Scott.Buffington.ME Comments

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

Angelo Corbo — 2012-05-26T19:29:04Z

Hi Scott,
Thank you for posting your project on line. You have no idea how useful it is to have your recollection on using this particular technology. I'm shopping around for a cost-effective NAS solution but unsure as to which one would give me a decent ROI. I have a Mac Mini in my closet and I love the low footprint. I read all but positive comments on Amazon and other places regarding the HP ProLiant N40L, including the fact that running a Unix/Linux OS reduces consumption, as opposed to running Windows Server. Have you done metrics on power consumption with your setup?

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

Scott — 2012-04-07T18:25:17Z

Thanks for the info Karsten. :)

I knew of the Western Digital, which I think was released after I made this post. The LaCIe mentions a JBOD mode, but the Western Digital does not, at least not that I could find. They are both pricey, as one would expect. But as more devices are released, hopefully we will see the prices drop. I would have to purchase two of these devices to get the same size ZFS pool as I have with the N40L. If price were not an object, I would be all in. In the mean time it would be worth checking out a single LaCie device and playing around with MacZFS if one so desired. I really appreciate the feedback, thanks again!

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

knweiss — 2012-04-07T12:46:10Z

FYI there are at least two Thunderbolt JBOD solutions:

1. LaCie's 2Big Thunderbolt-RAID

2. Western Digital's MyBook Thunderbolt Duo

As far as I as I know they both support JBOD mode. However, I do not have first hand experience with both products yet.

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

Scott — 2012-03-31T18:47:05Z

Thanks JT! As I mentioned, I too was not fond of the tight internals. I had to remove several very tight cables to get my new RAM sticks in. The cables were so tight, I was a little afraid I might break the board getting them off. I am okay with the drives not being hot swappable if it keeps the price down. Good luck on your upgrades!

I totally agree, the N40L does seem to be made for FreeNAS. I actually performed a FreeNAS upgrade using the GUI this past week and it went very smoothly, I had installed my machine just prior to their recent official release. I too believe the N40L is one of the least expensive NAS devices.

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

JT — 2012-03-29T07:17:10Z

Great article! I just setup my freenas on the N40L as well and it's working great. with the internal USB stick, it just seems freenas and the N40L are meant for each other. I'm considering getting another and then using the ZFS replication feature for ultimate protection.

I've found the built-in HW RAID to not be sufficient since it only support RAID 1 or 0. With RAID-Z, there are a lot more options and swapping a drive is pretty straight forward. The two complaints that I have on the N40L is the very tight internals and lack of hot-swap HDD. I'm going to add a ThermalTake MAX-1542 into the 5 1/4 drive slot and then add a HighPoint RocketRAID 4-port SATA/SAS controller. However, looking inside it's seems like it's going to be quite the exercise getting all the cabling. I haven't upgraded the RAM yet, but will do soon. I've found a 4GB RAM (HP brand) stick to be about $70. In the end, it' s one of the least expensive NAS devices out there and with freenas offering almost enterprise-class storage technologies.

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

Scott — 2012-03-20T16:43:39Z

I am glad you commented, because Windows Home Server is what this server was primarily intended. It just happens to fit well into a lot of other niches. I am also not using the hardware RAID, on purpose of course because I am using ZFS.

FreeNAS with HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

aharden — 2012-03-20T09:04:10Z

I love my MicroServer for Windows Home Server 2011. I'm using the four internal SATA bays as well as a 2TB external drive attached to the eSATA port for backups. All is going well. I built the server without using the hardware RAID because I wasn't familiar with it, but I'm thinking about going back and making a RAID0 array with my three internal 1TB drives to improve performance. I'm using the 250GB internal drive that came with the server for the OS and incoming data. Glad to hear the MicroServer is working for you, too!

Create RSS Feed of Runkeeper Actvities

Nathan Powell — 2011-11-16T22:39:36Z

Added to my reader. Nice!

Programming Commitment Update

Scott — 2011-09-30T09:53:51Z

I really appreciate the feedback Nathan. I am truly happy I spent some time with Ruby and I had a lot of fun going through some Project Euler problems as well as scratching a few other itches.

Clojure is an excellent suggestion and I have moved it to the top of my list. As I said I was not married to any of my choices.

Programming Commitment Update

Nathan Powell — 2011-09-28T22:13:42Z

Hey Scott.
I am a Ruby fan, but I also agree with you. If you are primarily interested in non-web development, the culture around ruby can be difficult.
Python has a lot of strengths, but I have always, personally, considered Ruby syntax to be more elegant. That's a subjective thing and only worth anything to beholder. There is no shame however in picking Python over Ruby. In fact for an SA, you are much more likely to find Python installed on your *nix server, than Ruby. Even in Linux Ruby doesn't ship by default.
With regard to your other language choices, both are great in that, I think functional programming bends a person's mind in a direction that is helpful. Any of the functional languages I think are worth pursuing at least as pleasant diversions. My personal favorite has been Clojure, but any Lisp/Haskell/Erlang will, IMHO, expand out how you think about problems.
No matter which way you go, as I am sure you know, nothing bad comes from learning something new. At least for me, it always gives me a deeper understanding of the current problem in front of me that needs solved.
Looking forward to your next post on the subject!