can i just check what os exactly ? is it windows server 2012 essentials ? cant see the home server name being used anymore !
Thats because the last 'Home Server' was WHS 2011 and hit EoL in 2016, Windows Server 2012 Essentials has till October 2023.
Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD
- Thread starter dragonuk
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Thats because the last 'Home Server' was WHS 2011 and hit EoL in 2016, Windows Server 2012 Essentials has till October 2023.
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ok thanks i think i have sorted out a temporary solution for now !
i think i have sorted out a temporary solution for now ! 
can i just check what os exactly ? is it windows server 2012 essentials ? cant see the home server name being used anymore !
Sorry, I was being a bit loose with names there... yes, Windows Server 2012 Essentials. I've had no motivation to "upgrade" to a newer version. In fact, I recall the newer version being complicated in terms of cost and which version included network backup.
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thanks its all set up now !
if I think of anything else ill be back
if I think of anything else ill be back
What OS have you used?thanks its all set up now !
if I think of anything else ill be back
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server 2012 essentials for now
might change it and might get a new c drive first anyway
does an n36l support raid 5 by the way ? if so how would i set it up ?
if not thats no worry ill do raid 1 !
might change it and might get a new c drive first anyway
does an n36l support raid 5 by the way ? if so how would i set it up ?
if not thats no worry ill do raid 1 !
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oh and if i need a raid card for raid 5 if the card fails is the data then all lost ? im not sure sorry
Soldato
If you are running Windows, look at Stablebits Drivepool and Scanner stuff, its kinda like JBOD but uses NTFS so if you have an issue you can stick the drives in any other machine and read the data, with RAID, you cant do that.
I ended up getting a HP Miniserver Gen8 Xeon today for £125 - just reading up on what to run on it when it comes... I'm looking to run a mailserver, webserver, plex server, and general network accessible storage server - anybody have any thoughts on running all of this under Windows Server vs some kind of hypervisor setup with different VMs for each purpose? New to this so would appreciate any advice
Soldato
I used to run Server 2012, then 2016 then finally 2019 on mine, but the last time I rebuilt it I just stuck Windows 10 on it and installed the Hyper-V feature.
I then just imported my old VM's for Plex, Torrents, Sharing and Testing so nothing stopping you from doing the same.
I'd run the host OS as bare as possible and then if something does go wrong you don't have to set anything special up as everything is held on a VM.
As above, I'd also look at the Stablebit stuff as it will do stuff like data duplication so your important files are on more than one drive and data recovery is a piece of cake..
I then just imported my old VM's for Plex, Torrents, Sharing and Testing so nothing stopping you from doing the same.
I'd run the host OS as bare as possible and then if something does go wrong you don't have to set anything special up as everything is held on a VM.
As above, I'd also look at the Stablebit stuff as it will do stuff like data duplication so your important files are on more than one drive and data recovery is a piece of cake..
Sounds ideal... I'm wanting to run something like
Modem --> ProLiant Server --> Win10(With HyperV) --> pfSense VM --> a few other VMs for different applications
I'm sure I'm probably going to run into issues.. I'm not to sure on the logistics of having a VM act as my router....
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i started looking into that and found a windows feature called storage spaces which looks like its a virtual raid type thing and you can put the disks in any other windows computer and it will detect it as a storage spaces volume ?
i know with that sort of virtual (or normal) raid you can have one drive failure but what do you actually do when it fails ? put a new drive in and then what ? silly questions i know but ive not played with this stuff before !
Soldato
When I was still running my Gen8, I had my Virgin router in modem mode, into a NIC that was assigned to a single VM running Sophos UTM and then another NIC on that VM that connected to the network, it worked fine and the server handled everything for the network bar the Wifi.
Soldato
i started looking into that and found a windows feature called storage spaces which looks like its a virtual raid type thing and you can put the disks in any other windows computer and it will detect it as a storage spaces volume ?
i know with that sort of virtual (or normal) raid you can have one drive failure but what do you actually do when it fails ? put a new drive in and then what ? silly questions i know but ive not played with this stuff before !
Never played with Storage spaces, so cant speak to data recovery and so on.
But with Drivepool the data just sits on a drive with a folder structure, if you have scanner as well it can detect drive issues and instruct Drivepool to evac a drive, add to that alerting and you know whats going on.
What host OS did you use to run the VMs ?
Soldato
Windows Server 2012, 2016 and 2019 for a short time.
What I meant there, I thought there was complication with backup functionality, and there was cost (which I could not justify at the time).
I may have misunderstood at the time, but I use client back through Remote Desktop Connection to other PCs in the house. When WSE 2016 was announced I noted that the Essentials version did not support Remote Desktop Services, and I assumed that I would lose RDC (which is a component of RDS). Of course I could have looked at a 3rd party solution, but at the time my setup was working and life is busy.
I ended up getting a HP Miniserver Gen8 Xeon today for £125 - just reading up on what to run on it when it comes... I'm looking to run a mailserver, webserver, plex server, and general network accessible storage server - anybody have any thoughts on running all of this under Windows Server vs some kind of hypervisor setup with different VMs for each purpose? New to this so would appreciate any advice
I haven't been tracking prices, but that seems like a steal. Well done!
It did prompt me to have a look at what was available on auction site nowadays. Not many deals on Proliants, but a few Fujitsu and Dell T610 models, but a lot of them appear to be power hungry setups from 10 years ago, so I'm not sure if I should focus on newer platforms. TBH, not sure I need to updrade at all since the only heavy lifting my system does is to transcode Plex streams, which I use my Shield for.
Gen8’s tend to be over priced relative to what they are and can do. Shield is a great client for plex, but it’s a really crappy server, especially as you scale up. If you want to transcode, you want a PlexPass and an iGPU or get used to the noise of fans and heat/power, the other option is something NVEnc based, you can skip the PlexPass if you can use JellyFin. The micro server is not an ideal candidate for this as it doesn’t support iGPU functions, even if they are present on the chip, an M2000/P400 is slot powered and could work, but in all honesty iGPU is a better bet and a used full SFF PC will cost less than a used Quadro. Lenovo/Dell desktops are ideal for this sort of job, 6th gen or newer, quiet, cheap, efficient, alternatively 8th gen onwards has a lot going for it in terms of performance/increased core count, bit at a slight premium.