Opinions on HP ProLiant ML115 G5

[RomeoS]

Hi everyone.

The server is a HP ProLiant ML115 G5 and the specs are as follows:

Type Server
Width 17.5 cm
Depth 42.6 cm
Height 36.7 cm
Weight 11.7 kg
Recommended Use Small business, corporate business
Product Form Factor Micro tower
Internal Bays Qty 4
Front Accessible Bays Qty 2
Server Scalability 1-way
Expansion / Connectivity
Expansion Slots Total (Free) 4 ( 3 ) x memory - DIMM 240-pin
1 ( 0 ) x processor
1 ( 1 ) x PCI-X / 100 MHz
1 ( 1 ) x PCI Express x16 - full-height
1 ( 1 ) x PCI Express x8 - full-height
1 ( 1 ) x PCI - full-height
Interfaces 1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9)
1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
6 x USB - 4 PIN USB Type A
2 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
2 x display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ( 1 in front )
Expansion Bays Total (Free) 2 front accessible
4 ( 3 ) x internal - 3.5"
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support 3 years warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - parts and labour - 3 years - response time: next business day
Processor
Type AMD Dual-Core Opteron 1214 / 2.2 GHz
Installed Qty 1
Max Supported Qty 1
64-bit Computing Yes
Multi-Core Technology Dual-Core
RAM
Technology DDR II SDRAM - ECC
Form Factor DIMM 240-pin
Features Unbuffered
Installed Size 512 MB / 8 GB (max)
Memory Specification Compliance PC2-6400
Memory Speed 800 MHz
Configuration Features 1 x 512 MB
Storage
Hard Drive 1 x 160 GB - standard - Serial ATA-150 - 7200 rpm
Networking
Features Wake on LAN (WoL)
Networking Network adapter - PCI Express x1 - integrated
Data Link Protocol Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
Compliant Standards IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u, IEEE 802.3ab
Remote Management Protocol IPMI 2.0
Ethernet Controller(s) HP NC105i
Miscellaneous
Features System password, power-on password
Compliant Standards ACPI 2.0
Power Jump to Top
Voltage Required AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Device Type Power supply
Installed Qty 1
Max Supported Qty 1
Power Provided 365 Watt
Environmental Parameters
Min Operating Temperature 10 °C
Max Operating Temperature 35 °C
Humidity Range Operating 10 - 90%
Storage Controller
Type 1 x Serial ATA - integrated
Channel Qty 4
RAID Level RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10
Cache Memory
Type L2 Cache
Installed Size 2 MB
Cache Per Processor 2 MB
Operating System / Software
Software Drivers & Utilities
OS Certified SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard 64-bit Extended, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Extended
Monitor
Monitor Type None.
Graphics Controller
Type Integrated
Installed Size 32 MB
Storage Controller (2nd)
Type 1 x IDE - integrated

Its going to be used for running Virtual Machines for me to have a play on. The RAM is being upgraded to 4GB of ECC RAM and seemed a bargain when I pressed the order button at a touch over £260.

I also have a spare 160GB Seagate HardDrive I plan on throwing in there to run the system in RAID1.

I was wondering if anyone had one of these servers and if so, how loud are they? What are they like for stability? Could this system last me say 2-3 years? Would it be possible to replace the powersupply to something more beefy or are they like the dells?

Its going to replace the current Dell which seems to go haywire when more 2 people VPN into it and the network card has a habit of randomly dropping the connection.

Finally no this is not for a business but my playbox

 

[madman045]

I believe that server will take normal pc2-6400 so could save yourself some money, 8GB with that server would cost you about £230 delivered, as for loud, I have seen some comments where it runs the fans all the time, unlike Dells are temp controlled

 

[RomeoS]

Hmmm would that cause any stability issues switching the RAM to Non-ECC in the long term? I want the server on 24/7.

Knew the deal was too good to be true Would it be possible to run the fans of a fan controller or even control them in speedfan?

 

[dave-lew99]

We bought a couple of these to use as workstations for some clients, they're cheap (base machine i've seen around £99 ex VAT) and seem to do the job, the ones we've had sound like a jet engine when they first start up but soon settle down and are pretty near silent really.

IMHO i wouldn't have bought one to use as a server, but then again, they are extremely cheap.

 

[RomeoS]

Got a pretty alright deal then. Picked it up for £98inc VAT and Del, the RAM is what pushed the total price up.

Huge relief to hear that the fans spin down. Can I ask why you wouldn't use it as a server?

 

[dave-lew99]

Just personal preference really - to me it's nothing more than a glorified workstation (i'm fussy and think proper servers have hotswap raid arrays and don't use mATX boards...)

To me the only 'server' component in it is the Opteron CPU, though if it takes ECC ram then the board has gone up slightly in my opinion.

Basically, you get what you pay for and at £100 it's a bargain - you certainly couldnt build the same spec yourself for that much.

EDIT: On closer inspection of your spec, it seems slightly different to the ones we had - yours has PCI-X and whatnot, ours didn't have that much expansion - you've certainly got a better deal by the looks of things.

 

[VeNT]

I'm going for the 110 thats got the xeon with some extra ram to take it to either 4 or 8 (budget depending)

 

[RomeoS]

Hmmm fair point though I wasn't expecting anything fancy at this price point.

I had a look at the documentation and it also comes with PCI Express X16 slot too which could come in handy.

I don't suppose you have any internal pics of the units you bought as workstations?

VeNT, Just had a look at the 110 but the only ones I could find were P4 based ones taking DDR1 RAM? Would like to compare them if they are going for the same price.

EDIT: Never mind, found the ML110 G4 with the Xeon 3040. Is that based on the Core2 processor?

 

[dave-lew99]

I'm afraid i don't have any pics, we've since shipped them to clients and i'm not sure if we'll be getting them again (we just buy whatever is appropriate rather than loads of the same one)

We have a high performance graphics requirement so we had to fit a new graphics card - which also required a new power supply - that's somthing which annoyed me - somthing sold as a server requires a new power supply for a simple upgrade.

If i remember rightly it had a x16 PCIe, x1 PCIe and 2 or 3 normal PCI but i can't be sure now.

 

[RomeoS]

Hmmm. Power Provided 365 Watt does worry me though aren't server PSU's more capable of delivering the rated wattage 24/7?

 

[mdjmcnally]

I thought these were HPC boxes, rather then servers as such.

If a play box then why not just get a normal PC and run VMWare/Virtual Server on it.

 

[VeNT]

HP ProLiant ML110 G5 - Dual-Core Xeon 3065 2.33 GHz costs about £211 inc
add another 3 GB ram or so, for 30-60 quid (doesn't need EEC)
other options are as you like, more disk space etc.

personally I'm gonna get a few 250-300 GB disks to raid up in there and keep the installed as spare.

I heard some murmerings that the 3065 is a conrow or somthing.

 

[RomeoS]

I thought these were HPC boxes, rather then servers as such.

If a play box then why not just get a normal PC and run VMWare/Virtual Server on it.

I did think of the build-it-yourself option but at this price there was no way I would have been able to build something similar.

VeNT, looks good

I'm thinking of throwing in another 3 more 160GB HDD's and RAID'ing them as loading 3-4 Virtual Machines would take quite some time.

Raid 0+1 + a hotspare?

Looking at the Intel website, the Xeon 3xxx series are indeed Core based.

 

[J1nxy]

I ordered one of these this morning, with the intention of playing with Xenserver, XenDesktop, Hyper-V and anything else I can be bothered to chuck on it.

Added 8GB of ram, and bought a 500GB hd to swap into my Mac Pro, will then chuck my 2 160GB drives in a set up an array, probabaly just raid 0 as not bothered if it dies

Also these boxes seemed to have had a firmware update which makes them Opteron Gen 3 compatible, so I might chuck a Phenom in just to see what that does.

 

[VeNT]

why go opteron when you can have a faster xeon for the same price?

 

[J1nxy]

The Xeon is not £100 inc vat

 

[VeNT]

suppose not.
the xeon one worth the extra? is there much speed diff between opteron and xeon?

 

[J1nxy]

there will be some but when I'm using it as a VM server will I notice?? I'd be surprised, and i always have the option of dumping a Quad Core in later. Mine just turned up, SATA DVD RW drive (lightscribe), mouse and keyboard and a rather nice little case as well.

Gonna stick the 8gb of ram in and have a shuffle of drives.

 

[madman045]

We just ordered two of these at work for test servers, 8GB PC-2 6400 and a 500GB AAKS drive, should run nicely

 

[VeNT]

hmm, tempted by the opteron more now, way cheaper. gonna run SBS on it here, anyone think that the xeon is the way to go?