No testing-updates?

[Julian_Kuchlbauer]

Is it normal, that the the testing-updates in my system doesnt update any longer?
It still stands on 3.9.1-16 whereas 3.9.2 is out for some time.
Is this the way it should be or am i having an error?

[phillxnet (Philip Guyton)]

@Julian_Kuchlbauer A belated welcome to the Rockstor communit.

@Julian_Kuchlbauer

Is this the way it should be…

Yes, currently this is normal, please see the current end of the following thread for more info ie:

Dev log for 3.9.2

@kupan787 3.9.1-16 is the latest testing channel release. That turned into 3.9.2-0 stable release, but since then there have been 3 ‘hot fixes’ to the stable release. It’s in the throws of changing currently, but you are still on the latest testing channel. Hope that helps.

and later:

Dev log for 3.9.2

We are going to stop automatic packing and delivery of updates in the testing channel. The plan is to provide a documented(in the UI) alternative for non-subscribers(testing channel) to follow to get updates. Right now, we are finalizing these steps. If you are on testing channel, you will get one or more updates as we transition into this new way. If you really want updates in the meantime, your choices are 1) subscribe to stable channel or 2) figure out the manual steps yourself from availabl…

plus:

Dev log for 3.9.2

We are lagging behind, but the plan is indeed in place. Testing channel subscribers should see a couple of updates in the near future which will update your UI with all the information necessary to keep your system up-to-date going forward.

Essentially rpm updates will soon seas for the testing channel and continue only for stable channel subscribers. And since ver 3.9.1-16(testing) / 3.9.2-0(stable) currently stable channel subscribers have received a number of fixes that have yet to make it to testing: given the testing update method has yet to be reset. Hopefully this will all pan out nicely once we are fully transitioned.

Hope that helps.

[Carl_Banks]

I like what you guys are doing here. I think one day you guys may be the BTRFS version of ZFS / FreeNAS. Unless FreeNAS adds support for BTRFS…

Rockstor works beautifully for managing disks, pools, and shares. And I like the dashboard, esp the Disk Activity graph.

Then there is stuff like this: Rockstor System Shell = 502 Bad Gateway nginx/1.10.2 · Issue #1739 · rockstor/rockstor-core · GitHub

As a new user almost seven months after this issue was reported I had to research and find the solution. It just looks so fracking bad for the over all ‘product’ when something like that doesn’t just work.

And then there are things like the ISO being out of date, and then the updates causing issues with rock-ons after the reboot to use the new supported kernel. I get that fix updates don’t require a new ISO build, but changing the kernel!?

It is so frustrating when I get Plex working, reboot after an update, and Plex stops working.

Then there are the rock-ons that simply don’t work, with little to no feedback on what went wrong.

And then this Dev log for 3.9.2 - #45 by suman

It seams like you are leaving testers hanging in the wind. Could you have continued providing updates the old way and migrated after the new systems is working?

I would gladly pay $40 for three years of security updates for a nice front end for BTRFS, Plex, Transmission + OpenVPN, and ZoneMinder. Because those are the things I want my home server to run 24/7.

But so far Rockstor has been way more work than rolling my own in with Ubuntu Server.

[Haioken]

@Carl_Banks

WARNING: I am NOT associated with the Rockstor team, just a happy user (who has had my own share of issues to work around).
My opinions and comments are just that mine. They do not reflect on the developers, so if any of this upsets anybody to the point of flame wars, feel free to PM me.

While I’ll try to keep it to a minimum, I’m probably going to sound like a smart-ass in part here, because I find the somewhat entitled attitude annoying.

It just looks so fracking bad for the over all ‘product’ when something like that doesn’t just work

This is quite true, however it should be noted that Rockstor, and many of the technologies it’s built on (Docker) are quite young considering their complexity (The project itself is under 5 years old, compared to FreeNAS 13 years).
It should also be noted that a fix for this issue does exist, and would likely have been freely provided had you asked.

I had to research and find the solution.

Per previous - you could have asked, but your post history indicates a general dislike for the forum software used. No matter what forum app was decided on, somebody will dislike it.
Discourse has generally good reviews, it’s powerful, themeable and fast.

And then there are things like the ISO being out of date

This I agree with, however I also respect the fact that building new installer ISOs eats into dev time that could be spent fixing bigger issues. Also, most *nix distros don’t release a new ISO per Kernel, many have multiple Kernel releases between ISO updates.
Updating Kernel from package managers (yum, apt, apk) has never really presented an issue for me, except for recent Meltdown patches which knocked out a couple of my machines, failing to boot with Microcode issues. (Rockstor wasn’t one of these!)

the updates causing issues with rock-ons
…
It is so frustrating when I get Plex working, reboot after an update, and Plex stops working.

Have not had any issues in this regard. Where are your posts about it?
My Plex install has been working without a hiccup.
The NAS I built for my father to run Plex on at his place has also been working without incident.

Then there are the rock-ons that simply don’t work, with little to no feedback on what went wrong

Better docker->UI integration I believe is in the works, but for now you can inspect docker’s logs directly using the shell:

docker ps
docker logs <container_name>
docker logs -f <container_name>

If you run with the “-f” flag, it’ll follow the output, great for watching what happens if the container fails to start.
This isn’t in Rockstor’s documentation, but it is in docker’s documentation.
The instance you’re referring to I’m guessing is your experience with the “Transmission + OpenVPN” rockon, which was in early testing stages, and it seems like you may have deleted the container from the command line, fooling Rockstor into thinking it was installed and broken.

It seams like you are leaving testers hanging in the wind

I agree with most of this, leaving the testing channel in the wind seems like a mistake - mainly because it’s leaving paying users to do the testing (in a potentially unstable environment) - Not because I feel entitled to more free updates.
I am however of the impression this was a result of rising server costs of the repo server, with freeloading people like me constantly downloading new updates.
I can see why they would prefer to service the paying community.

Regardless, I signed up for testing expecting instability, things breaking, and with the intent of providing feedback and helping others. I didn’t enter the game expecting something as mature as FreeNAS - and I like it this way, FreeNAS/OMV/etc tend to have ageing UIs that hang around for quite a while because they’re ingrained and difficult to replace.
Sometimes products need to be superceded, and that can be a rocky road.

I would gladly pay $40 for three years of security updates for a nice front end for BTRFS, Plex, Transmission + OpenVPN, and ZoneMinder

As a frontend for BTRFS and Plex, mine’s worked fantastically.
The transmission + OpenVPN plugin is only a few months old, it’s not expected to be in a state where it works for any configuration yet.

When you were requested to provide logs, you had deleted them, and then showed that your container was missing, No further information has been provided since.

Nobody here can help you, unless you help us help you.

I would gladly pay $40 for three years of security updates for a nice front end…
…
Rockstor has been way more work than rolling my own in with Ubuntu Server

How’s your UI coming along?
Sarcasm aside, Rockstor works well enough for me, in what I want it for.
Anything more complex, and I fall back to the command line.

[Carl_Banks]

I came by the forums because I got an email about being selected new user of the month. Slow month for new users?

Ubuntu server with webmin is working. As is Plex, Emby, Deluge + OpenVPN, and Zoneminder.

Some how my samba throughput increased as well. I think there is more free ram for buffer cache…

Transmission and open VPN was not the only rock-on I could not get to work.

I do miss the rockstor dashboard. But not enough to come back until after a few updates, and with a spare computer.

Thanks for all the fish.

[Oconnor]

Is there any news about testing updates? I’m still on 3.9.1-16 (testing) is there any news for updating my system?

[phillxnet (Philip Guyton)]

@Oconnor Sorry for the massive delay in replying.

@Oconnor

I’m still on 3.9.1-16 (testing) is there any news for updating my system?

There are no plans to update the testing channel for CentOS but once we have our openSUSE variants up to scratch then yes there is hope to re-establish a testing channel but it will break, as advertised, and, as advertised it will be primarily intended for developer / non production use. But we have a number of ‘behind the scenes’ (read infrastructure) changes on going and they need to be fully established before we can get the much missed testing channel back up and running. But it has to be breakable, as advertised, and those choosing to use it will run that risk. At least more breakable than the stable channel anyway .

Some background to these changes can be had in the “Intro” and “Quick history” sections of our current stable channel ‘changelog’ thread:

3.9.2-# Stable Channel Changelog

Intro As this thread is starting retroactively in this now long release cycle I’ll first give some context and move to detailing only the most recent releases. The canonical reference for all code changes is in our open source GitHub repo: This is the ‘rockstor’ package origin. This does not include the Rock-on definition files. An attempt is made to keep GitHub Release / git tags in line with package release versions but due to a variety of reasons one can lag the other for short periods. …

Note however that your existing system can still receive all non rockstor package related updates via it’s CentOS upstream repos so do keep putting them in as they arrive (flashing icon left of kernel version in the top right of Web-UI or just via cli ‘yum update’).

Hope that helps.