HP Microserver (or similar)

[8bit]

My old home-brew NAS/media server has just cost me a new CPU and CPU cooling fan - not huge cost but the system itself is very old (3rd gen Intel CPU and motherboard) which means that when I need parts they sometimes have to be sourced from eBay etc. I looked at getting a new, current but low-end CPU, motherboard etc. but mITX motherboards seem very rare now and not cheap, even for basic ones.

I know the HP microservers used to be all the rage (and very cheap) but some brief Googling didn't turn up any current sources. Are these still a thing, at all?

Any other options, I guess ideally some sort of bare-bones system with a case, board and PSU that you just add a CPU, RAM, storage and OS to (like you used to get in the 2000's)?

[tribbles]

Intel Nuc (or Gigabyte Brix) would seem like a good candidate, although they don't have much physical space for things.

[plasticpig]

You can still buy them: https://www.ebuyer.com/964563-hpe-proliant-microse...la-302652728302&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxveXBhDDARIsAI0Q0x3wb4eZTvEX8pmdJc_19jePrKAZy9OL1oo1iPB4ShWOUGkMyO7fwaoaAgC7EALw_wcB

[sjg]

They used to be super cheap because of the cashback offers that HP did - don't think I paid more than £150ish and I had a few over the years. Was a bargain at the time to load up with drives and I'd put in a SSD in the CDROM bay to boot from and do the DIY NAS thing. Not so appealing at £500+ now, although they still offer 4 drive bays.

If you don't need lots of redundant storage then the Intel NUCs are cheaper and smaller, they either come in a very slim form factor (M.2 SSD only) or a thicker one that can take a 2.5" drive as well. Or

Ex-corporate desktops are worth a look too, most these days are small form factor to tuck away behind a monitor.

Personally I switched to a Synology (DS220+) last year, runs Plex and a load of docker containers doing all I need from a home server but it's tiny and quiet and doesn't use much power.

[Church of Noise]

Still using a HP Gen8 microserver here, and just ordered an Intel Xeon E3 1256L V2 to replace the G1610T (common practice).
No specific reason to upgrade as it performs its duties perfectly (NAS server, light Docker containers) without breaking sweat.

Is picking up a used one of these an option? (if reasonably priced)
Probably not the ultimate bang for you 'buck' compared to more modern offerings, but as a package it still rocks.

[goldar]

I was running a HP N54L microserver until COVID hit. It started lagging so I took the plunge and built an ITX rig for not too much outlay. Ended up with a gigabyte b550i mobo and 16bg of Corsair 3600, and a Ryzen 3 2200g with Vega 11 graphics due to the GPU shortage. I could still play games with it (surprisingly).

On a similar note, my dad wanted a new pc for general admin tasks a little while ago. I found a Dell mini pc with a i5 on eBay for around £100. Would be perfect to replace a mini server, and a lot smaller than my previous N54L and my new ITX rig.

[51mes]

Had 3.of these, celeron w 16GB ram for a home lab running VMware, with the microserver HP 1G managed switch.

Sold a pair, on ebay for about £160 each. have one left sethp as home nas box, for photo archives and such. Considering fitting a raspberry pi with a couple.of 2tb ssd, in usb enclosures (really dont Need the speed) & only access it Infrequently. .Then will move the box on.

Rock solid boxes, well made and 4 removable drive bays, with a pcie expansion slot... Server class rather than a desktop device.

[FarmyardPants]

Have an N54L and N40L with 5 disks + OS SSD in each. Such a bargain at the time and still going strong.

[skedaddle]

I ran a N40L for many years as a media server along with other things. Last year I switched over to a Pi4 with a couple of docking stations to hold the drives and a quiet fan to keep the drives cool.

This setup works well running Ubuntu connected to my main TV where it boots straight into kodi. Linux OverlayFS is used so multiple drives appear as one. Other devices connect via samba shares.

I occasionally backup the media to backup drives that are normally kept offline. I have considered using backblaze cloud backup but sticking with my own drives for now.

Edited by skedaddle on Saturday 20th August 21:43

[rodericb]

I missed the microserver thing as I had a Netgear ReadyNAS. That is now way out of support so I'm looking for something to replace it. I've found that the mini PC's don't have the room onboard for disks - most will hold 1 x 3.5 (or 2.5) disk only. Look at ITX cases and most have room for 2 drives, which isn't enough if you want to run three disks in RAID5. I've found that most ITX boards are quite expensive too. You might end up at the same cost as a Synology NAS if you don't shop carefully for components to build your own. Then I go silly and wonder if a Synology DS620slim with some SSD's would be easier, quieter.....if I can get one cheap!

[wombleh]

Original n40l microserver still going strong for over ten years here. Not the most powerful thing but never been a constraint for home server duties. Done all sorts with it, just set up SDR to pick up wireless weather sensors around the place.

Do wonder what I’d replace it with, the new microservers are pretty expensive, some NAS are fairly flexible but i prefer having raw OS to play with. Probably just keep finding parts on eBay to keep it running for another ten years.