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LocoBlade
4,687 posts
125 months
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Mines got 8Gb and a couple of 1Tb drives with ESXi 5, it runs HomeServer 2011 and a couple of other Linux based VMs quite happily TBH, certainly quicker than my old Acer dedicated Homeserver box. As mentioned disk write speed seems to be the limiting factor although its not too bad, it can easily max out a 100mbit LAN connnection with a file copy (so a 100Mb file in about 8-10s) which is as much as Ive tested it, and thats with software RAID configured within WHS so more of an overhead than a proper RAID controller card. Ive got a controller card to go in it but need some more disks to make it worthwhile, and with the price they are at the moment its going to stay as it is for now!
Not sure how easy it is to get OSX running on it though, I did have a quick look just for interest but it seemed it needed some effort putting in which I didnt have time for, relating to it running on a VM and on an AMD based CPU I think, but Im sure a google will reveal all.
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lestag
3,798 posts
145 months
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LocoBlade said: it can easily max out a 100mbit LAN connnection with a file copy (so a 100Mb file in about 8-10s) You lucky lucky b  d!:envy: 2MB/sec for me  minutes not seconds for a 100MB file...
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MagicalTrevor
4,810 posts
98 months
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I've said it before on here. I've got mine upgraded to 8GB running FreeNAS 8. 3x 2TB disks (2x RAID1, 1x Backup). I can saturate a 1Gb network with a 100MBps transfer speed.
That's good enough for me as a RAID card isn't going to improve on that when the bottleneck is network.
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LocoBlade
4,687 posts
125 months
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lestag said: LocoBlade said: it can easily max out a 100mbit LAN connnection with a file copy (so a 100Mb file in about 8-10s) You lucky lucky b d!:envy: 2MB/sec for me minutes not seconds for a 100MB file... Must be something wrong in your setup there somewhere. Have you tried alternative vNIC types say back to the legacy E1000 rather than the VMXNET3 etc as Ive seen odd things happen with the latter on Win 2003 VMs? Also is your copy speed VM to physical or VM to VM?
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lestag
3,798 posts
145 months
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LocoBlade said: Must be something wrong in your setup there somewhere. Have you tried alternative vNIC types say back to the legacy E1000 rather than the VMXNET3 etc as Ive seen odd things happen with the latter on Win 2003 VMs? Also is your copy speed VM to physical or VM to VM? Good point on the nic "(currently set to flexible) VM to VM and vm to physical results in same "speed".....
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172ff
1,405 posts
64 months
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Cheque came today... Only took the best part of 2 months.
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JonRB
39,521 posts
141 months
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Anyone know if the cashback offer is still running? I know someone who may be interested in one.
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theboyfold
8,360 posts
95 months
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Yes, I believe it is. I think ebuyer are running the deal.
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172ff
1,405 posts
64 months
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JonRB
39,521 posts
141 months
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lestag
3,798 posts
145 months
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theboyfold said: Yes, I believe it is. I think ebuyer are running the deal. For over 12 months that deal has been running 
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therealpigdog
2,203 posts
66 months
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Thread resurrection. Just about to order one of these and want to check a couple of things before I do: - The server will be used to store media to be streamed via wired network to my soon to arrive raspberry pi running xbmc. Also want to use as backup for laptops in the house. Remote access would be nice so that I can access from the office - presumably though I'll need to sort out ip addresses/dns first.
- What o/s should I put on the server to allow me to do this - will Windows Server 2008 be ok, or should I go for 2011? Ebuyer has various versions of 2008 - which one do I need? I don't mind paying £30 for software that would work out of the box rather than try to set up linux.
- I have a blu-ray drive that I can add to the cd-rom drive bay as I want to rip blu-rays using MakeMKV - can this be installed onto the server o/s?
- Alternatively should I just use something like FreeNas and then use my laptop to access the blu-ray drive and rip the disc to another drive on the server - will the increased processor speed of my laptop make up for the fact that I've got to run through the network (wired)? Failing that, its a case of ripping the blu-ray on my work computer and transporting it via USB drive.
- Usage is unlikely to be heavy (no VM as I don't know anything about that yet) so can I get away with standard ram, or do I need more to stream media?
Thanks.
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MagicalTrevor
4,810 posts
98 months
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Firstly, my spec is: N36L version (the older one) with 8GB RAM, 2x2TB RAID, 1x2TB Backup. All running FreeNAS. I rip movies on my desktop machine and then copy them up to my NAS. therealpigdog said: * The server will be used to store media to be streamed via wired network to my soon to arrive raspberry pi running xbmc. Also want to use as backup for laptops in the house. Remote access would be nice so that I can access from the office - presumably though I'll need to sort out ip addresses/dns first. Remote access would be handled by your router or maybe the NAS. I use DynDNS for this purpose. therealpigdog said: * What o/s should I put on the server to allow me to do this - will Windows Server 2008 be ok, or should I go for 2011? Ebuyer has various versions of 2008 - which one do I need? I don't mind paying £30 for software that would work out of the box rather than try to set up linux. A legit copy of Windows 2008 would be expensive. 2011 is the SBS product which includes 2008 Server. Whilst it will be fine (I've run this previously) it's an expensive proposition. I'd recommend either Windows Home Server @ £36 or use FreeNAS. WHS has the advantage that it will backup all your laptops and it's easy to use. therealpigdog said: * I have a blu-ray drive that I can add to the cd-rom drive bay as I want to rip blu-rays using MakeMKV - can this be installed onto the server o/s? Encoding performance is a bit poo on these. It will do it but your laptop is probably faster. MakeMKV can be installed on WHS and not FreeNAS therealpigdog said: * Alternatively should I just use something like FreeNas and then use my laptop to access the blu-ray drive and rip the disc to another drive on the server - will the increased processor speed of my laptop make up for the fact that I've got to run through the network (wired)? Failing that, its a case of ripping the blu-ray on my work computer and transporting it via USB drive. External Blu-Ray drive? Rip on laptop and then transfer to the NAS? therealpigdog said: * Usage is unlikely to be heavy (no VM as I don't know anything about that yet) so can I get away with standard ram, or do I need more to stream media? I'd personally upgrade to 4Gb with a minimum 2GB for either FreeNAS or WHS. I've got 8GB and it's not utilised and it generally sits just above 2GB
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s1962a
952 posts
31 months
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N36L here as well with upgraded 8gb ram connected to a gigabit switch
I have ubuntu desktop on mine with samba installed and have no problems with multiple files being streamed over the network. I think my network transfer maxes out at 80mb+. One advantage I find of installing Ubuntu desktop on there is that it can also behave like a basic desktop pc and you can tinker with it and install programs from the GUI. Also have some usenet related automated apps running.
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scovette
286 posts
77 months
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As an alternative to FreeNas perhaps consider Openmediavault? I use it and it wasn't any more complex to set up than WHS. (I chose it as it allowed me to install Tvheadend on the server, so it acts as my DVR.)
As a side note - if you're ever going to be streaming hd wirelessly, set up the shares as NFS instead of Samba as there's much less overhead.
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therealpigdog
2,203 posts
66 months
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Thanks for that - think I'll give Windows Home Server 2011 a go for £30 - I can always have a play around with linux at a later date.
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s1962a
952 posts
31 months
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Anyone tried using theirs as a CCTV network video recorder like Zoneminder etc? I wonder how it copes with streaming multiple IP camera's and doing motion detecting/recording etc.
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collateral
6,851 posts
87 months
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s1962a said: N36L here as well with upgraded 8gb ram connected to a gigabit switch
I have ubuntu desktop on mine with samba installed and have no problems with multiple files being streamed over the network. I think my network transfer maxes out at 80mb+. One advantage I find of installing Ubuntu desktop on there is that it can also behave like a basic desktop pc and you can tinker with it and install programs from the GUI. Also have some usenet related automated apps running. Same as what I'm doing; although this week 10.10 has started to complain about being unsupported. I really hate Unity though...
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MaximumJed
610 posts
101 months
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A lot of you have mentioned freenas, what about unraid?
I'm going to be storing media and photos and want a little more security against a drive crashing.
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MagicalTrevor
4,810 posts
98 months
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MaximumJed said: A lot of you have mentioned freenas, what about unraid?
I'm going to be storing media and photos and want a little more security against a drive crashing. It's meant to be very good, I can't remember why but there was a good reason that I did t use it. Probably just personal preference tbh.
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