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

Hi guys,

Ordered the N40L the other day and should hopefully arrive on Friday. I will be using the server to rip, store and serve all my media files (music, pics, vob and large m2ts files) to my dedicated xbmc machine. I want to get everything I need before then and have a few questions that I am hoping someone will be able answer!

I was thinking of heading down the WHS 2011 route, or maybe sticking to Win7 as I have a license for that already, although at £40 WHS 2011 isn't exactly going to break the bank. However I am unsure what benefits WHS would provide in my setup?

I would ideally like to leave the 4 bays free for media content, I currently have 4x2TB of which 2 are currently used for media and the others for backup. I am going to flash the modified bios giving me full speed on the remaining internal Sata and eSata. As far as I can see I have 3 options, I can either a. put the boot drive on the internal and then somehow connect the optical drive to the eSata, b. partition 1 of my 2TB drives to boot from or c. have 3 drives for media and a dedicated boot drive. Again I am unsure what would be the best option here! Any ideas? Obviously with the eSata route I would need a converter.

Just as a note, I'm not looking to use a raid array as downtime isn't crucial, my only concern is having a backup. If a drive was to fail I am happy to copy from my backup. Any thoughts against this in favour of raid? Also If anyone has any suggestions based on what the server is being used for I would be more than happy to hear them!

Cheers!
 
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Just search for 'RB-471' 1.5m blue cable.

Looking at it, the 3m one OcUK stock (here) seems to be the same make as the one you'll come to searching for the above. However 3 metres of cable will be difficult to cram in the case!

If anyone from OcUK is reading this - if you'd like to send me one of these Link - Free of charge I'll happily test it :D

We can then recommend everyone buys your cables!


(or failing that you could stock the 1.5m version :p)

/edit

Oh you said N40L - I can't see the E-SATA being changed significantly - it works perfectly on my N36L
 
Essexraptor said:
probably need some internal drive bay adapters from HP? But I have not done a search for them :)

Other than that plenty of space up top where the ODD should go (at least 2 with the bios mod done) :)
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Fair dos thanks for that. Would there be cooling issues with stacking them in the optical bay though?
 
The only thing I'd say about that one is it only takes 9mm drives.

1tb 2.5 inch drives are 12mm

Some of the 4 x 2.5 drive converters take 12mm

There are a few links in this thread to the popular auction site for a 50cm red esata -> sata cable.

Try near the very beginning of the thread

I need to get 2 myself but dont have time to check right now as on phone

I'll try check tomorrow lunchtime
 
Any thoughts on what would be the most power efficient GPU to use on this?

Looking at a 6450 / 5450 or an NV 210. Its will be a 24/7 machine that will also run XBMC.
Need to keep power usage to an absolute minimum.
 
Looking at getting this, I can get Windows Server 2008R2 for free through uni, or am I better buying WHS (about £40?)?

The main use will be NAS, Backup and Streaming.
 
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decmatt said:
Looking at getting this, I can get Windows Server 2008R2 for free through uni, or am I better buying WHS (about £40?)?

The main use will be NAS, Backup and Streaming.
Click to expand...

WHS would probably suit you better.

Server 2008 R2 isn't going to give you client backups or streaming without third party software. It also assumes that you know what you're doing, although it is a lot friendlier than some earlier versions of Windows Server.
 
Essexraptor said:
If it's free ................

:D
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Sorry Declan it was a glib answer :(

I don't have and have not used WHS ... so could not reccommend it. What I meant was if your Uni is going to provide it free.... Take it, try it then save it for when your bored or want to have a fiddle with something else or bin it. No lose either way :)

As you can probably tell by reading through this thread, some members are constantly changing or refining their server set up. Be it with software or hardware tweaks
 
Essexraptor said:
Sorry Declan it was a glib answer :(

I don't have and have not used WHS ... so could not reccommend it. What I meant was if your Uni is going to provide it free.... Take it, try it then save it for when your bored or want to have a fiddle with something else or bin it. No lose either way :)

As you can probably tell by reading through this thread, some members are constantly changing or refining their server set up. Be it with software or hardware tweaks
Click to expand...

Cheers, been reading through most of this thread, so going to give it a go... Like you say, the worst that happens is I have to start again. :)
 
K@rl said:
Any thoughts on what would be the most power efficient GPU to use on this?

Looking at a 6450 / 5450 or an NV 210. Its will be a 24/7 machine that will also run XBMC.
Need to keep power usage to an absolute minimum.
Click to expand...
My usage is pretty similar to yours and I put a GT210 into mine. Works well although took a bit of faffing to get the drivers going.
 
just ordered mine with 4GB Kingston ram as suggested in this thread and a ATI 6450 low profile card.

Will be installing Home Server 2011 and a 2TB drive I have ready and waiting. Will be using it as a NAS / XBMC and VM server for my 2003 server.

Will post pics / details if people are interested?
 
101001101 said:
XBMC sounds like a great option for this but why is it better than the Ryan HD? otherwise cant imagine what use this box would be?
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I'm planning on a N40L for XBMC, and my reasoning for not getting a more dedicated box is that I could potentially boot the box into another OS for extra functionality. For example I was thinking of using it as an ESXi test box.


R00STER - What faffing did you have to do for those drivers? I'm planning on buying the exact same graphics card. I assume you're using Linux/XBMC live?

K@RL - yes please, I'd be interested.
 
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