Old HP Microserver Gen7 N54L Freenas 11.3 ?

[pieca]

Hi,

I'm currently using an old and really slow netgear 104 Nas.
I've just got a Gen7 microserver with Turion II CPu with 16Gb RAM to replace it

I'm considering Freenas 10.3 on it with 5 WD red 3To in Z1 raid and dual USB key for system.
I don't want to do fancy things with it : SMB drive and time machine backup. I will be the main user and maximum simultaneous connection should be 3 at max, once or twice a month.

My other plan is to be able to get access from the outside :
With my Netgear old nas, I have a VPN set up from my router. The issue is that the VPN protocol from my router is old and only allow simple password protection. My macintosh at home isn't able to connect because of this old unsecureprotocol (no issue with my linux computer). I need a plan B

What is the better and simplest option wiyh freenas to do that without my old VPN?
Nextcloud alone, nextcloud with SSL self signed certificate, https access, something else?
I want to be able to securely acess all my datas remotely

Will this old HP server will do what I want, or do I need to install a ligter nas system on it?

Thanks for your help !

 

[Samuel Tai]

Try replacing your router with something more modern that supports a more secure VPN. Something like OPNsense with ZeroTier, or OpenWRT with WireGuard. Then you can verify that you still have remote access to your current NAS. Then you can think of upgrading to a better NAS. That MicroServer is a bit too long in the tooth, however.

 

[iKersh]

I have been running this particular microserver for at least 3 years now, have had no problems, however, I do agree Samuel that it should be now considered more of a backup NAS role (if that even) because I am actively looking at replacing mine with a machine with a bit more 'cyber horsepower'.

 

[Basil Hendroff]

For you use case, the N54l is fine, but being of around a 10-year vintage, you'll want to move it to a backup role when you're able to. It makes a terrific replication target.

 

[Frank Collins]

As you can see in my signature, my system runs 11.3 easily with several active jails. The NAS I set up for a friend, seven to eight years ago, is a N54L with 16G and 4 x 4TB HDDs and runs 11.3 without any problems. It only has one jail (miniDLNA) but is able to feed two smart TVs different movies simultaneously. The only real problems was using low speed USB sticks which has been solved with USB 3 sticks. I will get around to a SSD shortly though.

 

[pieca]

Finally freenas 11.3 installed with 4 drives in z1 and an Intel gigabit Nic.
Full gigabit saturation with smb : 108mb/s write, 106Mb read.
Proliant N54l does the job perfectly for me in 2020!