Best Cheap home NAS server? TS140, ProLiant ML10, etc

[amorak]

Hello everyone,

I am looking to use freenas for a very might use home NAS. looking to run a plex server, store media, cloud backup and run some SickRage/Sabnzbd - ie; automated NZB file acquisition download routines.

I have two new 3TB Seagate drives (I know...) that I'll re purpose. I also will backup the server to the cloud, so I am not hugely concerned about redundancy, but I'd like to run some ZFS RAID (excuse my noobness) so that I can RAID these two and have 3TB of space, with a copy of the data on the other drive, so when they go all seagate on me and one dies, I don't lose my data (again - not mission critical, as it will all be cloud backed up).

So I need a box that will transcode 1-1080p plex streams, and that's about it. I was looking at an i3-equipped TS140 server, and then I'd throw my two 3TBs in there and install freenas and some jails to do the NZB stuff I mentioned...

Hoping for some suggestions. trying to do this on the cheap, while taking advantage of the flexibility of FreeNAS and fun of learning something new (freenas)... Any recommended servers? As mentioned, leaning towards an i3-4120 equipped TS140 with 4GB RAM, or a proLiant ML10 with an i3-4150 and the same 4GB of ram... Low power use would be nice, don't need more than 4 bays at most, likely will just stick with the simple 2HDD setup.

 

[Fuganater]

That CPU will be ok for 1x client streaming but probably no more.

Put no less than 8GB of RAM in this.

Minimum Hardware Requirements:
These specifications will suffice to get a small FreeNAS install running reliably with moderate performance for a few users.

• Multicore 64-bit* processor (Intel strongly recommended)
• 8GB* Boot Drive (USB Flash Drive suffices)
• 8GB* RAM
• At least 1 direct attached disk (Hardware RAID strongly discouraged)
• One physical network port

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Hoping for some suggestions. trying to do this on the cheap

The Dell PowerEdge T20 with G3220 is frequently available for less than $200. 32GB of RAM can be added for less than $200 if you shop around. If your CPU needs grow, you can upgrade it later to an E3-1225 v3.

 

[tyronebiggums]

I'm also a Dell T20 user; I've been very happy with it, so far.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I've been very happy with it

Very happy with mine too, but for full disclosure, I should note that every time it runs a scrub, one of the drives goes to 41C. I haven't bothered to figure out which bay it's in.

 

[amorak]

Did either of you fellas keep the other 4gb stick that came with your T20s? Can I buy it off you (hope that's okay to ask)

 

[tyronebiggums]

Did either of you fellas keep the other 4gb stick that came with your T20s? Can I buy it off you (hope that's okay to ask)

Yes, pm me and we'll work something out.

 

[amorak]

Did you T20 guys have to do anything crazy to get Freenas running? I am a power user but not a programmer (fumbling my way through a python script is about the extent of my skills). Hoping this is as simple as plugging in my 3TB drives, doing some bios config and plugging in a USB running freebnas and then following some freenas guides and jail guides...

Any insight or links that helped you would be appreciated!

Tyrone - sent you a conversation.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Did either of you fellas keep the other 4gb stick that came with your T20s?

I put mine in another T20 and sold it as an upgraded machine.

Did you T20 guys have to do anything crazy to get Freenas running?

The only thing I did was adjust the BIOS boot settings:

• enabled boot from USB (not 100% sure about this, it may have been enabled by default)
• disabled boot from HDD

Other than that, it's 100% plug-n-play. The machine even ships with SATA cables.

 

[tyronebiggums]

I concur with Robert, probably one of the easiest ways to get a FreeNas box running without buying one pre-built.

 

[Z300M]

One of NewEgg's ShellShocker deals today is for a Lenovo TS140, but with an i3 CPU, and I see that the "Remote KVM" feature (presumably their version of IPMI?) is available only when using a Xeon with integrated graphics. Does the Dell T20 have IPMI with an i3?

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

One of NewEgg's ShellShocker deals today is for a Lenovo TS140, but with an i3 CPU, and I see that the "Remote KVM" feature (presumably their version of IPMI?) is available only when using a Xeon with integrated graphics. Does the Dell T20 have IPMI with an i3?

The T20 CPU options are Pentium G3220 or Xeon E3-1225-v3. The Xeon supports remote admin via Intel AMT 9.0, which is not the same as IPMI. The G3220 has no remote admin capability.

 

[tyronebiggums]

I concur with Robert, my T20 with the Pentium doesn't have remote admin capabilities...