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

Ok, having a nightmare with this now. For the life of me I cannot get my N54L to WOL under FreeNAS 9.1.1

I'm using the command

shutdown -p now from the shell on the freeNAS GUI

Here's my router (Belkin F5D8635-4v1) port forwarding settings

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N54L BIOS (I am using the DEFAULT BIOS that was supplied with my N54L)

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FreeNAS Network Summary

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FreeNAS Network Global Configuration

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FreeNAS Interface Configuration

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Wake On LAN settings on iOS app for PC (works to wake from sleep or shutdown)

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Wake on LAN settings on iOS app for N54L (does not turn on N54L after command has been issued)

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Are many of you guys using VPN to access your Microservers? If you are what are you running?

OpenVPN on a linux distro or using the Direct Access\VPN role?
 
I use OpenVPN to my Tomato router (Asus RT-N16), then acces to the rest of my network using local Ip addresses/DNS names.

I like this setup because I don't have to open any ports to internal services on my router
 
.temp said:
Ok, having a nightmare with this now. For the life of me I cannot get my N54L to WOL under FreeNAS 9.1.1

** snip **
Click to expand...

All looks okay, the one thing that I'm not sure about though is your router settings - if you're just trying to WOL from home using another device on your network then port-forwarding shouldn't be necessary (Unless I'm being dumb)... And as well as that your destination IP on the port-forwarding doesn't appear to agree with your server's IP - although perhaps there's an extra step not shown which explains that (your switch maybe? - I'm not sure as I don't use one :p)
 
uncle_rufus said:
I've heard the SAS/mini-SAS connector for the inbuilt drive cage is a complete pain...
Click to expand...
The trick to the Mini-SAS connector is to push fully down on the connector before you press on the metal clasp to release the connector. If you don't fully push down, it seems the clasp catches, and doesn't release properly. A bit like jiggling a stubborn lock.
 
Well, I spent a couple of hours last night transplanting the drives and RAM from my almost-three-year-old N36L to my new £85 (after cash-back) N54L. Steps required:

- Cut out mesh filter to fit inside front door (using curtain material "voile"). This DRAMATICALLY cuts down the amount of dust that gets inside the server. My N36L looks almost new inside (the front of door gets very dusty, which I vacuum off every month or so).
- Transplant 2 x 3 TB Reds and 1 x 64 GB Crucial C300 SSD (sitting in the ODD bay on a 5.25" to 2.5" adapter tray), plus the 2GB DIMM module from the N36L. This includes running a SATA cable from the on-board SATA port, and using a power adapter to plug the SSD into the spare Molex power connector that sits up there.
- Figure out the latest good BIOS firmware to get (The_Bay O41072911.ROM dated 19-Oct-2011), and the setting to change to enable AHCI on the on-board SATA port (change SATA Ports 4/5 IDE Mode to Disabled). It's been such a long time since I did this for my N36L that I just had to do the research all over again.
- Use Rufus to create a bootable DOS USB stick, and then copy the BIOS files to it.
- Apply said BIOS update.
- Power on and boot into Windows 2012 (it detected new devices during boot, but remained activated).
- Test everything works properly. Network configuration remained correct even though it is technically a new NIC (a different MAC address at the very least).
- Power down and move back into its headless location under my desk.
- Power on and test again.

The steps that took the longest were (in order) the mesh filter (it's really fiddly cutting that stuff), figuring out the correct BIOS, and pulling out the motherboards to transplant the RAM from the N36L. Everything else was quick.

For £85 (I still cannot believe it) I now have double the RAM (I had a 2GB DIMM in my N36L, so now I have 4GB in my N54L), almost double the processing power, it seems to run a lot quieter (possibly the power supply fan on the N36L has gotten louder over the years), and I now have a cold-spare sitting in the box in case anything blows on the N54L. I didn't bother going for the cheap 3-year warranty (it worked out at around £40 after the cash-back), because why bother, if the whole purpose of buying this N54L was to extend the life of my MicroServer in the first place.

Special thanks to Conan257 for mentioning the awesome price on PCWB (I just managed to get in before the price went way up).
 
Is there anyone using any health monitoring software for their servers? ideally I want something to monitor the essentials and send email alerts should there be an issue.
 
Si. said:
Is there anyone using any health monitoring software for their servers? ideally I want something to monitor the essentials and send email alerts should there be an issue.
Click to expand...

Depends what you are using and have running.

I'm personally about to build a VM specifically for running Nagios as this will monitor and report on my Unix based VM's and also on my MS host OS and HTPC MS host OS.
 
Si. said:
Is there anyone using any health monitoring software for their servers? ideally I want something to monitor the essentials and send email alerts should there be an issue.
Click to expand...

Have a look at ServersCheck, I use this and its pretty decent. You can have up to 100 different 'Checks' with the free version. It can monitor tons of things, including windows and linux health.
 
uncle_rufus said:
All looks okay, the one thing that I'm not sure about though is your router settings - if you're just trying to WOL from home using another device on your network then port-forwarding shouldn't be necessary (Unless I'm being dumb)... And as well as that your destination IP on the port-forwarding doesn't appear to agree with your server's IP - although perhaps there's an extra step not shown which explains that (your switch maybe? - I'm not sure as I don't use one :p)
Click to expand...

I've reinstalled FreeNAS to start completely from scratch tonight. Also, moved the router so that the N54L is directly plugged into it as is my PC (no switch in the middle). I've removed all the port forwarding too.

Are you running the modded BIOS? I saw on an early post you had questions about it, starting to think that's my issue.
 
uncle_rufus said:
What about

"Asus GeForce GT 610 SILENT Low Profile 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card" http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-312-AS

Seems a bargain for £30, power rating is 29W which from what I've read should be okay, but I can't confirm that this card works (not using my N54L with a video card)
Click to expand...

This card will not fit in a Microserver. There are no passive nVidia GT610's that do. I got a Zotac GT610 with a fan on it but it's no noisier than the actual Microserver and certainly inaudible when I have something on the telly, even at low volume.
 
.temp said:
I've reinstalled FreeNAS to start completely from scratch tonight. Also, moved the router so that the N54L is directly plugged into it as is my PC (no switch in the middle). I've removed all the port forwarding too.

Are you running the modded BIOS? I saw on an early post you had questions about it, starting to think that's my issue.
Click to expand...

No I was planning to update to the modded one but just haven't quite had time to get around to it :p most likely because I can't afford any big drives to stick in the microserver yet so can't be arsed with doing too much to it until then (and more RAM of course)

ubern00b said:
This card will not fit in a Microserver. There are no passive nVidia GT610's that do. I got a Zotac GT610 with a fan on it but it's no noisier than the actual Microserver and certainly inaudible when I have something on the telly, even at low volume.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks :D
 
Can anyone fill me in on the cheapest RAM for the N54L.

Looking for 8GB totoal or maybe 16GB total depending on the price. Some of the RAM people have used looks like it costs more then the server (after rebate)!
 
Vanilla said:
Can anyone fill me in on the cheapest RAM for the N54L.

Looking for 8GB totoal or maybe 16GB total depending on the price. Some of the RAM people have used looks like it costs more then the server (after rebate)!
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There is a list of know compatible memory here - http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/Memory

Do you want ecc or non ecc? You should be able to pick up non ecc ddr3 pretty cheap.
 
I am not asking for a competitor link but why are low profile 6450s so difficult to find? I keep coming across places that have stock with this:

These Graphics Cards Do NOT Ship With Low Profile Brackets From April 1st 2013
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OcUK have the 5450 which I am not too keen on unless I have no choice of the 7750 which is too expensive.
 
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