I am going to throw some useful info into here and then sort it out as and when I have time. Feel free to ask questions, add info etc, there are enough of us here with these that we should be able to create a really good resource. This can be used for Gen7 and Gen8 (N36l, N40l, N54l, G1610t etc).
I will be taking some info from www.homeservershow.com so props to them, hoping the info will be more concise here as less discussion will be needed due to some testing having already been done over there.
Would be interesting for users to post their setups. My setup:
HP Gen8 Microserver
CPU: Xeon E3-1265L V2
RAM: 16GB PC3-12800 ECC 1.5v (2x CT102472BA160B)
RAID: HP P222 512MB FBWC Smart Array controller
Storage: 4x Western Digital 3TB Red WD30EFRX in RAID5
Boots ESXi 6.0 from Sandisk Ultra 8GB MicroSD, VMs stored on RAID5 array
VMs: Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
Latest iLO4 firmware - The main reason for updating this is to reduce the fan noise in certain configurations (usually when set to AHCI), in my case it made a huge difference. I updated by downloading the Windows file, when running it select Extract, then connect the server iLO port to your network, browse to the iLO IP using a web browser on your computer, login using the details on the tag attached to the server, then select Administration, firmware, browse and upload the .bin file from the extraction.
Download: http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/...&swEnvOid=4064
Installing ESXi:
Download the desired version from here - http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/se...99005#tab=TAB4
Burn to CD (or create bootable USB etc)
Boot to ESXi image
Select target for install, I used MicroSD but you can use a USB drive etc. (the target doesn't have to be large, it will just hold the hypervisor, 8GB was enough for me)
Boot to target
Configure static IP in the config menu
On a PC navigate to the static IP in your web browser, download vSphere client for windows and install
Licensing ESXi:
Took me a while to work this out. Click here then sign into your account, click register and you should be given a license key.
In vSphere client click Inventory
In the left pane click your host IP
Configuration tab, click Licensed features
Right pane, click edit, Assign new license, click enter key and paste the key in
Should be an unlimited licence, unless I misunderstood something...
Booting from MicroSD?
I was having problems booting from MicroSD. This internal port uses a USB header so boot from USB is the correct option in the boot menu, if you have other USB storage devices connected then you may need to change the USB boot order priority in the BIOS. Some MicroSD cards are moody so might be worth trying other models. If the Microserver fails to boot from the card then try disconnecting power cord, holding power button down then trying again - worked for me!
Configuring Scratch partition: Why?
Spoiler:
It’s recommended by VMware to have a persistent scratch location for VMkernel logs in case that ESXi is installed on USB stick or SD card (1Gb is minimum size). ESXi scratch partition, for those particular cases, resides in memory – in RAM disk, which is limited in size. The size is only 512 Mb, which is taken out of the server’s available memory. Having scratch location in RAM might get problematic when running lots of VMs so the memory gets restrained.
Also, if you reboot the host, you’ll basically loose the VMkernel logs so having persistent scratch partition is a good thing. You would certainly want to keep the logs, don’t you? You can then use Splunk to present and seek the logs with through GUI, or use Syslog bundled with vCenter.
Which problems you can run into if you don’t configure persistent storage for the log files? You might experience HA agent issues on those miss-configured hosts, or you’re not able to activate HA at all. Other symptoms might show “general system Error” in vSphere Update manager (if you’re using it). You’ll basically need to create a persistent scratch location for ESXi. It’s straightforward process, which can be done through vSphere Client, PowerCLI or vCLI. Let’s see the vSphere client way.
Connect to vCenter Server or the ESXi host using the vSphere Client > Select your host > Configuration > Storage
Right click datastore (local or shared) and select Browse
Create folder for this ESXi host named for example “scratch”> close the datastore browser.
Select the host > configuration > Advanced (software section) > ScratchConfig > Change the ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation
scratch-config
e.g. /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/scratch
Click OK > go and put the host in maintenance mode and reboot for the configuration to take effect.
Now, if you have for example 3 hosts in your cluster, just create a separate folder for each of your host, so the hosts don’t overwrite each other’s data.
Limitations:
The internal SATA port (intended for the ODD) cannot be booted from, you can boot to internal USB/MicroSD and then chainload to the internal SATA port.
CPU Compatibility and comparison (thanks to Joe_Miner over at homeservershow):
N.B. The compatible Xeons are end of life so global stock is running very low, I looked on eBay and the E3-1265l v2 rarely comes up for sale so (in an alcohol induced panic) I bought one for about £260 new as it seems to offer the best price-performance-power ratio. PM me if you want the supplier details. I imagine the prices will keep going up as stock decreases further.
1) In vSphere client, click on your server icon in left pane, configuration, security profile, services-properties, ssh-options, start.
2) Launch ESXi BIOS Tools as admin, select remote mode, enter in ESXi IP and root password, click Extract
3) The tool should do it's thing and you will be left with a bios440.rom file. You may need to disable your firewall, I use interactive mode so manually allowed all connections. Good idea to disable SSH when finished.
Inject ESXi BIOS: 1) In vSphere client, click on your server icon in left pane, configuration, security profile, services-properties, ssh-options, start.
2) Launch ESXi BIOS Tools as admin, select remote mode, enter in ESXi IP and root password, click Inject
3) The tool should do it's thing and you are all done! Good idea to disable SSH when finished.
Mod BIOS:
Once you have your bios440.rom file:
1) Load it into Pheonix Bios Tool, use the appropriate SLIC file from here (2.1 for Win 7/Server 2008 R2, 2.2 for Win 8/Server 2012, 2.3 for Server 2012 R2) and verify with the certificate in the same rar file.
2) Inside a VM on the ESXi server, run RWEverything, in the access menu select ACPI tables, then press Ctrl + F2 to save acpi tables (do not change the filename), load these into the Phoenix tool
3) Select SSV2 and click go
4) You will be left with a bios440_SLIC.rom file, remove the _SLIC from the filename and inject this BIOS using ESXi Bios Tool
5) Shut down any running VMs, reboot ESXi host
You can now install the certificate from the OEM RAR file in step 1 and find a key online. I won't link to the keys here but easily found.
23rd May 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Hi Evil
Great thread m8, please keep going with. I want to do the same with mine. I bought a Class 10 8gig sandisk - but get a message saying not HP sdcard in iLO (I hate iLO).
I am not enjoying Xpenology experience and which I had not gone that route as fear time bomb or auto update problems.
Many thanks
LS
14th June 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilsatan
I am going to throw some useful info into here and then sort it out as and when I have time. Feel free to ask questions, add info etc, there are enough of us here with these that we should be able to create a really good resource. This can be used for Gen7 and Gen8 (N36l, N40l, N54l, G1610t etc).
I will be taking some info from www.homeservershow.com so props to them, hoping the info will be more concise here as less discussion will be needed due to some testing having already been done over there.
Would be interesting for users to post their setups. My setup:
HP Gen8 Microserver
CPU: Still Stock Celeron
RAM: 8GB PC3-12800 ECC 1.5v
RAID: HP Stock B
Storage: 4x Western Digital 3TB Red WD30EFRX in RAID5
Boots ESXi 6.0 from Sandisk Ultra 8GB MicroSD, VMs stored on RAID5 array
VMs: Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
HP Gen8 Microserver
CPU: Stock Celeron
RAM: 8GB PC3-12800 ECC 1.5v
RAID: HP B120i
Storage: 3x Western Digital 3TB Red WD30EFRX 1 x 2TB Seagate NAS Drive, sandisk Ultra 8GB MicroSD and HP ultraslim Black Jack optical drive
Boots Xpenology 5.2
14th June 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Hi
Just tried it all again and it says no network found and then purple screen- same as before gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
LS
15th June 2015
blacksheep
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Splunk costs money I thought - look at elk stack (log stash, elastic search, kibana). Log stash scrapes the logs in many interesting ways depending on configuration and sends to elastic search then kibana displays in all sorts or funky ways.
Maybe be overkill for your needs but I was storing ~30000 text data messages (each maybe 150-200 chars long) and could search for any text string or with wild cards in several weeks worth of data and get a result in seconds. All this was being done in almost realtime on 3 vm's (not sure what they were spec'd up as but nothing special).
16th June 2015
evilsatan
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou_smorals
Hi
Just tried it all again and it says no network found and then purple screen- same as before gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
LS
I don't know what to suggest :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by blacksheep
Splunk costs money I thought - look at elk stack (log stash, elastic search, kibana). Log stash scrapes the logs in many interesting ways depending on configuration and sends to elastic search then kibana displays in all sorts or funky ways.
Maybe be overkill for your needs but I was storing ~30000 text data messages (each maybe 150-200 chars long) and could search for any text string or with wild cards in several weeks worth of data and get a result in seconds. All this was being done in almost realtime on 3 vm's (not sure what they were spec'd up as but nothing special).
Am I tripping or is this in the wrong thread? I can't make head nor tails of it but probably just me having overlooked something somewhere!! :D
13th July 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Hi
wtf is a splunk?
Ok I have honestly tried my hardest to get on with Xpenology because it looks good, runs fast and people tell its great - my experience has been always something borked, Downloads always failing in SAB get that fixed, couch potato not connecting, then sonarr giving me squit, headphones borked etc...one thing after another and i am at end of tether. I know WHS 2011 is shit but everyhting just worked, albeit clunky and a bit shit. in almost a year I never had to touch it, it just worked(in my gen 7).
I am now trying to make up my mind what O/S to use in my Gen8 (currently Xpenology) 8gig ram, stock cpu 1 x seagate 2tb nas drive and 3 x 3tb WD red. i dont see WHS2011 anywhere anymore and as my last one was OEM i believe I cannot use that licence again, budget not massive and I think Windows server 2012 r2 really pushing it.
I use server for (in order of importance) 1) Plex 2) SABnzbd 2) Couch Potato 3) Sonarr 4) IP cameras 5) Headphones.
any suggestions guys?
LS
13th July 2015
akimba
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Yeah home server replaced with server essentials :-(
13th July 2015
evilsatan
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
If it's for home use/messing about then you could always look into the SLIC mod I posted ;)
13th July 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Hi
it is home use m8, SLIC mod?
LS
Wow just read it
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
13th July 2015
muttleymacclad
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Micorsoft toolkit will activate Server 2012 as well.
14th July 2015
Delboy_1976
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou_smorals
Hi
wtf is a splunk?
Ok I have honestly tried my hardest to get on with Xpenology because it looks good, runs fast and people tell its great - my experience has been always something borked, Downloads always failing in SAB get that fixed, couch potato not connecting, then sonarr giving me squit, headphones borked etc...one thing after another and i am at end of tether. I know WHS 2011 is shit but everyhting just worked, albeit clunky and a bit shit. in almost a year I never had to touch it, it just worked(in my gen 7).
I am now trying to make up my mind what O/S to use in my Gen8 (currently Xpenology) 8gig ram, stock cpu 1 x seagate 2tb nas drive and 3 x 3tb WD red. i dont see WHS2011 anywhere anymore and as my last one was OEM i believe I cannot use that licence again, budget not massive and I think Windows server 2012 r2 really pushing it.
I use server for (in order of importance) 1) Plex 2) SABnzbd 2) Couch Potato 3) Sonarr 4) IP cameras 5) Headphones.
any suggestions guys?
LS
What release of Xpenology are you running? Also where did you install Sab, Sonarr etc. from? The reason I'm asking is because I've got a stock Gen8 and it's running Xpenology fine. I've only setup Sab, Sickbeard and Sonarr on it but after the initial fiddling about setting them up they are all running fine for me on Xpenology DSM 5.2-5565 Update 2.
14th July 2015
Lou_smorals
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Hi
Thanks for the reply, the same xpenology as you but not update 2, I think, cannot check as working away.
Sonarr was working but couch potato not, so followed a YouTube video - now sonar working (but a bit shit) and couch potato not still and headphones a complete mystery.
I am going to give it one last chance and somebody is going to look at it for me perhaps tomorrow.
Sent from my iPad
14th July 2015
blacksheep
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilsatan
I don't know what to suggest :(
Am I tripping or is this in the wrong thread? I can't make head nor tails of it but probably just me having overlooked something somewhere!! :D
Sure someone mentioned splunk on here - must of been elsewhere?!?
15th July 2015
Delboy_1976
Re: HP Microserver MEGA thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou_smorals
Hi
Thanks for the reply, the same xpenology as you but not update 2, I think, cannot check as working away.
Sonarr was working but couch potato not, so followed a YouTube video - now sonar working (but a bit shit) and couch potato not still and headphones a complete mystery.
I am going to give it one last chance and somebody is going to look at it for me perhaps tomorrow.
Sent from my iPad
No worries, let me know if you need me to check any settings etc to compare with yours.