I've had it running on mine for several months and haven't experienced any issues.
Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD
- Thread starter dragonuk
- Start date
Soldato
I've got one of these hanging around that I was given, needs some TLC, and a few upgrades. Any idea if you can still get RAM for these? It's only got 2GB! 
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Soldato
Yes you can.
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I forgot about a N36L I had in cupboard until I spotted this thread.
Free weekend so though lets give it a go see how this system copes and not well is quick answer.
First tried with 2016 it was so laggy so switched to 2012 still didn't feel great in the end I put on WHS11 (this feels like the best still not best)
This system has ssd and 8gb ram and I was mostly seeing how it would be as file server or seed box (with vpn it's useless cant cope I expect the cpu is too weak)
I have managed to pick up I think it's very good price from charity shop a Microserver G8 for £250
8GB RAM Memory [1 stick]
4x 4TB SAS Drives
Xeon E3-1220LV2
SSD [MTFDDAK120MBB] (included bay convertor)
SAS Controller Card [rmn: hstnm-b022]
First things I noticed this feels a lot more premium and more towards a real server.
Free weekend so though lets give it a go see how this system copes and not well is quick answer.
First tried with 2016 it was so laggy so switched to 2012 still didn't feel great in the end I put on WHS11 (this feels like the best still not best)
This system has ssd and 8gb ram and I was mostly seeing how it would be as file server or seed box (with vpn it's useless cant cope I expect the cpu is too weak)
I have managed to pick up I think it's very good price from charity shop a Microserver G8 for £250
8GB RAM Memory [1 stick]
4x 4TB SAS Drives
Xeon E3-1220LV2
SSD [MTFDDAK120MBB] (included bay convertor)
SAS Controller Card [rmn: hstnm-b022]
First things I noticed this feels a lot more premium and more towards a real server.
It will be a perfectly fine fileserver if you put something like Freenas or Unraid on it.
Soldato
The Gen8 is a much better box all round though, especially with the CPU that's in there.
I've got an old N40L that isn't being used, but I want to upload some of the photos on it to my portable drive.
It's got WHS but it's not discoverable by my desktop or laptop when I connect to my router. It's headless so can't easily see what's going on - the main lights all come on but I can't se it as a device on my network, which was previously how I accessed files.
Can I just pull one of the RAID drives out and put it into a 3.5 caddy, or do I need to connect a monitor and keyboard and take the photos off directly? I ask only as it's a pain in the neck both either to go and get a caddy or to get a monitor connected, as it's VGA only and the only VGA monitor I've got is somewhere buried under boxes in the loft!
I'm not sure if there's something specific about the RAID configuration which would prevent using a caddy, hence my question - I set it up years ago so forget details but I had it as RAID 1 across two large storage discs and the original 250Gb drive just for the o/s. I'm not sure if the N40L or WHS11 itself has something in it which stops just lifting and shifting drives out.
Any advice appreciated
It's got WHS but it's not discoverable by my desktop or laptop when I connect to my router. It's headless so can't easily see what's going on - the main lights all come on but I can't se it as a device on my network, which was previously how I accessed files.
Can I just pull one of the RAID drives out and put it into a 3.5 caddy, or do I need to connect a monitor and keyboard and take the photos off directly? I ask only as it's a pain in the neck both either to go and get a caddy or to get a monitor connected, as it's VGA only and the only VGA monitor I've got is somewhere buried under boxes in the loft!
I'm not sure if there's something specific about the RAID configuration which would prevent using a caddy, hence my question - I set it up years ago so forget details but I had it as RAID 1 across two large storage discs and the original 250Gb drive just for the o/s. I'm not sure if the N40L or WHS11 itself has something in it which stops just lifting and shifting drives out.
Any advice appreciated
Going to fire up my Gen 7 M36L to run as low power Unifi server, as the Raspberry Pi is getting increasing hard to make the controller work on. I was planning on Ubuntu Server, is there anything i should look out for? Looking around the CPU seems to be 64-bit.
Soldato
Yeah, AMD Neo or something if memory serves, and yes, slow, but 64bit.
Soldato
Quick question, does anyone know where we can get hold of the latest official N34/40/54L BIOS? I know at one point, HP hid them behind a service paywall.
Soldato
They did indeed stick the service packs behind a paywall but the BIOS ones were security updates so think they did actually release them to the genpop...
Soldato
That's what i thought but you get the usual "An active warranty or support agreement covering Proliant servers must be linked to your HPE Support Center profile to access this BIOS." error when attempting to download SP64420.exe/2013.10.01(A) (i believe that was the last Bios for these) - https://support.hpe.com/connect/s/softwaredetails?softwareId=MTX-57720d956df94dfcbaa0e28256.
They use to have an FTP with them hosted but it looks like that closed a while back
Soldato
HP ProLiant MicroServer G7 N54L BIOS download
Download the HP Microsoft N54L BIOS, which resolves issues with the network card driver under Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10. If you are looking for the Gen10 BIOS click here. System ROMPaq …
cloudrun.co.uk
Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 6,435
there was the uinoffical Bios which removes some of the restrictions on the drive speeds any one using this? "thebay" i believe
i have to N54L i'm looking to put some 5 or 6 20gb drives in at some point
i have to N54L i'm looking to put some 5 or 6 20gb drives in at some point
Soldato
Worse thing about it is I had the SPP files on my server until a couple of months ago, but I had a drive die so binned off a load of old stuff I didn't need anymore so I could still duplicate my important stuff...
I am using the modded bios. main reason was to have a 5th drive I could dedicate to an OS.
Bios
Official Bios Update/Restore 15/11/2013: HP released an updated BIOS (Ver. 2013.10.01 (A)) that fixes issues with using the onboard network port with Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012, Windows 10, and Windows 8.1. Your USB drive should be NTFS formatted. Official download : 15/11/2013...
HP ProLiant N40L BIOS modification guide - Nathaniel Perez
Nathaniel Perez is a Network and Computer Systems Engineer. Multi-Certified with specializations in Windows 10, Windows Server and Hyper-V.
www.nathanielperez.us
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Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 6,435
Looking to do the 5th maybe a 6th Disk also when i get some decent Disks for storage this year.
i just need a location i can start centrallising data instead of having it scattered sround at the moment.
a good use for old hardware laying around not doing much.
i just need a location i can start centrallising data instead of having it scattered sround at the moment.
a good use for old hardware laying around not doing much.
Don
@Tobes depends what you plan on using it for?
Synology or qnap are still great for Nas usage.
Micro pcs (hp, dell, Lenovo) are ideal for hosting VMs, dockers etc
And a self build am4 with unraid is probably the best option if you need it to do everything
Synology or qnap are still great for Nas usage.
Micro pcs (hp, dell, Lenovo) are ideal for hosting VMs, dockers etc
And a self build am4 with unraid is probably the best option if you need it to do everything
Think it's all of the above really.
I chucked a Xeon E3-1220 in it, 16GB, 22TB. Running Unraid and have Plex and an bunch of other docker containers as well as some VMs but the CPU is maxed out with the VMs so I'm being held back.
I have a 1000Mbs fibre connection on order which is why I'm looking into grabbing a UDM (Don't really want to go down pfsense route, just want plug in and go). Just think I'm probably going to get frustrated with the Gen8 pretty quickly as I will be moving to 4k for media and want to host more VMs for lab usage. I think that's what puts me off Synology or Qnap as it will be another box and I think I want an all in one device. You might be right in looking at a self build. I might be lazy and wanting to do minimal research but maybe I need to put some effort in to cover my needs!
I chucked a Xeon E3-1220 in it, 16GB, 22TB. Running Unraid and have Plex and an bunch of other docker containers as well as some VMs but the CPU is maxed out with the VMs so I'm being held back.
I have a 1000Mbs fibre connection on order which is why I'm looking into grabbing a UDM (Don't really want to go down pfsense route, just want plug in and go). Just think I'm probably going to get frustrated with the Gen8 pretty quickly as I will be moving to 4k for media and want to host more VMs for lab usage. I think that's what puts me off Synology or Qnap as it will be another box and I think I want an all in one device. You might be right in looking at a self build. I might be lazy and wanting to do minimal research but maybe I need to put some effort in to cover my needs!