Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD
- Thread starter dragonuk
- Start date
Yes I think I actually figured the two problem ports are the paired eSAta and optical( free sata port) which is basically fine for most and perfect if you want to hang the system disk on the optical port...seems sensible and logical for most people's requirements
Thanks
maybe they meant they would install 500gb in each of the caddies which would be around that price.
Is any one running this unit as a file/print server? if so can you give me details on your setup freenas requires a lot of messing about to get print server side working I am looking for something simple.
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Soldato
If you just want bog standard file and print Windows XP will do the job perfectly or if you want frr any of the major Linux distros can be setup for this very easily even for a total Linux novice.
I have used linux before but was hoping for a simple plug in install to usb drive job done sort of thing so i could use it for nzb/file/print
It still puzzles me why freenas doesn't have automatic printer server built in is there any other nas os that does?
Soldato
only if you have very few users who 'occasionally' access the services on the xp machine.
Its for this very reason that i bought a microserver. The xp machine simply couldn't stand up to 8 users accessing it regularly for data.
Soldato
I've had a bit of a weird revelation about which OS to run..
I have 2 Microservers, (One for a 24/7 server in the house, the other as a file backup for critical data)..
So I started with FreeNAS as the main OS.. and as a lightweight simple file server, it actually seemed ok..
Just for something to do, I installed OpenFiler, then WHS, then WS2008 R2 (MSDN Subscribers rejoice!), just seeing how much a more bloated OS would affect things..
Now, I wasn't expecting this, but WS2008R2 actually seems to be better all-round.
Power Consumption
With FreeNAS set to run the power daemon, things are equalish, both idle around 28w with 1 HDD in (add 1w per spun down HDD on top of that), the issue is if I install any 'extensions' to freenas (SAB/PS3 Media server, etc) it has to merge part of a HDD with the RAMdisk OS (Embedded install), or you need to install FreeNAS to a HDD as a full installation, either way it won't spin the OS HDD down, even when I don't run any of the added programs, and consumption jumps to 34W.
In win2008R2, on 'idle' it's 28W even though the OS is installed to the HDD, provided none of the added apps access it of course...
SMB Performance
Again, I get better single disk read/write SMB speeds in WS2008, possibly due to the client machines being Windows 7 and no doubt it may be it's then using SMB2/2.1 which is supposed to be better.. FreeNAS isn't bad, but it's about 20% slower for a single large file access..
CPU Performance/Loading
I wasn't expecting this, but comparing like for like (Rrunning SAB, downloading at the max line rate whilst transferring a large file), I did not expect WS2008 to be no worse then FreeNAS, it consumes <20% CPU for SAB going flat out, and transferring a file at 80MB/s from it sees it hovering around 50% CPU.. This is almost the same for FreeNAS, maybe even slightly higher.
That's with just the default 1Gb/250Gb box as it came..
Perhaps in this 'simple' usage mode it might stack up this way, if I started adding more services/roles/features to each (Especially software RAID), then perhaps the *nix OS's would start pulling ahead, or is it just cost that is the most obvious turn off for WS2008 in a home environment, and is WHSv2 as lightweight?
I have 2 Microservers, (One for a 24/7 server in the house, the other as a file backup for critical data)..
So I started with FreeNAS as the main OS.. and as a lightweight simple file server, it actually seemed ok..
Just for something to do, I installed OpenFiler, then WHS, then WS2008 R2 (MSDN Subscribers rejoice!), just seeing how much a more bloated OS would affect things..
Now, I wasn't expecting this, but WS2008R2 actually seems to be better all-round.
Power Consumption
With FreeNAS set to run the power daemon, things are equalish, both idle around 28w with 1 HDD in (add 1w per spun down HDD on top of that), the issue is if I install any 'extensions' to freenas (SAB/PS3 Media server, etc) it has to merge part of a HDD with the RAMdisk OS (Embedded install), or you need to install FreeNAS to a HDD as a full installation, either way it won't spin the OS HDD down, even when I don't run any of the added programs, and consumption jumps to 34W.
In win2008R2, on 'idle' it's 28W even though the OS is installed to the HDD, provided none of the added apps access it of course...
SMB Performance
Again, I get better single disk read/write SMB speeds in WS2008, possibly due to the client machines being Windows 7 and no doubt it may be it's then using SMB2/2.1 which is supposed to be better.. FreeNAS isn't bad, but it's about 20% slower for a single large file access..
CPU Performance/Loading
I wasn't expecting this, but comparing like for like (Rrunning SAB, downloading at the max line rate whilst transferring a large file), I did not expect WS2008 to be no worse then FreeNAS, it consumes <20% CPU for SAB going flat out, and transferring a file at 80MB/s from it sees it hovering around 50% CPU.. This is almost the same for FreeNAS, maybe even slightly higher.
That's with just the default 1Gb/250Gb box as it came..
Perhaps in this 'simple' usage mode it might stack up this way, if I started adding more services/roles/features to each (Especially software RAID), then perhaps the *nix OS's would start pulling ahead, or is it just cost that is the most obvious turn off for WS2008 in a home environment, and is WHSv2 as lightweight?
Soldato
Anyone reckon that this thing will be any good for running hyper-v through win server 2008 R2?
Thinking about running VM's for:
1. Sophos control centre
2. WSUS
3. Print server
I have 8gb ram installed.
Now i know that the chip is capable, i'm just wondering if it will run them effectively, as they are only updating type VM's, but would help decrease the load on other servers.
Thinking about running VM's for:
1. Sophos control centre
2. WSUS
3. Print server
I have 8gb ram installed.
Now i know that the chip is capable, i'm just wondering if it will run them effectively, as they are only updating type VM's, but would help decrease the load on other servers.
Soldato
Wee update...
Got one of these last week - Email through saying that the cheque will be in the mail in a month.
Bought an LSI 9240-4i to shove in after much deliberation. Pants performance compared to the PERC 5/i but low profile / low power use / still just about enough for a 1GB connection.
Running Windows7 on it atm (easier for DLNA / used to Win7) with the right catalyst drivers etc installed.
Seems quite a nice wee box. A tad heavier now but the cable for the backplane can be routed into the port for the 9240 very easily.
Had to recreate the RAID array as the 9240 only supports 64kb instead of 128kb blocks but machine seems fairly nippy - No probs booting from the RAID card, just set it up in the BIOS and away it went!
Got the 4GB of RAM in today so will be playing more this weekend. Seems like a decent wee NAS / media server. Fairly easy to get the required bits in too.
Got one of these last week - Email through saying that the cheque will be in the mail in a month.
Bought an LSI 9240-4i to shove in after much deliberation. Pants performance compared to the PERC 5/i but low profile / low power use / still just about enough for a 1GB connection.
Running Windows7 on it atm (easier for DLNA / used to Win7) with the right catalyst drivers etc installed.
Seems quite a nice wee box. A tad heavier now but the cable for the backplane can be routed into the port for the 9240 very easily.
Had to recreate the RAID array as the 9240 only supports 64kb instead of 128kb blocks but machine seems fairly nippy - No probs booting from the RAID card, just set it up in the BIOS and away it went!
Got the 4GB of RAM in today so will be playing more this weekend. Seems like a decent wee NAS / media server. Fairly easy to get the required bits in too.
Soldato
Why would you run three seperate VM's for that all three could easily be run from the same server, seems a total waste of money and resources!
Soldato
It's a testbed matey......but before i start out 'testing' it would be nice to get opinion on whether it could handle 3 x VM's
Soldato
Anyone know if you can actually create a raid 10 array on this thing?
I know it specs raid 0 and 1, but just wondered if 10 was possible via the controller. or maybe via ctrl+f during boot. Make a raid 0 stripe with 2 disk, reboot then make a raid 1???
I dunno, i'm just throwing stuff in the air here...
I know it specs raid 0 and 1, but just wondered if 10 was possible via the controller. or maybe via ctrl+f during boot. Make a raid 0 stripe with 2 disk, reboot then make a raid 1???
I dunno, i'm just throwing stuff in the air here...
Anyone know if you can actually create a raid 10 array on this thing?
I know it specs raid 0 and 1, but just wondered if 10 was possible via the controller. or maybe via ctrl+f during boot. Make a raid 0 stripe with 2 disk, reboot then make a raid 1???
I dunno, i'm just throwing stuff in the air here...
No.
Mine seems to struggle at the moment with 4GB RAM and It's only serving a family of 4 for some simple things. It works but it's pretty slow, i wouldnt want to run multiple VM's on it tbh
Soldato
Ahh bugger..
I thought I'd get 2 x 2Gb DDR3 10666 1.5v Non-ECC (Hypertec 2GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Single Channel Desktop Memory) for the backup server, but it won't boot with either stick in!..
Serves me right for buying cheap..
Not sure why it won't, apart from being Non-ECC, it seems to fit the bill perfectly, unless it's SPD or whatever is not programmed very well, and the bios can't set the default timings for it or something..
I'll send it back, but what cheap stuff would work, it's just for messing around with, I'll put the original 1Gb stick in the other Microserver as that's on 24/7 and I think ECC would be wiser..
I thought I'd get 2 x 2Gb DDR3 10666 1.5v Non-ECC (Hypertec 2GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Single Channel Desktop Memory) for the backup server, but it won't boot with either stick in!..
Serves me right for buying cheap..
Not sure why it won't, apart from being Non-ECC, it seems to fit the bill perfectly, unless it's SPD or whatever is not programmed very well, and the bios can't set the default timings for it or something..
I'll send it back, but what cheap stuff would work, it's just for messing around with, I'll put the original 1Gb stick in the other Microserver as that's on 24/7 and I think ECC would be wiser..
Soldato
It would happily run three VM's running such low power applications!
Man of Honour
I bought a 4gb stick of Samsung stuff. Doesn't recognise it. Anyone know why?
Soldato
No idea, I think I'll also be getting the Crucial stuff, £26 for 2Gb of ECC that is guaranteed 'compatible' might be worth it..