I see these pop up for around $200 - $250 now and then. I want to jump in next time they appear. (No fancy usage planned, just a headless file server).
There are currently some [edit - corrected] N36L's on ebay from seller 'salnex'. They are $235 + shipping, AMD powered, and come with 1GB RAM and a single 250GB HDD.
Do you think these are worth jumping on? Or would I do better to wait for a higher spec / better price to appear on Ozbargain?
Oops, typo'd the model. You're correct.
do you just want to do file serving? - Yep, just looking to network map some folders for home media.
What OS/how many clients were you planning? - Linux, only a couple of clients
When do you need it? - No hurry, just a side project.
Sadly too large (physically) for my space, but a great deal! Thanks for posting.
Good call. Here's some info/review on this machine (might need Google translate):
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f101/hp-proliant-ml10-v…
I thought the power consumption might be considerably higher than the N54L and Gen8 but it doesn't look too bad.
Thought of the NUC's, or Raspberry PI's? There are alternatives depending on what limitations you have, eg. price/performance/space etc.
Raspberry Pi is terrible for a file server. Both ethernet and USB ports are painfully slow.
Why does a $35 computer designed for school kids always get bought up lel …
Yeah, they're fun to play with but very soon it's like, "Right, now I have to go out and buy something that will actually do the job". Although I have heard that they make a decent Plex client.
I wish they were still $35… :(
Have you tried using one? You don't always need the best/optimal performance to achieve basic tasks, otherwise I'd advise Dell R710's ;)
Depends on what you use it for, with samba I'm able to stream media off of it (with an external hd). Similarly if it's a file server for small files, like docs/pictures, speed won't be noticeable? I find the limited power usage to outweigh the speed costs.
We are on OzBargain, so maybe the absolute cheapest option is desirable? ;)
pity you're not in bris as I have one for sale for a dozen clams
I have an N54L. They come up on special on ShoppingExpress.com.au at least once every 3 months. I think mine was $199. Thoroughly worth it as it is quiet, reliable and the build quality is excellent. Even if it cost twice that, I'd buy one again happily.
First, there is an upgraded BIOS available that adds two much needed features. It lets you use the optical bay to hold a fifth SATA hard drive, and it enables hot-swap on the hard drives, so you can replace a failed drive without shutting down.
Next, if you haven't got a specific OS in mind, I highly recommend you try out XPenology to run the Synology DSM 5.2 on it. You can run it virtualised on ESX or HyperV if you like, but since I'm not using any other OS on there I only run XPenology. You need to make a USB boot drive to boot from. Thankfully the N54L has an extra USB port on the inside of the case. You'll also need to plug in keyboard and display while you're setting it up, but once it's ready you can put it in a cupboard or on a shelf and let it do its thing.
I run mine with two surveillance cameras, file and printer server, SickRage (to auto-download TV shows), Plex to browse movies and TV shows, Audio station, photo station, download station (to handle torrents), and Cloud Sync to manage Dropbox and so on. I run 4 2tb drives in Synology Hybrid RAID. As well as the official packages, there are a stack of good ones on Synocommunity.com for all sorts of things from home automation to TV tuners.
There's also a good Firefox plugin to send any magnet or torrent links you click on to the download station on your server. (There is a Chrome one, but it isn't as elegant).
Does it keep up with the task? Hell, yes. Two HD cameras and three Plex clients streaming HD at the same time doesn't even push the CPU to 20%.
Hey WalterPPK! It seems you may be able to point me in the right direction…
I currently have an N40L with 8GB of RAM as an HTPC running Windows 10 for simplicity. I have been toying with setting up a Virtualised environment with XPenology running in tandem with Windows 10 for a long time, but have not found the info I was looking for.
Have you seen any good tutorials for setting something like this up? Would 8GB of RAM be enough? I read most home labs are running 16GB of RAM.
8GB would be plenty. I think you'd only need to allocate 1GB to XPenology. It is not memory hungry at all.
This tutorial is the clearest one I've found that explains installing on ESXi. http://cyanlabs.net/Thread-Install-ESXi-on-N54L-XPEnology-on…
It's a little out-of-date though. This one is slightly more up to date: http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31711
The process will be the same, but you'll be using XPenoboot and DSM 5.2 rather than the versions stated here (not that it would be a deal-breaker if you did just run version 5.1). Keep in mind that you MUST NOT do upgrades through the "update" feature in the control panel. If you do it'll refuse to boot, and you'll have to restore the XPenoboot drive to get back in and see your data again.
XPenology
Nice! I hadn't heard of this.
Hi OP,
I own a HP Proliant N40L Microserver, (testing box) a HP Proliant Microserver Gen 8 (FREENAS BACKUP) and a HP Proliant ML10V2 (Hyper-v and file server).
So i will give you a basic break down.
If size is the number one factor - then save a bit more money and go for the newer Gen 8 Mircoserver.
Here are the reasons why,
It has the ability to RAID your hard disks out of the box - (the N40L can only software raid 0 or raid 1 in Windows.)
Secondly, you buy a cheap ILO licence from ebay and you can make it truly headless. (you need to buy an ILO card for this for the N40L)
Thirdly it is more versatile - it has the ability to undervolt your cpu from a 2.2GHZ to a 1.6GHZ - power consumption is around 25 watts at vs the 35 watts for N40L (both booted into windows and idling with os being only hard drive) (tested by my power metre)
Fourthly more RAM as standard and more RAM supported
Fifthly - dual NIC, ILO port as standard and 2x USB 3.0 ports
Why would use a N40L over Gen 8?
taller and not as wide
slightly cheaper buy in price
esata as standard
can take non ecc ram as well ecc ram
you can run a low profile graphics card in one.
2 expansion slots 1 pci and pci x16.
I also owned a N36L,(sold it to buy gen8) they are identical to a N40L except that one is 1.5Ghz and one is 1.3Ghz.
Power consumption on idle is identical, (tested via two different power meters)
How do you find the ML10 v2? Obviously much larger but is the power consumption significantly higher than the Gen8 Microserver?
Edit: Just saw that there's an iLO mobile app too. Cool!
The gen 8 microserver is 43-44 watts (no unvolting) running 3 hard drives and usb for os.
The ML10v2 is 47-48 with 2 SSD and 4 hard drives + 1 external, it is also has a intel 13-4170.
So the standard Pentium model would be slightly less power hungry.
I like the ML10V2 it has alot of the same features, but with less restrictions i.e. more hard drives,more dimms,no issues around the heat when upgrading the Xeons.
What i don't like is how hard the ML10V2 is to setup it is way harder than it needs to be.
also not enough USB ports as standard.
If you consider getting one, pm me and i will walk you through how to set the dam thing up.
I have ordered one - the Pentium with 1TB HDD for $229. Thanks very much for the offer - I'll shoot you a message if I get stuck during setup.
Thanks for the great info! Sold on the Micro Gen 8.
You sure it wasn't a N36L? Older server now and has been superseded by the N40L and N54L (which have both been superseded by the Gen8 ones.. do you just want to do file serving? What OS/how many clients were you planning? When do you need it?