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

tododo · 6 Aug 2011 at 12:53

Hi all
Just seen this thread today and am very tempted at getting this server
Was thinking of getting a shuttle pc and putting in an intel duo core and running that as a server
the reason being the missus wants to get rid of the current server as its big and looking a bit messy in the box room

Anyway the ubuntu server headless system I got running now only has a 3200+ althlon with 1gb ram and it does a good job of streaming music/movies/ downloading, webserver etc

I also sometimes do a bit of transcoding on the fly to the iphone and for normal divx it does the job

Would this server have the capcity to do the same (I assume it would as afterall my current set up is YEARS OLD)

thanks for the info guys really appreciated

Any modifications that anybody recommends

Can see me spending the day reading 70+ pages on here

Thanks all

TheBiznes · 6 Aug 2011 at 12:58

The athlon 3200+ has a passmark of 530 the HP is 801. If you want all ports at full speed i.e the Optical bay then you need to flash the bios with a modded one.

Memory upgrade to say 3 Gigs is about £18 for 2GB ECC memory.

tododo · 6 Aug 2011 at 13:06

TheBiznes said:
The athlon 3200+ has a passmark of 530 the HP is 801. If you want all ports at full speed i.e the Optical bay then you need to flash the bios with a modded one.

Memory upgrade to say 3 Gigs is about £18 for 2GB ECC memory.

Cool thanks
Just about to start reading this whole thread - I havent looked at hardware for years and so much has changed

i see it also has integrated graphics - any good?

Now wondering if this could fit under the TV and run XMBC of it directly too (like in the thread on the xbmc forums) - lots of questions....i better start reading

TheBiznes · 6 Aug 2011 at 14:27

You can, but you would need a 5450 for XMBC which runs good or NV 200 series card intergrated isnt up to it.

Magic_x_uk · 6 Aug 2011 at 15:08

Id love this if it was possible to install win 7 on it and play the odd game through it. Would be perfect for the lounge.

TheBiznes · 6 Aug 2011 at 15:41

Put a 5450 should be able to play left4dead and older games

tododo · 6 Aug 2011 at 17:27

Still tinkering with the idea (read about 70% of this thread)

Some say a gT220 nvidia would be a good choice too as supported better in linux ??? Maybe no difference in that and the other graphics card mentioned above

Still might not bother and just leave as a nas (do what its intended for type thing)

jpmonkey69 · 6 Aug 2011 at 21:47

Will http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-132-CR fit (and work!) in this server?

kingofbeans · 7 Aug 2011 at 16:39

Hi Guys,

I have been running mine for a while with Server 2008 r2 (chose it over WHS as Im a student so it was free!) and I have been able to figure everything I needed out BUT I have had one problem... and I'm pulling my hair out with this problem!

I originally had my administrator password as password (weird as I now realise that didn't meet complexity requirements). It worked except a couple of times it said incorrect password and I was sure I had typed it in correctly!
Then I moved the server to a different network and it said my password was incorrect every time! When I moved it back password worked again!

So I tried to change it... No luck! When I typed in current password it said it was incorrect. So I used command prompt as this didn't require the old password. It was changed ok... but then i tried to login! and new password was incorrect! Arg! So I used the offline NT password tool to remove the password. This worked great. But everytime I try and set a password it wont work at login! I even created a new account and again the password I just set is 'incorrect'! Weirdly, the new account password works with remote desktop connection!

Any Ideas?

ubern00b · 7 Aug 2011 at 18:56

Finally got round to building my HTPC this morning only to find I get no display when I turn it on. I have an HD6450 in there connected via HDMI to my amp. I know some BIOS's have an option to choose which graphics card to initialise first and since it has an on-board graphics card do I need to connect it via VGA first to tell it to initialise the PCI-e card first?

If not then I will troubleshoot as normal. I just don't have a VGA monitor to try this so thought I would ask.

tododo · 8 Aug 2011 at 06:58

After reading posts from all over for the past few days decided to try a graphics card on the server - the card ive been looking at is only about £22 so no big costs and should do 1080 apparently with sound over hdmi

The microserver is now on order and got 4gb kingston value ram non-ecc comming

Planning putting on ubuntu server and then xbmc (i think from wot ive read that can be done)

The GT210 Low profile seems to be the way to go for linux - has anybody tried one of these either active coolled or passive - any particular model?

Doe they increase power consumption a lot? Are the fans noisy?

The 512mb card Ive been looking at is the fan cooled KFA2 512MB GeForce 210 but no idea if that fan is loud either

Thanks if anybody knows any details

Zarf · 8 Aug 2011 at 07:10

kingofbeans said:
Hi Guys,

I have been running mine for a while with Server 2008 r2 (chose it over WHS as Im a student so it was free!) and I have been able to figure everything I needed out BUT I have had one problem... and I'm pulling my hair out with this problem!

I originally had my administrator password as password (weird as I now realise that didn't meet complexity requirements). It worked except a couple of times it said incorrect password and I was sure I had typed it in correctly!
Then I moved the server to a different network and it said my password was incorrect every time! When I moved it back password worked again!

So I tried to change it... No luck! When I typed in current password it said it was incorrect. So I used command prompt as this didn't require the old password. It was changed ok... but then i tried to login! and new password was incorrect! Arg! So I used the offline NT password tool to remove the password. This worked great. But everytime I try and set a password it wont work at login! I even created a new account and again the password I just set is 'incorrect'! Weirdly, the new account password works with remote desktop connection!

Any Ideas?

Domain vs Local administrator?

jpmonkey69 · 8 Aug 2011 at 13:44

When you log into a 2008 R2 server, if it is also joined to a domain (unless it is a DC) and you try to log in using the Administrator account, it will assume you want to log onto the local machine. try loggin in with: <domainname>\User or user@<domainname> as the username.. e.g. DOMAIN\administrator or administrator@domain

kingofbeans · 8 Aug 2011 at 14:12

I guessed it may be something like that but Ie. never specified a domain. All it has is a workgroup name. Also I can only select Administrator I cant type in the username field. How does one do that? Thanls for you help guys it is really appreciated!

Oh also if it is by default a local user surely this is the password I would set in windows or using the NT password tool?

Prophet · 8 Aug 2011 at 14:55

If I want to use the server as a media file server only what OS would be recommended?

MasterPlan1 · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:00

Orange Peel said:
If I want to use the server as a media file server only what OS would be recommended?

VortexBox + SubSonic.

ChrisD. · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:35

Can you still get this for the £110 ish price?

ChrisD. · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:39

Ah I get it, but it off the HP site, then apply for the cashback.

Prophet · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:44

MasterPlan1 said:
VortexBox + SubSonic.

Sorry I should have been more clear. I've got a boxee box for playing media I'm after a pure OS to run on the server which will just be a number of shares (Film, TV, Music and Photo's etc)

MasterPlan1 · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:47

VortexBox has DLNA and SMB shares for these, plus other added goodies. I added on SubSonic is awesome because it'll play your stuff through the tinterwebs to your phone.