unraid
diff --git a/‎docs/unraid-os/advanced-configurations/optimize-storage/zfs-storage.mdx‎
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Lines changed: 21 additions & 7 deletions
diff --git a/‎docs/unraid-os/getting-started/set-up-unraid/customize-unraid-settings.mdx‎
Lines changed: 152 additions & 1 deletion b/‎docs/unraid-os/getting-started/set-up-unraid/customize-unraid-settings.mdx‎
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@@ -166,13 +166,27 @@ When you set up a %%ZFS|zfs%% pool, your allocation profile determines how your
   ![](/img/zfs11.png)
 </div>
 
-| Profile | Redundancy                    | Performance                                               | Expansion        | Space Efficiency | Typical Use Case                         |
-| ------- | ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
-| Stripe  | None                          | Fast, but risky                                           | Add more disks   | 100%             | Temporary/scratch storage                |
-| Mirror  | 1:1 (%%RAID 1\|raid1%% style) | Excellent for random I/O                                  | Add more mirrors | 50%              | High performance, easy expansion         |
-| RAIDZ1  | 1 disk per vdev               | Fast for big files. Not ideal for small or random writes. | Add new vdevs    | High             | General use, 1-disk fault tolerance      |
-| RAIDZ2  | 2 disks per vdev              | Like Z1 but slightly slower writes (extra parity)         | Add new vdevs    | Moderate         | Important data, 2-disk fault tolerance   |
-| RAIDZ3  | 3 disks per vdev              | Like Z2, with more write overhead (for maximum safety)    | Add new vdevs    | Lower            | Mission-critical, 3-disk fault tolerance |
+| Profile | Redundancy                    | Performance                                               | Expansion        | Space Efficiency | Typical Use Case                         | Recommended Drive Count Per vdev |
+| ------- | ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
+| Stripe  | None                          | Fast, but risky                                           | Add more disks   | 100%             | Temporary/scratch storage                | Any number                          |
+| Mirror  | 1:1 (%%RAID 1\|raid1%% style) | Excellent for random I/O                                  | Add more mirrors | 50%              | High performance, easy expansion         | 2 drives (can add more mirrors)        |
+| RAIDZ1  | 1 disk per vdev               | Fast for big files. Not ideal for small or random writes. | Add new vdevs    | High             | General use, 1-disk fault tolerance      | 3-6 drives (max 8)                    |
+| RAIDZ2  | 2 disks per vdev              | Like Z1 but slightly slower writes (extra parity)         | Add new vdevs    | Moderate         | Important data, 2-disk fault tolerance   | 6-12 drives (max 14)                  |
+| RAIDZ3  | 3 disks per vdev              | Like Z2, with more write overhead (for maximum safety)    | Add new vdevs    | Lower            | Mission-critical, 3-disk fault tolerance | 10-16 drives (max 20)                 |
+
+:::tip[Optimizing drive counts]
+
+The recommended drive counts in the table above work well for most users. For even better performance, you can optimize within those ranges by choosing configurations where the number of data disks (total disks minus parity disks) is a **power of 2** (e.g., 2, 4, 8, 16). This helps align data stripes correctly, preventing wasted space and uneven I/O.
+
+**Examples of optimized configurations:**
+
+- **RAIDZ1**: 3, 5, or 9 drives (data disks = 2, 4, or 8)
+- **RAIDZ2**: 4, 6, or 10 drives (data disks = 2, 4, or 8)  
+- **RAIDZ3**: 5, 9, or 17 drives (data disks = 2, 6, or 14)
+
+Note that these optimizations are optional - the recommendations above should work well for most use cases.
+
+:::
 
 :::important[How to choose]
 
 
@@ -209,12 +209,163 @@ Customize the Unraid %%WebGUI|web-gui%% appearance on this page by adjusting the
 
 ### Notification Settings
 
-You can configure browser and email notifications on this page, subscribing to different types and setting custom alerts for %%SMART|smart%% attribute values.
+Unraid can send you notifications about important system events, updates, and alerts through your browser, email, or third-party notification services. The Notification Settings page allows you to control how and when you receive these notifications.
+
+To access Notification Settings, navigate to ***Settings → User Preferences → Notification Settings***.
 
 <div style={{ margin: 'auto', maxWidth: '400px'}}>
   ![Notification Settings](/img/settings-notifications.png)
 </div>
 
+#### Display and behavior settings
+
+Configure how notifications appear in your browser:
+
+- **Notifications display**: Choose between *Detailed* or *Summarized* notification styles
+- **Display position**: Set where notifications appear (*top-right*, *top-left*, *bottom-right*, *bottom-left*, or *center*)
+- **Auto-close (seconds)**: How long notifications stay visible before automatically closing
+- **Date format**: Choose your preferred date format for notification timestamps
+- **Time format**: Choose between *12 hours* or *24 hours* time display
+- **Store notifications to flash**: Save notification history to your USB flash device (requires flash storage space)
+
+#### Notification types
+
+Control which events trigger notifications:
+
+- **System notifications**: General system events and messages
+- **Unraid OS update notification**: Alerts when new Unraid OS versions are available
+- **Plugins update notification**: Alerts when plugin updates are available
+- **Docker update notification**: Alerts when Docker container updates are available
+- **Language update notification**: Alerts when language pack updates are available
+- **Array status notification**: Alerts about %%array|array%% events and status changes
+
+For each notification type, you're able to set the frequency to *Never check*, or checking daily, weekly, monthly, or, in some cases, even multiple times a day.
+
+#### Delivery methods
+
+Choose how you want to receive notifications for each category (*Notices*, *Warnings*, and *Alerts*):
+
+- **Browser**: Display notifications in the %%WebGUI|web-gui%% when you're logged in
+- **Email**: Send notifications via email (requires [SMTP configuration](#smtp-settings))
+- **Agents**: Send notifications through configured third-party services
+
+:::tip
+
+Enable **Browser** notifications for immediate visibility when using the %%WebGUI|web-gui%%, and **Email** for alerts when you're away from your server. Use **Agents** to integrate with mobile apps and services like Discord or Telegram.
+
+:::
+
+#### SMTP Settings
+
+To receive email notifications, you need to configure your email server settings. Unraid supports many email providers including Gmail, Outlook, and custom SMTP servers.
+
+The SMTP Settings can be found at ***Settings → User Preferences → Notification Settings → SMTP Settings***.
+
+**Basic configuration:**
+
+- **Preset service**: Select a preset configuration (*Gmail*, *Outlook/Hotmail*, or *Custom*) to auto-fill common settings
+- **Sending email address**: The email address notifications will be sent from
+- **Email recipients**: Comma-separated list of email addresses to receive notifications
+- **Priority in header**: Mark emails as high priority (*Yes* or *No*)
+- **Email subject prefix**: Text to prepend to all notification email subjects (default: *Unraid Status:*)
+
+**Server settings:**
+
+- **Mail server**: SMTP server address (e.g., `smtp.gmail.com`)
+- **Mail server port**: SMTP port number (common ports: `465` for SSL/TLS, `587` for STARTTLS, `25` for unencrypted)
+- **Use SSL/TLS**: Enable SSL/TLS encryption (*Yes* or *No*)
+- **Use STARTTLS**: Use STARTTLS for encryption (*Yes* or *No*)
+- **Define a TLS certificate**: Specify a custom TLS certificate if needed (*Yes* or *No*)
+- **TLS certificate location**: Path to custom certificate file (only if *Define a TLS certificate* is enabled)
+
+**Authentication:**
+
+- **Authentication method**: Choose *None*, *CRAM-MD5*, or *Login* (username/password)
+- **Username**: Your email account username (usually your full email address)
+- **Password**: Your email account password or app-specific password
+
+After configuring your settings, use the **TEST** button to verify your email configuration is working correctly.
+
+##### Configuring Gmail with app passwords
+
+Gmail requires app-specific passwords when using SMTP with accounts that have 2-step verification enabled (which is recommended for security).
+
+**To set up Gmail notifications:**
+
+1. In **Preset service**, select *Gmail* (this will auto-fill the **Mail server** and **Mail server port**)
+2. Enter your Gmail address in **Sending email address**
+3. Enter recipient email address(es) in **Email recipients**
+4. Set **Username** to your full Gmail address (e.g., `yourname@gmail.com`)
+5. For **Password**, you'll need to generate an app password:
+   - Go to your [Google Account settings](https://myaccount.google.com/)
+   - Navigate to **Security**
+   - Under "How you sign in to Google," ensure **2-Step Verification** is enabled (required for app passwords)
+   - In the same section, find and click **App passwords** (or search for "App passwords" in the search bar)
+   - You may need to verify your identity
+   - Enter a custom name for the App name, like "Unraid Server".
+   - Click **Create**
+   - Google will generate a 16-character password.
+   - Copy this password and paste it into the **Password** field in Unraid
+6. Click **TEST** to verify the configuration
+7. Click **DONE** to save your settings
+
+:::tip[Default Gmail settings]
+
+- **Mail server**: `smtp.gmail.com`
+- **Mail server port**: `465`
+- **Use SSL/TLS**: `Yes`
+- **Use STARTTLS**: `No`
+- **Authentication method**: `Login`
+
+:::
+
+:::warning[Security recommendation]
+
+Always use app passwords instead of your main Gmail password. App passwords can be revoked individually without changing your main account password, providing better security if your Unraid configuration is ever compromised.
+
+:::
+
+#### Notification Agents
+
+Notification agents allow you to send alerts to third-party services and mobile apps. Unraid includes built-in support for many popular notification services.
+
+To access Notification Agents, click the **Notification Agents** link on the Notification Settings page, or navigate to ***Settings → User Preferences → Notification Settings → Notification Agents***.
+
+**Built-in agents include:**
+
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-bark.png" alt="Bark" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Bark**: iOS notification app
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-boxcar.png" alt="Boxcar" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Boxcar**: Push notification service
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-discord.png" alt="Discord" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Discord**: Send notifications to Discord channels via webhook
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-gotify.png" alt="Gotify" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Gotify**: Self-hosted notification server
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-ntfy.png" alt="ntfy.sh" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **ntfy.sh**: Simple HTTP-based notification service
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-prowl.png" alt="Prowl" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Prowl**: iOS push notifications
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-pushbits.png" alt="Pushbits" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Pushbits**: Self-hosted notification relay
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-pushbullet.png" alt="Pushbullet" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Pushbullet**: Cross-platform notification service
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-pushover.png" alt="Pushover" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Pushover**: Push notification service for iOS and Android
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-pushplus.png" alt="Pushplus" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Pushplus**: Chinese push notification service
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-serverchan.png" alt="ServerChan" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **ServerChan**: Chinese server monitoring and notification service
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-slack.png" alt="Slack" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Slack**: Send notifications to Slack channels via webhook
+- <img src="/img/customize-unraid-settings/icons/icon-telegram.png" alt="Telegram" style={{height: '20px', verticalAlign: 'middle', marginRight: '8px'}} /> **Telegram**: Send messages to Telegram bot
+
+**Configuring an agent:**
+
+1. Select the agent you want to configure from the list
+2. Change **Agent function** from *Disabled* to *Enabled*
+3. Fill in the required fields for that service:
+   - Most agents require a **webhook URL**, **API token**, or **access token**
+   - Some services require additional configuration like channel IDs or group codes
+4. Configure **Notification title** (usually set to *Subject* to use the notification subject)
+5. Configure **Notification message** (usually set to *Description* to use the full notification text)
+6. Click **DONE** to save
+
+Each agent has different requirements - consult the documentation for your chosen service to obtain the necessary API keys, webhook URLs, or tokens.
+
+:::tip
+
+You can enable multiple agents simultaneously. For example, you might use Discord for team notifications and Pushover for personal mobile alerts. Note that **all notifications** are sent to **all enabled agents**, so using multiple agents may result in receiving duplicate notifications.
+
+:::
+
 ### Scheduler
 
 The Scheduler settings page allows you to easily configure the frequency for automated tasks including %%parity checks|parity-check%%, the cache %%Mover|mover%%, and %%TRIM/Discard|trim-discard%% operations for SSDs.