Will this used computer work?

[demouser]

First post, so bear with me. My old HP MediaSmart EX485 died, so I need a replacement.
I can pick up a the following for a reasonable price:

HP ML110 G6 Xeon Server <<(click for link to spec pdf)
Appears to be from 2011
It has a 4-core 2.40 GHz Xeon X3430
8GB RAM, I believe ECC was standard with these, assuming the RAM is original.
I plan to use the two 1TB drives from my old Mediasmart server.

I was wondering if it is a good candidate for a simple FreeNAS home backup server.
Backing up 3 laptops with a total of around 800GB.
No plans for anything fancy like a media server at this point.
Thank you for your guidance!

 

[Ericloewe]

Probably, but it's hard to say for sure.

 

[demouser]

Starting to RTFM and cyberjock guides. Looks like I need more drives to get better redundancy.

 

[Fuganater]

Starting to RTFM and cyberjock guides. Looks like I need more drives to get better redundancy.

True but a mirror is just fine for backing up data. My first NAS was some little 2 bay Netgear NAS where you set the raid by a little switch on it. 2x 2TB drives in a mirror so when 1 fails, you replace it.

Now this is your 'backup' system. If this was your primary system I would suggest a RAIDZ2 setup.

 

[Sakuru]

I would suggest larger drives if possible. It sounds like you want to start at 80% full, which is generally the highest you want to go, so not a good starting point.

 

[demouser]

I agree. 1 TB seems a little small plus they are at least 3 to 4 years old.
Although highly regarded, I'm wondering if FreeNAS might be vast overkill for simply backing up home computers. I'm looking more for a plug-n-play automated backup that won't take me a week to set up. I'm still learning about available products and the market appears to be highly fragmented for hardware and software. There seems to be no easy solution, except perhaps for cloud backups. The hardware and software solutions I'm finding seem to get mixed reviews, especially when a client hard drive starts going bad, and you have to replace a drive and restore a PC. Many articles point back to FreeNAS, but the hardware and time commitment seem to be very high for learning it and setting it up.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I have an older ML110 G5 still in service doing simple file sharing. It's slow on large directory browsing, but quite stable.

The G6 was a significant improvement as it went to DDR3/Core-series processors. All RAM will be ECC in those machines.

How much is a "reasonable price" if I can ask?

 

[demouser]

HP ProLiant ML110 G6 $100/OBO

* 4-core 2.40 GHz Xeon X3430
* 8GB RAM
* 160GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD
* HP SATA DVD-ROM Optical Drive
* LO100i lights out management processor
* Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5723 Gigabit Ethernet
* USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 2 front panel, 2 internal (one for USB Tape connectivity))
* Micro ATX Tower

Includes like-new HP keyboard, mouse, and power cable.

Looks pretty clean from the pix.
The X3430 supports ECC. I believe the 8GB of RAM was not standard, I'll have to see if it is ECC.
No idea if the HP setup CD is a necessity, since setup discs often goes missing.
Reading the FreeNAS hardware guides, it should work, although there were some references to the ML110 not booting up with FreeNAS.
I also may need an upgrade to an Intel NIC per the hardware guides, no big deal.

 

[HoneyBadger]

For $100 with the Xeon and 8GB, that's a good deal. But since there's an OBO on there, offer $80.

ECC is mandatory so the memory will be ECC unbuffered, guaranteed. Non-ECC won't boot in that board.

The HP setup CD is unnecessary as you'll be installing FreeNAS (although if you need a BIOS/firmware update, toss me a PM)

You'll want an Intel NIC most likely, and a 16GB or larger USB stick (Sandisk is a highly recommended brand) or SSD/SATA DOM for installing FreeNAS. Then plug in your drives, set up a zpool, and enjoy.

 

[demouser]

Thanks for the tips! A nationwide CL search shows the ML110G6 typically goes for $75-$120 bare bones on the used market.
The amazing thing is the seller responded right away, a rarity on CL.
Yes, I'll offer $80 since he told me "the memory is non-ECC". It'll be interesting to see what it has. Probably 2GBx4
Looks like hp.com still has plenty of info on these including the driver CD, bios/firmware,service manual, etc.
Yes, I'll need to buy a boot drive of some kind, Intel NIC, and bigger drives.

 

[gpsguy]

While HP has the BIOS' etc, you probably can't download the files. A few years ago they put up a paywall in front of the files.

Unless you have paid support for that model - you can't access the files.

You might be able to find the files if you spend a lot of time digging around on the FTP site poking around in oddly named folders and files.


Sent from my phone

 

[demouser]

You are correct. BIOS upgrade needs a service agreement. ;)

 

[demouser]

Got it home and the 8GB consists of one original 2 GB HP ECC. The other 3 are Kingston unbuffered non ECC. I guess you can mix them, but I'll buy the right kind.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Well I'll be. I was certain that it would just puke with non-ECC RAM. Toss that stuff because not only is it non-ECC, it's Kingston. Ugh.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Makes me wonder if the mobo really supports ECC, or just accepts it.

 

[demouser]

Per the service manual: "The system has four DIMM slots that support PC3-10600E unbuffered DIMM (UDIMM) with ECC support."

I got FreeNAS installed on a flash drive plugged into the server's internal USB, but nothing set up yet.
Tip for new users; be patient, it takes a while to finish the the final step of installation. This is not pointed out in the installation instructions.
Did find out my old server's primary hard drive was failing after 5 years., so time for new drives.
New drives, memory, Intel NIC coming this week.
I'm sure I'll have questions.

 

[HoneyBadger]

General Googling leads me to reports from folks that say the system will disable ECC if the memory is mixed, otherwise it's fully supported.

We really need a reliable method of fault injection for memory.

 

[demouser]

The reliable method for general fault injection is called "Microsoft Windows", but for memory fault testing, I don't know.
Left the server running, but after coming back from the Star Wars movie, it was no longer on the network. Apparently the force is not strong in this one yet, until I check some settings.

 

[HoneyBadger]

The reliable method for general fault injection is called "Microsoft Windows"

ohsnap.gif

Left the server running, but after coming back from the Star Wars movie, it was no longer on the network. Apparently the force is not strong in this one yet, until I check some settings.

Did it hang completely or just become unresponsive to network packets? IIRC the onboard on those is a Broadcom, or the "hey, at least it's not a Realtek" NIC.

 

[demouser]

It simply disappeared from the router's list of attached devices. I did not investigate further. I still need check/set up a few things; static IP address, re-check BIOS settings.