”

Meet the team

A fresh office has only the Team Lead. He looks at your server and suggests whom to hire.

The team of the Unraid Secretary Office: the Team Lead, Mr. Backupsy, Mr. Restori, Ms. Snapshotini, Jack Streamer, Ms. Moverelli, the Night Watchman, Ms. Dustdevil, Ms. Protocolli and the Consultant — each with one sentence about their work The team of the Unraid Secretary Office: the Team Lead, Mr. Backupsy, Mr. Restori, Ms. Snapshotini, Jack Streamer, Ms. Moverelli, the Night Watchman, Ms. Dustdevil, Ms. Protocolli and the Consultant — each with one sentence about their work

Backups that come back

Mr. Backupsy backs up on your schedule: snapshots, database dumps and, encrypted with Kopia, off-site.

Mr. Restori brings back apps, folders and VMs — and rehearses it regularly on throw-away copies.

A second Unraid server with the office becomes a partner: the two keep each other’s backups.

A full backup running: the steps Look around, Database dumps, Snapshots, Partners, Offsite (now) and Tidy up; 82 %, 5 minutes left; documents, appdata and the VM done, family photos on their way

The pool: fast and tidy

Ms. Moverelli adds helmi1987’s Smart Mover to Unraid’s mover. She doesn’t move everything: only when the pool is above your limit does she take the oldest files to the array, until it is below again. Newer files stay in the fast cache.

Jack Streamer puts on the pool what you watch next in Emby, Jellyfin or Plex, with a GB budget per person, and gives what was watched back to the array. The array disks may sleep.

Both in one joint run on your schedule, live to watch: the pool before and after, with snapshots, appdata, Jack’s budget and every file on its way.

The joint run of Ms. Moverelli and Jack Streamer: its phases, Jack Streamer fetching for Mom, Dad and Daughter, below it the pool before and after (forecast) with snapshots, appdata, other shares, Jack’s films and his reserved budget, the limit and the array; a film flies as a film reel from the array into the pool

The Night Watchman

A round every five minutes. He only reads and changes nothing.

Only what is different from usual goes into his watch book: a sign-in from a new address, a new plugin, a new device on the LAN — and, if you like, from your router’s log too.

The watch book, newest first: a sign-in from a new address, much written in little time, a never-seen device on the LAN, a new container with special rights, a new plugin — each entry with “Got it, thanks”

Careful by design

  • Behind Unraid’s login. Only whoever is logged in to Unraid gets in; other web pages in your browser can’t trigger anything. No account of its own, anywhere.
  • Looks before it touches. Before anything changes, it shows you what will happen and asks. What is replaced or tidied up is set aside — nothing is deleted at once.
  • You’re in control. Copies leave the server only where you send them: to your partner server, or encrypted to a storage of your choice.
  • Partners stay independent. A partner server accepts copies, nothing more. If one is taken over, say by ransomware, it can delete or overwrite nothing on the other.
  • Only what the desks define. The service on the server can do what root can, but it only offers the actions written in the desks’ code.
  • Open source. GPL-3.0-or-later — every line is on GitHub.

Install

In Unraid, go to Plugins → Install Plugin and paste this address. Unraid 7.3.2 or a newer 7.x; snapshots need ZFS or btrfs.

https://github.com/dropnook/UnraidSecretaryOffice/releases/latest/download/unraid-secretary-office.plg

Five languages, Unraid’s themes, search with ⌘K, on the phone too. Plus Ms. Snapshotini, Ms. Dustdevil, Ms. Protocolli and the Consultant. · Full guide on GitHub

Questions

Is it free?

Yes — free, open source (GPL-3.0-or-later) and complete: nothing is locked. A tip is welcome but unlocks nothing.

Do I have to hire the whole team?

No. The Team Lead suggests who fits your server, and you hire whom you need.

What do I need for off-site backups?

Kopia in a container — the Consultant installs it with you — or a second Unraid server with the office as a partner (ZFS).

Does it wake my sleeping disks?

No, unless you want it to.

Where do I report a problem or a wish?

Right in the office, no account needed: ⋯ → Report a problem or a wish… — you see every part before it is sent. Or on GitHub.