Replacing HP Micro server N40L recommendations on new setup?

[VeGeTa-X]

I am going to replace my hp N40L I have had it for 3 years already and starting to show issues. I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations on home server setup like a Mirco server N40l. I just use these servers to run a few VM's and store files "Media mostly"

 

[danb35]

The Lenovo TS140s seem to be a good choice--server-grade hardware (even Xeon CPUs in some of them), inexpensive, fairly compact. Not quite as small as the N40L, perhaps.

 

[VeGeTa-X]

Thx for response found the model on amazon looks the 3-4130 3.4GHz 16GB would be a good choice. Right now my n4ol holds 4 X 2TB and I have expansion enclosure a Sansdigital TowerRAID TR4M-BNC holding 4 X 640GB drives. I would imagine I would need to a get better enclosure for Lenovo what would you recommend?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJF4PK2/?tag=ozlp-20

 

[danb35]

Well, when you said you wanted a setup "like a Micro Server N40l", I figured you meant you actually wanted something like an N40L--small, few drives, adequate for FreeNAS. The TS140 has room for 4 drives, IIRC. If you want more, the TS440 doesn't cost much more, and you can get an extra four-drive cage for it, giving it a total capacity of 8 drives. How many drives total do you want to run in the new server?

 

[VeGeTa-X]

Right now I have 8 drives I might expand to 12 by end of this year. Yeah lenovo looks good but any other recommendations would be appreciated looking to spend 1,000 if neeed on new server and enclosure. Looking to purchase something already built and ready to go that's why lenovo looks pretty good

 

[danb35]

IMO, if you're wanting to plan for expansion to 12 disks or more, you aren't looking for anything like an N40L, and neither of the Lenovo machines I mentioned would be suitable. The options I see are:

1. Build it yourself, using a large tower case (i.e., something with 10 or so 5.25" bays) and 5-in-3 hotswap racks, an IBM M1015 or equivalent LSI card, and suitable hardware as found in the hardware recommendations thread.
2. Build it yourself, using a suitable rack chassis. A SuperMicro CSE-826 model (like I have) has room for 12 drives, but if you keep an eye on eBay you can often find CSE-846 models with SAS expander backplanes, giving you room for 24 drives and needing only a single SAS controller. An X10SL7-F and a reverse breakout cable would have you covered here. The chassis is ~$300, $250 for the motherboard, $60+ for the CPU depending on what you get ($200+ for a Xeon), ~$200 for RAM.
3. Buy a pre-built server in a rack chassis. At first glance, this eBay listing looks promising. You'd want to make sure that the RAID controller can be made to operate in HBA mode, and you'd need to add RAM, but it should cover you well.