HP ProLiant MicroServer owners' thread

Just got the N40L in. Playing with it now.

Few questions if you don't mind.

!. Did you guys install many drivers with an out of the box config?

I just put on an AMD display driver. 1080p wasn't displaying correctly right away, but it might just be since it's connected through VGA. At least 1080p is selectable and I don't have to go down to 800 * 600 to get it to display on my Westy 37"!

2. You guys run lights-out?

I'm hoping it can get the server to hibernate after 30 minutes of no activity, and not wake up just because another computer turned on, but hopefully something like launching the dashboard or trying to access a network share from a client would wake it up. If I have to tell it from a client "wake up!" I will, but it's possible I won't use it for days at a time. Hopefully it won't be giidy to get up. I'm hoping light's out is as awesome as people say. It looks like the server will be able to wake up my computers for backups and stuff already, but had little in the way of saving power for itself. I probably care more about the whirring sounds and it's definitely overkill for being on a ton (despite the low power), I live alone!

3. Ease of use with no peripherals attached?

I'm just setting it up, and I have it connected to my auxillary port on my monitor. I had to run over with my kb/m to press ctrl/alt/delete booting it up today! If lights out works good hopefully I'll never have to shut it like really off. They two PCs seem to work better together at this point. 1080p working better remotely, downloading stuff on my gamer (without all the IE nagging in WHS2011) and switching back to install it is better than working with just WHS too. Does seem weird having to use a client to get this going without killing the constant nagging and bad res, but I imagine it will go away once I'm done setting it to my liking. Backups, central location for media, maybe some remote connectivity for geek factor cool, is the name of the game here!
 
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Just upgraded my box to ESXi 5 thank god the HP CIM Agents did cause the dreaded PSOD like they did on 4.x (had to prevent some of the CIM modules from being loaded).

So now health status properly displays my P410 controller, cache, battery and disks.

Haven't done any benchmarks yet though. Bet I shouldn't hope for that much? :)
 
texuspete00 said:
Just got the N40L in. Playing with it now.

Few questions if you don't mind.

!. Did you guys install many drivers with an out of the box config?

I just put on an AMD display driver. 1080p wasn't displaying correctly right away, but it might just be since it's connected through VGA. At least 1080p is selectable and I don't have to go down to 800 * 600 to get it to display on my Westy 37"!

2. You guys run lights-out?

I'm hoping it can get the server to hibernate after 30 minutes of no activity, and not wake up just because another computer turned on, but hopefully something like launching the dashboard or trying to access a network share from a client would wake it up. If I have to tell it from a client "wake up!" I will, but it's possible I won't use it for days at a time. Hopefully it won't be giidy to get up. I'm hoping light's out is as awesome as people say. It looks like the server will be able to wake up my computers for backups and stuff already, but had little in the way of saving power for itself. I probably care more about the whirring sounds and it's definitely overkill for being on a ton (despite the low power), I live alone!

3. Ease of use with no peripherals attached?

I'm just setting it up, and I have it connected to my auxillary port on my monitor. I had to run over with my kb/m to press ctrl/alt/delete booting it up today! If lights out works good hopefully I'll never have to shut it like really off. They two PCs seem to work better together at this point. 1080p working better remotely, downloading stuff on my gamer (without all the IE nagging in WHS2011) and switching back to install it is better than working with just WHS too. Does seem weird having to use a client to get this going without killing the constant nagging and bad res, but I imagine it will go away once I'm done setting it to my liking. Backups, central location for media, maybe some remote connectivity for geek factor cool, is the name of the game here!
Click to expand...

The only drivers I installed were the video and updated AHCI/SATA drivers and the updated NIC drivers for my Intel NIC.

http://wwwd.amd.com/amd/devsite.nsf/HPSW?openform

all else, WHS2011 handles/installs well enough.

what remote connectivity app are you going to use?
 
Well the fan on my 200 watt NL-36 PSU is dead. Got to hand it to HP, 2 mins to wait in their online que, 10 mins with the rep and I have my part dispatched. Rep said I should receive the part within 48 hours. Not bad service for box that cost me 250$ or so.
 
Ok, I am new to WHS and I have a 16gb thumb drive that I am trying to use as boot drive on the usb motherboard header. When I boot from the disc it says I need to load a driver beacuse it can not locate the primary HD.

I guess my first question is to verify that I can install WHS onto this 16gb thumb drive.
My second question is how do I get it on there. It is recognized in the bios and when I click load drivers from the boot disc it also shows the thumb drive.
 
Just to let you guys know the 8gb Crucial DDR3 kit non ECC ram I picked up works great! Probably not needed, but who cares for 39 bucks.

Link to ram
 
Hello can someone with one please tell me what speed they get with hdparm -Tt on the hard drive that came with the server ?

Was installing ram so want to make sure everything is ok and forgot to test hdparm before

Cheers

Getting this atm from the default 250gb hard drive , sounds normal ? :

/dev/sda
Timing cached reads: 3108 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1554.11 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 284 MB in 3.02 seconds = 94.11 MB/sec

(this using ext3)

Thanks , really want to make sure it's up to specs

(This under linux)

Thanks a bunch
 
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Gasu- I am sitting next to my server and tried to run that for you. Does it run in WHS? I downloaded the file and trying to figure out how to run it.
 
Hi thanks and sorry i'm running mine in linux but there seems to be a windows version altho not updated since 2007 so not sure how well it will work .

Thanks for your time :)
 
Hi Team,
Am a Newbie here and just bought a ProLiant Microserver.
To the person who wants to install the OS from the USB you need to set the SATA Controller Mode to IDE option in the Bios.
But to my question. I want to run the server using the 250Gb delivered drive running the OS but want to use two other drives in RAID for the data. I have actually built the OS on the single system disk and quite happy to reinstall, but can I use a single disk not RAID'ed and two others in a RAID 1 configuration? If so, am I able to boot from the USB stick to install the OS with the SATA Controller Mode set to RAID instead of IDE which is what I thought was required in order to boot from the USB stick. Any advice would be most welcome.
This unit is whisper quiet too. Very pleased with it.
AJ
 
I just tossed another 2GB stick of ECC in and it all went to "Reserved for Hardware" in WHS2011.

?

Edit:
Swapped for 2x4GB sticks and they work fine.
Dunno...
 
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I picked one of these up the last time newegg had them on sale and had been using it for my secondary ZFS box. After controller failure/issues on my primary ZFS box, I rebuilt my N40l as the primary ZFS box and returned my previous AIO to a ESXi only box. I have been incredibly happy with this little box. I hope HP is considering including more hard drive bays in the next one. Could you imagine one of these little guys with 8x 3.5, dual Intel nics and a nice built in LSI controller? Though fitting 6 3.5 drives in is fairly easy. My only complaint so far is not being able to use the second PCI-E slot due to its form factor with a Intel Pro1000/PT dual port card. I may still end up modding the chassis with two nic ports somewhere on the back and just running cables to the card with the bracket removed.

N40L
4gb
6x5k3000 2tb Hitachi
1x250gb Seagate 2.5
LSI1068e

Idle is around 64w and load around 76w.
 
The Spyder said:
I picked one of these up the last time newegg had them on sale and had been using it for my secondary ZFS box. After controller failure/issues on my primary ZFS box, I rebuilt my N40l as the primary ZFS box and returned my previous AIO to a ESXi only box. I have been incredibly happy with this little box. I hope HP is considering including more hard drive bays in the next one. Could you imagine one of these little guys with 8x 3.5, dual Intel nics and a nice built in LSI controller? Though fitting 6 3.5 drives in is fairly easy. My only complaint so far is not being able to use the second PCI-E slot due to its form factor with a Intel Pro1000/PT dual port card. I may still end up modding the chassis with two nic ports somewhere on the back and just running cables to the card with the bracket removed.

N40L
4gb
6x5k3000 2tb Hitachi
1x250gb Seagate 2.5
LSI1068e

Idle is around 64w and load around 76w.
Click to expand...

NC360T cards work in the 1x slot

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showpost.php?p=13430885&postcount=2310

.
 
I've been waiting to set this up for a while as i waited for HHD's to arrive for america. I'm looking for advice on the best OS to install as I would like to use this primarily as a NAS Server.

I would like to use it for: FTP download for music and movies/rapidshare downloads/streaming movies and music to xbox/laptop/touchpad. I'd like to be able to let my friends access the server aswell. The ones iv'e been thinking about are freeNas, WHS (although i read on here it will only recognise 4gb ram while i have 5gb installed) I'm not opposed to using a linux server as ive ubuntu installed on it now just to play around with while waiting for the disks but still dont have great experience with linux. I haven't decided on what raid array to run. I have 2 TB drives in the bays and had an extra 2TB at home which i'm going to mount in the ODD slot with a usb external drive for giving to my friends for stealing their media. I was thinking about raid5 but havent made up my mind yet...

just wondering is it just a preference thing or would most of the OS's do the job for me.

What do people think?
 
For those of you who may have been wondering how well it works, I bought a HP Microserver Remote Access Card.

I got it mainly to be able to turn on and off my box when I'm off for business. I don't have the need to keep it on most of the time, so this works well for me.

Just figured I'd let people know in case they had any questions about the card I could answer for them.
 
Below are the specs of my Microserver running Nexentastor 3.1.1.

8GB Kingson ECC DDR3 RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139262
Dell H200 controller flashed with Dell IT firmware
2x Kingston V100 128GB SSD mirrored OS drives attached to internal SATA controller - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139416
1x Samsung 830 64GB SSD for ZIL - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147502
6x Hitachi 7K3000 3TB 7200rpm Deskstar drives in a RAIDZ2 configuration - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145472
OWC multi-mount - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other+World+Computing/MM52T35MP9/

I still need to add a L2ARC device which will bring the drive total to 10.

Below is an in-progress picture. Once I have it all buttoned-up I'll post a completion picture as it's a horrible mess at the moment.

microserverinprogress.jpg
 
IOError,

Looking forward to your pics of the completed project!

So... you're putting four of the 3TB 3.5" drives in the original drive bays, then using the multi-mount to fit the other two 3TB 3.5" drives in the 5.25" optical drive bay, correct? Any gotchas or extra cables necessary to make the latter bit work?

Where are you mounting the SSD drives?

TIA,

Monte
 
I was under the impression that a single disk ZIL was not considered a good idea, and that best practice is to use a mirrored ZIL because - for pool versions prior to v19 - if you lose your ZIL you may lose your entire array.
 
memilanuk said:
Where are you mounting the SSD drives?
Click to expand...
2.5" SSD can mount literally anywhere, it is not sensitive to heat or vibration. Use sticky velcro on the inside of the case. Or the outside! You'd obviously need a SATAIII controller if you want to use 5 3.5" and SSD(s) though.


PS for the record I'm running N40L with a GT530 as a HTPC with 1x2TB Samsung Eco Green, and 1x500GB 2.5" eSATA drive in an Icy Box for my music collection, so no RAID required. Installing 2x4GB non-ECC next week, since it's so ridiclously cheap.

Running W7x64 Ultimate as the root system as I couldn't get ESXi to work properly. ESXi installed OK onto a flash drive (so I can use it again if I need to) but I couldn't connect to the server on the network from my crappy old laptop. Could be anything really, but I don't have much patience with things I don't really need. VMplayer Ubuntu works like a charm though it leaves me short of RAM at the moment.

Once I decide what to do with my "actual" (HT)PC build, I will remove the GPU from the Microserver, and install a DVB-T2 card to use the N40L as a DVR, NAS and cloud application server. Only OS (Win7x64) and regularly used apps will be going in the (HT)PC, on a single 60GB SSD. At that point, I'll really need to look at setting up VMware as ideally I want to have MythTV running in Linux, with Windows handling the SMB shares and uTorrent client.
 
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Grimham said:
For those of you who may have been wondering how well it works, I bought a HP Microserver Remote Access Card.

I got it mainly to be able to turn on and off my box when I'm off for business. I don't have the need to keep it on most of the time, so this works well for me.

Just figured I'd let people know in case they had any questions about the card I could answer for them.
Click to expand...

Grimham, how well does it work?

I am interested because I think it would be handy to run a RAC with my n40l.

Thanks
 
brnunn said:
Grimham, how well does it work?

I am interested because I think it would be handy to run a RAC with my n40l.

Thanks
Click to expand...

RAC? Not familiar.

The card works fine for what I want it for. I can turn the server on and off with my Blackberry or any other device with a browser. I don't need it on 90% of the time, so it's nice to be out somewhere and be able to turn it on to remote in. I don't use the KVM portion or emails (though I may set up emails in the near future). Other than that the cards menu utility is mostly for basic setup (ip address and who can connect to the card) and some system monitors. Any particular questions you need answered?
 
Grimham said:
RAC? Not familiar.

The card works fine for what I want it for. I can turn the server on and off with my Blackberry or any other device with a browser. I don't need it on 90% of the time, so it's nice to be out somewhere and be able to turn it on to remote in. I don't use the KVM portion or emails (though I may set up emails in the near future). Other than that the cards menu utility is mostly for basic setup (ip address and who can connect to the card) and some system monitors. Any particular questions you need answered?
Click to expand...

RAC = Remote Access Controller

Thanks for the reply.

What else can you do with the card? Have you tried the KVM over IP out yet?

Thanks
 
Grimham said:
The card works fine for what I want it for. I can turn the server on and off with my Blackberry or any other device with a browser. I don't need it on 90% of the time, so it's nice to be out somewhere and be able to turn it on to remote in.
Click to expand...
Similar to me.... e.g. switching on the server just to start downloading a torrent for when I get home, or to listen to music on my phone (AudioGalaxy).

Prices seem extortionate for that card but I've just found it for €41 from BCS in Germany (site looks dodgy but I've used them before) which is a LOT cheaper than the £60-80 prices I've seen quoted in the UK. Postage makes it prohibitive but it's possibly an indication that prices are coming down.

Background:
I'm aiming for an ESXi setup with the server on 24/7, running Mythbuntu (and perhaps also a Torrent client) in a VM, and then "on-demand" Windows 7 for HTPC duties (until I build my proper HTPC). Otherwise I'll just stick to Windows 7, using uTorrent and MediaPortal. I certainly don't need the RAID/server management of WHS and I'm not a Linux spod.... whilst I don't mind taking my time getting something working, if it doesn't work without a lot of messing about and tweaking, I tend to lose patience. Hence W7 :)

So the questions.........

Does the card use up one of the two PCI-E slots, or is there a specific slot for it somewhere?

Does it interact fully with ESXi, or is it only WHS compatible? Or neither?

Will the RA card allow me to Hibernate Windows?


And on a related note:

Has anyone managed to get their Microserver into sleep/standby mode in Windows 7? Do I need to enable an option in BIOS somewhere? Windows only gives me power options to Shut Down or Hibernate... this is disappointing, as I'd prefer to have the microserver Sleep automatically when idle, so I can wake it with the keyboard space bar (or even better, a faked space bar keypress via a MCE remote & IR receiver).
 
baldmosher said:
So the questions.........

Does the card use up one of the two PCI-E slots, or is there a specific slot for it somewhere?

Does it interact fully with ESXi, or is it only WHS compatible? Or neither?

Will the RA card allow me to Hibernate Windows?


And on a related note:

Has anyone managed to get their Microserver into sleep/standby mode in Windows 7? Do I need to enable an option in BIOS somewhere? Windows only gives me power options to Shut Down or Hibernate... this is disappointing, as I'd prefer to have the microserver Sleep automatically when idle, so I can wake it with the keyboard space bar (or even better, a faked space bar keypress via a MCE remote & IR receiver).
Click to expand...

Yes, the card uses a slot
The card works at the hardware level as far as I can tell. No interaction with the OS.
No, it will not let you hibernate Windows.

brnunn said:
RAC = Remote Access Controller

Thanks for the reply.

What else can you do with the card? Have you tried the KVM over IP out yet?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Haven't tried or needed KVM over IP yet. I've heard it's not all that great though - poor display if I remember.

Here's a screen of the basic menus just for grins.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/52/hpaccess.jpg/][/URL]
 
That screenshot is intriguing, cos I haven't found a way to detect or control the fan speed in software yet! (Admittedly, I've only tried Speedfan)
 
Nearly completed my build over the weekend, need to add one more 2TB drive that I need to pull out of another machine.

Overall I am happy with the server. Very quiet and easy to build in, for the most part.

Taking the motherboard out is a bit of a hassle...my master SAS cable would not come out, the unlocking tab would not release the tabs from the socket. I ended up having to break off the locking tab in order to remove the cable. Luckily the cable fits securely without the locking tab, otherwise I would be a very disappointed camper.

I used a Vantec EZ-Swap4 in the 5.25" bay, that fit with no problem. Just make sure to move the LED cables out of the way on the right side to not damage them when inserting a 5.25" drive. I moved the included 250GB drive to the EZ-Swap.

Windows Home Server 2011 installed without a hitch via a thumbstick. My 8GB RAM kits I had left over from deals and other builds would not fit so I ended up using 4GB of RAM instead. Performance of WHS2011 was fine.
 
brnunn said:
.my master SAS cable would not come out, the unlocking tab would not release the tabs from the socket. I ended up having to break off the locking tab in order to remove the cable. Luckily the cable fits securely without the locking tab, otherwise I would be a very disappointed camper.
Click to expand...

Exact same thing happened to me. The little prong on the left wouldn't release.
I use a knife just to press it in each time I have to remove the board.

It's the only issue I've had with it so far.
 
dolphumous said:
Exact same thing happened to me. The little prong on the left wouldn't release.
I use a knife just to press it in each time I have to remove the board.

It's the only issue I've had with it so far.
Click to expand...

I didn't try using a knife, but I tried screwdriver. After pressing on the release tab a couple times it got so weak that when I touched it I could tell it was going to come off so I just removed it.
 
dolphumous said:
Exact same thing happened to me. The little prong on the left wouldn't release.
I use a knife just to press it in each time I have to remove the board.

It's the only issue I've had with it so far.
Click to expand...

This seems to be a common issue with these boxes. I used a small flat head screwdriver to press onto the tab to get it to release.

Picked one up at that macmall deal they had for $200 shipped & picked up a Kingston 4GB ECC dimm to bring the box up to 6GB total.

Has any one of you guys set it up to run the OS drive off of that 5th sata port? I'm thinking of doing this since that's the drive I most likely won't be swapping out during any drive upgrades in the future..

Also, any benefit of using the hacked bios that enables ahci on that 5th port? Seeing that these drives are not hot-pluggable, I really don't see the benefit of having that port run as ide vs. ahci?

Any input would be appreciated. :)
 
sparkie99 said:
Has any one of you guys set it up to run the OS drive off of that 5th sata port? I'm thinking of doing this since that's the drive I most likely won't be swapping out during any drive upgrades in the future..

Also, any benefit of using the hacked bios that enables ahci on that 5th port? Seeing that these drives are not hot-pluggable, I really don't see the benefit of having that port run as ide vs. ahci?

Any input would be appreciated. :)
Click to expand...

I connected the 250GB drive that shipped with the server to the 5th SATA port (the optical drive one) and installed Windows Server 2008R2 on it. I'm not sure how fast this drive would otherwise be with the hacked BIOS, but I can tell you that it's "fast enough for me" as is. I ran a quick test of it, which you can see below. I'm interested in knowing what the speed is with the hacked BIOS, if anyone can contribute it.

MicroServer%20System%20Drive%20Speed.jpg
 
I'm in the middle of modding my HP N36L and looking for a way to use the onboard SATA port or the external eSATA to connect roughly 4 drives (SSDs). I used both of the PCI-E slots so it can't be an add-in card. I also have no room for any bay devices either. I have been looking for cheaper methods and have come across a few backplanes/port multipliers.

http://www.buy.com/prod/addonics-ad...oller-5-x-7-pin-serial-ata-300/213272437.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

eSATA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite


I am currently looking for just the backplanes themselves but can't really find any for sale. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
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@zero - your links are all broken (I'm not likely able to offer you any additional assistance but at least thought I'd let you know about your links!)
 
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