Frustrated with the fact that my HP EX485 cannot backup my mac anymore (Lion) and tired of trying all the different hacks, I'm ready to give up on Microsoft Home Server and install FreeNAS. I really don't use anything outside of file storage and don't have a windows computer anymore. I really don't want to drop $$ on Apple's TM solution if I have a 4TB server available for backups. I have installed FreeNAS 8.0.3 on a VM and was able to get TM working relatively quickly. Any watchouts before I install permanently on my HP Home Server?

Typically the biggest issue on any FreeBSD based system is (lacking) hardware support. Your best bet is to install to a spare drive and see if you can get it running to discover what works and what doesn't (if anything).

I can't speak for the EX48x but the EX47x is picky about what filesystems it will let you boot off of when trying to boot off of USB media. If that ends up being the case you'll have to dedicate your bottom bay to being just a system drive.

If run into issues with FreeNAS, there are a few other products you could try... OpenMediaVault which looks and feels like FreeNAS but is debian/linux based (developed by a former FreeNAS dev) and also ZFSGuru (FreeBSD based) which is really nifty because it installs the system on your redundant (ZFS) storage pool and it gets the same protection as your data (try it out!)

Cheers & Good Luck!

So you would suggest ZFSGuru instead of FreeNAS for Time Machine backups? I did see that FreeNAS does not include the main install drive in the storage pool, but that does not bother me too much. Right now i'm using a 160gb drive for the main install and the other 3 bays have 1TB/1TB/2TB drives in them.

Are there any install guides for ZFSGuru on the servers? I ordered the debug board and just waiting for it to get here before I start trying to install what ever OS I end up getting.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with Time Machine or what's required to enable TimeMachine support.

FreeNAS is oriented towards 'embedded' installs on USB-sticks -- so if that works, no drive bay is wasted.
OpenMediaVault feels & looks like FreeNAS but runs on top of debian linux instead of freebsd (for better hardware support) -- but since it runs on linux, doesn't integrate ZFS support (yet?)

ZFSGuru a more ZFS-centric NAS. It does the ZFS portion of things really well but doesn't offer as many additional services or community support when compared to FreeNAS.

Unfortunately I have a personal bias towards ZFSGuru because FreeNAS refuses to boot from USB on the EX47x, and because ZFSGuru had the featureset I was looking for, so I'm not sure how objective I can actually be when dispensing advice on this topic.

Fortunately all three let you add/install VirtualBox on the same hardware which is VirtualMachine software developed by Sun/Oracle -- I use this to run WHS 2011 ontop of OpenMediaVault, so I can retain the excellent client backup features of WHS. I imagine you could do something similar to enable TimeMachine Support.

Ok, I was able to get FreeNAS 8.0.3 running without any issues. I am really digging the OS. TimeMachine has been running like a champ. Also installed transmission and some other tools, as this machine is in my DMZ. All in all, I really like it. Decided to run UFS as the processor is the original Intel 440 and only have 2GB of ram in it. Now with the debug cable, I may start looking at replacing the processor with a better one. Thanks for your help.

I'm also interested in getting some form of Linux NAS up and running on my MSS 485... Could you take a min to give a quick overview of how you got FreeNAS up and running? Is it possible to get up and running without a display cable?

Thanks!

John

I installed FreeNAS 8.0.3 onto a USB stick from a separate Windows PC. I tried to boot from the USB by plugging in the USB stick into the bottom USB port on the back of the Server. It kept booting into the MS Home Server software. I didn't even think to put a jumper on the "J" connector until I got my display cable in the mail. Once I connected the cable and jumper, it booted directly in the FreeNAS software. Don't remember having to do anything in the bios to do this. Once the software was running, I saw the IP popup on my router and typed that into my browser and was running. Couple of notes...

Couldn't import the NTFS file system. Had to copy everything from the Server to an external HD before installing FreeNAS. Once I had it up and running, I had FreeNAS format the drives as UFS. (Could not run ZFS as it required more that 2GB of memory to run efficiently).

When copying files back to Server, also could not mount the external NTFS drive so I connected the drive to my laptop and then copied everything back over the network to the server.

I did install the 32bit version but may change to 64bit. Just doing research to see what if anything would happen to the existing UFS file system if I did it.