Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the day.

And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


I run VMWare at work on expensive hardware, so I'm totally out of the loop
these days on regular grade stuff :-o

Long story short - my home brew server was off when I got home as the kids
had accidently turned the socket off. I pushed the power button and it
produced the most **** off bang and flash I have heard since our old valve
TV blew a cap in 1974 or so.

Luckily, after gerry rigging a "spare"[1] PSU in, it eventually ran up and I
have DNS, DHCP, data (I do have backups anyway) and IMAP back.

[1] The PSU was nicked out of the sister server that ran SMTP and web. That
PC can have its functions merged to the first one.


Anyway - these are 6-7 year old PCs - it was time I guess. But they get some
abuse from the mains here which can be a bit ****ty so a UPS will not go
amis.

Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

Cheeers!

Tim

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

On 02/11/12 21:11, Tim Watts wrote:
Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the day.

And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


I put together an intel ATOM MB Nini ITX in a mini case. LOW POWER.
QUIET (no CPU fan)

Runs 2 x 1/2TB disks, could run 2x 2TB No extar slots for DVD so it was
built with one disk and then the DVD drive removed and the second disk
installed.

512MB RAM - enough for headless.

Its twin core 64 bit..plenty of get up and go for serving.

Usual Linux/Samba/NFS/Apache/DNS/Appletalk/printer server ****e.

Love it to bits. Just 'works'

Fully fast enough to saturate 100Mbps LAN

Its not quite as cheap as a dedicated server on sale offer - cost me a
couple of hundred IIRC.

I have it on 'don't auto-boot on power up'

If power goes down the whole LAN goes down and stays down till I bring
the bits up in order.

Router
server
desktops.

Its paid for itself in electricity saving by now. Must be three years old.



I run VMWare at work on expensive hardware, so I'm totally out of the loop
these days on regular grade stuff :-o

Long story short - my home brew server was off when I got home as the kids
had accidently turned the socket off. I pushed the power button and it
produced the most **** off bang and flash I have heard since our old valve
TV blew a cap in 1974 or so.

Luckily, after gerry rigging a "spare"[1] PSU in, it eventually ran up and I
have DNS, DHCP, data (I do have backups anyway) and IMAP back.

[1] The PSU was nicked out of the sister server that ran SMTP and web. That
PC can have its functions merged to the first one.


Anyway - these are 6-7 year old PCs - it was time I guess. But they get some
abuse from the mains here which can be a bit ****ty so a UPS will not go
amis.

Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

Cheeers!

Tim



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 02/11/12 21:11, Tim Watts wrote:
Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the
day.

And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


I put together an intel ATOM MB Nini ITX in a mini case. LOW POWER.
QUIET (no CPU fan)

Runs 2 x 1/2TB disks, could run 2x 2TB No extar slots for DVD so it was
built with one disk and then the DVD drive removed and the second disk
installed.

512MB RAM - enough for headless.

Its twin core 64 bit..plenty of get up and go for serving.

Usual Linux/Samba/NFS/Apache/DNS/Appletalk/printer server ****e.

Love it to bits. Just 'works'

Fully fast enough to saturate 100Mbps LAN

Its not quite as cheap as a dedicated server on sale offer - cost me a
couple of hundred IIRC.

I have it on 'don't auto-boot on power up'

If power goes down the whole LAN goes down and stays down till I bring
the bits up in order.

Router
server
desktops.

Its paid for itself in electricity saving by now. Must be three years old.



Sounds very nice. I may need something with a little more oomph - I want to
saturate a gig lan.

====

I must admit to being surprised that, given the bang, that the PSU did not
fry the mobo.

Have just transplanted SMTP over and that's all back now... Good enough for
the moment. Got 4 disks running off a single PSU cable though - OTOH seems
not warm so probaly OK.
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

On 02/11/12 23:35, Tim Watts wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 02/11/12 21:11, Tim Watts wrote:
Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the
day.

And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


I put together an intel ATOM MB Nini ITX in a mini case. LOW POWER.
QUIET (no CPU fan)

Runs 2 x 1/2TB disks, could run 2x 2TB No extar slots for DVD so it was
built with one disk and then the DVD drive removed and the second disk
installed.

512MB RAM - enough for headless.

Its twin core 64 bit..plenty of get up and go for serving.

Usual Linux/Samba/NFS/Apache/DNS/Appletalk/printer server ****e.

Love it to bits. Just 'works'

Fully fast enough to saturate 100Mbps LAN

Its not quite as cheap as a dedicated server on sale offer - cost me a
couple of hundred IIRC.

I have it on 'don't auto-boot on power up'

If power goes down the whole LAN goes down and stays down till I bring
the bits up in order.

Router
server
desktops.

Its paid for itself in electricity saving by now. Must be three years old.



Sounds very nice. I may need something with a little more oomph - I want to
saturate a gig lan.


Shouldnt be an issue.

Atom boards come with gigabit ether. I just haven't got a gigabit switch :-)

Its about 4 times slower CPU wise.. than my dual core celeron desktop.

Disk speed is generally the limiting factor.

But SATA is good. Should be up to 6GBps

And you can always add more RAM to increase buffers.

I've been very pleasantly surprised at how fast a dual core 1.8Ghz atom
actually is.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

I've been very pleasantly surprised at how fast a dual core 1.8Ghz atom
actually is.


I have one of those CPUs also in a fanless PC, bought as a bare-bones
unit badged as 'stuttle'.
Added a cheap laptop style optical drive and HDD and it's quick enough.
Mine's only let down by windows - as it's job in life is to run some
CCTV software.
It will be replaced by Linux when I find something suitible that can
talk to my IP cameras and do motion detection etc.

On 09/11/2012 14:41, AlanD wrote:

I've been very pleasantly surprised at how fast a dual core 1.8Ghz atom
actually is.


I have one of those CPUs also in a fanless PC, bought as a bare-bones
unit badged as 'stuttle'.
Added a cheap laptop style optical drive and HDD and it's quick enough.
Mine's only let down by windows - as it's job in life is to run some
CCTV software.
It will be replaced by Linux when I find something suitible that can
talk to my IP cameras and do motion detection etc.




Have you looked at http://www.zoneminder.com/ ?

On 02/11/12 23:35, Tim Watts wrote:
Sounds very nice. I may need something with a little more oomph - I want to
saturate a gig lan.

I bought a second-hand mobo+ processor on Ebay for 20 quid. Dual core
2.5GHz. It's got embedded graphics and sound, but it runs fanless. I
think the outfit I got it from has some more, but I can't guarantee the
price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330811525392?

--
Bernard Peek

On 03/11/2012 08:55, Bernard Peek wrote:
On 02/11/12 23:35, Tim Watts wrote:
Sounds very nice. I may need something with a little more oomph - I
want to
saturate a gig lan.

I bought a second-hand mobo+ processor on Ebay for 20 quid. Dual core
2.5GHz. It's got embedded graphics and sound, but it runs fanless. I
think the outfit I got it from has some more, but I can't guarantee the
price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330811525392?

A good thread, but the wrong heading, hardly a PC, which is what I am
looking for.

In article , Tim Watts
scribeth thus
Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the day.


And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


Can't help you with the server but as to UPS we've now given up with APC they cook
batteries, bloody things.

We're now using EATON ones mainly 2200 to 3000 KVA but far better performers and
seem to be more dependable. Not that cheap but I suppose all down to what you want
to spend etc....

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...ring=ups&go=go

--
Tony Sayer

tony sayer wrote:

In article , Tim Watts
scribeth thus
Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the
day.


And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


Can't help you with the server but as to UPS we've now given up with APC
they cook batteries, bloody things.

We're now using EATON ones mainly 2200 to 3000 KVA but far better
performers and seem to be more dependable. Not that cheap but I suppose
all down to what you want to spend etc....

Thanks - I'll look at the Eaton - I had hopedAPC would get better now they
were owned by Schneider, but apparantly not...

http://www.lambda-
tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?region=GB&searchString=ups&go=go

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along with a SATA drive.

In message ,
writes
SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along with
a SATA drive.


SSDs are SATA


--
geoff

On 03/11/2012 23:26, geoff wrote:
In message ,
writes
SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along
with a SATA drive.


SSDs are SATA



Or mSATA or IDE.

In message om,
"dennis@home" writes
On 03/11/2012 23:26, geoff wrote:
In message ,
writes
SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along
with a SATA drive.


SSDs are SATA



Or mSATA or IDE.

Serial ATA is serial ATA dense

Show me a current SSD with an ATA interface


--
geoff

On 04/11/2012 20:05, geoff wrote:
In message om,
"dennis@home" writes
On 03/11/2012 23:26, geoff wrote:
In message ,
writes
SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along
with a SATA drive.


SSDs are SATA



Or mSATA or IDE.

Serial ATA is serial ATA dense

Show me a current SSD with an ATA interface



JFGI yourself.

They also do them as PCIe cards and in other formats.

wrote:

SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along with a
SATA drive.

I'm going to do that for my router/firewall which wil be (probably) based on
an Intel fanless mini-itx. The current OpenWRT on WRT54GS dies if I saturate
100MBit *routed* (and that does happen due to the mix of private and public
IPs I have) - and it cannot do gig at all.

It is also the ADSL endpoint using a true ADSL model with PPPoA-PPPoE
translation. Needs beefing up.

So far I am looking at an Intel® Desktop Board D945GSEJT (mini ITX Atom), 2B
RAM (dirt cheap), small SSD and extra gigabit NIC(s) as the router/ADSL
enpoint/firewall. Then I can run Debian on it and stop titting about with
OpenWRT.

It will probably end up as a one-armed router/firewall using a tagged VLAN
uplink (except the ADSL which may use a second NIC) to a Netgear 8 port
SmartSwitch which can handle VLANs.


But for my main data storage, SSD is too expensive - I have 1.5TB of stuff
now.

I'm going to move my DNS and email and web to external hosted - I'm playing
with an Amazon EC2 micro instance (basically a Xen VM) - seems fine and the
calculator suggests for my use, it would cost US$17 per month - and EC2
experience is useful for my CV. I'm trying to decide now how much I trust
them!



--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent
moral busybodies."

En el artículo , Tim Watts
escribió:

But for my main data storage, SSD is too expensive - I have 1.5TB of stuff
now.

Until SSDs approach the same price point per GB as hard drives, the best
compromise at the moment is to put the OS on a small (128GB) SSD and
your data on spinning rust.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 10:18:18 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

wrote:

SSDs run fast and quiet. Might be worth getting one of those along with
a SATA drive.

I'm going to do that for my router/firewall which wil be (probably)
based on an Intel fanless mini-itx.

I've been running one (but with a VIA board) for afew years. Not even an
SSD - just a CF card.

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

En el artículo , Bob Eager
escribió:

I've been running one (but with a VIA board) for afew years. Not even an
SSD - just a CF card.

Tried that in the Microserver - a SATA to CF adapter with a 16GB card.
It died and I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, so it's running on
spinning rust at the mo.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On 02/11/2012 21:11, Tim Watts wrote:
Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

We bought a bunch of cheap Fujitsu boxes, they seem to be OK. Some kind
of Primergy IIRC. That was a couple of years back so all the models
will have changed.

Andy

Tim Watts wrote:

Who's good these days?

I need a new server for the house - 2 SATA disks, 2TB each, reasonable
processor, lots of RAM and quiet. Good and reliable is the order of the
day.

And can anyone recommend a decent make/model of home grade UPS - "online"
type so it conditions the ****ty brownouty power we have here?


I run VMWare at work on expensive hardware, so I'm totally out of the loop
these days on regular grade stuff :-o

Long story short - my home brew server was off when I got home as the kids
had accidently turned the socket off. I pushed the power button and it
produced the most **** off bang and flash I have heard since our old valve
TV blew a cap in 1974 or so.

Luckily, after gerry rigging a "spare"[1] PSU in, it eventually ran up and
I have DNS, DHCP, data (I do have backups anyway) and IMAP back.

[1] The PSU was nicked out of the sister server that ran SMTP and web.
[That
PC can have its functions merged to the first one.


Anyway - these are 6-7 year old PCs - it was time I guess. But they get
some abuse from the mains here which can be a bit ****ty so a UPS will not
go amis.

Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

Cheeers!

Tim


OOh that is interesting...

An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested (sorry - cannae be arsed to find
the specific reply now that Dennis has hijacked the thread).

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value for
a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:


For a 3TB RAID 5 NAS:
£1,027 Total

Proliant Microserver Ebuyer £120 1 £120
HDD 1TB HP HP £227 4 £907


But the whole thing gave me an idea and after much wibbling, I found a nice
NAS case and board at Mini-ITX.com (no affiliation etc):

£489 Total
CFI-A7879 NAS Chassis Mini-ITX.com £95 1 £95
Jetway JNC9E-525 Mini-ITX.com £138 1 £138
2GB RAM DDR3 SODIMM Crucial Ebuyer £8 2 £16
WD SATA 1TB Ebuyer £60 4 £240

That's double the RAM, same disks, and dual core 1.8GHz Atom D525 vs the
HP's Turion II N40L

Although the Turion has loads more cache,
http://novabench.com/cpuchart.php?a=1
suggests they are pretty evenly matched.

Total fans in the homebrew is two - a 120 and a little one in the PSU.


The true pervert could do this:


12TB RAID 5:

£960 TOTAL
CFI-A7879 NAS Chassis Mini-ITX.com £95 1 £95
Jetway JNC9E-525 Mini-ITX.com £138 1 £138
2GB RAM DDR3 SODIMM Crucial Ebuyer £8 2 £16
Hitachi SATA 4TB Ebuyer £178 4 £712


I'm going to look a little harder at the mobos - there might be some
slightly beefier ones. For a pure NAS the above would kick ass, but if you
wanted some compute power (maybe for a database or media)...


===============================


On an aside, I am using Mini-ITX +Ebuyer (I know) to source:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/~JNF92-270
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=54
3 NIC Intel daughterboard
a 60GB SSD
2GB RAM

to make a moderately kick-arse ADSL
endpoint[1]router/firmwall/printserver/DNS/Kerberos box totally fanless

[1] Using a Vigor 120 modem

That's going to run Debian instead of buggering about with embedded (ie hard
to keep patched) OSes.

Ordered a couple of decent network switches and 802.11n (now we have laptops
that can use it) to totally beef up the network provisions at
Chez Fatbloke



--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in

--
geoff

On 06/11/2012 23:16, geoff wrote:
In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in

That looks interesting: I'm looking to host my own 'cloud' storage so I
can save and load files when I'm away from home.

Does the Proliant include an OS? Would anything else be needed to enable
me to access it remotely?

--
F

En el artículo , F
news@nowhere.? escribió:

Does the Proliant include an OS?

No

Would anything else be needed to enable
me to access it remotely?

No

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

En el artÃ*culo , F
news@nowhere.? escribió:

Does the Proliant include an OS?

No

Would anything else be needed to enable
me to access it remotely?

No


I think there is a LOM card available if you want belt+braces remote
management.
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

On 07/11/2012 03:01, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , F
news@nowhere.? escribió:

Does the Proliant include an OS?

No

Thanks.

Is there a 'free' server OS that would be easy to install? I've built
Windows computers before now, but not a server and nothing that ran a
'different' OS.

--
F

geoff wrote:

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in


There's the problem - they need to be in those little caddies and I have not
found (yet) anywhere that sells barebone trays.


--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:50:35 +0000, Tim Watts
wrote:

geoff wrote:

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in


There's the problem - they need to be in those little caddies and I have not
found (yet) anywhere that sells barebone trays.

Not sure what you mean there. I didn't buy anything more to fit extra
drives into mine.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) If a man stands in a forest and no woman is around
(")_(") is he still wrong?

On 07/11/12 07:50, Tim Watts wrote:
geoff wrote:

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in


There's the problem - they need to be in those little caddies and I have not
found (yet) anywhere that sells barebone trays.


You don't need to buy them, they are included.

--
djc

En el artículo , Tim Watts
escribió:

There's the problem - they need to be in those little caddies and I have not
found (yet) anywhere that sells barebone trays.

I've told you 3 times, the trays come with the server. Unless you mean
something different.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In message , Tim Watts
writes
geoff wrote:

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Tim Watts wrote:
An HP Proliant Microserver was suggested

I think they can still be had for £99

chuck 4 x 2TB drives in - about £240
so £350 quiddies all in


There's the problem - they need to be in those little caddies and I have not
found (yet) anywhere that sells barebone trays.


Whats wrong with the caddies?

I don't see the problem


--
geoff

En el artículo , Tim Watts
escribió:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value for
a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:

1) you can use any drive you want
2) the caddies come with the server

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

En el artÃ*culo , Tim Watts
escribió:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value
for a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:

1) you can use any drive you want


2) the caddies come with the server

They do? Ah - that was very much not clear - so my apologies to Geoff just
now forclaiming they weren't...

That re-opens the field a bit then!


--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent
moral busybodies."

On 06/11/12 23:04, Tim Watts wrote:


Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value for
a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:



There is no need to use HP drives, the server comes complete with the
caddys and the fixing screws. You can use any standard SATA drive.

For a 3TB RAID 5 NAS:
£1,027 Total

Proliant Microserver Ebuyer £120 1 £120
HDD 1TB HP HP £227 4 £907


--
djc

Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-06, Tim Watts wrote:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value
for a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:

Blimey, you don't buy disks from HP. You don't need caddied drives.

I buy all my disk from eBay. Leave it on test for a few days.



Yep - that was not obvious until someone else said... I did not find any
empty caddies for sale anywhere and assumed (like 1U/2U servers) that it
probably came with blanking trays rather than empty caddies.

Glad I'm wrong...

Now I wish Dell's low end SANs could take normal drives instead of speshal
ones (ie with replaced firmware)!

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-06, Tim Watts wrote:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value
for a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:

Blimey, you don't buy disks from HP. You don't need caddied drives.

I buy all my disk from eBay. Leave it on test for a few days.



Yep - that was not obvious until someone else said... I did not find any
empty caddies for sale anywhere and assumed (like 1U/2U servers) that it
probably came with blanking trays rather than empty caddies.

Glad I'm wrong...

Now I wish Dell's low end SANs could take normal drives instead of speshal
ones (ie with replaced firmware)!


I bought from

http://www.serversplus.com/hp_proliant_microserver

a cheap machine after the cashback


--
geoff

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:58:39 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-06, Tim Watts wrote:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good
value for a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied
drives:

Blimey, you don't buy disks from HP. You don't need caddied drives.

I buy all my disk from eBay. Leave it on test for a few days.



Yep - that was not obvious until someone else said... I did not find any
empty caddies for sale anywhere and assumed (like 1U/2U servers) that it
probably came with blanking trays rather than empty caddies.

Glad I'm wrong...

Now I wish Dell's low end SANs could take normal drives instead of
speshal ones (ie with replaced firmware)!


I bought from

http://www.serversplus.com/hp_proliant_microserver

a cheap machine after the cashback

Yup, mine arrives from them tomorrow. Not that the confirmation email got
to me as their crap SMTP server sent a bad HELO...!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-07, Tim Watts wrote:
Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-06, Tim Watts wrote:

Anyway - as, possibly Huge, pointed out - the server is very good value
for a single 250GB disk, but HP will rape you for more caddied drives:

Blimey, you don't buy disks from HP. You don't need caddied drives.

I buy all my disk from eBay. Leave it on test for a few days.



Yep - that was not obvious until someone else said... I did not find any
empty caddies for sale anywhere and assumed (like 1U/2U servers) that it
probably came with blanking trays rather than empty caddies.

Glad I'm wrong...

Now I wish Dell's low end SANs

Aaaiiieeee!!!

Mind you, we have EMC SANs and I wouldn't give you tuppence for those.


I had (still have, not using) a Clariion - I hate them! Disks only £800 - a
real bargain...
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent
moral busybodies."

Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-02, Tim Watts wrote:

Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

They still doing those cheap HP microservers?


http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en...916.html?dnr=1

They were doing £100 cash-back on these at one point.



Thank you sir - I am liking the look of that. Reviews say quiet and
powerful.

I think it is time to get some hosting for email (I do stuff that Gmail does
not offer) and web and DNS. OpenVZ looked interesting there...

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://www.dionic.net/tim/

"She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."

In message , Tim Watts
writes
Huge wrote:

On 2012-11-02, Tim Watts wrote:

Thanks for any suggesstions - in the meantime, I'm going to start with
DABS/Ebuyer just to see the overall options...

They still doing those cheap HP microservers?


http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en...916.html?dnr=1

They were doing £100 cash-back on these at one point.



Thank you sir - I am liking the look of that. Reviews say quiet and
powerful.


They are great little boxes. I've had the previous model running as
server here for a couple of years quite happily.

And yes the seemingly never ending cashback offer is still running. Can
usually get them for around £230, sometimes a bit less (the deals vary).
So they really are a steal for about £130.

Popular little boxes, so Plenty on the web about them.
--
Chris French