HP ProLiant MicroServer

[iDOL]

Added additional info linky : http://homeservershow.com/forums/ind...ks/#entry35009

Milkman's Guide to the Ultimate Media System



I recently purchased one of these - HP ProLiant MicroServer N36L they were on special going for R1,200.00 - which I think is an excellent price at the time.

I now have 3 of these units running in the following configuration :

ESXI vsphere host : Ubuntu running as my primary download rig (RDM configured for 2 x 2tb hdd's, 8gb Ram)

Openelec/XBMC - Running off a 2gb usb stick with the included 1gb ram and a Nvidia GT520 gpu for audio over HDMI - It serves media from my trusty WHSv1 box.

NAS - still busy deciding on OS- but it contains 8gb RAM and 5 x 2tb's

Full specifications are as follows:

Processor: AMD Athlon II Neo N36L 1.3 GHz
RAM: 1 GB DDR3 PC3-10600 SDRAM - ECC
Drive Bays: 4
Supplied Storage: 1 x 250GB Hard Drive
RAID Support: RAID 0, 1
Ports: 1 x VGA
6 x USB 2.0 (4 Front, 2 Rear)
1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x eSATA
Warranty: 1 year
Dimensions: 21cm (w) x 26cm (d) x 26.7cm (h)
Weight: 6 Kg


Here is some more links and information regarding this :

Oc oz links : http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=958208


HP Technical Information :

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...D=c02503511#A3

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/q.../13716_na.HTML

Reviews :

http://www.wegotserved.com/2011/02/1...t-microserver/

http://www.mswhs.com/2011/01/hp-prol...server-review/

http://www.silentpcreview.com/HP_Proliant_MicroServer

Link to modified Bios allowing you to change the drive settings to AHCI for the internal ODD sata port. : HP N36L MicroServer updated AHCI Bios

Also here is a helpful thread to setup the N36L as a XBMC/Openelec Media Centre : A Complete Guide to creating the Ultimate TV Experience.

NAS Basics (Data Protection, Performance, Configuration and more) - courtesy of AvForums

[Messugga]

As discussed in the other thread, I'm looking for a GPU capable of displaying 1080P in XBMC running on Ubuntu.
This post mentions a few cards but they don't seem to come with the low-profile bracket required to squeeze into this box. Has anyone managed to track anything reasonably priced (See: Cheap) down that would do the job?

[Messugga]

Most of those actually won't fit. The passive ones especially, have rather tall coolers. There's a Leadtek 210 that would fit, but they seem to be unavailable at the moment. There's also a MSI that's actively cooled, but Prophecy shows stock levels unknown, which is normally a bad sign. Mailing them anyway.

[iDOL]

seems like it was asked for as well - here's a short thread on a UK shopping site : http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/advis...er-n36l/889386

[Messugga]

I've tracked down a couple of cards that should fit, just querying stock.

[The_Unnamed]

Pity about it not supporting RAID 5 :-/.

[SomeoneEls]

I've tracked down a couple of cards that should fit, just querying stock.

both the asus and gigabyte actively coold GT210's should fit. Let us know what card you get, thinking about getting another one to use as and HTPC

Pity about it not supporting RAID 5 :-/.

Yeah it is a pity, and they not planning on supporting it at any stage either. Although it doesn't affect me as I'm running a software RaidZ in freeNAS

[The_Unnamed]

Yeah it is a pity, and they not planning on supporting it at any stage either. Although it doesn't affect me as I'm running a software RaidZ in freeNAS

Bloody hell. Good point. This is why people like you are on forums .
I completely forgot about software RAID.

[HavocXphere]

Those def look like good value.

Mot of those actually won't fit. The passive ones especially, have rather tall coolers. There's a Leadtek 210 that would fit,

Also...sticking a gfx that requires 300W into a box with 150W (/200W) PSU is not a particularly inspired plan.

[iDOL]

I am going to be running flexraid on this box - as soon as I get it up and running

[SomeoneEls]

Bloody hell. Good point. This is why people like you are on forums .
I completely forgot about software RAID.

Hehe glad I jogged the memory! Software RAID is probably a lot safer in this sort of situation as you probably won't have another 1 lying around (well at this price you actual might, but I digress) to use the same chipset to rebuild the RAID if anything were to happen to the Motherboard!

Those def look like good value.


Also...sticking a gfx that requires 300W into a box with 150W (/200W) PSU is not a particularly inspired plan.

It's actually not that bad a plan at all really! The processor is a 15w AMD neo, the card, GT210, consumes around 31 watts. The highest recorded wattage I've seen in all the forums I've looked through is around 89watts (4 x 2TB 7200tb Hdd and a SDD running SBS 2008 R2 at full load) add the 31w for the graphics card and your still quite comfortably within the 150W limit. Now if your running LP drives and not constantly using it at full load I imagine it would use quite a lot less, same as applies to the GT210 that's 31watts at full load.

[Messugga]

Hehe glad I jogged the memory! Software RAID is probably a lot safer in this sort of situation as you probably won't have another 1 lying around (well at this price you actual might, but I digress) to use the same chipset to rebuild the RAID if anything were to happen to the Motherboard!



It's actually not that bad a plan at all really! The processor is a 15w AMD neo, the card, GT210, consumes around 31 watts. The highest recorded wattage I've seen in all the forums I've looked through is around 89watts (4 x 2TB 7200tb Hdd and a SDD running SBS 2008 R2 at full load) add the 31w for the graphics card and your still quite comfortably within the 150W limit. Now if your running LP drives and not constantly using it at full load I imagine it would use quite a lot less, same as applies to the GT210 that's 31watts at full load.

The PCIe 16x on the board can only provide 25W, so that's something to keep in mind. As for the built in RAID on this device, it's faux-RAID anyway. It's software RAID that gets handled by the driver, so may as well go for a completely standard software RAID solution, which is what I'm doing.

Prophecy asked their supplier to check the cards that I reckon would fit, to see whether they're identical to the images online. If they are, they should fit fine as their coolers don't stick out above the PCI plate.

[SomeoneEls]

The PCIe 16x on the board can only provide 25W, so that's something to keep in mind. As for the built in RAID on this device, it's faux-RAID anyway. It's software RAID that gets handled by the driver, so may as well go for a completely standard software RAID solution, which is what I'm doing.

Prophecy asked their supplier to check the cards that I reckon would fit, to see whether they're identical to the images online. If they are, they should fit fine as their coolers don't stick out above the PCI plate.

Cool beans, good luck with the cards, the actively cooled one's do look a lot smaller actually!
Missed the 25w limitation maybe the HD5450 is a better call then? Although just read an article saying the 210 consumes 22.9w during 3DMark so...
Which one are you looking at?

[TJ99]

The GF210 uses 30W apparently, but I've read on other forums about people using the Radeon HD 5450 in the microserver though. The Sapphire one definitely has a low profile bracket, but it's in the box, not fitted by default. Card is about R 400.

BTW: if you only want VGA output, the built-in GPU (HD 4200) is more than capable of 1080p, you just wouldn't have sound.

[HavocXphere]

It's actually not that bad a plan at all really! The processor is a 15w AMD neo, the card, GT210, consumes around 31 watts. The highest recorded wattage I've seen in all the forums I've looked through is around 89watts (4 x 2TB 7200tb Hdd and a SDD running SBS 2008 R2 at full load) add the 31w for the graphics card and your still quite comfortably within the 150W limit.

We're interested in peak, not load values. Here's a hard-disk with spin up wattage of just over 28W. 4 of those, 112W. Add CPU (15) & GFX (25) and we're at 152W. Thats already over the limit & we actually still need some watts for the mobo and perhaps a safety margins. Then we're also assuming the PSU can actually deliver 150W.

Clearly it can work (e.g. not using enterprise hdds like I did above) else they wouldn't sell it...it just needs careful consideration. Looks like Messugga has it covered though.