Setting up a HP Microserver Gen8

TrueNAS General
1

Hi,

I have acquired an HP Microserver Gen8 which I wish to use as a NAS. I have a few questions before I begin:

Current hardware set-up:

  • CPU upgraded to a Xeon 1265L V2
  • RAM upgraded to 16gb
  • iLO4 disabled as I won’t use it
  • I will disable the hardware raid in the BIOS
  • I have 2x 3TB WD Red Nas HDDs
  • I intend to use a Samsung Evo 870 for the boot os via the ODD port.

The version of TrueNas I want to install is Scale. I have created the boot usb via Etcher.

Is there any other prep work I need to do or any other recommendations? (this NAS will be used primarily for backups but like the idea of potentially using it for different functions in the future.)

Cheers
Paul

2

There are reports of problems with that hardware under SCALE; see:

3

Thanks for that. So for now, it seems I’m better loading a previous stable version for the Gen8 (v24.10) ?

4

It seems like it–my Gen8 Microserver is still on CORE.

1 Like
5

I am running 25.10 on a Gen8 Microserver with zero problems, nothing like in the thread linked.

“Mileage” however is low and it does not have have separate HBA or any other card, maybe that makes a difference, too.

6

We’ve still got a fair few Microserver Gen8s deployed running 25.10 without any issues at all, none are using a PCIE HBA though.

Beware that it’s not actually that easy to boot from the ODD bay (at least, last I checked); we worked around this by having a GRUB bootloader installed on a MicroSD in the internal reader, which then chainloads the bootloader on the drive in the ODD bay.

If you’ve not tried iLO4, I’d recommend getting it fully up to date and giving it a go. It’s still very useful even today.

7

I gave up and used a USB-to-m.2 adapter to put a small SSD in the internal USB port–GRUB configuration is just way too obscure.

8

We’ve found using grub pointing to the ODD bay on an SD card internally it to be incredibly reliable and totally hands off if I’m honest.

Should it be of interest I can grab a copy of the grub configs from one of those machines next time I’m with one of them? They even all survived without issue with the transition from CORE to SCALE, as it’s just chainloading whatever bootloader is on the addressed disk.

Not sure when I’ll next be called out to one of them though.

9

As I recall (and it’s been a few years now), the “addressed disk” was the issue. I had two spinners installed, but I wanted a configuration that would be resilient to adding another pair of spinners at some time in the future–but that would have changed the SSD in the ODD bay from hd3 to hd5 or something similar. But my solution has been working well for 5+ years now, so I think I’m good.

1 Like
10

I’m running 25.04.2.6 on mine; I started two or three main revisions ago (Bluefin Angelfish?) and it has been flawless. The installation method I used is described in my signature, which might be of interest. I too would recommend becoming familiar with iLO.

11

I am running a HP Microserver Gen8 with TrueNAS 25.10.2.1 - Goldeye without any problems.

It is upgraded to 32 GB RAM and has 240 GB SSD system/boot disk + 4 x 5.5 TB SATA disks.

12

Mine’s 16GB of ECC … I’d like to u/g to 32GB but I didn’t think that that was possible. Is yours ECC - how did you implement it please?

13

It’s a long time ago - I bought 2 x 16 GB EEC, plugged them in, powered on and that was it.

dmidecode -t memory

dmidecode 3.4

Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.0.0 present.

Handle 0x004D, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: Multi-bit ECC
Maximum Capacity: 32 GB
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x004F, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x004D
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 16 GB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM 1
Bank Locator:
Type: DDR4
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 2400 MT/s
Manufacturer: Kingston
Serial Number: CD237F0A
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum0
Part Number: 9965669-031.A00G
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: 1600 MT/s
Minimum Voltage: 1.5 V
Maximum Voltage: 1.5 V
Configured Voltage: 1.5 V

Handle 0x0050, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x004D
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 16 GB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM 2
Bank Locator:
Type: DDR4
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 2400 MT/s
Manufacturer: Kingston
Serial Number: E7187979
Asset Tag: A1_AssetTagNum1
Part Number: 9965669-031.A00G
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: 1600 MT/s
Minimum Voltage: 1.5 V
Maximum Voltage: 1.5 V
Configured Voltage: 1.5 V

1 Like
14

Thanks - that dmidecode will prove very useful in helping me to find some suitable RAM!