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

I seem to have a 'stuttering issue' since upgrading to windows 8 with this server.

No matter what I use - VLC ... windows media player etc ... just like a micro stutter. Starting to bug me .... even say a 4 gb rip will do it.

Is windows 8 stretching this lttle server ?

8 gig ram.
AMD Radeon HD 6450
 
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was an 'upgrade' version of windows 8 on top of 7 - maybe a messy update somewhere ?

Will try that MPC HC - see if any better.
 
DJMK4 said:
I am after a Microserver for a small business set-up, I see the cashback offer is about but only £50? I'm thinking of just getting one of the NL40's

Unless anyone can spot anymore deals about..
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I don't think they are pokey enough to be real servers honestly, assuming by Small Business you mean you're running DHCP/DNS/AD etc from it. They are fine as a low-cost NAS but I'd look somewhere else for a business server. Have you looked at the ML310e Gen 8? That has various offers on at the moment and has things like redundant power supplies that the Microserver doesn't.
 
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No no nothing like that, it's mainly for file storage, backups and they want to access sage centrally, all you need to do is copy the data directory to a share and edit some config files on the local workstations.

Couple of external HDDs for backup

Only talking about a 3-4 workstation setup

Low cost is nas is what I'm going for hence the microserver,just need to find some good deals on the servers

I already have a server 2003 VM and xp VM setup so i can test this sage setup they want.im collecting the data and sage disk tomorrow for labbing,

So will keep an eye out for some deals on hardware
 
If you just want a low cost NAS then buy a low cost NAS, it will have a lower power consumption, smaller attack surface, less need for someone to keep an eye on software updates etc. Get a 5-bay Synology or something and put in however many disks you can afford to for now, and pick a RAID scheme that you can expand on later. The SHR/SHR2 are good choices on Synology kit. SHR2 is more like RAID6 so you don't lose all your data while waiting for RAID5 parity checks to complete.

I support a small business (12 employees) and they have a DS1512+ which has both network ports bonded into a gigabit switch and it will regularly max out the link. Very capable piece of kit. You can set up email monitoring as well so that you get informed when backups fail or disks have issues to save you having to check all the time.
 
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Caged said:
If you just want a low cost NAS then buy a low cost NAS, it will have a lower power consumption, smaller attack surface, less need for someone to keep an eye on software updates etc. Get a 5-bay Synology or something and put in however many disks you can afford to for now, and pick a RAID scheme that you can expand on later. The SHR/SHR2 are good choices on Synology kit. SHR2 is more like RAID6 so you don't lose all your data while waiting for RAID5 parity checks to complete.

I support a small business (12 employees) and they have a DS1512+ which has both network ports bonded into a gigabit switch and it will regularly max out the link. Very capable piece of kit. You can set up email monitoring as well so that you get informed when backups fail or disks have issues to save you having to check all the time.
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I dont see the point when NAS devices generally costs more :\ atleast with the server I stick a Windows OS on there, use it for what ever I want to and more if they decided to run other application services from it.

With a NAS you pay anywhere from £250-£300+ and thats basically what you get a NAS.

Would much rather spend £180 on an NL40, an additional drive and some RAM and get more foot room on what I can do with the device. Power consumption is not an issue, especially since the Microservers are not exactly power hungry. Mine runs at 35w idle I think

Not only that but I want them to have a server as it means potential support and maintenance fee's for me to look after and manage it remotely for them, plus side is their unit is 2 minutes away from my house, so if anything requires assistance (non remote) then I can nip two minutes down the road to resolve.

Just had a meeting with them now, seems they want to purchase ASAP, I guess I better start looking round for the cheapest new NL40 or new model I can find.
 
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conuk said:
I seem to have a 'stuttering issue' since upgrading to windows 8 with this server.

No matter what I use - VLC ... windows media player etc ... just like a micro stutter. Starting to bug me .... even say a 4 gb rip will do it.

Is windows 8 stretching this lttle server ?

8 gig ram.
AMD Radeon HD 6450
Click to expand...

Fine on 2012, might be worth trying a clean install
 
HI,

I've bene doing some work on my server and installed a drive in the 5.25 bay. to get better performance I installed the modified BIOS, however I'm now unable to start my Hyper-V machines as it says the hypervisor isn't started.. anyone else had this problem? anyone running Hyper-V with the modified firmware?
 
Si. said:
HI,

I've bene doing some work on my server and installed a drive in the 5.25 bay. to get better performance I installed the modified BIOS, however I'm now unable to start my Hyper-V machines as it says the hypervisor isn't started.. anyone else had this problem? anyone running Hyper-V with the modified firmware?
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Has virtualisation defaulted to off in the BIOS?
 
It's OK , fixed it now.. Hypervisor BCD wasn't starting automatically, fixed with bcdedit
 
Caged said:
If you just want a low cost NAS then buy a low cost NAS, it will have a lower power consumption, smaller attack surface, less need for someone to keep an eye on software updates etc. Get a 5-bay Synology or something and put in however many disks you can afford to for now, and pick a RAID scheme that you can expand on later. The SHR/SHR2 are good choices on Synology kit. SHR2 is more like RAID6 so you don't lose all your data while waiting for RAID5 parity checks to complete.

I support a small business (12 employees) and they have a DS1512+ which has both network ports bonded into a gigabit switch and it will regularly max out the link. Very capable piece of kit. You can set up email monitoring as well so that you get informed when backups fail or disks have issues to save you having to check all the time.
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Hi, sorry to hijack this thread but I am looking to do something very similar to this so though it it would be easier to ask here than start a new thread.

I want to have 2 laptops connecting to a NAS (was looking at one of the Synology 2 bay ones in RAID-1) which syncs all data from the office to another NAS at home.

The majority of my data is office based applications but I have 2 software that uses a database so sent them an email asking if there would be any problems running them on a NAS. The main on I use replied saying there was no problem but the smaller one said that this wasnt possible but if Im being perfectly honest i dont think they understood the question properly. As far as Im aware it doesnt use anything like a SQL server or anything like that and when I look at the properties of the DB file it is *.accdb which I believe is Access DB?

I am struggling to think why the likes of Sage and Quickbooks can run fine on a NAS but this small DB cannot. Can anyone suggest anything I can do to test this? Ideally I would rather not buy a NAS and 2 drives to find it doesnt do the job I wanted it to.

Edit - here is the response I got from them and my subsequent reply:

Mark said:
Hi
I am considering buying a NAS drive for my data storage and was wondering if there are any issues with having the database files stored on the NAS for multiple users to access? It will be a basic set up, 1 NAS box (RAID-1) and 2 users connecting to it.

Could you let me know of any potential issues.
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Software Company said:
NAS drives are not suitable for online storage of data bases.
They are fine for backing up onto but do not have the speed or the robustness of a file server or PC which is what is required for constant read/writes to a data base while the files are in use
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Mark said:
Many thanks for your prompt response.
Just to clarify when you said that they are not suitable for “online storage of databases” does this mean online in a working environment rather than online as in web based?
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Software Company said:
What I mean is that they are not suitable for using as a storage location for your data base on a day to day basis. They are ok to back up onto but that's it.
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If a NAS isnt suitable then a microserver it is! Although I wanted to keep it simple as I only really have the need for a file server and nothing else.

Many thanks, Mark
 
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Mark M said:
Hi, sorry to hijack this thread but I am looking to do something very similar to this so though it it would be easier to ask here than start a new thread.

I want to have 2 laptops connecting to a NAS (was looking at one of the Synology 2 bay ones in RAID-1) which syncs all data from the office to another NAS at home.

The majority of my data is office based applications but I have 2 software that uses a database so sent them an email asking if there would be any problems running them on a NAS. The main on I use replied saying there was no problem but the smaller one said that this wasnt possible but if Im being perfectly honest i dont think they understood the question properly. As far as Im aware it doesnt use anything like a SQL server or anything like that and when I look at the properties of the DB file it is *.accdb which I believe is Access DB?

I am struggling to think why the likes of Sage and Quickbooks can run fine on a NAS but this small DB cannot. Can anyone suggest anything I can do to test this? Ideally I would rather not buy a NAS and 2 drives to find it doesnt do the job I wanted it to.

Edit - here is the response I got from them and my subsequent reply:









If a NAS isnt suitable then a microserver it is! Although I wanted to keep it simple as I only really have the need for a file server and nothing else.

Many thanks, Mark
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Mark,

I think as long as you get some good quality drives (WD RED's which are not only RAID enabled, they're designed to be ran 24x7) you should be alright to run databases off of them (as long as 7200RPM is quick enough for you).

I would only suggest you to keep an eye on temperatures as if you are doing something intensive with a bunch of drives in the server a single 120MM fan may struggle to keep everything cool.

Josh
 
Morning all

My weekend task is going to consist of trying out ESXi on my n40L. I already have it running windows 7 so I have decided to install ESXi onto a usb pen and run it from there. Am I right in saying that I would need to install the vsphere client on another machine to be able to access and control my VM's? I was wondering as well can you put a VM on your actual home network? I would like to have Server 2012 virtualized and used as a file server on my home network just as a test.

Thanks all
 
liamcrane said:
Morning all

My weekend task is going to consist of trying out ESXi on my n40L. I already have it running windows 7 so I have decided to install ESXi onto a usb pen and run it from there. Am I right in saying that I would need to install the vsphere client on another machine to be able to access and control my VM's? I was wondering as well can you put a VM on your actual home network? I would like to have Server 2012 virtualized and used as a file server on my home network just as a test.

Thanks all
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Yes to both
 
Thanks for that matey. Might be a silly question but how do you go about powering off the server running EXSi from the usb stick remotely? I have no monitor for my server and don't really want to have to attach one just to shut it down safely.

EDIT
Found the option now
 
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