Change from vmware server to NAS

[J9F]

Hi

I asked a couple of months ago about a second hard drive cage and got a solution. Thank you.

The hardware I have is HP Proliant ML330 G6 with 32Gb of RAM. It currently has 2 x 250Gb and 2 x 1Tb drives. The new drive cage is in and attached, I've tried a 1Tb drive in each of the 4 slots and each is recognised.

A couple of the 4Tb hard drives I was considering to use in it have died. Also a change of circumstance means I no longer have a need to use vmware. So I'm considering a change of use to a NAS drive, dropping vmware and putting in some form of NAS operating system like Truenas scale or Unraid. As I've lost two 4Tb drives I was thinking that rather than replacing like for like I could perhaps go higher, I have the opportunity to buy 12 Tb WD Ultrastar DC HC520 Datacentre drives (HUH721212ALE601) for a much lower price than the replacement cost of the 4Tb drives that have died.

The machine was specc'd to be a vmware server so can I install a NAS op sys and expect it to work? I can't see why it wouldn't but searches on some boards suggest there can be issues but also suggest it'll be fine. I reckon answers on this site are more likely to be helpful.

The other issue that stems from this is the maximum storage. On the configuring storage page the maximum capacity is 8 x 3Tb SAS or SATA drives. The original plan of adding 4Tb drives seemed to be considered OK, but does that extend to the proposed WD ones? The whole point of building a NAS is to move storage from a few non-resiliant PCs with differing backup strategies to a single reliable machine with a single backup strategy and maximising storage makes this more beneficial but I'd rather know in advance that I can chuck in these 12Tb drives and add more later without running into a limit on theNAS box itself.

[TVVJ]

Hello,

It depends on the new hard drive being detected correctly by the array controller.

Regards,

[ngnear]

While the stated WD drives might work in the server, HPE cannot assure any support or compatibility with G6 servers.

If we are being cautious, my suggestion is to use HPE certified drives and test the NAS OS first before deployment.

In a senario that you encounter any issues, please feel free to reach us at support.hpe.com and log a case with us.

[J9F]

@ngnear,

Thank you, it is appreciated. I'm not looking for guarantees, I just thought it might be a good idea to use a server for something new rather than send it for scrap. I think I'm running into a lot more issues that I'd hoped. I've been looking deeper into the TrueNAS scale groups and there seems to be some hurdles to overcome to make this project viable. The first is to put my P410 controller into it-mode as TrueNAS can't do hardware raid, but searches on that seem to suggest it isn't possible. There is scope to buy something like an old 9300-8i lsi card and do away with the HP controller but this is turning into a bit of a nightmare. It's a shame because it has been a really relaible piece of kit but I'm wondering if this is going to be asking too much of it.