Before I take the plunge to HexOS

[renesdk]

Before I take the plunge to HexOS on my current NAS server:

• Intel 4770K
• 24 GB DDR3 RAM
• LSI M5015 HBA (up to 8 disks)
• Boot drive: Samsung 850 EVO - 250 GB SSD
• 8x Seagate IronWolf 2 TB
• Windows Server 2022

When I move over the disk controller will change to a 

• Lenovo 430-16i LSI 9400-16i SATA / SAS3416 HBA Controller 12G in IT Mode

Right now the machine is used as my video and music media server via Emby, and that won't change when i move to HexOS.
Services I will add will probably be:

• Immich
• NextCloud

Is there anything I should be aware of when it comes to the boot drive?
I read somewhere a cache drive is recommended and the boot drive should be at least 500 GB. Is that requirement or just a "nice to have"?

When HexOS has been installed on the machine can you somehow de-autorize it from the machine so the license can be used on a new machine if needed in the future?

 

 

[PsychoWards]

Hey,

please make sure you motherboard does not have a Realtek NIC, if it does, there's a high change that it will not work. In that case, you should get yourself an Intel NIC.

4 hours ago, renesdk said:

Is there anything I should be aware of when it comes to the boot drive?
I read somewhere a cache drive is recommended and the boot drive should be at least 500 GB. Is that requirement or just a "nice to have"?

Yes, everything over 32GB for the boot drive is wasted space, since you cannot use the boot drive for anything else then the OS. Apps are typically installed on a pool, this would be your HDD pool if you are not going to create a SSD pool as well. So your 250GB SSD is fine as boot drive, if you don't have a smaller one.

Additionally, there is no write cache as other NAS OS might have, there is only a read cache, which doesn't offer a lot or any benefit with your use cases. So no, you don't need a cache drive, and big boot drive is just wasted space. 🙂

[renesdk]

1 hour ago, PsychoWards said:

Hey,

please make sure you motherboard does not have a Realtek NIC, if it does, there's a high change that it will not work. In that case, you should get yourself an Intel NIC.

Yes, everything over 32GB for the boot drive is wasted space, since you cannot use the boot drive for anything else then the OS. Apps are typically installed on a pool, this would be your HDD pool if you are not going to create a SSD pool as well. So your 250GB SSD is fine as boot drive, if you don't have a smaller one.

Additionally, there is no write cache as other NAS OS might have, there is only a read cache, which doesn't offer a lot or any benefit with your use cases. So no, you don't need a cache drive, and big boot drive is just wasted space. 🙂

All very good info.

I already have a 1 Gbit PCI-e Intel NIC on the server because of bad experiences even on Windows with the realtek NIC that is built in😂

[PsychoWards]

I forgot to answer about the Hexos license transfer part:

Yes, that is possible and even very easier. On the Hexos website you just need to unclaim your old server and can then reclaim your new server, but It might take a couple of hours until your license because available again after unclaiming it from the old server.