HP Proliant ML350 G5 Server

Hey guys

I can get my hands on a ML350.

Server type HP Proliant ML350 G5 – PN 458243-421
Processor Intel Xeon E5420 – 2,5 Ghz (Quadcore)
4 GB RAM
SAS harddisks 72 GB SFF 15k – 4 stuks
P400 512 MB / E200i 128MB Array Controllers
Officiële SBS 2003 Standard licentie
Dubbele power supply 1000 W

Does anyone have any experience with this server and nethserver 7?
Am i gonna be able to run it? ( Home server - AD, DHCP, File Server, Nextcloud)

I see there is a max 6TB for disks. Could i just add 6x 1TB?

Thank you,

Fábio

The HP ML350 is a solid server, and it will run NethServer just fine, but I hope you don’t have to pay the electricity bill for it if you plan to run it 24/7 (read: it is old junk, stay away from this one)
What kind of load do you think this server will have to be able to deliver?
If possible have a look at Intel Xeon D series processors Those are quite energy efficient and performing very well.
My home server is a Supermicro miniITX board with Intel Xeon D1521 processor and 16GB memory. It runs Proxmox and several NethServer instances plus a few other VM’s and containers.
Besides that, I would absolutely advise to use a bare metal hypervisor as a base for your infrastructure. At these forums we have quite some experience with ProxMox, but therre are several alternatives like ESXi and HyperV.

4 Likes

Hi Robb,

Thanks for your answer. Yes, indeed, electricity bill would be a problem. Im looking now at a Dell Poweredge T61.

Intel Xeon E5620 Processor (2.40GHz, 4C, 12M Cache, 5.86 GT/s QPI, 80W TDP, Turbo, HT)

  • SAS 6i/R Internal Controller Card RAID
  • 7 1TB harddisks per server, 7-8 caddy’s per server

Offered 80€ for it without RAM.

Is this a better option?

I would like to run it at home just as domain controller , file share, and then maybe squid to keep the kids safe.

Thank you for all the help.

If it is just a small home server, Go for a HP Microserver G8. It performs good enough for your needs and it will not drain your electricity bill.
The Dell T61 probably will use between 200 and 300W (depending on the amount of disks you use, each disk roughly adds 20W)
So still, my advise would be: don’t use that kind of “enterprise grade” servers at home. (sidenote: If the server is not in the basement you will hear the fan’s. Those servers are LOUD.

2 Likes

Pros: Good solid server
Cons: Uses lots of electricity and is loud

hi,
ML350 G5 was my old server. It runs Debian for a long time, then, when time for a new server arrived, i used my old one as Nethserver proxy and other firewall stuff, It works very fine, but i’m using only for test, not in production because my ML is very very old and “tired”… :slight_smile

@robb
Hey robb
Sorry to bother again. Im searching for an HP Microserver like you sugested. May i ask what for processor do you have?

I also would like to have RAID 5 (even tho ive got no idea how to set it up) because as far as i understand, with raid 5 even when a drive fails your data stays intact. My data is not so important for me, but if i want to live i need to make sure that my wife’s photos are safe. ( Im doing backups to different cloud services at the moment :frowning: °

By the way, i tried nextcloud with onlyoffice and let me say: OWO. Easy to setup and what a tool. Ive been too long blinded by M$.

Thanks for your input.

Fábio

Hi @FabioRocha,
I currently do not use a HP Microserver anymore I used to have a G7 (N40L). Currently I use a more powerfull Supermicro MicroITX board with an Intel Xeon D1521 processor so I can easily run proxmox on it.

The HP Microserver G8 version has different options for the processor. In the overview on the HP website you can see what options there are. Performance AND energy wise, the Xeon E3 version is the one you want. But you have to search for them. Maybe you could have a look at 2nd hand offerings to get one for a reasonable price (around EUR100-150 would IMO be reasonable)
There is a G10 now too, but that one is only available with an AMD Opteron processor. I have no experience with that version.

For the disks: There is room for 4 3.5inch SATA disks. If you don’t have disks already I would suggest to get 2 or more Western Digital RED disks. Depending on the amount of storage space you need you can choose smaller or larger versions (up to 16TB per disk)
Keep in mind that using RAID 1 effectively halves the diskcapacity (with a RAID1 of 2 disks you effectively have the storagespace of 1 disk: both disks contain the same data. If 1 disk fails, all data remains available on the 2nd disk) RAID 5 effectively reduces the storage with 1disk (in a 3 disk array you effectively have the diskspace of 2 disks. The 3rd disk is used as safety. In a 4 disk array you will have effectively have 3 disks of space) During install of NethServer you can configure your disks as RAID1 or RAID 5. If you don’t want to use default settings, you have to choose manual installation. It is not very difficult to use a custom partition schema during install, but I have the experience that Anaconda (the CentOS/NethServer install manager) is quite picky when it comes to initial settings. Maybe you need to try a few times how the custom disk settings work.

Please do ask if you need more input on how to configure your disks… btw… you can try this in Virtualbox by creating several virtual disks and configure them as RAID1 or RAID5 during install.

2 Likes

Hi robb

Thanks a lot for your input. I do find the amd opteron a lot at 2nd hand website. They seem ok but i really have no idea what opteron is. The intel xeon is really difficult to find (even new).

I do think raid 5 is the way to go. Ive been playing with Nethserver on hyper v, so i do can try the raid 5 there too.

As soon as i find a server ill ask help around.

Once again, thanks a lot for your input.

Fábio

Good luck with your search and don’t hesitate to come back with questions for help.

@robb

Actually we live in the same country. if u find something around here lemme know :smiley:

If you are in either .nl or in .be you could try to publish an wanted ad on tweakers.net V&A
In the dutch part of Belgium and in the netherlands tweakers.net is a very well known tech site with a nice service where you can buy and sell 2nd hand (ict) stuff. There are no costs for ads for private persons.

This one looks nice: https://tweakers.net/aanbod/1979772/2x-hp-proliant-microserver-gen10-1-komma-8-gh-x3418-24g-memory.html
Ships with 24GB memory. You do need to buy disks yourself. according to the ad, they are almost new (1 month old) maybe the price still is a bit steep though…

@FabioRocha
@robb

Hi
I can confirm that the HP Microserver runs VERY well with Proxmox and NethServer and/or Windows Server or a Windows10.
We have a couple of clients who upgraded their Environment with a new Server, and we chose the HP Microserver G10 after good experience with the Microserver G8 (Which uses an Intel CPU).
We’ve had absolutely NO issues with the AMD CPU. The Windows Server is running an ERP, Antivirus and SQL-Server, but it’s is running really well!

We are using WD Red Disks in the Server and in the Synology NAS (For Backups). The Synology synchs the backups home to whoever keeps the Of-Site backups using CloudStation.

Proxmox can do a (live) backup of the two virtual Windows Disks (C & D, together 300 GB) in about 45 Mins to the NAS. The Windows Server also saves itself using StorageCraft, also this runs extremly fast. The NAS is a small 2-Bay at one of the clients, still, it is powerful enough for it’s duties.

One other thing, more important:
If using virtualization, keep your systems away from RAID5.
Today, with the huge Disks, a disk outage will be covered by RAID5 (in most cases).
However: the Rebuild will usually take a day or more, depending on the disk sizes.
During this time, the one disk carrying parity information will be really heavily used, and becomes itself a candidate for a failure.
Two disks dead, so is your data, and you have to hope for an intact backup!

For virtualization use only RAID1 or RAID10. Proxmox themselves advise on using RAID10 as the most performant.

The HP Microserver (Gen8 or 10) are both very quiet. Two friends are using it as a home server (With Proxmox and Nethserver) and both have the server in the living room.

My 2 cents
Andy

Opteron is a Server-CPU from AMD, it’s like the XENON from Intel. Of course the mainboard must have an other socket as for the XENON.