SetUp NAS HP Proliant N40L run PMS ...Noob

[BohemainDolphin]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for dumb question but I am a virgin FreeNas user.
I have tried a few other OS's but I think this may suit me best because I need to run the server from the flash USB drive without taking up an additional HD.
Is this my best option guys?

Secondly I'm wondering if someone would be so kind as to give me a rough guide/guidance as the configuration.
I got 4GB of ram with
AMD Turion II Processor Model Neo N54L (2.20 GHz, 15W, 2MB).
4 * 2TB HD's on my NAS HP Proliant MicroServer N40L
FreeNAS is installed and up and running in the WebUI.

There are so many file systems now that I don't know which RAID or file system I should choose?
I got about 2.5TB of movies, all in MP4 format ,so I believe no transcoding required.
I need about 2*2 TB for my movies. How much do I need for backup? do I use 2 for media and 2 HD for Backup or are the backups compressed?

What I need it for is to run my movie library in my home connecting to Android , Apple, xBox etc.
I need to run Plex media Server. I think there is a plugin but I actually tried to install it and when I do it reaches 100% (very slow) but when window closes and I check for installed plugins it's not there.

Basically if some one could guide me in the right direction to just stream my movies using PMS and secure Backup solution.

Thanks to everyone and looking forward to trying out FreeNAS

 

[SweetAndLow]

First of all you don't have enough memory installed to run FreeNAS. This is most likely the same thing that is causing Plex to not install. I would suggest upgrading to 16GB of memory. I would also suggest reading the nood guide.

Here is a link:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

 

[Ericloewe]

Plex with anything less than 16GB is not a good idea.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

thanks for reply guys. At the moment I'm running my PMS on Windows8 with 4GB and it runs perfectly to other devices.
There is no transcoding as said as all are mp4 with subtitles burned in already.
Due to funds I will be unable to upgrade my nas memory for a while anyway so I'm wondering if there is a suitable alternative for me in the meantime.
I see now general rule of thumb to run FreeNAS is 1GB per 1*TB so what you guys say is spot on.
thanks again.

 

[gpsguy]

BTW, which box do you have? Your title says N40L, the message says it's a N54L. The CPU on the 54 is about 50% faster than the 40..

You can put 16GB of RAM in them. With just 2 slots, you'll have to put the old memory on the shelf.

Before you upgrade - you might want to rethink your plan. You might want to replace your Microserver with better hardware.


Sent from my phone

 

[BohemainDolphin]

BTW, which box do you have? Your title says N40L, the message says it's a N54L. The CPU on the 54 is about 50% faster than the 40..

You can put 16GB of RAM in them. With just 2 slots, you'll have to put the old memory on the shelf.

Before you upgrade - you might want to rethink your plan. You might want to replace your Microserver with better hardware.


Sent from my phone

oops sorry my typo. meant it's N40L. Bad for me :(
think its max is 8GB. When you say better hardware you mean the board and cpu? I only just bought this so don't fancy paying much more to be honest.im not using it as a player so don't care for graphics card.

 

[gpsguy]

You can put 16GB of RAM in it. I put 16GB in my N54L. With just 2 memory slots, you'd have to remove your current RAM and buy a pair of 8GB ECC sticks.

With a ballpark guess that 16GB of RAM might cost ~$200 USD and you know you have a 1.5GHz CPU - do you want to make that investment?

You might be better off (in the long run), by selling your N40L and buying a new machine with a faster CPU and the ability to expand memory down the road, should you need it.


Sent from my phone

 

[adrianwi]

I've got both a N40L and N54L both running with 16GB RAM.

The N54L is my main box running both Plex and ownCloud without too many hitches. DTS encoded 1080p video doesn't like playing on my aTV and I still haven't nailed down the problem, but it's fine with everything else.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

tha

You can put 16GB of RAM in it. I put 16GB in my N54L. With just
2 memory slots, you'd have to remove your current RAM and buy a pair of 8GB ECC sticks.

With a ballpark guess that 16GB of RAM might cost ~$200 USD and you know you have a 1.5GHz CPU - do you want to make that investment?

You might be better off (in the long run), by selling your N40L and buying a new machine with a faster CPU and the ability to expand memory down the road, should you need it.


Sent from my phone

Thanks for replies guys,
It's not N54L but it is N40L. I just bought this thinking it be enough for what I need.
Not looking good going on what you guys are saying.
I can't understand this server in intended to run Windows Server 2012 and Red Hat but not good enough for small footprint OS such as FreeNAS ?
http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/Operating_System

I can upgrade memory if you guys can send me link on what kind, think it accept UDIMM.
Think only 2 slots so 2*4gb, correct if I'm wrong.
If I had to upgrade CPU then ya I be better to buy new server but no funds to upgrade to new machine anytime soon.

 

[adrianwi]

 

[cyberjock]

FreeNAS isn't a "small footprint" per se.

It's an enterprise class storage system and uses the system in a much different way than your traditional Windows Server and Red Hat.

ZFS needs lots of RAM (which is why you have to have 8GB of RAM minimum to prevent crashes and erratic/unpredictable behavior) and you do need a CPU with some power to it.

I've seen Windows Server run pretty well on 2GB of RAM. That would be fatal for FreeNAS.

 

[sremick]

I can't understand this server in intended to run Windows Server 2012 and Red Hat but not good enough for small footprint OS such as FreeNAS ?

Who said FreeNAS is "small footprint"? I've never read that nor would I ever suggest that to be the case.

FreeNAS is not Windows. Windows is not Plex Media Server. Windows does not have ZFS. They do different things in different ways and have different requirements. If you don't understand the differences between FreeNAS/PMS and Windows I wonder why you're wanting to use FreeNAS and PMS?

FreeNAS is a high-end modern NAS OS designed to run on modern server-grade hardware. Although you get it for free, it should not be confused with other free software which has lower hardware requirements. Nor should it be confused with the lower hardware requirements of FreeBSD which FreeNAS uses at its core, but then adds a tremendous amount more to. A huge part of FreeNAS' requirements stem from ZFS which is optional (or unavailable) in other OSes but required by FreeNAS. Then on-top of the basic FreeNAS hardware requirements, using PMS adds an additional level of hardware demands on top of that and raises the bar further.

People who have experience with this stuff are giving you accurate information. You can argue with and disbelieve them at your own risk.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

Who said FreeNAS is "small footprint"? I've never read that nor would I ever suggest that to be the case.

FreeNAS is not Windows. Windows is not Plex Media Server. Windows does not have ZFS. They do different things in different ways and have different requirements. If you don't understand the differences between FreeNAS/PMS and Windows I wonder why you're wanting to use FreeNAS and PMS?

FreeNAS is a high-end modern NAS OS designed to run on modern server-grade hardware. Although you get it for free, it should not be confused with other free software which has lower hardware requirements. Nor should it be confused with the lower hardware requirements of FreeBSD which FreeNAS uses at its core, but then adds a tremendous amount more to. A huge part of FreeNAS' requirements stem from ZFS which is optional (or unavailable) in other OSes but required by FreeNAS. Then on-top of the basic FreeNAS hardware requirements, using PMS adds an additional level of hardware demands on top of that and raises the bar further.

People who have experience with this stuff are giving you accurate information. You can argue with and disbelieve them at your own risk.

thanks for your feedback.
I'm only here to understand and learn and not to distrust anyone here. All information received be either negative or positive is welcomed.

Yes it looks like I have to go try install Windows Server 2012 and hopefully get it up and running for now. Yes I can see that ZFS filing system is resourceful but just thought it would work after seeing this
http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/Operating_System
I'm not sure how reliable that wiki page is though. You say that it's not a good idea, however, you didn't offer me a solution to my problem.
Any suggestion you have is welcome. I'm not sure if Ubuntu Server is an option for me as I haven't really looked into it as they use the Linux filing system it may be sufficient to run.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

thank you for that link kind sir ;)

 

[BohemainDolphin]

FreeNAS isn't a "small footprint" per se.

It's an enterprise class storage system and uses the system in a much different way than your traditional Windows Server and Red Hat.

ZFS needs lots of RAM (which is why you have to have 8GB of RAM minimum to prevent crashes and erratic/unpredictable behavior) and you do need a CPU with some power to it.

I've seen Windows Server run pretty well on 2GB of RAM. That would be fatal for FreeNAS.

thanks for that. I hear what you are saying. It's worth the risk. I liked the idea that I could run it from my usb key and maintain HD storage. Windows Server in looks like so. Although I hear some guys run server happily with Windows 8. I have it installed on my desktop and PMS worked happily on it, advantage would be easy .exe install. any thoughts? thanks again

 

[sremick]

You say that it's not a good idea, however, you didn't offer me a solution to my problem.

gpsguy already gave you mine: instead of investing more cash into this system, sell it and get something better-suited to your needs.

Even if you put 16GB RAM into it, you're still left with a low-end CPU:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Turion+II+Neo+N40L+Dual-Core&id=476

 

[cyberjock]

Just to compare that craptastic CPU, we recommend on the lowest end the G2020/G3220. Even the older G2020 (http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+G2020+@+2.90GHz) scores 3x that CPU.

So yeah... poor choice for FreeNAS just from the CPU side of things.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

Sorry guys been away but thank you to everyone who replied. I'm going to reconsider my options before I even begin to setup.
On a slightly different note. I'm just wondering if any sort of RAID is worth for Home Media. I mean it's not exactly critical if I have downtime and only safest backup is to store it on cheaper HHD off-site in case of emergency. Isn't RAID really only useful for critical systems? I was considering just using RAID 0 but this would suck if one disk fails I loose everything so I think I just use them as separate HHD's. any opinions please?

 

[Fraoch]

You could do a mirror, which would be equivalent to having another hard drive (although not offsite).

The problem with external disks is that they're usually USB, which can do all sorts of nasty things to the data passing through it without telling you. ZFS is much, much safer provided you use ECC RAM. The only problem is that it's sitting in the same machine, onsite.

It's best if you do both. A mirror saves the data if you have a single drive failure, while an offsite backup will probably save the data if both drives get lost in a fire, flood or get stolen. It's not as secure but it's good as a last resort, especially if it's non-critical data.

 

[BohemainDolphin]

You could do a mirror, which would be equivalent to having another hard drive (although not offsite).

The problem with external disks is that they're usually USB, which can do all sorts of nasty things to the data passing through it without telling you. ZFS is much, much safer provided you use ECC RAM. The only problem is that it's sitting in the same machine, onsite.

It's best if you do both. A mirror saves the data if you have a single drive failure, while an offsite backup will probably save the data if both drives get lost in a fire, flood or get stolen. It's not as secure but it's good as a last resort, especially if it's non-critical data.

Hello Fraoch, thanks for your reply. the problem is with mirror is that I am losing valuable expensive NAS space.I have about 10 500gb SATA drives which I was thinking of backing up to and store off-site. Not critical data however still be a bummer if I lost all my mp4 collection. Just confused with different forums talking about different RAID's and i'm thinking the hell with RAID for a home user, it's overkill for non critical. Obviously family photo's or docs would be stored separately and considered critical. I understand some people need to use RAID, i'm not against them, just don't think it would be suitable for me. RAID's may be redundant anyway when SSD's become more inexpensive.
Until then, I don't want to be careless but need to think RAID options through before I think about setup.