Is running FreeNAS 9.3 viable on a HP N40L?

[Captain Murphy]

Hi,

I appreciate that by the standards of most people here the HP N40L is an old piece of kit, however it's what I have and I'd appreciate some input on this.

I've read several blog/forum posts from people with this hardware running FreeNAS without issue, or with some performance issues, though the latter may depend upon usage and configuration.

Currently my N40L has 8GB RAM, but I'd upgrade it to 16GB before installing FreeNAS. My usage for this would be mostly for light backup for family. 1 x Desktop, 1 x iPad, 1 x laptop. If possible I'd also like to use NFS shares to stream media to 2 XBMC SoCs, though only one would be in use at any time. The networking is gigabit ethernet.

Given the age of the hardware can I expect FreeNAS to operate without errors or significant performance problems with the proposed setup/usage?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[cyberjock]

You got no answer because if you'd have searched for N40L you'd have the answer. That being said, I'll leave it to you to find out if it is supported or not. ;)

 

[Captain Murphy]

I searched for N40L, and read several posts here, other forums and in blogs. The ones I read either calimed to have reported issues in specific operations and under certain circumstances or did not follow up on performance at all after installation/setup.

It seems disingenuous to suggest that "searched for N40L you'd have the answer", given that I provided a specific proposed usage case and hardware specification.

 

[gpsguy]

You might search the forum for N54L since it's a newer sibling.

I believe 9.3 will work. Hold off on upgrading the RAM and go for a spin.

The CPU in your server is only 1.5GHz, so it could be a limiting factor.


Sent from my phone

 

[Captain Murphy]

You might search the forum for N54L since it's a newer sibling.

I believe 9.3 will work. Hold off on upgrading the RAM and go for a spin.

The CPU in your server is only 1.5GHz, so it could be a limiting factor.


Sent from my phone

Thanks for your answer. The CPU is my concern, forking out for more RAM isn't a big deal since I already have the rest of the hardware.

 

[adrianwi]

I've got one of each, and for running FreeNAS as a file/backup server they are both fine.

Start adding in jails and any kind of multimedia and they start to struggle, although not to the point of becoming unusable.

I've found them to be a great introduction to FreeNAS although as a long term solution I'll be looking to build something with a little more umph!

 

[Captain Murphy]

I've got one of each, and for running FreeNAS as a file/backup server they are both fine.

Start adding in jails and any kind of multimedia and they start to struggle, although not to the point of becoming unusable.

I've found them to be a great introduction to FreeNAS although as a long term solution I'll be looking to build something with a little more umph!

Thanks for the feedback, what do you mean by "multimedia"?

 

[gpsguy]

Just a guess, would be running Plex, as AdrianWilliamson does.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Just a guess, would be running Plex, as AdrianWilliamson does.

Ah, thanks. I have no plans to run anything like that, just to deliver content via shares.

 

[adrianwi]

Yeah, Plex! Generally struggles with 1080p and sometimes with 720p. Doesn't tend to like anything with DTS that need transcoding.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Yeah, Plex! Generally struggles with 1080p and sometimes with 720p. Doesn't tend to like anything with DTS that need transcoding.

Great, thank you. The answers in this thread I believe have addressed my concerns. I don't intend to transcode video or anything like that on the server.

 

[ftpmonkey]

I had an N36L which coped ok with 9.2.

My N54L was happy enough on 9.2, although seems slower in the GUI on 9.3. It still works fine and delivers videos via Plex to home and friends.

They're perfect little boxes for learning the ropes.

 

[Captain Murphy]

I had an N36L which coped ok with 9.2.

My N54L was happy enough on 9.2, although seems slower in the GUI on 9.3. It still works fine and delivers videos via Plex to home and friends.

They're perfect little boxes for learning the ropes.

Many thanks for your feedback, the users of this device will be doing basic backups, and accessing media via NFS shares.

 

[rogerh]

Another data point. I have been running an N54L with 4 X 1TB in RaidZ2, a MiniDLNA server in a jail serving audio files, CIFS shares and AFP time machine backups, maximum three simultaneous users, for about a year with zero hardware problems and only trivial software problems. No problems with CPU power in this usage.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Another data point. I have been running an N54L with 4 X 1TB in RaidZ2, a MiniDLNA server in a jail serving audio files, CIFS shares and AFP time machine backups, maximum three simultaneous users, for about a year with zero hardware problems and only trivial software problems. No problems with CPU power in this usage.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I plan on using 2x3TB WD RED drives. No DLNA, just sharing existing data over NFS shares. I may consider running sabnzbd at some point.

 

[gpsguy]

For comparison, the CPU speeds on the 3 model numbers are as follows: N36L (1.3GHz), N40L (1.5GHz), and N54L (2.2GHz)

 

[harald.weiss.357]

I have an N40L Running on 9.3 latest which does ok with Sharing via AFP, NFS, SMB, SFTP .
SMB (cifs or windows) were the trickiest to get to work .
Performance can beccome an issue if multiple devices Backup to the N40L .
Currently I Look into Options ti get an HP Gen8 Server which can Esslingen be Upgraded with new CPUs Or 16GB .
ZFS is Running Software only so no additional raid cards are necessary sometimes IT could Even Brake Things ...

Greetings Harald


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[Johev]

I would just like to add that given the N40L uses an AMD CPU it is still to be proven if ECC memory actually corrects the errors it is supposed to. After reading a lot of articles the general consensus why people using FreeNAS prefer Intel CPU's over AMD is the ECC under Intel has been proven to work.

If you don't already have the N40L, maybe try to see if you can get an HP Gen8 Microserver with the Celeron chips, as they are cheap, have more horse power and use ECC correctly, just to name a few advantages :).

Good luck for the rest.

 

[rogerh]

Is it likely that HP designed and produced the server without knowing whether the ECC actually worked? That is not a rhetorical question, I just wondered what people thought?

 

[gpsguy]

If you wanted to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California - do *you* need to see xray images of the welds, before you cross the bridge. Or, do you take it on faith that everyone did their work correctly and just drive across the bridge?

Frankly, I believe this subject is way overblown and a number of users like to spread FUD regarding AMD. Does FreeNAS 8.0.x - 9.3 run on AMD CPU's. YES. Will it run v10 and later - I don't know (there was speculation 9.3 wouldn't run at all on AMD CPUs). Perhaps future versions will only run on a Supermicro or Asrock mobos/Intel Xeon CPU/ECC RAM.

I'll take it on faith that my N40L, N54L, and Asus mobo with AMD CPU's do error correcting with ECC RAM. According to the vendor documentation and websites, my hardware components support it.

I would just like to add that given the N40L uses an AMD CPU it is still to be proven if ECC memory actually corrects the errors it is supposed to.

Have you seen this thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-and-ecc-santa-clara-we-have-a-problem.28210/ Apparently Intel recently changed their stance regarding ECC support on the Ivy Bridge i3's. A lot of FreeNAS bought these CPU's with the understanding that they supported ECC.

And, while I believe in ECC on my systems, do remember that iXsystems (previous) Mini didn't/couldn't support ECC. It used an Intel Desktop Board DH67CF along with a Core i5-3470T CPU.

In closing, I don't have stock in either company. Since the OP already has a N40L, he can use it for the forseeable future. Given his needs, even if a future version of FreeNAS doesn't support his environment, 9.3 might still fullfill his needs. Did all the Win XP holdouts jump to Windows 7? XP still has ~20% market share, even though MS support for it, ended in April 2014.