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NAS Recommendations?
4wd:
Looks like it (the HP mini-server) comes with Windows on it...-Renegade (April 12, 2012, 07:43 AM)
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It comes sans OS unless you specifically bought it with one.
Can anyone recommend anything better? What would be a good OS to run if you only want to use the box as NAS?
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Currently, I've installed WHS on mine - this was purely to see what it was like, how easy it was to install/use/maintain, etc. Apart from one annoyance it seems to be reasonably good so I might end up sticking with it, (AU$50 is cheap enough). Also loaded the modded BIOS to get full speed from the 5th SATA port, (that was easier than many motherboard BIOS flashes).
If you only want a basic NAS function, then FreeNAS, (based on BSD), is simple, easy and reliable. I'm using v7 on my old 'NAS', v8 wouldn't work out of the box without recompiling but it's moved on a fair bit since then.
OpenMediaVault is a spinoff of FreeNAS but based on Debian if you prefer something Linux based.
Both can run from a USB flash drive, so you can plug that into the internal USB port on the Microserver which frees up the need to have a separate OS drive, (in FreeNAS' case anyway - beats me why they can't let you use the unused portion of the OS drive for storage without going through a load of rigamarole to do it).
For more info on this little box of goodness:
HP ProLiant MicroServer Owners Club!
HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L Owner's Thread
HP Proliant Microserver - Purchase, Upgrade & Setup Guide
Addendum: There's also NexentaStor Community Edition which runs on it.
Renegade:
@4wd - Thank you very much!
OMV is looking about what I want there. :)
And that setup guide will be pure gold.
Guess I'm off to get one in the next few days! Thanks again 4wd! :)
4wd:
If you're interested, I bought from these guys: DessyTek for $242 to your door.
They have both non-bundle and a bundle version, (difference is they throw in the DVD-RW), for the same price but you need to wait 2 weeks for them to get more stock of the DVD-RW, whereas the non-bundle they can ship the next day. Considering a DVD-RW can be had for $18, I'd rather the thing was shipped the next day :)
Non-bundle
Bundle
I've only dealt with them the once but it arrived 8 days ahead of what they stated on their website so I give them :Thmbsup:
Addendum: Should mention - if you're expecting to use Wake-On-LAN under a Linux-based OS you may have to jump through some hoops to get it to work, (something to do with the S-state NIC goes into when the system goes to sleep, if I read it correctly), but if it's going to be on all the time then it doesn't matter. Windows based OS has no such problem.
4wd:
Here it is, almost full:
NAS Recommendations?
The two HDDs up top are held using a Nexus Double Twin and there's a 2 port SATA card I had lying around in one of the slots.
The modded BIOS gives Hot Plug ability across all the motherboard ports, (contrary to what the stickers say). Still have one port free, (maybe small SSD for the OS), and the eSATA port is still free.
Renegade:
Well, I finally ordered the HP Proliant Microserver 40NL with 8 GB of RAM and 4 x 2 TB drives. I'm kind of leaning towards FreeNAS, but undecided.
@4wd - thanks for all the info! :)
I'll update later after I get it up and running, then again later once I've had it running long enough to develop an initial opinion. (Probably a few weeks.)
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