I had issues where the overscan wouldn't show in ATI CC so I had to modify the registry.
Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD
- Thread starter dragonuk
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I had issues where the overscan wouldn't show in ATI CC so I had to modify the registry.
I've got a N36L that's about a year old now. It's been working fine so far but I find it's quite sluggish sometimes (it's slow at booting OS's for a start) and was looking at adding more RAM and a SSD. I'll list my specs first before I ask my questions.
HP N36L
8GB RAM (2x 4GB)
HP remote access card
1x 250GB and 1x 500GB HDD (both currently located in the front caddies)
ESXi 5.1 running a Server 2008R2 VM
The 250GB HDD is used as a datastore (the USB header on the board has the ESXi install running off it) and the 500GB is not assigned to anything at the moment.
I've just got a few quick questions:
I'm wanting to upgrade the RAM to 16GB. Are there any differences between the RAM specs for the N36L and N40L? As far as I've read they are using the same controller but I'm hoping someone can clarify this
. I've not been able to find the most recent recommended RAM (CT2KIT102464BA1339) when searching the usual places. Whats the cheapest known working 16GB kit that's readily available at the moment?
Is anyone using 3TB WD Reds in their server? I've started using them on another home built server as the 3yr warranty is a lot better than the 1yr on the Seagate drives that were hovering around the £100 mark on some sites a while back. I see both the 3TB WD Green and Red drives are on offer this week but there's only about a tenner of a difference between them. Which would you recommend? I'm planning on getting at least two and hopefully passing them through to the 2008R2 OS as a RAID1 (or getting 3 and setting up a RAID5). This kind of brings me on to the next question..
I've not looked into passing through the drives yet but noticed the vSphere client says that the host does not support pass-through. Does the server itself not support pass-through or does that message just mean there's nothing detected that can be passed through? If I was to say purchase a PCI-E RAID card similar to Jeci a few posts back would I be able to pass this through? The only way I'd be able to RAID the drives right now would be software and that would probably have a major performance hit on the box (RAID5 would definitely be out the question without an add-in card)!!
Would adding a SSD for the datastore make much difference to performance using the on board SATA/SAS connectors? Is the server able to handle the faster speeds of a SSD? I take it ESXi 5.1 supports SSD's (I think I read somewhere a while back when I was upgrading from 5.0 that it has native support). The firmware on my server is stock so would I gain anything in terms of performance from updating to the hacked firmware (other than the increase in speed of the ODD SATA port)?
Lastly not a question but something I'd like to add to the thread. There's not really been much talk of the remote access card other than a few people asking what it is and being told it's not really required. I've got one and its great. Being able to connect to the machine when its powered off and boot it into the BIOS, or do a reset remotely is something I need to be able to do seeing as it's located at my parents. While I agree its something most people will never need, if you have put your Microserver in the attic or somewhere out of reach without any monitor/keyboard connected then its a great way to let you tinker with the machine without worrying about having to go to it freezes. It also has a virtual media option allowing you to boot from ISO's (and I think you can map a physical DVD drive but I've never tried this) from the machine you are connecting from. Even has floppy emulation although I doubt anyone would use that these days
HP N36L
8GB RAM (2x 4GB)
HP remote access card
1x 250GB and 1x 500GB HDD (both currently located in the front caddies)
ESXi 5.1 running a Server 2008R2 VM
The 250GB HDD is used as a datastore (the USB header on the board has the ESXi install running off it) and the 500GB is not assigned to anything at the moment.
I've just got a few quick questions:
I'm wanting to upgrade the RAM to 16GB. Are there any differences between the RAM specs for the N36L and N40L? As far as I've read they are using the same controller but I'm hoping someone can clarify this
. I've not been able to find the most recent recommended RAM (CT2KIT102464BA1339) when searching the usual places. Whats the cheapest known working 16GB kit that's readily available at the moment? Is anyone using 3TB WD Reds in their server? I've started using them on another home built server as the 3yr warranty is a lot better than the 1yr on the Seagate drives that were hovering around the £100 mark on some sites a while back. I see both the 3TB WD Green and Red drives are on offer this week but there's only about a tenner of a difference between them. Which would you recommend? I'm planning on getting at least two and hopefully passing them through to the 2008R2 OS as a RAID1 (or getting 3 and setting up a RAID5). This kind of brings me on to the next question..
I've not looked into passing through the drives yet but noticed the vSphere client says that the host does not support pass-through. Does the server itself not support pass-through or does that message just mean there's nothing detected that can be passed through? If I was to say purchase a PCI-E RAID card similar to Jeci a few posts back would I be able to pass this through? The only way I'd be able to RAID the drives right now would be software and that would probably have a major performance hit on the box (RAID5 would definitely be out the question without an add-in card)!!
Would adding a SSD for the datastore make much difference to performance using the on board SATA/SAS connectors? Is the server able to handle the faster speeds of a SSD? I take it ESXi 5.1 supports SSD's (I think I read somewhere a while back when I was upgrading from 5.0 that it has native support). The firmware on my server is stock so would I gain anything in terms of performance from updating to the hacked firmware (other than the increase in speed of the ODD SATA port)?
Lastly not a question but something I'd like to add to the thread. There's not really been much talk of the remote access card other than a few people asking what it is and being told it's not really required. I've got one and its great. Being able to connect to the machine when its powered off and boot it into the BIOS, or do a reset remotely is something I need to be able to do seeing as it's located at my parents. While I agree its something most people will never need, if you have put your Microserver in the attic or somewhere out of reach without any monitor/keyboard connected then its a great way to let you tinker with the machine without worrying about having to go to it freezes. It also has a virtual media option allowing you to boot from ISO's (and I think you can map a physical DVD drive but I've never tried this) from the machine you are connecting from. Even has floppy emulation although I doubt anyone would use that these days
Is there still the $100 program fee at the end of the three years? What will happen to a Server 2012 install when 3 years expires?
I was all for putting Win 8 on my new N40L until I saw this possibility... is Server 2012 overkill for a home media server?
Also, which modded BIOS is recommended?
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Hi guys, three quick questions about the N40L:
Is it powerful enough to act as a HTPC and a media server at the same time? I wouldn't anticipate ever having more than one or two people watching video (at full 1080p) at any one time (in addition to using XBMC in the sitting room).
Can it take 3TB drives or is 2TB the maximum?
How often does the cashback offer come around? I missed it over Christmas, but would like to get my HTPC up and running soonish.
Thanks.
Is it powerful enough to act as a HTPC and a media server at the same time? I wouldn't anticipate ever having more than one or two people watching video (at full 1080p) at any one time (in addition to using XBMC in the sitting room).
Can it take 3TB drives or is 2TB the maximum?
How often does the cashback offer come around? I missed it over Christmas, but would like to get my HTPC up and running soonish.
Thanks.
I've got a Technet & MSDN subscription which is very similar to Dreamspark and I can say once you have activated the key it's as good as a retail copy so will not expire. Of course I'd check the MS TOC as it may state something about you not being able to apply keys if your subscription has expired. The MSDN I got through my previous employer however I purchased Technet myself at £150 for the first year and £100 for each following year. Given the fact I play about with server OS's and other MS apps all the time this isn't that much. Only difference between Technet and MSDN is the number of licenses and the enterprise editions of products is not available on my Technet subscription (although Technet professional includes this if I recall however is a few £100 more).
Also I'd probably go with win7 or server 2008R2 (pending on how you plan to use the server). Given the fact server 2012 is so new the driver support and stability will not be the same as 2008/win7. And the interface of 7/2008R2 is so much easier to use.
1. I just use mine as a server but I've heard of loads of people using theirs as a HTPC and server combined so I don't see why not. If you get one of the mentioned HTPC GFX cards from the thread I believe most the encoding will be offloaded to the GPU which will mean there will be little CPU usage. The CPU is a bit weedy so don't expect blistering performance however it seems to handle the basics quite well and for its price after cashback its an astonishing piece of kit!
2. I'm assuming it will support 3TB SATAII drives but I asked the same question and am awaiting conformation of someone using such a setup.
3. Cashback has been renewed monthly for about 2yrs now however ended in Dec. There is rumor a few pages back that the new Microsever (N54L) will continue the cashback trend but prices have not been confirmed yet.
It will. I have Seagate 3TB HDDs in my N36L.
Is windows server 08 too much for someone new to this? Servers are something I wantto learn but an new to it ccompletely
Also I'm struggling with choosing hdds for os. I was thinking a 2.5 mechanical 1tb that would hold the OS, all theclient backups and tthen this would in turn backup (os and client backups) to a external source
Currently using whs
Also I'm struggling with choosing hdds for os. I was thinking a 2.5 mechanical 1tb that would hold the OS, all theclient backups and tthen this would in turn backup (os and client backups) to a external source
Currently using whs
If you can use WHS, Windows 7 etc, you'll be able to use Server 2008.
Absolutely not. You can either stick it on a machine (real or virtual) and have a play till you break it, or start using it straight away and just be careful and Google anything you're not sure about. But, can't go wrong really.
As for your OS drive, would a 1TB 2.5" not be overkill? Size and cost are a lot more than a bog standard 300GB one that would happily dual boot plus have virtual machines.
A lot other IT guys working for other companies I've spoken to are planning on 'doing a Vista' and are either skipping 2012 outright or at least delaying until they really, really need it. None of them particularly like the UI, and some of the other features are already being done well enough by other technologies e.g. storage spaces, VDI etc. A lot of places are going to be 2008 shops for some time to come, with 2012 a niche product.
- More than enough power to act as HTPC after graphics card is upgraded to something like i got - HD 6570. XBMC 12 menus are fast & 1080P MKV material is playing smooth 23.97fps.
- 3 TB are fine. In fact I came across a posting confirming 4TB are good to go.
- 3 TB are fine. In fact I came across a posting confirming 4TB are good to go.
Deleted member 138126
Deleted member 138126
They don't know what they're talking about. Windows Server 2012 is an amazing product absolutely brimming with fantastic new features. Who cares about the UI?
It's not just the UI. It's HyperV management being restricted to other 2012 boxes, Sys Centre SP1 being needed for cloud mgmt and still only in beta. Personally, I'd be a little iffy about a wholescale MS server rollout until SP1 comes along. As for what mates are telling me, they have their reasons and I'm only relaying what I've been told, and of those who will be using it, they will be going core only and PowerShelling everything they need. However, even for some server admins, having to choose between 100% CLI and 100% tiling monstrosity is too much.
Just ordered an N40L to use as a NAS.
I'm currently using a couple of FW800 enclosures that JBOD a pair of 1TB drives, however one PSU has failed and the other is likely on the way out. Replacement PSUs are rather hard to come by so time to go with something more flexible for backups and media storage before it dies and takes my data with it!
I'm looking at FreeNAS as it offers AFP support for OS X and Time Machine. If anyone knows of a better option I'm open to ideas.
Looking at a couple of options as regards storage
1) Re-use the existing 4x1TB Hitachi drives in the Microserver. Grab a random external HDD to transfer the data across.
2) Buy some WD Red drives. Would probably get a couple of 2TB, then extend the array with more drives when funds allow.
Any thoughts or pointers?
I'm currently using a couple of FW800 enclosures that JBOD a pair of 1TB drives, however one PSU has failed and the other is likely on the way out. Replacement PSUs are rather hard to come by so time to go with something more flexible for backups and media storage before it dies and takes my data with it!
I'm looking at FreeNAS as it offers AFP support for OS X and Time Machine. If anyone knows of a better option I'm open to ideas.
Looking at a couple of options as regards storage
1) Re-use the existing 4x1TB Hitachi drives in the Microserver. Grab a random external HDD to transfer the data across.
2) Buy some WD Red drives. Would probably get a couple of 2TB, then extend the array with more drives when funds allow.
Any thoughts or pointers?
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Deleted member 138126
Deleted member 138126
The non-backwards compatibility with Hyper-V 2008 R2 is a bit of a pain, but in general Microsoft could do with a little bit less backwards compatibility, even if that means a sometimes painful transition. Short-term pain for long-term gain. The Hyper-V team chose to go down this path, presumably for valid reasons:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_...v2-wmi-namespace-in-hyper-v-on-windows-8.aspx
System Center SP1 has been completed internally, and will be released to the general public "any day now" (I haven't had a chance to check the volume license portal to see if it's available). I don't understand the logic -- should Microsoft have delayed the release of Server 2012 to give the System Center team more time? In reality, 2012 was released when it was, which gave the world those months to play with it and test it, so that when SC SP1 becomes available they will be all the more prepared to roll it out. And have you seen some of VMware's dependencies? As of vSphere 5.0 the GUI client was deprecated, but the new Web client still isn't ready. Yet when they released vSphere 5.1 with a bunch of new features, they only added the new features to the Web client. So you still need the GUI client for some things that the Web client doesn't yet support, while needing the web client for the new features. All done for perfectly valid reasons, but the transition is a bit painful.
Both your points are true (although in my opinion not valid as an excuse for not rolling out 2012), but comparing 2012 to Vista is definitely not the right comparison. Of course you would never wholesale roll out a new operating system without extensive testing, but this business of waiting for SP1 is not based in fact -- it's a habit from the bad old days that in some quarters refuses to go away.
PS. You rarely see the "tiling monstrosity" in 2012, most of the management is performed from the server manager, the various MMCs (which you trigger from the server manager) or the command prompt.