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

Sootie · 22 Dec 2010 at 20:28

Or one of these Startech 2-Port SATA Controller

smallstool · 22 Dec 2010 at 22:23

Using mine to rip and store my DVD's and CD's using:

http://vortexbox.org

Copied about 70 CD's and 20 DVD's so far - all going well!

Emlyn_Dewar · 23 Dec 2010 at 10:46

Anyone post any pictures to show where about you've set it up? (Hidden away, under desk, etc...)

KIA · 23 Dec 2010 at 11:02

Mine should be here tomorrow along with 5x2TB Green drives. Will slap Debian on it asap.

NightShadow · 23 Dec 2010 at 11:10

For all those that are putting in 4 or 5 drives and using them for storage, is the OS installed on the same drives or are you booting via USB? If the latter, are you not bothered about redundancy for your boot volume?

kae2 · 23 Dec 2010 at 11:13

NightShadow said:
For all those that are putting in 4 or 5 drives and using them for storage, is the OS installed on the same drives or are you booting via USB? If the latter, are you not bothered about redundancy for your boot volume?

I've put the drive that came with it into the 5.25" bay with the OS installed on it and have two Raid1 Setups in the 4 drive bays.

Can't say I'm worried about OS redundancy, it's my data that's important.

NightShadow · 23 Dec 2010 at 11:19

Ah, fair enough. I'm so used to always having the boot volume in a RAID1 mirror with any servers I build at work for minimal/no downtime. I guess for home that sort of redundancy isn't needed to an extent, I could just make regular backups of the boot volume leaving more room for storage.

aceface57 · 23 Dec 2010 at 21:11

this offer still on, would quite like one of these!

kae2 · 23 Dec 2010 at 21:17

aceface57 said:
this offer still on, would quite like one of these!

You'll need to read the small print on the HP offers site (linked on first page) as I believe the dispatch date has to be during December... so make sure if you purchase one, the retailer will dispatch this side of the new year!

Chaos · 23 Dec 2010 at 22:38

edwardcasbon1 said:
Would you need to install a server OS on this or would it be ok to install Windows 7? I would like one to use as a generic file server for the time being but then maybe later add home automation software etc.

Windows 7 64 installed fine for me just had to install the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 driver

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx#1

edwardcasbon1 · 24 Dec 2010 at 06:52

For anyone interested, this offer has now been extended until the end of January 2011 (According to HP website offer page, where you download the claim form from)!

edscdk · 24 Dec 2010 at 09:22

Chaos said:
Windows 7 64 installed fine for me just had to install the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 driver

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx#1

gonna move mine to w7, ubuntu from USB worked fine except it was not possibly to rename the machine, and ubuntu installed onto a hd had other issues and I am just fed up with it now...

I thought ubuntu was going to be very slick now but every other click seems to produce an issue that requires help from google...

if anyone knows how to change the machine name used when you boot from a livecd / usb I would like to know...

AtomicBanana · 24 Dec 2010 at 10:47

Anyone order this from the place hotukdeals suggested? There seems to be some rumblings that they aren't part of the promotion. Mine already shipped, I don't want to faff around sending it back

NightShadow · 24 Dec 2010 at 13:36

I sent off my claim form on Monday after ordering from the HotUKDeals mentioned site, waiting to see what happens.

Gundam God · 24 Dec 2010 at 14:14

I ordered mine from a place that is "24/7" ;-)

and have had the claim confirmed by HP email.

cotton_flex · 24 Dec 2010 at 14:50

Have the transfer rates improved in any way for those who mentioned poor performance?

I'm still confused by the remote access card. How is it different to remoting into the server using the existing ethernet port?

nikzGfx · 24 Dec 2010 at 16:36

AtomicBanana said:
Anyone order this from the place hotukdeals suggested? There seems to be some rumblings that they aren't part of the promotion. Mine already shipped, I don't want to faff around sending it back

It's all good, earlier in the week I emailed them with the documents and cashback for that mentioned site has been approved. I've spoke to both HP & Outbound and they said that purchases from that company are fine!

cottoneye · 24 Dec 2010 at 17:14

Is it possible to install an SSD, I read somewhere that the second sata port is not really equipped at full speed, runs at PATA or something.

edscdk · 24 Dec 2010 at 20:26

cotton_flex said:
Have the transfer rates improved in any way for those who mentioned poor performance?

I'm still confused by the remote access card. How is it different to remoting into the server using the existing ethernet port?

An educated guess here but

remote access to a server usually requires the OS up and running,

a remote access card usually allows you to http to the machine even as it reboots so you see the reboot and can go into the bios

transfer rates? I get about 100mb a second, so to copy a 700 mb file takes about 7 seconds, compared to 30s with my previous 100mb nas (thats all mega bytes so a low res movie in 7 seconds) - i jsut tried to copy a 700MB file and a 11gb file to my desktop both reported 100mb a second... (ish)

if anyone is stuck i worked out the installed ubuntu's inability to share folders.. run "sudo apt-get upgrade"

edscdk · 24 Dec 2010 at 20:32

cottoneye said:
Is it possible to install an SSD, I read somewhere that the second sata port is not really equipped at full speed, runs at PATA or something.

i get about 40s from end of bios to desktop on a crappy old 2.5, 80gb, 5400rpm drive, i think the cpu speed will limite boot more than and sata restriction (ubuntu 10.10 desktop)

I ahve the 2.5 installed in the cd bay, so yes you can install a ssd and have 4 free drive bays...