HPE ProLiant Gen8 G1610T - Suitability & Questions

[Ben Lavery]

Good afternoon all,

Currently I have an old Mac Pro that has OS X + OpenZFS installed, I've got four 3TB WD Reds configured in a RAIDz - the OS is on a USB stick.
On top of this, I have a FreeBSD VM running with Jails for Nextcloud, Quassel Core, and GitLab.

It's a rather expensive way of achieving the service I want, and I'm looking at the HPE ProLiant Gen8 G1610T to shrink physical size, and power requirements. It would make sense to make use of FreeNAS over FreeBSD since I can still have Jails, but get the simplicity of FreeNAS for storage management.

I've seen some threads on here that there are people running FreeNAS on this hardware. The only modification I would make is bumping the RAM to 16 or 32GB. But if anyone could confirm that this is suitable for a FreeNAS that would be reassuring.

My other question is that I don't think I need the added storage of a RAIDz, and am thinking that I would prefer the added protection of two striped mirrors (again, done via ZFS). I am a little loath to buy more hard drives since I already have four, and this HP server takes four drives. I've got approximately 2.7TB of data on the current array.
Understanding the risk involved, could this be a plan:

1. Remove one disk from my current RAIDz array and install into the HP.
2. Install FreeNAS onto the HP and set up the single disk as the sole disk in a zpool.
3. Transfer the 2.7TB of data to the new zpool (sat on a 3TB disk).
4. Remove another disk from the original array and install into the HP - Tell FreeNAS to add this new disk as a mirror to the previous one.
5. Remove the final two drives from the original array and install into the HP - Tell FreeNAS to mirror them together and stripe with the first mirror.

I understand that until step 4 is complete I will have data loss if a disk fails. My other alternative is to buy one new HDD and copy the data to that, only removing a disk from the original array to mirror the new HDD.

I'm still a month or more away from doing the switch, so I'm also wondering if I would be better to try and hold off until FreeNAS 10 ships, or if I would be fine using FreeNAS 9.10 and upgrading to 10 via the UI later?

Thoughts are very much welcome.

Thanks very much,
Ben

 

[skyline65]

I have a Gen 8 Microserver with 16GB of RAM and have had no issues running Freenas 9.3. I even swapped out the 1610 for an E3 1220. I don't run any jails but for file serving and backup it has been fine.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

could this be a plan

It could be. Your statement about potential data loss suggests that you don't have a backup. If so, that's something you need to address regardless of how you make the transition or what hardware you end up on.

 

[skyline65]

I started with a couple of N54L microservers with a modded bios to allow a 5th drive, then bought a Gen 8. However I managed to pick up a Supermicro X9 motherboard off Ebay for £50, E3 1220 for £50 added a good power supply, RAM and case.
If I was going to start again I would forgo the Microservers and see if you can get a Supermicro off Ebay... it will be a better buy in the long run and work out cheaper. I also bought a WD external drive to back up the data... inside they use a WD Green drive. Once I had transferred the data I could reuse the drive in my other server or keep as another backup device.

 

[Ben Lavery]

It could be. Your statement about potential data loss suggests that you don't have a backup. If so, that's something you need to address regardless of how you make the transition or what hardware you end up on.

Around 2TB of the data I am not terribly fussed about losing. It is mainly DVD backups, so would rather not have to spend a few days doing fresh backups. Another 500GB or so is there as a backup from another hard drive. The remaining data is backed up via Tarsnap.

I started with a couple of N54L microservers with a modded bios to allow a 5th drive, then bought a Gen 8. However I managed to pick up a Supermicro X9 motherboard off Ebay for £50, E3 1220 for £50 added a good power supply, RAM and case.
If I was going to start again I would forgo the Microservers and see if you can get a Supermicro off Ebay... it will be a better buy in the long run and work out cheaper. I also bought a WD external drive to back up the data... inside they use a WD Green drive. Once I had transferred the data I could reuse the drive in my other server or keep as another backup device.

Interesting. Would be a higher outlay to begin with (since I don't have a PSU/case suitable), but may work out as more expandable/upgradable in the future. A quick look suggests Supermicro motherboards in the UK are few and far between (on eBay) currently, and shipping in from abroad is relatively expensive. I'll have a bit more of a look about though.

 

[skyline65]

Sometimes 1U-3u supermicro X9 servers are sold and you can just get rid of the case and put in a Fractal R5. They do come up quite often... just at the moment like buses.

 

[skyline65]

A bit more than I paid...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERMICR...324764?hash=item4d4e4064dc:g:FiwAAOSwcLxYIJIq

 

[Ben Lavery]

Sometimes 1U-3u supermicro X9 servers are sold and you can just get rid of the case and put in a Fractal R5. They do come up quite often... just at the moment like buses.

Now that is a nice case!

A bit more than I paid...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERMICR...324764?hash=item4d4e4064dc:g:FiwAAOSwcLxYIJIq

Ooo, nice! Unfortunately my budget has just been taken away...All food for thought though, will just have to think about it all for a while longer :(

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[skyline65]

I would suggest getting a used N54 Microserver off Ebay or a G8... unfortunately the 16Gb is the killer as it costs! Get used to Freenas then upgrade when possible.

 

[snaptec]

For your beginning question:
The gen8 with 1610 cpu and 16gb ram is running at some of my customers offices with 5-10 Clients for office stuff with 2 mirrored vdevs.
Works flawlessly!

 

[skyline65]

http://www.ebuyer.com/722189-hpe-pr...0_1478777888_eeb2ab70ca36ec349417c6a1ade4c9ed

£118 after cash back... go through Topcashback for another few quid off.

Then add some RAM from Ebay. Add a Xeon E3 1220 later when funds permit... it does work eventhough many use the 1220L variant.

 

[skyline65]

Plus you can get an ILO license, which allows you to control many aspects of the server remotely. I paid £12... although at the moment it about £20. Depends how much remote management you need.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-HP-IL...360763?hash=item4d4da85afb:g:jCYAAOSwzgRWz2XU