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

MasterPlan1 · 2 Aug 2011 at 09:43

DiCe! said:
This is SO tempting. its scary.

There is no way im going to find a 4 bay NAS anywhere...but ive never set up a server before, i would be much more comfortable with a nice plug and play.....

WHAT TO DO!

A server is just a PC with a slightly different version of Windows XP/Vista or 7 on it. They all use the same kernel.

IAmATeaf · 2 Aug 2011 at 10:05

DiCe! said:
This is SO tempting. its scary.

There is no way im going to find a 4 bay NAS anywhere...but ive never set up a server before, i would be much more comfortable with a nice plug and play.....

WHAT TO DO!

I've set mine up with Windows7 Pro, that's all I need right now so that I can run PS3 Media server and run the box headless.

DiCe! · 2 Aug 2011 at 10:12

All I want to do is have some sort of raid set up with absolute minimal fuss........

MasterPlan1 · 2 Aug 2011 at 10:47

http://youtu.be/kZqGHKKIK48

Spend 20 minutes of your day edumacating yourself with a simple video and buy the Microserver + 4 disks, and away you go. Well, 4 disks and a USB Pen drive, and maybe 4Gb of RAM

_SBradley_ · 2 Aug 2011 at 10:49

DiCe! said:
All I want to do is have some sort of raid set up with absolute minimal fuss........

Write the FreeNAS embedded IMG file to a USB stick (no installation as such required), pop it inside, boot up with a monitor connected over VGA, enter a few basic networking settings (IP, netmask, DNS, etc.). Then log on using the web console, add your disks, set up RAID/ZFS/etc. as you like. It's easy, and there's plenty of help to be had here.

nickcardwell · 2 Aug 2011 at 13:32

DiCe! said:
All I want to do is have some sort of raid set up with absolute minimal fuss........

unraid
http://www.lime-technology.com/

You can get 6 disks in the box.
Up to 18Tb of storage (of which 15Tb is useable)

Beta supports 3TB drives now.

tonym · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:42

Before I plod through 69 pages of posts, has anyone set a microserver up with ESXi and with Freenas 8 as a VM? I've got it installed but can't seem to get it to see any additional internal HDD's?

I've tried making a spare drive a datastore, and also leaving it blank, but Freenas can't see any of them. I want to be able to have my VM's on the 250gb shipped drive, then mirror a couple of drives in Freenas to use as storage.
Am I doing something stupid or missing something?

MasterPlan1 · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:45

You'll need to use raw drive mappings, not sure if this works with internal disks or not

tonym · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:50

MasterPlan1 said:
You'll need to use raw drive mappings, not sure if this works with internal disks or not

Cheers, I read something about raw drive mappings earlier, I shall do some digging.

Zarf · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:18

tonym said:
Before I plod through 69 pages of posts, has anyone set a microserver up with ESXi and with Freenas 8 as a VM? I've got it installed but can't seem to get it to see any additional internal HDD's?

I've tried making a spare drive a datastore, and also leaving it blank, but Freenas can't see any of them. I want to be able to have my VM's on the 250gb shipped drive, then mirror a couple of drives in Freenas to use as storage.
Am I doing something stupid or missing something?

You should be able to do this, It works fine for me with an Ubuntu VM on ESXi. So you created a datastore on each spare drive, Did you remember to add virtual drives in the VM configuration, mapping each virtual drive to a datastore?

AtomicBanana · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:21

Trox said:
I thought i would bump this post as it helped me out, some of the guides i found were a nightmare for creating a raid.

Cheers mate!

Glad it was of use to someone! Mine is still going strong with very minor changes.

Biz.Kid09 · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:22

Hi guys,
I have just seen this is still on offer and i am thinking of getting one.
Can someone help me see if this would be right for my needs?

What i want to do is have somewhere in the house i can store all my movies and images..
and be able to access them on my desktop pc which is running via powerline adaptor and 2 wireless laptops and a PS3.

Would something like this HP MicroServer be good for me eg be able to look at the images, store documents and watch films or do i nee to be looking at something else? real noob when it comes to stuff like this.

Thanks guys

adamau5 · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:47

micro server plus windows home server 2011 is exactly what you need.

Biz.Kid09 · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:54

Awesome.

I assume I will need a decent router to make it possible to stream the content?

Any suggestions for one?

Only have thie one that came with Virgin 10/100 ports but wireless n.

I have 2 wireless laptops, will the router/server be able to stream my 1080p stuff?

I assume my desktop will be fine as it is powerline adaptor.

tonym · 2 Aug 2011 at 18:41

Zarf said:
You should be able to do this, It works fine for me with an Ubuntu VM on ESXi. So you created a datastore on each spare drive, Did you remember to add virtual drives in the VM configuration, mapping each virtual drive to a datastore?

That would be a no...... thanks, will have a look!

elnino90 · 2 Aug 2011 at 18:56

on the cashback form it says you have to give the serial number. where is that found as i cant find it on the invoice

Digital · 2 Aug 2011 at 18:57

elnino90 said:
on the cashback form it says you have to give the serial number. where is that found as i cant find it on the invoice

On the box or the back of the device, either one. Should be SN: ......

elnino90 · 2 Aug 2011 at 19:00

thank you

adamau5 · 2 Aug 2011 at 19:44

Biz.Kid09 said:
Awesome.

I assume I will need a decent router to make it possible to stream the content?

Any suggestions for one?

Only have thie one that came with Virgin 10/100 ports but wireless n.

I have 2 wireless laptops, will the router/server be able to stream my 1080p stuff?

I assume my desktop will be fine as it is powerline adaptor.

Your powering adapters will be the bottleneck. you will be lucky to get 80mbps from them which is around 10mb per sec.

Biz.Kid09 · 2 Aug 2011 at 19:52

adamau5 said:
Your powering adapters will be the bottleneck. you will be lucky to get 80mbps from them which is around 10mb per sec.

They are 200mb ones?

I have a wireless n card i can use also.
I just thought Poweline would be quicker?

Will the Microserver be ok for 1080p etc? If someone could spec me a good router also to use with it then that would be great

Thanks