HP ProLiant MicroServer

Yes if you are definitely going to use vmware you will have to upgrade the ram to 3-4Gb. You could get away with a 2gb and 1gb that came with it (I ran 5Gb for a little while till I got the extra 4gb stick).

If you just use it as a backend file server (no vmware) you probably won't have to though. Do you see a reason for VMware? For me its handy to able to have a windows server to play with but thats not everyones need and it sounds like you just need it to serve out content to an xbmc install.

Jonathan wrote: »

Just a tip off that the 2 TB Samsung F4s are now down to €65 delivered on Amazon.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72316698&postcount=493

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-EcoGreen-5400RPM-SATA-II-Internal/dp/B0042SGDVG/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1305843652&sr=1-2

Oh my gosh, look at the reviews. Everyone complaining at the drives are so poorly packaged and I see a comment that it's still shipping with an old bad firmware.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0042SGDVG/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

garion wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good 64GB SSD? It's the missing piece to my puzzle!

if you can live without the extra 4gb, you'd have to go a long way to beat one of these bad boys!

£101.99 for:

- Capacity: 60GB
- Controller: SandForce SF-2281
- Maximum Read: 525MB/sec
- Maximum Write: 475MB/sec
- Max I/O Per Second (IOPS): 50,000 IOPS (4KB File)
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
- Interface: SATA-III / 6Gbps (Backwards compatible with SATA-II / 3Gbps)
- TRIM Support (Requires Windows 7)
- Warranty: 3 Years

for the price, it pretty much wipes the floor with any other SSD out there.

I'm currently trying to buy two from overclockers myself to replace a single 2nd gen 60gb ssd boot my main pc off, but i'm having some issues with payment via my ptsb visa debit card on their website.

garion wrote: »

Damn, just spent €150 on a 64GB SSD from Crucial! That'll teach me not to do my research!

you might get away with sending it back. cooling off period maybe or incompatibility issues?

i've got a crucial ssd myself and had no end of issues with it throwing up bad sectors within a few days to the point where it would fall over totally within 3 weeks and needed a zero write and re-install of the OS.

i ended up putting my user profile on a regular 1tb disk and using acronis true image to create a backup of my OS just after it was freshly rebuilt with everything installed, just so i could get up and running again quickly.

turns out, that particular drive didn't like the sata controller on my mobo and changing to the other controller (it's got a 4 port & a 2 port onboard) fixed the problem totally and its been fine ever since.

just waiting for my bill payment to go onto my other credit card now so i can get around the visa debit issue i'm having with overclockers and then i'm going to get a couple.

Pity they did, made me do a last minute switch to ordering from dabs.ie who have it cheaper at 270 (though delivery is a little more expensive at 15, I'm still saving.)

garion wrote: »

The hassle of sending it back is putting me off to be honest. I'll stick with it as is and maybe consider Overclockers for any future SSD I buy. Thanks for the heads up on the issues you've had. Will keep that in mind if I have any problems myself.

i think the issue was only with some of the earlier sandforce controllers on 60m& 120gb ssd's, but now that i think about it, mine's actually a corsair ssd, not a crucial one and i think the issues were specific to corsair, i just got the two confused.

To take advantage of the promotion, customers must print out and complete a claim form (available from ian dot johnston at hp dot com) and submit it, along with seller/reseller’s invoice to the address set out in the form.

Offer is extended until 31 July 2011

Here is the link to the Irish promotions, including ML110 (€125 off):
www.hp.com/ie/ESSNPromotions

Chocolates - nyom.

Vexorg wrote: »

A question for those who have received their cash back cheques.

Popped my cheque into the self service machine in my local Permanent TSB. Got a call from them later that day saying that as the cheque was from a UK bank (HSBC), I have to sign the back of it and pay €3.40 commission.

Sounds bizarre for a euro cheque, anyone else have to pay commission? I am hoping that its an admin error.

When I received my cheque about two weeks back I popped it into the self service machine in Permanent TSB in bray didn't get any phones calls nor did I sign the back, it was cleared within 4 days and I had to pay the 3.40 as well.

Edit** I paid 3.60 not 3.40... ffs permanent TSB!!!

The lure of this little machine is too strong and now the cashback offer has been extended i think I am going to order it.
Some questions that are kinda important to me:

- Does the BIOS support a setting that if there is a power outage and the power comes back one, the box automatically starts? (i presume so)

This is more about RAID than anything else but i have a feeling people here are more than versed in this:
- I have 4 2T disks right now + 1 disk for OS (ubuntu server). I like to go to a RAID 5 setup but never set up one. Can I do this without buying an extra card?
Can I convert the 4 disks to 5 disk RAID 5 without needing 2 or more 'blank' disks? ie I slowly want to convert to RAID 5 one disk after the other without the need for buy 5 new 2T disks and then copying over the old data. Is that possible? if for some reason one the box breaks down and I need to install the disks in another computer, will the data come back? ie how universal is RAID across hardware? Note i like to stick with Linux

Thanks a lot in advance

Wcool wrote: »

This is more about RAID than anything else but i have a feeling people here are more than versed in this:
- I have 4 2T disks right now + 1 disk for OS (ubuntu server). I like to go to a RAID 5 setup but never set up one. Can I do this without buying an extra card?

Software Raid (mdraid) under linux using lvm. That should do the trick. If you set up a linux installation you can set the storage lvm as a separate lvm from the os disk. Dependin on you linux os it may be easier to do it from the setup or else install something like webmin and do it after installation. Centos has a pretty good lvm manager if I remember rightly, Ubuntu not so much.

Wcool wrote: »

Can I convert the 4 disks to 5 disk RAID 5 without needing 2 or more 'blank' disks? ie I slowly want to convert to RAID 5 one disk after the other without the need for buy 5 new 2T disks and then copying over the old data. Is that possible? if for some reason one the box breaks down and I need to install the disks in another computer, will the data come back? ie how universal is RAID across hardware? Note i like to stick with Linux

Thanks a lot in advance

You won't be able to use disks that already have data in a new raid array. The raid array will eliminate existing date. I'm not an expert on raid or linux raid but you "should" be able to transport a raid array to another machine but you need to look up details on doing this as you may need some info on the array from the os disk. I can't tell you that at the moment as I haven't had to do this in my memory (I have a vague feeling I did do this at one point).

If you do create a raid array based on an lvm you can using lvm extend the size of the array. If you don't use lvm then no. You could create a 3 disk raid array based on lvm then extend it with your additional disks.

This is all top of my head stuff though so don't take it as gospel.

What drives are people jumping for?

I've heard a few reports of certain eco-green drives not playing ball with the microserver. I'm looking at 4x 2TB, but not entirely sure which to get going by some of the horror stories.

Thanks for the answers.
So it looks I can get away with buying 2 new drives.

And then spend weeks copying data :P

Sorry one more question: in a Raid setup, can i still set my disks to spin down after let's say 15 min? I really hate the idea of using another 20 watt for no reason at all.

anyone else had any problems with their's?

Ok got mine yesterday and had it up and running on 2008 R2 evaluation but now it seems to be dead. Power led is staying orange when I try and turn it on nothing happens.

Ordered my server from dabs.ie plus a few bits and pieces like disks and memory.

Loads of ****e. My payment kept failing but they can't/won't tell me why so I can't fix it. I used another payment method and the order was for 3 days in 'Allocated'. Finally today that payment did not come through either.
'Some issue with your card, for reasons you understand we can't tell you why'.
NO I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

When you try to phone them, their phone number is 'Out of Service'.

I cancelled and am going to order elsewhere. Time wasters.

Elara is great but unfortunately they don't have everything I need.
But will use them as much as I can