Upgrading HP NL36 micro server to Proliant ML10 v2 server

[wrckid]

Hello,

Let's start this with the standard, I am a bit of a novice when it comes to UNRAID so by no means am I an expert. I have been an UNRAID user since 2011 and have been running it on an HP NL36 Micro server, this little guy has been running like a trooper and without any major issues, in January I replaced a faulty PSU and this system has since been running flawlessly. About 5 months ago I purchased a Proliant ML10 server with a Xeon e3 1241 processor, to use as my ESXi Host for my home lab. Needless to say I have had lots of issues with my ESX host and had to rebuild it a few times, I have finally come to the realization that perhaps it is time to upgrade my NL36 server to the Proliant box. 

So here are my questions, 

 

- I am going to do the upgrade, my real concern is my data from the Micro server to the new server. If I physically take the drives out from one server to another, does the new hardware recognize the drives and data? It can't be that simple can it?

- Since I have not had the horsepower to run VM's on my micro server I am not familiar how the VM environment of the OS would be. I am sure several people here are running this setup, would you mind briefly answering, whether it runs great or there is some work to get it to run.

- My setup would mainly be used to run media applications, such as Plex, Airsonic, DelugeVPN, as well as HomeAssistant (So far this is what I run in my server) 

- For those of you who have done this in the past what was your solution from transferring your data to your new hardware or drives?

 

With the new system, I purchased additional storage to run near-line in my ESX host I intend to run those drives but as I mentioned before if it's as easy as moving drives from one server to another then I might not do that simply because I do not want to loose all of my data.

 

Thank you for you looking and thank you for your assistance! Cheers!

[1812]

7 hours ago, wrckid said:

If I physically take the drives out from one server to another, does the new hardware recognize the drives and data? It can't be that simple can it?

 

it's that simple. do that and move the usb of unraid. for example, just three days ago i removed 8 drives from an external enclosure, put 4 into another server and 4 into a different external enclosure. plugged in the unraid usb that was running them from the other server and it cranked right up with no issues.

 

 

for safety though,  screen shot your main page showing what drive(s) are parity and where the disks are assigned. That way if there is a problem, you can re-assign them properly and retain parity.

Edited June 13, 2018 by 1812

[wrckid]

16 hours ago, 1812 said:

 

it's that simple. do that and move the usb of unraid. for example, just three days ago i removed 8 drives from an external enclosure, put 4 into another server and 4 into a different external enclosure. plugged in the unraid usb that was running them from the other server and it cranked right up with no issues.

 

 

for safety though,  screen shot your main page showing what drive(s) are parity and where the disks are assigned. That way if there is a problem, you can re-assign them properly and retain parity.

 

Excellent! Thank you that helps out a lot, also one more question. If I add more drives other drives (of different sizes) would UNRAID throw a fit? I purchased a license 3 years ago to do just this, I just never done it since I had no room to expand.

 

Again, thank you for answering my question.

[JonathanM]

2 hours ago, wrckid said:

If I add more drives other drives (of different sizes) would UNRAID throw a fit?

As long as you stay below your license limit for attached devices (not only array drives) and the drive you wish to add to the array is the same or smaller than any of your parity drives, it will work fine.

[wrckid]

49 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

smaller than any of your parity drives, it will work fine.

 

Thank you! My Parity drive is 1TB, I was intending on converting the Parity to a 2TB drive and using the 1TB and add it as an additional member of the array.

Edited June 13, 2018 by wrckid