HP Proliant DL160 G6 For FreeNas

[Jawwak]

I searched through the forums but couldn't find anything about this specific server for use with FreeNas. There is an offer for one to be donated to a Non-Profit that I work with and they were thinking to use it to replace their windows based file server.

My biggest concern is the Smart Array B110i SATA RAID and whether it is compatible. It doesn't seem to appear on the compatibility list but there are a lot of Smart Array items listed.


Does anyone have any experience with using this server for FreeNas, as everything else seems like it would be a great choice.

 

[cyberjock]

Are you even sure that it will boot FreeNAS? Quite a fe HP Proliants won't boot with FreeNAS because the hardware doesn't support FreeBSD at all.

Just look at http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/psi/swdHome/?lang=en&cc=us&sp4ts.oid=3884344

Based on that link and other users that have had Proliants that didn't work I'd say you have only a slim chance of FreeNAS even booting since no FreeBSD operating system is listed. From what I've seen every system that didn't boot FreeNAS/FreeBSD wasn't on that list.

 

[Jawwak]

Thanks for the information, I didn't think to check there to see if the OS was actually listed there. I will let them know that FreeNAS isn't really an option for that server and they will need to choose something else.

By the way, I read your guide, it is great..

 

[cyberjock]

Glad my guide helped.

I'd test FreeNAS before you give them the news. While I have never had that list disappoint, if you already have the hardware its just a USB stick away from being tested.

 

[Hanakuso]

I use an HP DL180 to host an iSCSI backend running FreeNAS for my ESXi box. Works just fine. Just don't use the Smart Array card that it comes with as it is not supported. You'll have to get a new SATA controller but that was a relatively small price to pay.