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    Default HP Microserver MEGA thread

    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 Service Pack - This contains the latest firmware for everything in the Microserver including supported cards such as the P222. Large download as it caters for all Gen8 servers. Burn to CD and boot:
    Info: http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/p...&swEnvOid=4168
    Download: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/softwa...59018/v108240/

    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.

    Accessories:
    Floppy male to SATA female power adapter (used to install drive in the top bay)
    Last edited by evilsatan; 30th March 2016 at 02:04 PM.

    8 Thanks given to evilsatan

    ap0c (13th July 2015),  Ashley (25th April 2015),  elephantsoup (25th April 2015),  Lou_smorals (25th April 2015),  Mobileman (23rd May 2015),  moonrat (26th April 2015),  Nathz29 (26th April 2015),  prezzy (27th April 2015)  


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