Why?

So, you've decided to build an unRaid server. Maybe you have an old computer sitting around collecting dust, maybe you want your own NAS, maybe it to remove your digital life from the US, maybe you want to run Immich, Next Cloud, Home Assistant, Docker containers, virtual machines, or approximately 47 other things you found on Reddit at 2:00 AM.

Whatever the reason, unRaid is one of the easiest ways to get started with a home server and the good news is that you don't need enterprise hardware, a server room, or a degree in computer science.

You need a computer, some hard drives, a USB drive, and a willingness to eventually buy more hard drives.

What is unRaid?

unRaid is a Linux-based operating system designed to make running a home server relatively painless. It can do a lot of things, including:

• Store your files
• Act as a NAS
• Protect data using parity
• Run Docker containers
• Run virtual machines
• Host media servers
• Run home automation
• Host websites and applications
• Provide network shares to your computers
• Expand your storage over time
• Protect your data sovereignty

One of the things I really like about unriad is that it doesn't require you to build your entire storage system perfectly on day one. You can start with a few drives and add more later. This makes it particularly useful for home labs and people who want to build a server gradually and trust me, you will add more drives.

What hardware do you need?

One of the best things about unRaid is that you can build a server using relatively inexpensive hardware. You don't need a $5,000 enterprise server to store your movies and run Home Assistant, an old desktop computer can make an excellent Unraid server.

CPU

For a basic unRaid server, almost any reasonably modern 64-bit Intel or AMD processor will work.

An Intel Core i3 or i5, or an equivalent AMD processor, is more than enough for many home server applications.

If you're planning to run:

• Multiple virtual machines
• Several resource-heavy Docker containers
• Video transcoding
• Game servers
• Development environments

then you'll want something more powerful. For a basic NAS and Docker server, though, don't overthink it.

RAM

8 GB of RAM is a reasonable minimum for a basic server. If you're building a new system, I'd recommend 16 GB or even 32GB.

Docker containers generally don't require huge amounts of memory, but virtual machines can consume RAM very quickly.

Hard Drives

You can technically start with a single data drive. However, if you're building an unRaid server with data protection in mind, I'd recommend starting with:

• 1 parity drive
• 1 or more data drives

For example:

Your parity drive needs to be at least as large as your largest data drive. So a 12 TB data drive requires a parity drive of at least 12 TB. You can also use two parity drives if you want additional protection against drive failures. Parity isn't a backup, though. More on that later.

SSD's

Yes. Well, technically you don't have to but I strongly recommend having at least one SSD. An SSD can be used for a cache pool and is particularly useful for:

• Docker application data
• Virtual machines
• Downloads
• Frequently accessed files
• Temporary storage

Docker containers can generate a lot of small files, and SSD storage is much better suited to this than traditional spinning hard drives. A 500 GB or 1 TB SSD is a good starting point and if you're building a new server, I'd probably go with 1 TB because 500 GB will look enormous right up until you start installing things.

USB Drive

unRaid boots from a USB flash drive and please, please use a decent-quality USB drive. Don't use the USB stick that has been sitting in your desk drawer since 2012 and currently contains your old résumé. The unRaid USB contains the operating system and is important to the server.

A quality USB drive with a unique GUID is recommended.

Creating an unRaid bootable USB

The easiest way to install unRaid is with the unRaid USB Creator.

Download the USB Creator from the official unRaid website and install it on your Windows, macOS, or Linux computer. The USB Creator handles the process of:

1. Downloading unRaid
2. Formatting the USB drive
3. Installing unRaid
4. Making the USB bootable

Before you begin, make sure there isn't anything important on the USB drive as the drive will be erased.

Select your unRaid version

Open the unRaid USB Creator and choose the current stable version of Unraid. Unless you specifically need a beta or release candidate, I'd recommend using the stable release.

Select Your USB Drive

Choose the USB drive you want to use. Pay close attention to the drive name and capacity. If you have multiple USB drives connected to your computer, unplug the ones you aren't using. Once you've confirmed the correct drive, create the unRaid USB. When the process is complete, safely eject the USB drive. You now have your unRaid boot drive.

The server itself comes next.

Configure your server's BIOS

Plug the unRaid USB drive into your server. Connect a keyboard, monitor, and network cable. Turn the server on and enter the motherboard's BIOS/UEFI setup. The exact process depends on your motherboard. Common keys include:

• Delete
• F2
• F10
• F12

Look for the boot settings and make sure the USB drive is available as a boot device.

Enable CPU Virtualization

If you plan on running virtual machines, enable CPU virtualization. On Intel systems this may be called:

• Intel VT-x

You may also see:

• Intel VT-d

On AMD systems you'll typically see:

• AMD-V

and potentially:

• IOMMU

These features are important for virtualization and hardware passthrough.

Disable secure boot if necessary

Depending on your hardware and unRaid version, Secure Boot may need to be disabled. If unRaid refuses to boot from your USB drive, Secure Boot is one of the first things I'd check.

BIOS menus vary considerably between manufacturers, so don't worry if your motherboard doesn't look exactly like the screenshots you've seen online.

Motherboard manufacturers apparently decided there was no reason for everyone to use the same terminology.

Boot unRaid for the first time

Save your BIOS settings and restart the server. You should see the unRaid boot menu. Select the standard unRaid boot option and unRaid will load.

Once it's finished starting, you can manage the server from another computer using the unRaid WebGUI. This is one of the things that makes unRaid so nice.

Once it's running, you don't need a monitor and keyboard permanently attached to it.

Connect to the unRaid web interface

From another computer on your network, open a web browser.

Try:

http://tower.local

If you've changed the server name, use that hostname instead.

You can also find the server's IP address from your router and connect directly using:

http://192.168.xxx.xxx

Your actual IP address will obviously be different.

If you can't connect, check that:

• The Ethernet cable is connected
• The server has booted completely
• Your computer is on the same network
• The server received an IP address

Set the unRaid root password

The first thing you should do is secure the server. Set a strong password for the root account. Don't use:

password

or

unraid

or

admin123

And please don't use your dog's name followed by the year you were born.

Use a proper password, this is your server, it will eventually contain everything.

Give your unRaid server a name

Go to:

Settings → Identification

Change the server name to something useful.

For example:

SooleyNet

You could call it: Tower, or Server or even BigBoxOfDisks. I won't judge.

The server name becomes the hostname you can use when accessing it on your network.

Configure the unRaid network

Go to:

Settings → Network Settings

By default, unRaid will normally obtain an IP address from your router using DHCP. This works fine, however, I recommend making sure your unRaid server always gets the same IP address.

Register your unRaid server

Sign into your unRaid.net account and register your server. unRaid provides trial licensing, allowing you to test the operating system before committing to a license.

Once you're happy with the setup, choose the license level appropriate for your server. You can upgrade your license later if your needs change.

This is useful because you don't need to know exactly what your future server will look like before you build it.

Configure your unRaid storage

Now we get to the fun part, storage or, more accurately the part where your credit card starts getting nervous. Open:

• Main

You'll see the drives detected by unRaid .

You'll typically have:

• Array devices
• Pool devices
• Unassigned devices

Your main array consists of your parity and data drives.

For example:

Parity
└── 12 TB

Array
├── 12 TB
├── 8 TB
└── 8 TB

Start the array once you've confirmed that the correct drives are assigned.

Be careful here.

Double-check which drive you're assigning as parity and which drives contain data.

If the drives are brand new, this is easy.

If you're reusing existing drives, slow down and make absolutely sure you know what you're doing.

Create unRaid shares

Shares are essentially the folders you'll use to organize your data.

Go to:

Shares

You might create shares such as:

appdata
backups
documents
downloads
media
photos

For example:

Media could contain:

Media
├── Movies
├── TV
└── Music

Documents could contain:

Documents
├── Personal
├── Financial
└── Important

• Backups for backups of your computers and other devices.
• Appdata used by Docker applications to store their configuration.
• Domains ussed for virtual machine storage.
• ISOs used for operating system installation files.

Don't feel like you have to create all of these immediately, start with what you need, you can create more shares later.

Enable the unRaid docker service

Now we get to one of the best parts of unRaid, Docker. Go to:

• Settings → Docker
• Enable Docker.

If you have an SSD or cache pool, use it for Docker's storage. Docker allows applications to run inside containers rather than being installed directly into the unRaid operating system. This makes applications much easier to install, update, remove, and manage.

Want Ghost? Install a container. Want Uptime Kuma? Install a container. Want Pi-hole? Install a container. Want something else? There's probably a container for it and if there isn't, give it five minutes. Someone on the internet has probably already made one.

Install Community Applications

If there is one unRaid plugin I would recommend installing early, it is Community Applications. Community Applications gives unRaid an app-store-like interface. Go to:

• Apps

If Community Applications isn't installed yet, unRaid will provide the option to install it.

Once installed, you'll have an enormous catalogue of applications available directly from the unRaid WebGUI. This is where unRaid becomes dangerously easy to use. Installing software used to require reading documentation. Now you click:

• Install

This is how your Docker collection begins, oh and your buying of drives.

Install your first Docker Container

Open:

• Apps

Search for an application.

For example:

• Minecraft
• Plex
• Home Assistant
• Pi-hole
• Uptime Kuma
• Immich
• Syncthing
• Nginx Proxy Manager
• Vaultwarden

Select the application and click:

• Install

You'll be presented with a Docker template. The template defines things such as:

• Container name
• Network
• Ports
• Storage paths
• Environment variables

For your first few containers, stick with the recommended settings. Don't change everything just because you can. This is how you end up spending three hours trying to figure out why a container won't start because you changed a variable called TZ to something you thought looked better.

Understand Appdata

One of the most important concepts to understand with Docker on unRaid is appdata. Docker containers themselves can generally be recreated. Your application configuration is what you actually care about. That's why you'll often see containers configured with something like:

/mnt/user/appdata/application-name

For example:

/mnt/user/appdata/ghost

The application stores its configuration there. If you delete and recreate the Docker container, you can point the new container back at the same appdata directory. Your configuration can then survive the container being recreated. This is one of the reasons Docker works so well on unRaid. The container is replaceable, the data isn't. At least, it shouldn't be so make sure you back it up.

Don't forget about backups

This is probably the most important part of the entire article.

unRaid parity is not a backup. I'll say it again. Parity is not a backup.

If a hard drive fails, parity can help reconstruct the missing data. If you accidentally delete your entire photo collection, parity isn't going to say "Don't worry, Adam. I've got a copy." It doesn't. Parity protects against certain hardware failures. Backups protect against things like:

• Accidental deletion
• File corruption
• Ransomware
• Hardware failure
• User error
• Catastrophic server failure

Your important data should exist somewhere else. For example:

• External hard drive
• Another NAS
• Another unRaid server
• Cloud storage
• Off-site backup

Your movies can probably be downloaded again, your family photos can't, back those up.

What should you install on unRaid?

Once your server is running, the fun begins. Some popular applications worth investigating include:

• Home Assistant: For home automation and smart-home control.
• Pi-hole: For network-wide DNS filtering and ad blocking.
• Uptime Kuma: For monitoring your services and finding out when something has stopped working.
• Immich: For self-hosted photo management.
• Syncthing: For synchronizing files between computers and devices.

There are thousands of other applications available through Community Applications. Don't install them all.

Final unRaid setup checklist

Before calling your unRaid server finished, run through this checklist.

Hardware

• CPU installed
• At least 8 GB RAM
• Data drives installed
• Parity drive installed
• SSD/cache installed
• Network connected
• Quality USB drive

unRaid

• unRaid USB created
• Server boots from USB
• Root password configured
• Server name configured
• Network configured
• unRaid registered
• Array configured
• Shares created

Docker

• Docker enabled
• Docker storage on SSD/cache
• Community Applications installed
• First Docker container installed
• Appdata configured

Backup

• Important files backed up
• Docker appdata backed up
• VM data backed up where required
• Off-server backup considered

Final Thoughts

Setting up an unRaid server isn't nearly as intimidating as it might initially seem. The basic process is:

Build the computer → create the USB → boot unRaid → configure the network → configure storage → create shares → enable Docker → install Community Applications → add applications → enable VMs if you need them → configure backups.

That's really it. The beauty of unRaid is that you don't have to build everything at once. Start with an old computer, add a couple of hard drives, install unRaid, get it working and then start experimenting.

You'll probably install Docker, then another container, then another.

Then you'll discover that someone has created a Docker container for something you didn't even know you needed.

Eventually you'll have a server running your media, backups, home automation, monitoring, websites, databases and approximately everything else.

Then you'll look at your storage and realize you need another hard drive and that's when the real unRaid journey begins.

Start small. Learn as you go. Don't overcomplicate it. And for the love of everything stored on your server, back up your important data. Welcome to your boring sovereign Canadian cloud.

Next up:

• Setting up your DNS pi-holes on raspberry pi's instead of your unRaid server.
• Installing Immich to remove your need for Google Photos.
• Installing and setting up Frigate for your own private home camera management.
• Setting up and configuring a great backup solution using ZeroByte

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