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

The Asgard said:
Just bought one of these and after speed reading the thread am I right in saying there is no driver support for 2003 Server?

With the current £50 cashback I'm considering going Server 2008 R2 Foundation anyone using this?

It will be used for Streamin/Backups/SQL/Download & FTP.

I have bought a Intel NIC and the plan is to run 2003/2008 server with a XP VM tied to the additional NIC handling a FTP Server so hopefully isolating the rest of the network and data from any potential hackers. Thats the theory anyway.
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Whs 2011 is £71 if you look Nd will be better for it hat server 2008 as severs are built in
 
Another mod done today.. Was getting annoyed by the vibrations that were getting transferred into my desk.. Fitted a set of four AcoustiFeet that were the right strength for the weight of the server fully populated with disks.. Vibration into the desk has totally gone.

Next up on 'physical' mods will be soft moutning the OS hdd that is in the 5.25 bay (its currently hard mounted) and replacing the 120mm fan.

WHS is just prepping the server now, and before installing I used the update to get full speed on all sata channels.

Sam
 
samcat said:
Another mod done today.. Was getting annoyed by the vibrations that were getting transferred into my desk.. Fitted a set of four AcoustiFeet that were the right strength for the weight of the server fully populated with disks.. Vibration into the desk has totally gone.

Next up on 'physical' mods will be soft moutning the OS hdd that is in the 5.25 bay (its currently hard mounted) and replacing the 120mm fan.

WHS is just prepping the server now, and before installing I used the update to get full speed on all sata channels.

Sam
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The fan uses a non standard config on the power plug so you'll have to change the pins around.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1193-page7.html
 
Alrighty, flat's tech renovation is nearly complete.

Replaced frustrating DIR-615 (DD-WRT) with Asus RT-N16 (with tomato)
8 Port Switch
WD-TV box for easy Video/Music via HDTV & Hi fi
Well recommended HP Microserver

Borrowing a USB DVD drive off a friend so have yet to decide on an OS. Definitely want Windows for Skype/uTorrent/otherwindowsappideas.

Would you say 2008 RC2 or WHS 2011?

Any major pro/cons?
 
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fish said:
Whs 2011 is £71 if you look Nd will be better for it hat server 2008 as severs are built in
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Cheers, will have a look.

Are both 32 & 64 bit supplied?

Looking at power pack 3 at a place and it just says 32 bit but I have seen 64 bit OEM versions. The microserver will be running the full 8 GB.

Sorted 64 bit only.
 
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gam3r said:
Samsung F4 eco green 2TB.
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Cheers

So 2TB are fully supported and you can use all the space with WHS 2011?

I am putting the full 8GB of RAM in and I'm thinking of maxing out the Server with 5 Drives, maybe 5X 2TB utilising the top bay. £50 a drive seems pretty good deal.

Any body see any issues with this?

Just gets the job done and I don't have to worrk too much about space for a while. Also I would like to use any mirror type functionality with WHS 2011.Or am I better using the onboard Mirror?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
The Asgard said:
Cheers, will have a look.

Are both 32 & 64 bit supplied?

Looking at power pack 3 at a place and it just says 32 bit but I have seen 64 bit OEM versions. The microserver will be running the full 8 GB.

Sorted 64 bit only.
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Powerpack 3 is for whs 2003 and is 64 bit only mate. My last message did not make that much sense as I was a little intoxicated and posting from a phone.

I have tried whs 2003 pp3 on mine and it was ok driver extender was good but it seemed a little dated.
Server 2008 r2 was a little to techy for me it was good but I am not an admin so the front end and driver support out of the box was not what I was used to.
Whs 2011 although based on server 2008 was a lot more like windows 7 to use all the drivers for the hardware were built in baring the graphics which just needed the win7 64 bit versions. I know people will miss drive extender but he software raid 5 was pretty good and extendable if required. The integrated backup feature is also a diddle to use and folder duplication is handy.

I also tried ubuntu server version which was ok as a free option

As was freenas although version 8 does not support dlna yet and as my media is streamed by my blu ray player it was no good for me as it needs dlna.

Therefore in short I would use whs2011 as it's 64 bit and a lot easier to use for a novice like me.
 
Samsung F4's are safe bet to work well. Personally i would use the onboard RAID if you want to go RAID 1 as it's persistant even if you reinstall the OS and offers better monitoring of the status of the array where as if you reinstall the os and you're using windows software raid you have to fart about impiorting the drives and such. If you go windows software RAID 5 you'll get more efficient storage and slightly better speed over the network at the cost of worse redundency then 2 raid 1 arrays and very long rebuilt times when the array is first created and if a drives fails like 17+ hours. I went for the 'hardware' raid 1 option because of the increased redundency (if you're lucky with what drives fail lol) a lot lower rebuilt times and the fact i can just take out the drives and put them in another machine and they will be read fine.
 
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fish said:
Powerpack 3 is for whs 2003 and is 64 bit only mate. My last message did not make that much sense as I was a little intoxicated and posting from a phone.

I have tried whs 2003 pp3 on mine and it was ok driver extender was good but it seemed a little dated.
Server 2008 r2 was a little to techy for me it was good but I am not an admin so the front end and driver support out of the box was not what I was used to.
Whs 2011 although based on server 2008 was a lot more like windows 7 to use all the drivers for the hardware were built in baring the graphics which just needed the win7 64 bit versions. I know people will miss drive extender but he software raid 5 was pretty good and extendable if required. The integrated backup feature is also a diddle to use and folder duplication is handy.

I also tried ubuntu server version which was ok as a free option

As was freenas although version 8 does not support dlna yet and as my media is streamed by my blu ray player it was no good for me as it needs dlna.

Therefore in short I would use whs2011 as it's 64 bit and a lot easier to use for a novice like me.
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Cheers. I have ordered WHS 2011, seems a good price for what you get. Thanks for the input mate :)
 
DIABLO said:
Samsung F4's are safe bet to work well. Personally i would use the onboard RAID if you want to go RAID 1 as it's persistant even if you reinstall the OS and offers better monitoring of the status of the array where as if you reinstall the os and you're using windows software raid you have to fart about impiorting the drives and such. If you go windows software RAID 5 you'll get more efficient storage and slightly better speed over the network at the cost of worse redundency then 2 raid 1 arrays and very long rebuilt times when the array is first created and if a drives fails like 17+ hours. I went for the 'hardware' raid 1 option because of the increased redundency (if you're lucky with what drives fail lol) a lot lower rebuilt times and the fact i can just take out the drives and put them in another machine and they will be read fine.
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I already have 3 F4 on my development machine and they really work well. So I'm happy to buy 4 more.

So the Microserver offers 2 mirrored drives? 2X2.

I have a ReadyNAS NVX which isn't used for various reasons and I think that uses a form of software Raid 5. I know it's dropped out of Raid a few time with the 3X 1.5 WD Greens. Mirror seems safer because at least you can get the system up and running easier.

I just want to hit the ground running and get everything right the first time without having to reinstall. I'm hoping to use it with a Sonus system and really make it the heart of the home. I have far too many hard disks with data on thats not easily accessable.

Thanks for the input mate :)
 
It supports upto 3 raid1 arrays if you use the modified bios i beleive. I have 4 2GB F4's in 2 raid1 arrays, not the most efficient use of the storage but as you say it's relatively quicj and easy to get the system back and running quickly if something goes wrong and easy to recover files by just popping the drives in another machine and i get speeds of 70-100MB/s so is plenty fast too.
 
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DIABLO said:
It supports upto 3 raid1 arrays if you use the modified bios i beleive. I have 4 2GB F4's in 2 raid1 arrays, not the most efficient use of the storage but as you say it's relatively quicj and easy to get the system back and running quickly if something goes wrong and easy to recover files by just popping the drives in another machine and i get speeds of 70-100MB/s so is plenty fast too.
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Where's the 6th Disk come from? I thought there were 4 plus the Sata for the DVD drive.
 
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