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

SirJinks · 31 Jul 2017 at 11:17

I've taken the plunge and ordered a Gen8 with the intention of using it as a NAS with Xpenology. Any hints or tricks I should be aware of other than updating bios and any firmware on the Gen8 before using it?

Snapshot · 31 Jul 2017 at 18:30

Trig said:
It used to say it did on ARK but it changed a while back..

Same as the 3220T then. I might invest and see what happens. If it doesn't work in the Gen8 I still have a reasonable ITX mobo to put it in.

GWANGY · 1 Aug 2017 at 12:28

Any hints or tricks I should be aware of other than updating bios and any firmware on the Gen8 before using it?

It will be very loud on startup, it will spend much longer in the bios than you'd like. and with xpenology, startup with all the expected disks in their as its more difficult to change afterwards. Its a great NAS tho , beats WD CLOUD, etc into a cocked HAT.

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 11:07

Chaps, what's the CPU options with a microserver? Can I fit something with more grunt than the dual core Pentium that comes with it? Ideally I'd like a 4 core with HT and virtualisation support.

I am losing faith in QNAP and fancy building one and running unraid on it. Then run Plex Server, NZBGet, Sonarr and Radarr in containers. Then possibly some virtualisation of a few machines.

HEADRAT · 3 Aug 2017 at 11:24

Think there is a table here:

http://digital-forums.com/showthread.php/978858-HP-Microserver-MEGA-thread

I use E3-1230V2 in mine:

http://ark.intel.com/products/65732/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1230-v2-8M-Cache-3_30-GHz

they can be a bit pricey though.

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 11:35

Price seems alright. I presume I can upgrade one to 16GB RAM?

I would have thought I'd be able to sell my QNAP TVS 671 and recoup most of the money? I don't really need 6 bays, two are currently used for SSD caching which I expect I'd be able to use in unraid mounting them internally.

HEADRAT · 3 Aug 2017 at 11:40

Yup 16GB is the limit

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 11:46

I can get that CPU for just under £150 on eBay, the server itself for £123 after cashback then 16GB ECC 1866 RAM for £170. TCO £443 - am I missing something here?

Can I get a cheaper model if upgrading the CPU? If so, where from? Also is there anything else I need such as an upgraded heatsink, RAID card (I have 4x6TB WD Reds) etc?

Thanks so far.

HEADRAT · 3 Aug 2017 at 12:48

Nope, you're not missing anything, prices look about right.

I've never had any problems with my E3-1230V2 using stock cooler, I'm running 4 x 6TB WD Reds running XPenology (bare metal install).

I did used to run ESXI and then run XPenology as a virtual machine but I binned that off for a number of reasons

I'm more than happy with mine, just sits in my little data cabinet and runs:

PLEX
RADARR
SONARR
NZBGET
DOCKER
etc.

Also backup all of my photos from my XPenology to a couple of "Cloud" providers, not bothered about the rest of the content as it's "replaceable"!

I'm still running XPenology 5.xx as I'm not brave enough to upgrade to 6.xx, as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't try and fix it".

I'm toying with the idea of getting another one and just migrating data across

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 13:58

Cheers. Have you ever tried unraid on one?

I presume the E3-1230V2 should be a lot more powerful than the existing i3-4150 CPU in my QNAP?

HEADRAT · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:11

Yep, should be better

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230-V2-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4150/m652vs2309

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:12

Any other XEON CPUs that are compatible that I should be looking at? With an eye of not having to swap it out in a few years. Anything that can transcode 4k? I don't have 4k yet but it may happen in the future.

HEADRAT · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:26

I could probably test trancode of 4K, I'd just download a 4K file then stream it to me iphone at 1080p but I would imagine it will absolutely hammer the CPU if you tried to do it "on the fly".

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:33

Cheers. Am I right in saying it comes with 6 SATA ports on the RAID controller, four of which run at 6 Gb/s and two run at 3Gb/s?

Trig · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:44

The onboard controller has 4 ports and then a 5th onboard for optical drive if you have it.

GDL · 3 Aug 2017 at 23:11

ChrisD. said:
Cheers. Am I right in saying it comes with 6 SATA ports on the RAID controller, four of which run at 6 Gb/s and two run at 3Gb/s?

If you need speed and are not going to use the expansion slot on the motherboard, pick up a HP-P410 or P212 HBA. You can use the internal connector to plug straight in and all 4 bays will be SATA3 speed and more raid options (You can even get BBWC for raid performance increase)

Trig · 4 Aug 2017 at 00:04

Putting a proper HP card in there is a great idea, I had a P222 in mine, gave me the 4 bays in the front conencted to the P222 and then used the stock header for a pair of SSD's, one for boot and one for VM storage, gets a bit toasty in there tho..

andy_mk3 · 14 Aug 2017 at 20:19

I've just finished re-purposing my N54L as a pfSense and Pi-Hole box. Running ESXi 6.5, my first experience with this. But it's working very well. I bought a dial port Intel Gigabit NIC for LAN/WAN on pfSense. Glad to find use for it as it's a great little machine. I now have a Dell R710 taking up the sweat for what the N54L used to do and alots more.

Makhaira · 14 Aug 2017 at 20:21

Sounds good. I'm trying to get a Highpoint 620 working on Xpenology to give me a couple of extra ports but I'm not having much luck!

n30_mkii · 14 Aug 2017 at 22:09

I'm just about to setup my gen8 over the next few days, what are peoples preferences when it comes to unraid vs xpenology vs freenas? Storage management, docker and virtual machines for plex etc...I guess I'll try each in a vm first to see what they're like