FreeNAS: Shopping List for HP Microserver G8

For a long time, the HP N36L, N40L and N54L micro-servers were the means of choice when it came to putting together a FreeNAS server. Here now a shopping list based on the successor.

The Hewlett Packard MICROSERVER Gen8 offers significantly more performance than previous versions. Instead of an AMD CPU as before, an Intel Celeron G1610T with 2.3 GHz and two cores is now used. In addition, there are 2 GB RAM and a 1 TB hard disk. In order to put together a reasonable home server, however, some more components are necessary, which are listed in this list (All prices from Amazon).

• Hewlett Packard MICROSERVER Gen8 (215,- Euro)
• Western Digital WD40EFRX hard disk 4TB (180,- Euro per HDD)
• Kingston KVR16E11/8I memory 8GB (70,- Euro per module)

Accessories for the HP Microserver G8:

• HP PS1810-8G Switch, fits the G8 perfectly (139.- Euro)
• HP Wireless Adapter, PCIe x1 (27,- Euro)

Especially when it comes to memory, you should not save money: with ZFS you have a file system available under FreeNAS which benefits very well from more RAM. With the hard disks it depends on your own needs: with four hard disks of 4 TB each you get 12 Terabyte net storage space - this should be enough for the largest collection of holiday photos and as backup space for several computers.