Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD

Was FREENAS for me but switched to ZFS on debian.

Didn't like the limitations of plug ins, didn't want to use transmission and it didn't like certain config options.
 
Frozennova said:
Was FREENAS for me but switched to ZFS on debian.

Didn't like the limitations of plug ins, didn't want to use transmission and it didn't like certain config options.
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It's quite easy to build your own plugins using the jails though. I've got a few things running which aren't plugins but work perfectly. Transmission alternatives would probably work absolutely fine.

I must say I do miss the ease of apt-get sometimes though! Saying that, pkg install is pretty good in the jails.

I just love the way FreeNAS can be backed up, restored and reinstalled & runs really well on a pen drive as it's designed for it.
 
Craig321 said:
I just love the way FreeNAS can be backed up, restored and reinstalled & runs really well on a pen drive as it's designed for it.
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It's essentially hardware independent. I built a Microserver with FreeNAS after getting burned with Firewire multi-disk enclosures and failing PSUs. You either lose the data or cough up £50 for a new PSU that'll likely only last 18 months...

It's an HP ProLiant, so likely to be well engineered and reliable. That it works out at less money than a 4 bay appliance from the NAS vendors is a just a bonus.

If the Microserver fails I can buy something else and transfer the disks across, then restore the config.
 
IMO, the best thing to do is try out your shortlist in a virtual machine and see which one suits your needs best along with finding out which is easiest to setup.
 
waso_dude said:
Anyone got Freenas running on ESXI with RDM drive passthrough? So the physical disks are available to freenas? or how have others done it?
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Haven't done it with FreeNAS, but did it fine with other OS.

Had ESXi 5.5 U1 running from a USB stick with an SSD for the main datastore.

4 mechanical drives mapped to RDM then hooked to various VMs on the host. Was able to pull the mechanicals and hook them to live bare metal tin in some cases.... quite useful for recovery using a clean VM with no outside world links.

SSH to the host, "ls -l" to list the drives.

Command something like below to create the RDM VMDK using "vmkfstools":

vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/<DRIVE_ID_FROM_"ls -l"_OUTPUT> RDM1TB_0.vmdk

Then hook the above VMDK to the guest OS of your choice as required. Modify the VMDK name as required for your environment, as you can see above that was for a 1TB mechanical drive.
 
undergroove said:
Haven't done it with FreeNAS, but did it fine with other OS.

Had ESXi 5.5 U1 running from a USB stick with an SSD for the main datastore.

4 mechanical drives mapped to RDM then hooked to various VMs on the host. Was able to pull the mechanicals and hook them to live bare metal tin in some cases.... quite useful for recovery using a clean VM with no outside world links.

SSH to the host, "ls -l" to list the drives.

Command something like below to create the RDM VMDK using "vmkfstools":

vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/<DRIVE_ID_FROM_"ls -l"_OUTPUT> RDM1TB_0.vmdk

Then hook the above VMDK to the guest OS of your choice as required. Modify the VMDK name as required for your environment, as you can see above that was for a 1TB mechanical drive.
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I had already shared that part with waso :)

The issue is more freenas specific. From what we can figure freenas9/freebsd9 has some sort of issue in the os/kernel that breaks the ability to use RDM drives.

I had my server setup like this under freenas 8.3.2 but after trying to upgrade to 9.1.0 it wouldn't import the pool no matter what I tried. Go back to 8.3.2 and it's fine.

The issue is being reported quite a bit online with both freenas and freebsd
 
The discussion in here the last day or two has got me looking up different distros again...

I do like the look of OMV but then I just read that it isn't designed around a USB install, which is a bit of a pain with the Microserver - I suppose it depends if you're happy to give up one possible data drive for the OS but yeah - I'm not sure

FreeNAS I liked when I used it before but I'm not sure I'd switch back to it until I'm in a situation where I have a full compliment of drives ready to fill the entire server, since the ZFS pools are awkward to expand once they are already working...

It's definitely tricky - having a mess around in Virtualbox or whatever is a good way to see the features but to really get a feel for how well it works you have to set it up properly - and of course by the time you have everything set up the idea of re-installing it all again can seem like a pain

I'll continue to think on it XD
 
uncle_rufus said:
I do like the look of OMV but then I just read that it isn't designed around a USB install, which is a bit of a pain with the Microserver - I suppose it depends if you're happy to give up one possible data drive for the OS but yeah - I'm not sure
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That was my main concern, but there is always a way to squeeze an extra 2.5" drive in there along with a sata>pci card.

I'm not sure if an internal usb 2.5" drive would work... might be worth checking that out.
It should work as the I/O issues relating to a bit of flash storage wouldnt apply to a regular drive.

hmmm
 
I've had a skim through all the info on here guys and think I'm going to take the plunge - a few little niggles with my aging Atom ITX server, so I'll move to something with a bit more grunt.

Intention is to get server, 16Gb kit (wasn't going to bother with ECC), and 2x 3Tb WD Red's. Any thoughts on that?

Do I need any special steps to be able to install Windows 8.1 on there? Being able to RDP into a familiar environment for admin would be perfect.

Cheers!
 
Ive got Win 8.1 running on mine just fine, no problems at all.

Probably a good idea to install the hacked BIOS though first.

Also what do you intend to do with 16gb of ram ? usually that amount is used by the guys running virtual machines, if that's your intention is Win 8.1 the best platform ?
 
16Gb was a punt, will 4Gb be enough for NAS/Plex/Remote Desktop?

I've missed reading about the hacked BIOS, I'll go back through the thread. Cheers!
 
Makhaira said:
16Gb was a punt, will 4Gb be enough for NAS/Plex/Remote Desktop?

I've missed reading about the hacked BIOS, I'll go back through the thread. Cheers!
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Really depends. ZFS for example recommends 1GB per TB just for the filesystem and that's physical space. So if you have 4 2TBs in any RAIDZ then recommended is 8GB.
 
If I was on Win8 I would move away from ZFS though (currently on ZFS as I'm running a Freenas box). Heck of a RAM requirement though!
 
Makhaira said:
If I was on Win8 I would move away from ZFS though (currently on ZFS as I'm running a Freenas box). Heck of a RAM requirement though!
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Windows8 storage spaces is nowhere near as quick as ZFS though.

I tested ZFS and MDADM and Storage spaces under Server 2012. Test was on an FX4100 4GB ram with two Hitachi drives connected to a Dell Sas6/ir

Two drive raid mirror for the tests

ZFS ~125MB/S READ, 90MB/S WRITE
MDADM ~90MB/S READ, 75-80MB/S WRITE

Can't remember the Storage Spaces results of the top of my head but it was the slowest.

ZFS would also be quicker than my results using Open Indian, freebsd or freenas as ZFS on Linux is a little behind in terms of development and optimisation
 
Finally, I have ordered one :D Along with a 3TB WD Red drive. So I'll have that plus 2x Samsung F4 2TB drives, and one 1TB F3 drive. I think I'll run the OS off a 2.5" drive for now, until I upgrade the SSD in something else.

Can't wait :)
 
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