[Chester LUG] Slightly OT: perfect little machine for a low(ish) power Linux server

[Michael Crilly]

I want to buy one of these, but I want to use it as an RHCE lab - will
it handle KVM-based VMs? Maybe 4/5 of them with an 8GB RAM upgrade?

Please note, everyone, that the cashback offer is only valid until 31st March.

On 13 March 2012 11:32, Sebastian Arcus <shop at open-t.co.uk> wrote:
> Thanks Les. That's helpful advice.
>
>
>
>
> On 13/03/12 11:20, Les Pritchard wrote:
>>
>> Hi Sebastian,
>>
>> I also bought one of these and upgraded it to 8gb (max RAM). The build
>> quality is pretty good, they do feel like a HP device. As Stuart said,
>> this box would work well for a NAS with FreeNAS or Nexenta on it. It
>> has 4 drive bays so you could make a really nice small storage box
>> with the OS on a USB stick. The CPU isn't up to doing SAN/iSCSI type
>> work so I'd avoid that.
>>
>> I'm currently using the box with VMWare. I've moved a small collection
>> of low CPU use VMs to it and they work fine.
>>
>> The box is pretty quiet, so if anyone needs a box to sit in the corner
>> of their house it won't drive you crazy!
>>
>> Les
>>
>> On 13 March 2012 10:56, Sebastian Arcus<shop at open-t.co.uk>  wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Stuart,
>>>
>>> Thanks for sharing your experience. I run a number servers made of old
>>> 500MHz-1.5GHz processors at several small businesses (up to 15
>>> workstations
>>> per server) - doing imap and smtp email, samba file sharing, openvpn and
>>> even Asterisk for VoIP. I find that cpu load is not an issue. I usually
>>> use
>>> RAID-1 in software - and again, doesn't seem to generate much load.
>>>
>>> I'm interested if you hit any other downsides when working with this
>>> system.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Sebastian
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 13/03/12 09:42, Stuart Burns wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I bought one of these the other day. I shoved an extra NIC in it along
>>>> with 8 GB RAM. They are ok for small little boxes but if you plan to do
>>>> anything that requires any moderate grunt, it's a not really up to it.
>>>>
>>>> Having said that, if you want low power and lots of space they are
>>>> fine.  Just remember you will have to do RAID in software (Unless you
>>>> want to spend a few hundred on a P410 or similar)
>>>>  and computing the parity across a couple of RAID 5 disks sets
>>>> underneath ISCSI was a killer.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Stuart
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 13 March 2012 00:12, Sebastian Arcus<shop at open-t.co.uk
>>>> <mailto:shop at open-t.co.uk>>  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>    I remember there being some talk at Liverpool LUG about a suitable
>>>>    machine for a low power home server. If anybody here is considering
>>>>    building a Linux server for either home or a small business, HP has
>>>>    this Proliant Microserver at only £159 (after cahsback). This
>>>>    includes a 250GB hard-disk and 2GB ECC memory!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  http://www.ebuyer.com/281915-__hp-proliant-turion-ii-n40l-__microserver-100-cashback-__658553-421
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  <http://www.ebuyer.com/281915-hp-proliant-turion-ii-n40l-microserver-100-cashback-658553-421>
>>>>
>>>>    It seems to me this would make a cracking Linux server for home or a
>>>>    small business. I'm not entirely sure why is it so cheap - specially
>>>>    as it has a server grade mobo and RAM. Too bad I'm not about to
>>>>    build any server for clients at the moment - I'm almost tempted to
>>>>    buy one and keep it just in case.
>>>>
>>>>    No affiliation with HP or Ebuyer - I just thought somebody might
>>>>    benefit from the heads up.
>>>>
>>>>    Sebastian
>>>>
>>>>    _________________________________________________
>>>>    Chester mailing list
>>>>    Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk<mailto:Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk>
>>>>    https://mailman.lug.org.uk/__mailman/listinfo/chester
>>>>
>>>>    <https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Stuart Burns
>>>> E: stuart.james.burns at gmail.com<mailto:stuart.james.burns at gmail.com>
>>>> M: [redacted]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
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-- 

- Crilly