Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD

Soldato
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Guys will this do raid 10 ?

Is the 4 x Sata backplane connected to a single SAS conector as if it doesnt do raid 10 it looks like it could take a pcie raid card if the backplane has a sas cable which it looks like it does.
 
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Got one of these from another place that nobody has mentioned yet, from serversplus (no direct link so i dont think im breaking any rules). £233 inc Vat.

Installed Debian, threw in 3 1.5Tb drives in software raid5.
Samba + mediatomb means that i can now mount the raid array on any of my windows rigs, and also it magically pops up on my Playstation3's video and music menus for easy streaming.

CraigN, If you use software raid it can do any level of raid, but you would get more data with raid5 :). If your refering to hardware raid, i didnt really look, but i cant remember seeing a dedicated bios for the raid "card".

It does have a SAS style cable, again, not having used or seen one, im not sure if is an off the shelf style cable, or designed just for this server.

Additionally, this system will take bog standard DDR3 memory, if you dont mind loosing the ECC function, which i doubt many people in a home setup would really care about.

Its nice and fast in raid 5 also, with 3x Samsun F2 1.5Tb drives ;

Code:
# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             140G  895M  139G   1% /
/dev/md0              2.8T  838G  2.0T  30% /media/raid

# hdparm -tT /dev/md0

/dev/md0:
 Timing cached reads:   2088 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1043.69 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  602 MB in  3.01 seconds = 200.04 MB/sec

200MB a second is certainly faster than a 1Gbit network connection can muster.

Whisper quiet, with temps sitting around 5c over ambient.
 
Soldato
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I dont trust software raid im affraid and i hate raid 5 for personal reasons i wont derail this thread with. I like raid 10 for speed and security. I think i will be buying one anyways and see how it goes. I will be installing 2008 r2 on it and fitting a blu ray drive.
 
Soldato
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SuBu, mentioning competitor names is completely verboten. Even alluding to the possible existence of other suppliers is frowned upon.

Nice to see some confirmation that ECC memory isn't required. I was hoping this would be the case (as it usually is when unbuffered ECC is involved) as it’ll make a massive difference to the overall cost.

I ordered mine after I got home from the pub on Saturday night when I was a bit ‘tired and emotional’.
 
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I'm really thinking of getting one of these, what OS would you recommend so I can share with XBMC as well and in the background use Sabnzbd etc on the HP.
 
Soldato
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i too have just placed the order should have mine tomorrow.

i looks at the cheaper place but spent and extra £20 and bought from a reputable retailer.
 
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apparently mine has arrived at home. Ordered Thursday, arrived Monday via TNT. :D

anybody upgraded their RAM yet? what did you use? any chance of a OCUK link would be welcome :D
 
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Soldato
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It provides an additional 10/100 port for remote system management. There's also a 15 pin VGA port on it, as I think the local video is re-directed to the card once it's plugged in.
 
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just unboxed it. nice little thing. contrary to some reviews I saw online it comes complete with all the drive screws for all the other drive cages.

edit: and i just noticed it also comes with the little hex head allen key to screw them up too... nice! (fyi all this is on the inside of the door)
 
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Got a tracking number for mine, should be here on Wednesday. Just going to order some more RAM I think.

Will take some photo's and details of how it copes when it arrives! :D
 
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apparently mine has arrived at home. Ordered Thursday, arrived Monday via TNT. :D

anybody upgraded their RAM yet? what did you use? any chance of a OCUK link would be welcome :D

Yes, any bog standard PC3 1333Mhz memory does the trick, i've just use some from a certain buyer of e. 2x2Gb sticks.
As i didnt need anything as fancy as what OCUK are selling (who needs heatspreaders or fancy brand names for memory in a server.

Be warned tho, the onboard gfx will suck up 128Mb of your memory, and theres no option to lower this number, or disable it.
 
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Yes, any bog standard PC3 1333Mhz memory does the trick, i've just use some from a certain buyer of e. 2x2Gb sticks.
As i didnt need anything as fancy as what OCUK are selling (who needs heatspreaders or fancy brand names for memory in a server.

Be warned tho, the onboard gfx will suck up 128Mb of your memory, and theres no option to lower this number, or disable it.

cool thanks. what drives did you put in yours? im assuming i can stick in any <2tb sata disk I like. thinking 4x 2tb wd greens or something (nas usage) running software R5 in ubuntu server... thoughts?
 
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