G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 OK fellow know howers, I have a problem. I'm addicted to useful,cheap hardware! on a recent browse of ebay, looking for server hardware, I saw this hp n40l. Buy it now for $300+$20sh so I added it to the watch list. I kept an eye on it and with 2 hours left I sent the link to a friend to talk me out of getting it. With less than a minute left I put a bid in for the starting bit and won. For $200 I got the n40l, windows home sever 2011(installed and the dvdv),8gb ecc ram and 3.5tb (1x1.5tb,1tb,2x500gb) worth of hard drive space. Currently playing around with whs but possibly switching to freenas or unraid. Ubuntu server 14.04 works but I get an error since samba is installed. Ps:don't mind the cabling nightmare. Rearranging some things and working on building a new desk.lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tom Nardi Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Looks like a great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ricardo Arredondo Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I got a n54L cause work was never gonna use it again with an esata box hacked firmware I got 12 total HDs on it 3 on USB. I love these little boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Travis Hershberger Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Drop XenServer on it, playtime ensues! Even the lower performance AMD processor in those can handle 3-4 virtual servers in a home environment. I'd be highly tempted to install Plex and start storing DVD images on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ricardo Arredondo Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Travis I dropped 2012 r2 server essentials on mine with Plex running doing transcoding works great for 2 streams at 3rd I experience issues. I need 16 gig of ram maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_J Miller Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I can run 4 streams off of mine running whs2011 maybe more as that is all of the clients I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Ricardo Arredondo I think I might buy a n54l if I find a deal on one. I'm thinking about getting an esata enclosure now but I'm not sure. I think I have the hacked firmware since a sata cable and power are up in optical bay but I'm not sure. I'm looking for a pcie card for USB 3.0 so I have full speed with my external hdd. How do you like 2012 on it? I have a 3 year license I got from one of my classes through school just haven't used it yet. Travis Hershberger? I forgot about xen. I'd only need 2 vms,Web server and mail server. J Miller? it came with whs on it but wouldn't boot so I reinstalled it and that took about 4 hours. My only issue with whs is there isn't support for it anymore. Otherwise,so far, it should do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_J Miller Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I do not recommend WHS but the hardware will support many clients without transcoding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 After my last comment I noticed it's slow. One thing is with Ubuntu it seemed slow with a desktop. My other Ubuntu server is a 1.6ghz dual core atom with 2gb of ram abd it's much faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Lyman Phillips Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 TigerDirect has the N54L for $199: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9435299 Not sure if that's a decent deal without the drives. I just set up one of these - N36L - with Unraid, and so far (limited use and stress) it's been fine. They look really solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Lyman Phillips I just saw that actually. Lol. That's what they were when they first came out. I'm tempted but I might "upgrade" the drives that came with it ie:replace with wd reds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ricardo Arredondo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Adam EL-Idrissi love it. Just need a secondary Nic for Hyper V and I am set to run my Ubuntu box from inside hyper V and use less power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ricardo Arredondo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 J Miller I have not tried more than 2 streams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_J Miller Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I forgot to mention, you can remove that disk drive on top and install a lockable HD drive dock and get 5 HD drives on this unit. Definitely worth the extra work and cost! Like this one. http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=CA-1000BK&c=fr&pid=d5669d017bdd35c1142a69b37b1cac5ff7b4377b0246e80d41639cd947a87d91&gclid=CjwKEAiA9KymBRD6g6iOvv2joU0SJAB0vRQy2SVPmz8upFzwbR2vakYO27fH8qplzQNHt8b202KnXhoCuO7w_wcB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ricardo Arredondo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I did that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 J Miller I saw that. Also saw a 3.5 with 2.5 to 5.25 adapter so you can add a ssd and hard drive to the optical bay. Or 4 2.5 to 5.25 adapter. It's really starting to show its benefits. Except everything I've installed,either to a USB drive or internal hard drive, is slow to boot,load or install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Cory Albrecht Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Go FreeNAS. The latest versions have a VirtualBox plugin (in addition to Plex, Transmission, Subsonic and other plugins). My PVR is a separate computer up in the living room that uses NFS from my FreeNAS, but I know a lot of people like to have direct disk access for their media and the Plex server plugin lets you keep the intelligence close like that instead of scanning a remote file system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Adam EL-Idrissi Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Cory Albrecht I actually installed freenas last night.lol. just haven't done anything with it yet. I have plex server on my mac mini pulling files from my server using samba and they're wired in the network and I usually watch movies in the living room on one of my fire sticks. Would nfs be better for streaming? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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