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

PhatEd said:
I think I've decided on picking up a Gen 8. However, I'm not sure which OS to go for? I have a MacBook Air so I would like to use the server as a target for Time Machine backups and will obviously need to support AFP. I also want to use this as a Plex Server plus sabnzbd and sick beard.

What can you guys recommend?
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XPenology :)
 
TallPaul_S said:
would one be powerful enough with Server 2012 running on it to run a few VM's to act as a box that I can mess around with while learning stuff for the MCSA cert?
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The basic option is a great little server, but just not enough grunt for several VMs in my experience.
Expect to add £200-300 of hardware on top of the basic shell for a good VM server.
 
Looks like HP have extended the discount for Gen 8 into March. Still toying with the idea of picking one of these up, particularly as that brings it in at about £150.

Purchase the HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 (part code 712317-421)
either on its own or together with HP 8GB 2Rx8 PC3-12800E-11
Kit or HP 1TB 6G SATA 7.2k 3.5in NHP MDL HDD between 1st March
2015 and 31st March 2015, complete this claim form and HP will
refund £35 cash back if you purchase the server on its own or £40 if
you purchase together with HP 8GB 2Rx8 PC3-12800E-11 Kit or HP
1TB 6G SATA 7.2k 3.5in NHP MDL HDD.
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Decided to order one of the gen8 microservers and 16GB of Kingston RAM on the rainforest.
Gonna put freenas on it and see how it goes.

I was rather torn between the microserver and just getting a proliant ml310e tower as you could probably get it to run cooler and quieter with some fan upgrades.
 
Tempting but I might hold out a bit longer, see if they come down. I've also been looking at those Atom C2750 "Avoton" boards for a custom build but they seem quite expensive and as common as rocking horse poo over here.
 
Helium_Junkie said:
The basic option is a great little server, but just not enough grunt for several VMs in my experience.
Expect to add £200-300 of hardware on top of the basic shell for a good VM server.
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Yeah, I'm gathering that CPU and ram upgrade are needed to cope with 4-5 server 2012 VM's, + a xpenology VM - my other option is to use some existing parts I already have from my current PC (as I'm looking to upgrade the mobo and PSU) - so motherboard, 500w PSU from my current pc and then buy a Xeon CPU (same as I'd be upgrading the microserver to) and add 16gb of ram and a case, which works out at £90 for ram + £65 for a bitfenix phenom, plus the cost of upgrading my current PC motherboard & PSU.

Or: £130 ecc ram, £145 (after cash back) for the gen8 minus about £50 or so for selling my old bits.

Add the CPU onto each and it's only about £70 difference, and the ILO is probably worth that on its own.
 
ANDARIAL said:
I have read that you do not get the full version with this server
Best to check up on this :)
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You don't. iLO license is extra, so additional running costs if you intend to use it. I used a 60-day trial licence for installing Ubuntu 14.04 on mine but would probably look into buying a licence if I was intending to install another OS on there, or use VM's. It is a great feature though.
 
Bad news is that iLO doesn't do much without the advanced license. You can turn the box on and off, but very limited kvm/remote disk mounting options. The good news is that it's just a license number and you can pick them up cheaply on auction sites.

edit - typos and some updated info.
Mines been running sweetly for a good few months now, not a single issue.
Xeon E3-1265LV2 CPU (2.5GHz, 4 Core, 8 Threads)
Kingston Technology ValueRam DDR3 1333 MHz ECC DIMM - 16 GB Memory Kit (2 x 8 GB)
HP branded Intel quad port NIC
1x 120gb Crucial SSD (OS)
2x 500gb Western Digital black 2.5" (HyperV + local apps)
1x 4tb HGST NAS 3.5" (Data) - backing up to my HPG7 ZFS box.
iLO advanced

Windows 2012R2 Standard with HyperV for the following VMs:
pfSense
Ubuntu server - Plex
Ubuntu server - general linuxy things via X2GO
Windows 7 - Blueiris

For me the cost was worth it, I've replaced a few physical boxes and still have plenty of capacity for learning/playing with other stuff.
 
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Not sure whether to buy this but
With regards to the HP ProLiant Gen8 G1610T Micro Server can someone confirm my findings....

- bay 0,1 sata 3

- bay 2,3 sata 2 + onboard port for the cdrom is also sata 2

- booting from the onboard sata port is tricky at best. Details are sketchy but has something to do with creating a volume from the raid controller

Questions:

- ideally I want my boot drive to not utilise one of the drive bays and disable the onboard raid controller. Not sure if this is possible but am open to options.

- Options investigated - dedicated pci-e raid/hba/m2 card for the boot OS - there have been success stories with raid/hba cards not sure about an m2 - doubt ithe C204 chipset supports it

- SmartArray B120i - can this be disabled or can it be used instead for xen/esxi passthrough ?
 
Subliminal Aura said:
Not sure whether to buy this but
With regards to the HP ProLiant Gen8 G1610T Micro Server can someone confirm my findings....

- bay 0,1 sata 3

- bay 2,3 sata 2 + onboard port for the cdrom is also sata 2

- booting from the onboard sata port is tricky at best. Details are sketchy but has something to do with creating a volume from the raid controller

Questions:

- ideally I want my boot drive to not utilise one of the drive bays and disable the onboard raid controller. Not sure if this is possible but am open to options.

- Options investigated - dedicated pci-e raid/hba/m2 card for the boot OS - there have been success stories with raid/hba cards not sure about an m2 - doubt ithe C204 chipset supports it

- SmartArray B120i - can this be disabled or can it be used instead for xen/esxi passthrough ?
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Not sure I can answer all your questions, but I bought one of these right at the end of 2014.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27428007&postcount=8644

 
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Timber said:
Not sure I can answer all your questions, but I bought one of these right at the end of 2014.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27428007&postcount=8644

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Thanks for the reply, you're answers have been very useful.

Now I've got a different problem.... Spotted the Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 for £220 with cashback :o

Decisions decisions :o
 
Not a bad price at all but shame it isn't a lower power Xeon L. Erring more towards a custom build because it will tick all the boxes, albeit cost more
 
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