Why have a MicroServer instead of pc or or network hdd ?

2013

2013

2013

Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
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I know to some who know about servers this will be a silly question.

Why have a MicroServer instead of pc ?

What do most people use them for ?
 
Now some info on my end,
I use my main pc store all my movies, images and music.
and I was also thinking of getting a small pc HTPC or media box like the android fire tv,

Im not sure when but I was thinking of getting a HTPC to use in the living room, is there I could do the same with Micro Server.

I know these 2 are unlikely but could I run 2 os at the same time from it ?
and use it from another room with a pc in the room just tv ?
 
crinkleshoes said:
A server IS a pc... it's just one that's more generally designed for business applications.

I just bought two of the HP microservers with 4x main hard drive bays + one extra for less than the price of a single Synology 4-bay NAS... plus you can do more with it.

My *main* home server is a personal build "PC" running windows 7 with about 10 drive bays... using 8x 3TB drives + 1x 1TB + 1x 750GB.

I have 2x Synology DS214j with 4x4TB each

I am running out of storage.

With the recent cashback deals that are valid this month, you can buy an HP Gen8 Microserver for £120 after cashback... with 4x full size drive bays and an extra internal usb or internal sata for the operating system.

The HP Gen8 is much more powerful than the Synology, you can run the Synology OS on it if you would like to... otherwise you can run a fully fledged OS on it if you choose also & do a lot more with it than a basic NAS can do.

Currently, one is running Windows Server 2012 as a trial and the other is running Windows 7 like my primary server.

It's unlikely these will be used for more than fileservers and maybe a dev webserver for my wife... but they were under half the price of a Synology and more functional while drawing not much more power from the wall.

It's a no-brainer in my opinion... unless you're desperate for more drive bays in a single unit or more processing power (although the ram and cpu can be upgraded in the Gen8).. grab the deal while it's available ;)
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What do you do with so much storage ?

I should be fine with 4 drive I only use 4tb, and knowing me I will still have my main PC for storage also,

are these fast as the pc to transfer data ?
 
OhEsEcks said:
There's a video of someone on Youtube taking out the Celeron and dropping a Xeon into one. That kind of blew my mind when I saw that. Compact Xeon power. Although it's probably a bitch to cool.
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Thanks, What's the warranty on these Gen8,
If Im asking silly question just say, I'm asking because I don't know.
Im assuming the speed of the broadband is not important
 
crinkleshoes said:
You can run 2OS simultaneously yes, although the basic CPU is not the most powerful... it can do basic tasks like fileserver & htpc as two seperate OS without much trouble.



Yes... you can drop a couple of decent processors into the unit without any change to the cooling...



Movies... mostly. I like full, uncompressed blu-ray rips rather than the web-encoded 4GB 1080p movies floating around... a movie is easily 20-25GB each.

TV episodes also take up about 9TB.

The HP Gen8 is faster than the Synology DS214j for transferring files, you can easily max out a gigabit ethernet connection with 4x drives if you set the server up correctly.

More speed than you'll need for a decade really... for media streaming, at least.
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1. How many cpus can they take, Im so use to assuming everthing has one slot.

2. I there any way to use it from another room without a pc room just TV ?
if so what would i need, I was thinking this way i could just use this as a pc from other areas of the house and not need a laptop or tab.

3. can it be used for downloading instead of the main pc.
I'm assuming this should be possible.

4. Can I login to it from any location and use watch play, anything on this as you would with web servers.
 
Few more questions,

1. What should i look for in a micro server ?
2. Is it worth getting a older used model ? or would i be better off getting the latest,
3. what socket are these ? and what decent priced cpu could I upgrade to I dont really feel like spending another £150 on a cpu plus the cost of ram + hdd
 
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1. How many cpus can they take, Im so use to assuming everthing has one slot.

2. I there any way to use it from another room without a pc room just TV ?
if so what would i need, I was thinking this way i could just use this as a pc from other areas of the house and not need a laptop or tab.

3. can it be used for downloading instead of the main pc.
I'm assuming this should be possible.

4. Can I login to it from any location and use watch play, anything on this as you would with web servers.


1. What should i look for in a micro server ?
2. Is it worth getting a older used model ? or would i be better off getting the latest,
3. what socket are these ? and what decent priced cpu could I upgrade to I dont really feel like spending another £150 on a cpu plus the cost of ram + hdd
4. is it still worth getting even if you im not sure if I would use it much ?
 
Hi first of thanks everyone for taking the time to answer my questions.

its hard to explain but its a bit complicated for me, some may have had the same issues, I hope you can help me with my decision.

What do you guys use your Micro server for ?
 
4. That's a difficult one to answer. What exactly are your requirements? It sounds like your are looking for a HTPC with a lot of storage. That is a common use for the microserver but you would need to fit a better graphics card. The built-in one is no good for media playback.
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@IT Troll thanks for answering all my listed questions.



requirements non

The reason I thought about it was because micro servers have popped up a lot around the forums and I wanted to know the benefits over a pc.
I did think of a cheap media storage device which can stream movies music and I could watch them on my devices. but that was only £40-£50 inc large storage. but im assuming I will be able to do much more with this.

2. For the best experience you would need something that could run client connection software. Typically this would be a small form factor computer, tablet or smart phone. However you could setup remote desktop access which works in a browser. So as long as your TV has a reasonable browser this should work.
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Any other ways ?
I don't really want to invest in this and then still need to buy pcs for other areas of the house to use it.

4. Within reason. You would need to setup your router for external access. Then the scope of what you can do will be dependent on your broadband upload speed.
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basic adsl 11mb download 0.6 upload

My points

1. I only use a desktop pc, I no longer bother with using tv :D unless I need to watch something on a larger screen, so im not sure if it would be a benefit to me, I store all my files on my pc and having no issues. so it would just be a storage device for me, at least to start with.

2. Rest of the family (parents. brother, sister) are not computer savvy, but have there own laptops. tabs. nothing connected to the tv, no one else would really care if it was in place or not, but like with everything they would start using it I assume.


3. I was thinking if there was home hub, I could have all my data connected in the house, to stream movie's and music, the same as us would with netflix, spotify, and have it as backup drive for my data. I'm sure there must be other uses.

connect to it via my laptop even if there was no pc device in place

4. I have 4 nephews who come round a lot and can cause a lot of damage.


My issue
My router is next to my pc and thats were I would like to keep the micro server if I got one (safe out of the way).

1. Doing this how could I stream to the TV's in my house without buying more PCs ?

2. How could I connect other devices to it, i'm assuming it has no wifi and I would need a lot of cable to connect it via cable or get it to areas of the house with low wifi signal.

3. more cables more mess

My questions

1. Could I justify the cost (it would be just storage for now) ?
2. We will be renovating the house soon, would be worth getting now or after the renovation (2-3 months time).
3. what do you guys use it for
4. if I got a MS what would be the min upgrade I should get, the basic cpu must be quite slow. would i need a graphics card to stream ?
 
Thank everyone, Ive just ordered one hoping I make the most out of it,

I may need help to set it up, where do I request the help ?
 
What software should I be looking at for my requirements,
Any and all suggestions welcome.

I don't know much about micro servers, So I would be glad if you could help me a little more, Im am looking around forums to get ideas but its not sinking in yet.



I dont know everything I will be using it for till I get a understanding of what's possible and available. For now I want to lay the ground work for the future.

What I know I will be using it for at some point, for now.
1. I want to be able to access it from anywhere.
2. Stream movie's, music, images, ext from anywhere.
3. Keep backups of all my data, movie's music photos, docs ext, and upload files from anywhere similar to dropbox.
4. I will be using a windows apps to do some of my office work, this will run all the time, till I stop it. uploading data.
5. downloading so i dont need to on my pc.

I think I will need
1a. A good OS
2a. Something to upload download files
3a, Something to organise the files
4a. something to stream with.


Ive come across some of these software, not 100% sure what to use


also Is there a way to have 2 OS running at the same time without vm ware
 
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Im assuming XPEnology is linux or something ?

I also need windows for a few reasons

1. I know how to use it,
2 the other Work software will only run off windows and I will be running it all day. (one of the reasons for the microserver.

Can windows not do anything similar, or have the windows software running on XPEnology.
 
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Biz.Kid09 said:
XPEnology is very simple and easy to use and what do you mean by you will running work software.

Are you going to be using this as a computer to do work on as well as the other software? or do you mean you use windows work software on your other computers?

Either way, your best option would be Windows Server 2012 or you can get away with standard Windows 7/8 to setup file shares, torrent downloading and so on.
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Yes I would like to use it as a pc also, running windows based software.

and Im wanting something thats a bit flexible
 
IT Troll said:
XPEnology is a hardware independent version of the O/S which comes on Synology devices. It is Linux-based but it should be viewed more as an "appliance". It is highly refined to do one job very well. It meets all your requirements for storage and streaming which I though was all you wanted initially. Obviously it is not a Windows desktop so if you need this as well then you need something else.

Running VMware ESXi would be your best option as you can run multiple different Operating Systems side-by-side and add and remove them as you like. This gives you maximum flexibility for the future, however this does significantly increase the technical complexity of the setup.

If you want to keep it purely Windows then you could install Desktop (for up to 10 clients) or Server (for a lot more), create some shares, setup some backup schedules and install some something like Plex to do the streaming part.
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XPEnology is good for a lot of my needs, but not for some. can I not use this as a app ?
Would VMware ESXi not make things slower and complicate ?
Im thinking windows desktop, but what about for other software for backups, shaaring, what can I use ?
 
can I use windows like

Can I access it from anywhere like dropbox and streaming apps like netflix. Stream movie's, music, images, ext from anywhere ?

Can I use it to Keep backups of all my data, movie's music photos, docs ext, and upload files from anywhere similar to dropbox.
 
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