HP N54L

[amwg16]

Anyone have any experience running FreeNas v9 with the HP N54L Microserver? Interested in running ZFS, de duplication on a small subset of files, and possibly compression. Might also install some plugins, such as Plex & transmission.

Im repurposing this from a previous Hyper-V build that was running 4 VMs. I've set aside 16gb ECC ram, 4x3tb red drives, and a 120gb SSD for cache.

These microservers are surprisingly capable, but since this is my first FreeNAS build, I'm interested in getting some feedback. I've been tracking FreeNAS for a while and the feature set available in v9, has really made me want to jump on this.

Thoughts? Thx!


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[anodos]

Anyone have any experience running FreeNas v9 with the HP N54L Microserver? Interested in running ZFS, de duplication on a small subset of files, and possibly compression. Might also install some plugins, such as Plex & transmission.

Im repurposing this from a previous Hyper-V build that was running 4 VMs. I've set aside 16gb ECC ram, 4x3tb red drives, and a 120gb SSD for cache.

These microservers are surprisingly capable, but since this is my first FreeNAS build, I'm interested in getting some feedback. I've been tracking FreeNAS for a while and the feature set available in v9, has really made me want to jump on this.

Thoughts? Thx!


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Don't use deduplication. L2ARC (using your SSD for cache) won't help unless you are using lots more than 16GB RAM (think 64GB+). Compression should probably be fine.

 

[DannyKlenz]

Looking over the specs:

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c04111672

It looks like you will be limited to 2tb disks since the motherboard does not support UEFI. I found this out the hard way and i had to exchange two 4tb WD Reds for four 2tb models. Also from reading on the forums. AMD hardware and be problematic when it comes to FreeNAS.

The Broadcom NIC should work fine. Ive had FreeBSD installed on several computers with them and have not had an issue.

According to quickspecs it only supports 8GB of ram (2x4GB).

Powersupply is only 150w.

I think compression will bring this thing to its knees.

 

[gpsguy]

Disregard most of what @DannyKlenz said.

As you know it does support 16Gb ECC RAM. I am running 16Gb in my N54L.

They also support 3&4 Tb hard disks.

A number of forum users are using the NxxL Microservers and find them suitable for their needs.


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[DannyKlenz]

My mistake. I was going off of what HPs specs said as correct. Seems i was wrong about the HDD size limit too and have some reading to to on GPT and UEFI. Its a bit embarrassing being so wrong lol. Most of my hardware knowledge is limited to 2007 and older so i have a few gaps here and there.

 

[cyberjock]

amwg16,

You know if you had searched for the model number you'd have found dozens of threads talking about the HP N54L?

 

[amwg16]

Cyberjock,
Couldn't we say that about the entire Internet. "If you had just google'ed it you would of found it..." If you don't want to be part of the discussion, that's fine, but don't stop others from partaking in these conversations. Isn't that what these forums are for???

Everyone else, thanks so far for the input. I'm hearing, steer clear of dedup & possibly L2ARC.

DannyKlenz, thanks for looking that up for us. I should have been clearer in stating that I'm running a modified bios allowing 16gb and larger drives, so 3tb should b ok. Haven't tried anything bigger though.


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[gpsguy]

You don't need a modified BIOS for those items.

The primary reason to run one of the hacked BIOS' is to enable AHCI on the ODD and eSATA connections, so you can stuff 6 SATA drives in a server designed for 4 drives.

I should have been clearer in stating that I'm running a modified bios allowing 16gb and larger drives, so 3tb should b ok.

 

[amwg16]

Which is where the SSD would come into the picture, ie) 5th drive. Been a while, but I think it also gives you SATAIII speeds on those ports. The guys over at the wegotservedforums have it all documented there.

May eventually use my IcyDock and install the 6th drive as a hot spare...


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[gpsguy]

I think there might be confusion between SATA III and SATA 3Gb/s (SATA II), see: http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/Bios

As @anodos said earlier, you don't have enough RAM to use the SSD for L2ARC. You might use it as a separate volume for scripts, or ....

If you have easy access to the server, I wouldn't bother with a hot spare. Just keep the drive nearby, if needed. That feature isn't supported.

 

[amwg16]

you are right. i re-read one of the post & in the comments they clarify that the jump is from SATAI speeds to SATAII for ports 4&5 (eSATA & SATA ports), so yes 3Gb/s would be correct...
http://homeservershow.com/hp-proliant-n40l-microserver-build-and-bios-modification-revisited.html

 

[amwg16]

Since, dedup isn't recommended, what compression level should I use? Any harm in using anything greater than the default?


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