Unfortunately, this deal is no longer available
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1683°
Posted 31 May 2015
Hp gen8 Microserver £179.94 now £99 AFTER £80 cashback £4.95 delivery - £184.89 delivered @ serversplus
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challengedavid
Joined in 2010
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111
About this deal
This deal is expired. Here are some options that might interest you:
From the 1st june the brilliant hp gen8 microservers will be £99 with £80 cashback
see serversplus.com/pdf…pdf for the claim form
serversplus.com/mic…ack
ebuyer should be cheaper as they offer free delivery but are out of stock at the moment
edited to be clearer about the cashback
email link for the cashback promotions@out-bound.co.uk
ebuyer in stock, and with updated info re: 80 pound cashback BUT now at 189.99
ebuyer.com/517…421
dabs in stock at same price as ebuyer including shipping, BUT with current 4% quidco on all sales
dabs.com/pro…=16
no cashback info at dabs, but product code is correct and i believe they are an authorised HP reseller
- wild_quinine
cashback info now added to Dabs page. Less than 10 units!
- wild_quinine
dabs stock has gone.
- wild_quinine
Guides on installing XPEnology/Synology DSM on these can be found here cyanlabs.net/For…ogy
A guide on installing ESXi can also be found in the link above.
- Scotta965
see serversplus.com/pdf…pdf for the claim form
serversplus.com/mic…ack
ebuyer should be cheaper as they offer free delivery but are out of stock at the moment
edited to be clearer about the cashback
email link for the cashback promotions@out-bound.co.uk
ebuyer in stock, and with updated info re: 80 pound cashback BUT now at 189.99
ebuyer.com/517…421
dabs in stock at same price as ebuyer including shipping, BUT with current 4% quidco on all sales
dabs.com/pro…=16
no cashback info at dabs, but product code is correct and i believe they are an authorised HP reseller
- wild_quinine
cashback info now added to Dabs page. Less than 10 units!
- wild_quinine
dabs stock has gone.
- wild_quinine
Guides on installing XPEnology/Synology DSM on these can be found here cyanlabs.net/For…ogy
A guide on installing ESXi can also be found in the link above.
- Scotta965
More details at Community Updates
593 Comments
sorted bywell you can, but you shouldn't not in this config.
First things first. This isn't a silent machine - it is quiet, but not silent. Depending on the mode you have the disk controller in you may have noisier fans (in AHCI it is increased) this may be fixed in bios releases. You can sleep with it in the same room, but you probably won't want to. And you certainly will be aware when it reboots - the start up beep is LOUD.
2nd support only exists for one year, after which you do not have access to HP updates. (Though you may get them through separate routes.) NBD support exists for 3 yrs 9-5 for an additional £40 if you buy the support and get cashback with the purchase of the server.
You probably want to make sure that you use Windows 8 enterprise (you can get licences for eval use) as the one you have on the existing computer/laptop may not properly join the domain(s). This -> technet.microsoft.com/en-…spx should be engrained in your browser. It enables you to download pretty much everything you need to learn with.
First upgrade the memory - it comes with 2GB, best is to buy 2x8GB of 1600 DDR3 ECC unbuffered. should be about £60 a stick, but you can probably be ok with just 1.
First thing is that there is an onboard usb internal that can be used to boot from, as well as a microsd. Put ESXi or Hyper-V on there depending on your desire, and then install Windows 7/8/10techpreview.
If you really need to install a DVDdrive, but you are better of using the fifth sata port for an SSD - again depending on wishes this will be a sata 1 (1.5Gb/s) or if you move the drive bays it can be a SATA 2 (3Gb/s) - in case you didn't know there are 2x 3Gb/s and 2+1 x1.5Gb/s ports on the controller card. (2+1 being the 2 for the drive bay and the +1 for the ODD.
For installing you will need to use either USB with installation abilities- search for "rufus iso install", usb with iso images, and use the ILO (Integrated Lights Out Management - remote access over the network) to create mount points for the images, or have a server on a network with the images available and have ILO mount the image. Read the HP ILO documents hp.com/go/ilo
At some point buy 4 identical low capacity drives, (go to cex or ebay and buy 4 x 500gb). Then play with RAID. install with 1, benchmark, 2 benchmark, raid 0 and raid 1 benchmark, add 3, benchmark, raid 0, raid 1, and raid 5 benchmark. Pull a disk in raid 5, what happens? what happens with software raid 5 (windows server) as opposed to hardware raid 5 (onboard psuedo raid) if you have the additional HW raid (hp222 - 275exVAT) again what is the difference. Crucially, can you put the other disk in and rebuild the array? A fundamental law of server management is that disks fail. At some point you will need to know when to rebuild, and when just to kill and restore from backups. Get 4 higher capacity disks upgrade one by one - can you expand the array? what if you use BTRFS or ZFS or XFS?
You can then install server 2012 R2, exchange, sql, etc... at some point you may find that you have cpu issues due to insufficient capacity. You can then upgrade to a Xeon processor for around 2-300. You will need thermal compound, a low TDP xeon and have spent some time reading and watching the upgrade process/videos.
For an additional 25quid you can get the TPM module. play about with that at your own risk - however it will be an advantage for if you ever need to work in secure environments that require rigid change management or security. At risk means if you forget or lose the tokens/keys/passwords you've pretty much lost the environment and you'll need to rebuild.
At this stage, you should have some idea of whether you want to go further in administration (sql/active directory/exchange) or networking (ip routing/cabling/data center) or maybe storage (NAS/SAN) and so your next steps will be based on that.
Buy a 2nd box,
play with network teaming and the removal of network switches/cables and still have the network operational though it may be degraded.
As there is a PCIe slot, buy 2 4Gb/10Gb fibre network adapters and cable - should be about 100-150 in total off ebay.
Play with clustering, host migration, and live migration.
There, that should keep you busy for a few months...
(edited)
Yes they have a joint ownership with Motorola, Beats and Fleshlight - you should go to their Christmas party at HUKD HQ, it's a night to remember
(edited)
This is probably the wrongest post I've seen on HUKD. It's not just that the conclusions are wrong, by themselves that could just be ignorance. It's how wrong all of your reasoning is. You'd actually have to learn stuff backwards to get there. What I'm saying is that mere ignorance would produce a post more accurate than yours.
Pointless, overpriced toaster. Nothing to see here.
ha'way man. printing a form out and writing your serial number on it and sending it in the post - what a fanny on eh?
It is an utter faff isn't it? - I just get my butler to do it as it's nearly as bad as running a marathon with kippers for shoes.
click here
It would appear the syllabus was missing some vital information or perhaps you missed the hardware modules, it's Microsoft btw...Just saying
(edited)
silentpcreview.com/art…tml
For those debating this Gen8 vs. a Lenovo TS140 or similar read this 'argument':
arstechnica.com/civ…853
Time to put my LGA1155 Xeons up on ebay, at double the usual price...!
To go in a drive bay use this amazon.co.uk/Gen…KNS
To go in the top you will need a floppy-sata power adapter, or a molex y-splitter and a molex-sata adapter. You will find a molex connection for power above the drive bays underneath the top metal plate. Stick your fingers into the hole and you can pull up the power cable to insert the adapters.
(edited)
ive never noticed the plug getting hot on mine so no, not yet
We'll, it doesn't help saying that tbh. CPU needn't make a single difference to serving up "valuable data"....that's where the disk array comes in.
HPs plan to rule the world! aHAHAHHAHAHA. ahem.
XFX 6450.
That's a fairly old model now so there might be something newer. But it's cheap and does the job.
Whichever you buy, make sure it comes bundled with the low profile bracket. Some of them support a bracket but do not include it in the box.
Depends on the camera resolutions. We have the previous gen running 4 x 3MP PoE camera. 2 are recording full time and the other 2 on motion. All at full resolution. Using Zoneminder which is a bit of a faff setting up, but very powerful/customisable and importantly free.
homeservershow.com/for…aq/
What messing around. Have you never filled in a warranty or registration form, because it's no more work than that.
Don't give up your... I want to say day job but you type like a Jeremy Kyle guest.
I run a Celeron Gen8 / 16GB ECC RAM with FreeNAS which allows me to have Plex as a plugin. Transcoding is supported and works well on 1080p content. Very happy, awesome for the money.
Also the built in iLO 4 in compatible with iLO 2 keys... so getting it working remotely is simple stuff.
Cannot recommend this box enough. If you need a small server for home; BUY ONE!
PS - can also be upgraded later to a Xeon E3-1265L for better VMware performance.
Not 100% on the iLO license question. I'm sure I read a paid subscription is required after 1 year though...
Paul
within 45 days
Best comment I've seen on hukd for a while!
@casinodancer - A good quality Router and a windows PC will allow access to files how to here
A NAS will work as well
Or you can use Google Drive/Dropbox/Evernote etc.. for cloud access from any device (mobile/tablet etc)
This could happily be set up to do everything the western box would do and a hell of a lot more (it's a full computer in a small box). If you ONLY want some form of personal storage you can get at from the internet+NAS in the house and aren't bothered about it's speed, get the WD. If you can be bothered to put a bit more effort in for a lot more back, the microserver is a vastly better choice.
I (think I) need one to act as a NAS - enabling 24 Ethernet points around the house to access Film, pictures, ITunes etc. In addition I have 12 x 9265 CCTV cables hardwired into the house and would use this to store and access footage remotely.
Does anyone have a link to a site that guides you through install and which OS do people recommend?
All these questions are based on the FLAWED assumption that this is a NAS (network attached storage). It isn't.
It isn't anything other than a box with a raid controller, dual ethernet and 4x 3.5" drive bays for disks that have to be added separately.
There is no Operating System (OS) so it doesn't do anything out of the box but boot up into either ILO management, or a never ending cycle of searching for a disk, network, or USB/micro SDcard to boot from.
YOU must decide what to install on it. That can be ESX, FreeNAS, Windows Server 2012R2, Hyper-V, Windows 8, etc. if you want specific features then you need to find an OS or software that will support it - eg. plex for video streaming, xpenology for a synology clone.
This is not a consumer product - this is designed by HP to be the rock bottom end of their SERVER range for small businesses. It has the option of 3 yrs next business day 9-5 support for an extra £40 (inc vat using the additional cashback incentive to the purchase)
On a server, you really need as must RAM as you can afford, so that 2GB is nowhere near enough, I'd be surprised if MicroSHaft Server 2012 will run on that. You'd probably get a linux distro to run, but not well.
I like Linux, but for an office server, you'd be better with MicroSHaft.
something that allows you to essentially join drives together making them 1 with either the performance from all (with some reduction) or clones of the drive automatically to another drive for redundancy or a mixture of the both, raid 1 and raid 0 and raid 10 are the most popular followed by raid 5 and raid 6
RAID 1 = mirrored drives
RAID 0 = All drives performance as 1 drive no redundancy
RAID 5 = 3 or more drives 1 is redundancy the rest are performance (slower than raid 0/1/10)
RAID 10 = a mixture of raid 1 and raid 0
JBOD = Just a bunch of disks aka they just work as seperate disks
Not the best explanation but hope it helps.
(edited)
In a nutshell - the ability to transparently write your data across multiple disks for either resilience or performance. There are "levels" of RAID (think of a level as how you have it configured) that trade off between resilience, performance and capacity (if you store the same data on multiple drives obviously you lose overall capacity but gain resilience for example)