HP ML350 G6 - My Upcoming build, looking for any advice and possible help sourcing parts.

[BigOBX]

So i learned from my last post that the hardware I had on hand was really not up to snuff for running a good Freenas build. I was able to trade for this machine with a good friend of mine who got it from a customer pull and had no need for it. I gave him a bunch of DDR2 memory that he needed and a nice 24GB port Managed switch that i had acquired from a customer pull myself.

It currently has on zeon CPU and 32 GB of mem installed with 4*72gb 10K sas and 3*146gb 10K sas drives installed.

Im hoping to be able to squeeze my 8*2TB drives in there for a nice sized pool and to eventually be upgraded to larger drives later on and possibly keep some of the SAS drives for some jail space and sql install.

I would like some feedback on this machine and how i can get the best use out of it. I dont really need speed for like running VM's and stuff, im looking mostly for storage capacity for my ever growing Movie and Tv collections.

For the time being i will install Freenas on it as is and just see how well it works with the current configuration.

Thanks in advance for any help of info on this ongoing topic. I will try to keep posting info on the build as it moves along but any major changes will be some time as i just got a new job after 9 months of looking so once the funds open up again, i can afford to get the parts needed to change this build around.

 

[BigOBX]

Update:

I swapped out the mem that came with the server with some Kingston ECC mem that i had from my old job and bumped the server to 36GB:

http://www.kingston.com/us/memory/system_specific/nehalem

Also, im trying to find some hot swap bays that I can install in the 5 CD rom bay slots to add some 3.5 disks. Really wish the damn server had 6 cdrom slots, it would have made my life alot easier but im looking at these items from icydock, what you guys think?

ICY DOCK MB453SPF-B 3 in 2 SATA I, II & III Hot-Swap Internal Backplane Raid Cage Module
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994026

ICY DOCK MB455SPF-B 5 in 3 SATA I, II & III Hot-Swap Internal Backplane Raid Cage Module
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994028

That way i can keep the sas drives that i have in place and just add my 8*2TB drives and or work on getting 8 new drives to use for my main ZFS pool.

 

[BigOBX]

Things are busy here at home as i gear up for a new job and getting my home office back up and running because of it. Anyone have any suggestions or comments about this rig?

Is it worth moving forward with it or do i sell it and go for something different? I do have an Antec 1200 that I set up to hold 16 disks already so if had a good Mobo that would work well for that case.

 

[mickebo]

I got the company ML350 G6 for free, looking at building a FreeNAS server of it.
Have you had any progress with yours?

 

[entplex]

ICY DOCK MB453SPF-B 3 in 2 SATA I, II & III Hot-Swap Internal Backplane Raid Cage Module

Did you end up using the ICY DOCK (MB453SPF or MB455SPF) and getting it up and running?

I'm interested in what it took to get it setup for hot-swap and if you had any issues with getting the lights to work properly. I haven't installed it yet, but have the 3 bay version and considering using it in a upcoming build.