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

It's probably mentioned in this thread somewhere but I can't find a fecent post..

Can anyone recoment a decend RAID controller? looking to setup RAID5 for the 4 drive bays.
 
I think I'm going to just bite the bullet and go for the N40L for the £260 and get the cashback. I can't seem to find it anywhere else cheaper!

Question now is what HDD to get for it? Are there any preferences? I'm just going to use it as a Media Server and possibly a HTPC. Are there any specific HDD brands to avoid? Looking for just 2x2TB to start with. I assume you don't HAVE to raid them? and if you do can only do 0 or 1?

To be used as a HTPC am I right in thinking that I would need 8gb ram and a new gfx card?
 
What ram you guys got in it? I installed 4gb of Crucial DDR3 1333MHz Rendition Memory, which has oddly died. Need a replacement but gonna go for 8gig, any recommendations?
 
Does it matter what OS you put on these? I have a spare copy of Vista I could use for it, would that work ok? I might have XP somewhere as well. I just want to use it as a Media Streamer and possible HTPC.

Or do I need to buy either WHS2011 or another copy of Win7?
 
Blinkz said:
Does it matter what OS you put on these? I have a spare copy of Vista I could use for it, would that work ok? I might have XP somewhere as well. I just want to use it as a Media Streamer and possible HTPC.

Or do I need to buy either WHS2011 or another copy of Win7?
Click to expand...

For them 2 funtions only just use any OS you have available, no need to buy another.

Im using win server 2008 R2 Enterprise!
 
Going to pick one of these up on the weekend for £260 - £100

Was looking at RAM do you think http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-104-KS will be good, or do i NEED 8GB?

As for the hard drive bay's I have 2 500GB hard drives and 1 750GB laptop hard drive, does anyone know if the laptop hard drive will fit? (I am planning on replacing all 3 of them eventually but cannot afford it right now).
 
Bit of an odd question here

not sure if this can be done

Basically Im running Ubuntu Server 12.04 but want to try to get voice control over xbmc or at least try it using this method

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wXmbA--FEVQWHmF2vuoQo3WWV4D1R1mNeBXBgeIYLac/edit?pli=1


I have the virtual machines going but its the audio thats the issue as theres no inut device

Im thinking of getting a usb microphone to test this just to see if it can be done but not sure what Im looking for

I suppose it has to be compatible under linux and allow some sort of passthrough to the virtual machines

Anyone done this or have any advice
 
Danny091 said:
Going to pick one of these up on the weekend for £260 - £100

Was looking at RAM do you think http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-104-KS will be good, or do i NEED 8GB?

As for the hard drive bay's I have 2 500GB hard drives and 1 750GB laptop hard drive, does anyone know if the laptop hard drive will fit? (I am planning on replacing all 3 of them eventually but cannot afford it right now).
Click to expand...

That RAM will be fine! As for 8GB only if you need it thou, and as the prices of ram this days i just used and old 8gb kit i had . But 4gb will more than enough.

For the laptop hdd should also be fine!
 
tododo said:
Bit of an odd question here

not sure if this can be done

Basically Im running Ubuntu Server 12.04 but want to try to get voice control over xbmc or at least try it using this method

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wXmbA--FEVQWHmF2vuoQo3WWV4D1R1mNeBXBgeIYLac/edit?pli=1


I have the virtual machines going but its the audio thats the issue as theres no inut device

Im thinking of getting a usb microphone to test this just to see if it can be done but not sure what Im looking for

I suppose it has to be compatible under linux and allow some sort of passthrough to the virtual machines

Anyone done this or have any advice
Click to expand...

I have done USB passthrough, but not of a microphone! I have done USB external hard disks and USB sticks a plenty all with no problem at all.

No idea whether mics works though
 
Can someone help me out please, running WHS2011 on mine. How can i setup a FTP on it so i can use my ipad to connect at any time using the app "FTP on the go PRO"
*Edit* never mind using Filezilla.
 
Last edited:
Mines been running great since I bought it.

Run a 120gb ssd as the os drive with a software raid 2 x 1tb drives and a single 2tb drive.
Upgraded the ram to 8gb and will look to update to a low-profile gpu soon.

Mainly run as a file server and storage/backup but it also runs www.xsgamers.com Teamspeak 3 server without a hitch.
 
Danny091 said:
Going to pick one of these up on the weekend for £260 - £100

Was looking at RAM do you think http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-104-KS will be good, or do i NEED 8GB?

As for the hard drive bay's I have 2 500GB hard drives and 1 750GB laptop hard drive, does anyone know if the laptop hard drive will fit? (I am planning on replacing all 3 of them eventually but cannot afford it right now).
Click to expand...

Laptop HDD will be fine, it can fit in the space under the 5.25" bay. Just get a molex to SATA power splitter (or ideally 2x SATA for future expansion). I'm running mine with 4*2TB drives in the hotswap bays, another 2TB drive in a 5.25" to 3.5" converter using the onboard SATA connector and a 90GB SSD underneath that via a SATA to ESATA cable which loops out of one of the PCI-E blanking slots and into the back.
 
Zarf said:
Laptop HDD will be fine, it can fit in the space under the 5.25" bay. Just get a molex to SATA power splitter (or ideally 2x SATA for future expansion). I'm running mine with 4*2TB drives in the hotswap bays, another 2TB drive in a 5.25" to 3.5" converter using the onboard SATA connector and a 90GB SSD underneath that via a SATA to ESATA cable which loops out of one of the PCI-E blanking slots and into the back.
Click to expand...

Guessing you have done the BIOS mod then? Is it compatible with the N40L?

Thanks.
 
Hi all,

I am going to have a search through this thread (as its quite lengthy) to find what I need, but in the meantime I am just going to ask to see if anyone could give me a quick heads up.

I have the Microserver NL36, only using a 250GB OS drive and a 500GB data drive at the moment which is partitioned and currently running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.

I want to set-up a virtual host on my NL36 using vmware ESXi or similar, I have been recommended ESXi 5.0. Not sure what I would need in terms of RAM though and drive set-up, can anyone recommend? is RAID a requirement? Ideally I want to look at hosting my Windows Server 2008 R2 Server, a linux server with space for one more possibly, but that should be about it. Id say in short term 2 servers with the flexibility of adding one more.
 
You didn't say how much memory you have.
The slowest thing about my ESXi setup are the discs. I have the NL36 like you with 8GB of RAM. I had 4GB which was enough but I wanted to play with DAG's in Exchange 2010 so needed the upgrade as 4GB was just too little.
Depending on how much your discs are reading and writing though you can easily share the discs. For example I permanently have a Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller and two Arch Linux servers running. The first one does nothing really but the second hosts my three websites which tbh are dead anyway but they still get hits. I also have an Exchange 2007 server that I use to mess around with.
As you can see I have plenty of things going off on my small box and it copes quite well.
 
Only using 2GB at the moment, obviously if I was going to go virtualised I would be upgrading to max possible.

Drive prices are still quite high still :(
 
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