HP ProLiant MicroServer

johnybean

stimpson wrote: »

I'd say it will be extended. They seem to always have some offer on these. It was only €60 earlier this year though, so you never know.

rovoagho wrote: »

There's no way of knowing, it depends on how many are in the channel, and how many sell. The new microserver is out though, so I'd guess this will be the last offer on these.

Thanks for the replies guys. I had hoped to pick one up this month but due to unforeseen circumstances (I is broke )I couldn't get one but ill defo be getting one if the offer gets extended/renewed some time later.

MAJJ

Just to update, mine arrived from servers direct, good price and service. Ordered on 14th, dispatched once they had it in stock and got it on the 20th.

Very easy to work with it and well designed/layed out - extra ram, HDs and a DVD RW put in very easily.
Will send off claim soon and update how that goes.

OP and others that posted on this thread, thanks!

oneway2

I've had one of these (N36L) for a few years, very, very happy.

Had used an old desktop as a server before that - fan too noisy, just not really up to the job.

This one is neat, and quiet.

Finally put 2x 2TB disks in it and enabled mirroring.

All the family photos are on it and the kids stuff.

All good.

rovoagho

Make sure you back it up offsite too, either to a hosted service or to an external hard drive in someone else's house. Houses can be rebuilt, digital photo collections can't. I lost most of my 2006 media because of a technical screw up, it's only because I had some of it online that I have any at all. First holiday with wife, in Tunisia. Annoying. So, backup, backup, backup!

oneway2

Good Call!!

It's all on a external drive in the in-laws, 1km down the road :-)

Nforce

Nforce wrote: »

Got my micro server delivered today,thanks Parcel Motel!
Can the cash back form by submitted by email or is it snail mail only?

It turns out that email submissions are possible too..

http://www.avforums.com/forums/19103161-post33.html

I flashed my server today with the modified bios from here in order to unlock the SATA connections and now have another 2TB HDD in place where the optical drive goes. I'll eventually get an esata-sata cable and will install an SSD boot drive allowing me to replace the original 250GB drive.

stimpson

I installed that too. It enabled port multiplier on the esata. I have a 4 bay esata box and all 4 drives are now recognised. It also gives you manual fan control, so I have turned down my Sythe fan and its whisper quiet. There is a slight hum from the psu, but nothing crazy.

I have 2x3tb and 1x2tb WD Red to give me 5tb plus Parity. Should Be enough for a while. I'm using the stock 250gb drive for a cache for unRAID. I've been running Ethernet cables this weekend, so soon ill have it sitting up in my home office serving media all over the house.

MAJJ

stimpson wrote: »

It enabled port multiplier on the esata. I have a 4 bay esata box and all 4 drives are now recognised

stimpson - does the above mean theexternal port and the back allowed you to connect to another 4 bay box?

I am learning a lot with this thread and this box so I think you mean this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_multiplier

vibe666

yep, I have a 4 bay startech external enclosure and it works a treat. if you connect it to a Windows box you can use the software that comes with it to RAID it on the enclosure itself so it will show up as one big drive.

MAJJ

Nforce wrote: »

It turns out that email submissions are possible too..

http://www.avforums.com/forums/19103161-post33.html

.

I did mine via email and got email today that cheque is on the way, paying me in EUR too.

MAJJ

I have an old LG DVD RW that I would like to reuse in the HP, maybe for a temorary basis, it has no SATA connection and I believe it is IDE - as a ribbon data connection (about 2 inches wide) and a standard power cable.

The power cable in the microserver fits the DVD RW but clearly not the data sata.

Is there a cable that will bridge this gap in tech? Unlikely but thought I would check.

eirator

MAJJ wrote: »

I have an old LG DVD RW that I would like to reuse in the HP, maybe for a temorary basis, it has no SATA connection and I believe it is IDE - as a ribbon data connection (about 2 inches wide) and a standard power cable.

The power cable in the microserver fits the DVD RW but clearly not the data sata.

Is there a cable that will bridge this gap in tech? Unlikely but thought I would check.

Easy enough with one of these IDE <> SATA converters http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-in-1-IDE-to-SATA-SATA-to-IDE-Converter-Adapter-/320759737706, that was just the first one I found on eBay, lots more to choose from.

rovoagho

Got my 54 today, looking forward to building this one as a HTPC. Amazon cart is chocka with components . :-)

snappieT

Quite surprised with the interest in these - the cashback situation seems to be less of a grey area than I expected.

What are people doing exactly?

• Buying from UK supplier (is there a list of valid ones for cashback?)
• (optionally) Having it delivered via Parcel Motel. Is this to get it from a cheaper UK supplier or is it to simplify cashback?
• Claiming cashback via UK? From where I stand, UK form requires you to be in UK (so no luck here) and ROI form requires you to have bought in ROI (no luck with cheap supplier then). What are people doing exactly?

Blinked_Missed It

Sorry if all this has been asked before but I'm getting a bit confused after 65 pages. I know these things have Raid on them and I've seen others say they use hardware Raid cards. Whats the benefit of using a card as opposed to the Raid it comes with. Looked at a guy on adverts selling a p411 Raid card but not sure if its worth it. Like to be able to use more than 4 drives and do hot swap if possible which I've heard the microserver can't do.

Had a couple of fairly catastrophic hdd failures recently and dropped a couple of terabytes of data I've no way of getting back (old pics and docs). I don't trust the cloud to handle it and it wouldn't be cost efective for the amount of space I need anyway. Anyone know if this thing is pointless for adding more drives (where do you physically put them anyway?) and will it let me hotswap. Cheers.

http://www.adverts.ie/other-hardware/hp-smart-array-p411-256-2-ports-ext-pcie-x8-sas-raid-controller/2473922

MAJJ

Bought mine from serversdirect and delivered to my home no issues. Claimed back on ROI from and my claim is in EUR. No issues at all.

snappieT wrote: »

Quite surprised with the interest in these - the cashback situation seems to be less of a grey area than I expected.

What are people doing exactly?

• Buying from UK supplier (is there a list of valid ones for cashback?)
• (optionally) Having it delivered via Parcel Motel. Is this to get it from a cheaper UK supplier or is it to simplify cashback?
• Claiming cashback via UK? From where I stand, UK form requires you to be in UK (so no luck here) and ROI form requires you to have bought in ROI (no luck with cheap supplier then). What are people doing exactly?

stimpson

Hardware raid is going to be faster than software raid, which is what you get with the server. I'm not convinced its necessary or desirable for a HTPC or home server. Look at unRAID or flexRAID. They give you parity and pooling without the strictness of true raid. You can add drives to these as you want. You dint get the speed of RAID, but do you really need it?

Remember, RAID is not a backup solution. If you had a house fire you're screwed. Check out crashplan for an unlimited backup solution.

As for drives, you can use an eSATA port multiplier box to add more space. There are also chassis available to mount up to 6 2.5 inch drives in the optical bay. You'll need a sata card but you can get something cheaper than that one on adverts. I'm not even sure it will fit.

Oh, and you can enable hot swapping on the stock hardware with the custom firmware. I've no idea if that card supports it or not

MAJJ

With no DVD drive how can I get my licensed copy of Vista on this machine to then allow me to do a upgrade to Win 7 pro?

stimpson

MAJJ wrote: »

With no DVD drive how can I get my licensed copy of Vista on this machine to then allow me to do a upgrade to Win 7 pro?

http://kurtsh.com/2007/02/26/howto-install-windows-vista-from-a-high-speed-usb-2-0-flash-drive/

I did find a way to install a win7 upgrade as a full install before.... let me try and find it.

Ok, that was quick: http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-128512 (don't tell Steve Ballmer!)

I used the Registry hack on that page. Never had a problem.

MAJJ

Cheers stimpson really helpful as always.

Used the first part to copy my Vista CD to USB, forgot that it was over 5 years old.
Got a driver for n/w controller from broadband.
Updates including SP1 running all night.
Will run update installer to check compatibility and then will try and get my hands on Win 7 upgrade and after that will put XBMC on it.

Before all this Ran XBMBunthu and wow it was quick and easy to get going, recognised everything and worked flawlessly with many movie/sound format over HDMI to my amp. Very, very impressed with the quality and speed. I just simply don't have the time or WAF to focus on learning linux, don't have a monitor either (all via main TV).

stimpson wrote: »

http://kurtsh.com/2007/02/26/howto-install-windows-vista-from-a-high-speed-usb-2-0-flash-drive/[/ur

I did find a way to install a win7 upgrade as a full install before.... let me try and find it.

Ok, that was quick: http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-128512 (don't tell Steve Ballmer!)

I used the Registry hack on that page. Never had a problem.

Remouad

So I keep my microserver in the attic and because of the fantastic weather it's roasting up there which yesterday caused my server to overheat.

So anyone know of some easy tweaks to help cool it down?

stimpson

Remouad wrote: »

So I keep my microserver in the attic and because of the fantastic weather it's roasting up there which yesterday caused my server to overheat.

So anyone know of some easy tweaks to help cool it down?

Remove any dust bunnies - they will prevent air circulating properly. You could install a more powerful fan, but you'll need to rewire a 4 pin connector to get it to work correctly. But at the end of the day you're still blowing warm air over the internals, so your best bet is to move it somewhere cooler.

Remouad

stimpson wrote: »

Remove any dust bunnies - they will prevent air circulating properly. You could install a more powerful fan, but you'll need to rewire a 4 pin connector to get it to work correctly. But at the end of the day you're still blowing warm air over the internals, so your best bet is to move it somewhere cooler.

I'll give it a clean out tonight but as you say still going to be cycling warm air over it.
By the time I get the fan the weather will be gone so not much point in that.

Moved it downstairs yesterday. Was just hoping I could leave it up there so the little fella couldn't get at it!

stimpson

Is anyone running the free version of unRAID? I'm planning to pick up a plus license to allow me to run up to 7 drives, but they do a twin pack for $99

howamidifferent

stimpson wrote: »

Is anyone running the free version of unRAID? I'm planning to pick up a plus license to allow me to run up to 7 drives, but they do a twin pack for $99

Have you checked out Flexraid?

F35

howamidifferent wrote: »

Have you checked out Flexraid?

I second flexraid,

stimpson

howamidifferent wrote: »

Have you checked out Flexraid?

Yep. The lack of a Plex server is a deal breaker for me. I'm delighted with unraid TBH. I finally got all my media transfered over and Plex is as snappy as when its run locally. Also have crashplan running so all my photos are safe and sound.

gerryk

I'm kind of at a loss to understand what any of these (unRaid, Flexraid etc) provide that can't be done with Linux and software Raid, or for more flexibility, ZFS.

gerryk

gerryk wrote: »

I'm kind of at a loss to understand what any of these (unRaid, Flexraid etc) provide that can't be done with Linux and software Raid, or for more flexibility, ZFS.

They use non-striped 'arrays' with a parity drive.

It allows for mixed drive sizes/brands, easy array expansion, only one drive spinning when accessing the files on it, unlike a striped array you can pull any single drive and read its contents in another machine.

It's ideal for media storage. RAID 5 is pretty stupid for a media server.

howamidifferent

gerryk wrote: »

I'm kind of at a loss to understand what any of these (unRaid, Flexraid etc) provide that can't be done with Linux and software Raid, or for more flexibility, ZFS.

Flexraid allows creation of raid sets across multiple drives of varying size and types. Allows easy expansion simply by adding a new drive etc. ZFS does not. Also drives with existing data can be added to the array without loss of data on that drive.