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Future for HP microservers?


blue max

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With Jun now concentrating his efforts on the 918+ model, is this the end of updates for HP's Microservers?

 

I have two N54L's (stock) and a Gen8 (with Xeon 1265L v2) and both are running 6.2 U2 successfully. I understand I can add a nic card (ordered an HP NC360T to fit into one) and potentially upgrade to 6.2.1. Am also considering adding an INTEL X540-T2 if that works. Might as well get some additional benefits if I have to add a network card.

 

But my real question is this - Are the microservers now on borrowed time? I know they will probably continue to function as they currently are, but without security updates and fixes, they may become a liability over time.

 

Or is there some hope still? Just hoping the outlook is not so pessimistic.

 

 

 

 

Edited by blue max
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I guess it depends on what you mean by 'borrowed time' :)

Synology seem to be pretty good at maintaining the two latest DSM versions (6.1 and 6.2) and providing update packs and fixes, they have also supplied a fix for a recent flaw in DSM5.2, even though that O/S is out of support and not being developed.

Your borrowed time might well be the failure of the hardware before DSM is unsupported:)

Syno may release a 6.2.x update that changes significantly the DSM setup which might cause issues with the loader that cant be worked around, but in that case just stick with the previous version.

ATM I'm running some 5.2 boxes which are 'fit for purpose' using old AMD embedded mobos, and on my 6.1.x environment I can't see any major reason to go to 6.2, for me not enough of a feature improvement to do.

 

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That's true sbv3000. Actually, even a genuine Synology box is going to be orphaned at some point too.

 

And I was running 5.2 until last week. It worked just fine, but I had that itch...

 

Thanks for posting. I feel better now!

Edited by blue max
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I think people are underestimating the capability, stability and performance of 6.1 and always wanting to get on the latest.

6.1.7 DSM on DS3615/3617 on XPEnology is the most flexible, supports the most hardware and is essentially the same feature set of the latest 6.2.1 version.

 

DS918 is the first DSM platform to support transcoding and NVMe cache, so it makes sense to focus new work there.

 

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41 minutes ago, flyride said:

I think people are underestimating the capability, stability and performance of 6.1 and always wanting to get on the latest.

6.1.7 DSM on DS3615/3617 on XPEnology is the most flexible, supports the most hardware and is essentially the same feature set of the latest 6.2.1 version.

 

DS918 is the first DSM platform to support transcoding and NVMe cache, so it makes sense to focus new work there.

 

 

Absolutely! I have no problem with that decision at all. And agree the reasons for it.

 

I very recently bought a gen8 microserver and if I'd come to that realisation before, I'd probably have gone another route. That's not to say it isn't a superb solution. Just it was always a no-brainer of a decision to get one. Lots of people used them and they are almost the 'default' installation. Now the hardware decision is much more difficult and varied. The end of an era to some extent.

Edited by blue max
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I can highly recomend to buy a dell t30 and change the case to Fractal Design Node 804 (due to dell pin headers some tinkering is involved).

It commes with a okayish Xeon 1225-v5 CPU (capable of Hardware transcoding ;), which can be easily upgraded to a more powerfull model if required. If you try to upgrade the CPU with any non low voltage XEON version,  you will have to modify a cpu heatsink as the messurements of the mounts on the mainboard are "special".

 

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25 minutes ago, haydibe said:

I can highly recomend to buy a dell t30 and change the case to Fractal Design Node 804 (due to dell pin headers some tinkering is involved).

It commes with a okayish Xeon 1225-v5 CPU (capable of Hardware transcoding ;), which can be easily upgraded to a more powerfull model if required. If you try to upgrade the CPU with any non low voltage XEON version,  you will have to modify a cpu heatsink as the messurements of the mounts on the mainboard are "special".

 

Thank you for taking the trouble to post that, it is much appreciated. Have to say, it looks large. And I imagine noisy if you use all the fan locations. And I can't bring myself to ever buy a Dell again! They're the Ikea of computing. Everything their way!

 

Makes me think what a wonderful box the gen8 microserver actually is!

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Ikea of computing 🤣

 

Actually, the fans spin quite slow and are barely noticable. If you WANT you can add more. You don't have to. I must admit I want my WD Red hard disks properly cooled.

Also the harddisks are the main source of noise. Especialy when beeing accessed. Unless you don't go full SSD (Samsung PM1643 for instance) or NVME, that's something you have to live with.

 

 

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3 hours ago, haydibe said:

Ikea of computing 🤣

 

Actually, the fans spin quite slow and are barely noticable. If you WANT you can add more. You don't have to. I must admit I want my WD Red hard disks properly cooled.

Also the harddisks are the main source of noise. Especialy when beeing accessed. Unless you don't go full SSD (Samsung PM1643 for instance) or NVME, that's something you have to live with.

 

 

Those SSD's are insane!!!!! I want!

I've got an Intel network card coming for a tenner, so I'll just enjoy being as up-to-date as I can for now. I think the 918+ is a consumer product, so probably wouldn't make the most of my Xeon E3 processor? Hopefully we'll be alright for a while yet.

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On 1/7/2019 at 9:38 AM, blue max said:

With Jun now concentrating his efforts on the 918+ model, is this the end of updates for HP's Microservers?

 

I have two N54L's (stock) and a Gen8 (with Xeon 1265L v2) and both are running 6.2 U2 successfully. I understand I can add a nic card (ordered an HP NC360T to fit into one) and potentially upgrade to 6.2.1. Am also considering adding an INTEL X540-T2 if that works. Might as well get some additional benefits if I have to add a network card.

 

But my real question is this - Are the microservers now on borrowed time? I know they will probably continue to function as they currently are, but without security updates and fixes, they may become a liability over time.

 

Or is there some hope still? Just hoping the outlook is not so pessimistic.

 

 

 

 

Hello folks. Thanks everyone for the amazing support this forum offers. Can someone please help me. I have HP Microserver Gen8, I want to put Jun's latest loader on it. Does this HP NC360T NIC work? Or please tell which network card that works. Thank you very much.

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8 minutes ago, BanterBay said:

Hello folks. Thanks everyone for the amazing support this forum offers. Can someone please help me. I have HP Microserver Gen8, I want to put Jun's latest loader on it. Does this HP NC360T NIC work? Or please tell which network card that works. Thank you very much.

 

Please see my follow up thread. But to summarise, yes it should work (I've only done on Gen7's so far). You can only use DS3615XS and must disable the on-board NIC. I've been creating a new usb stick and removing the drives (marking order carefully) and using a spare disk to get it up and running first. Realise this is risky and any update may brick the nas from now on. I will probably try with a spare box first.

 

 

Edited by blue max
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36 minutes ago, blue max said:

 

Please see my follow up thread. But to summarise, yes it should work (I've only done on Gen7's so far). You can only use DS3615XS and must disable the on-board NIC. I've been creating a new usb stick and removing the drives (marking order carefully) and using a spare disk to get it up and running first. Realise this is risky and any update may brick the nas from now on. I will probably try with a spare box first.

 

 

Thank you very much Bluemax but I want to put ds918+ my HP Gen8 it is having DS3617xs at the moment. It seems DS918+ is way to upgrade at the moment I think. 

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2 minutes ago, BanterBay said:

Thank you very much Bluemax but I want to put ds918+ my HP Gen8 it is having DS3617xs at the moment. It seems DS918+ is way to upgrade at the moment I think. 

 

My understanding is the Gen8 doesn't have a modern enough processor to use DS918+ (even with a Xeon). Therefore it will tie us to DS3615XS for as long as it stays operational. Synology made a change to mean it needed an Intel network card. Hopefully nothing else will change and we can at least get security updates going forward.

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Thank you very much WiteWulf. As as present, my Gen8 is on 6.2-23739 with DS3617xs image. Do you know what is the difference between DS3615xs and DS3617xs or point me to right thread. My Gen8 is having E3-i3240 CPU with 16gb ram.

 

11 hours ago, WiteWulf said:

 

 

Edited by BanterBay
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  • 2 months later...
On 1/16/2019 at 6:05 PM, blue max said:

 

Please see my follow up thread. But to summarise, yes it should work (I've only done on Gen7's so far). You can only use DS3615XS and must disable the on-board NIC. I've been creating a new usb stick and removing the drives (marking order carefully) and using a spare disk to get it up and running first. Realise this is risky and any update may brick the nas from now on. I will probably try with a spare box first.

 

Can we use E3-1230L-v2 in HP Microserver Gen 8 with Xpenology?

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hey all, belated follow up to this, but I just wanted to let interested parties know I successfully update to 6.2.2-24922 today 😎

 

Previously I was on 6.2-23739 on a HP Gen8 using the internal NICs. To upgrade I carried out the following steps:

  • installed a PCI dual GigE Intel NIC matching the PCI IDs listed above
  • created a new USB boot stick using Jun's 1.03b loader for DS3615xs with the relevant MAC addresses for my new NIC, VID and PID of the USB stick and a generated DS3615xs serial number
  • disabled the onboard NICs in the BIOS
  • rebooted to check that the new USB stick and NICs were working properly
  • upgraded to 6.2.2-24922 from local PAT file

Overall it was a far less painful exercise than the upgrade to 6.2 from 6.1, besides having to install some new hardware (and the minimal expense of that).

 

Thanks to everyone contributing in this thread (and elsewhere) for the help and relevant information 👍🏻

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