MicroServer Gen8 is noisy

[iLOdude]

Please provide a screenshot of the iLO page that shows temperatures

[karma4u101]

@Erathiel Agrred

@Torsten I happen to own a older hp microserver and decided it whas time to upgrade, I looked at the specs and it looked promicing, faster but with the same noice level as the old one was a important requerment, the noice level is stated in the specs the same way it was for my older one (and it is super silent) so I was happy to find this "upgraded" version. 

As it stands now the server with its 2TB of (hp) disk space is totatly useles to me.

It has been on the shelf sins december last year :( waiting for HP to come forward with a upgrades that makes it useful in a silent environment (using Ubuntu server software). 

I know HP dose not oficially suport Ubuntu/Debian (!?!) but for the record I am running Ubuntu server software on my older hp microserver with a fantasticly low noice level, I was missleed to think (by the specs) that the newer one would run as silent, my hope is still that HP will be able to come up with a driver that makes it useful with a Debian/Ubuntu server setup.

[Erathiel]

@iLOdude

Here you are. Mind you this is from my DL320e Gen8 v2 rack servers - same family as Microserver, same hardware and firmware (and same problems...) just different packaging. The screenshots show the Temperatures and Fans tabs of iLO on the same server, taken within a few seconds of each other. 

[paulgear]

I don't see how screenshots are going to solve this.  The so-called experimental BIOS turned out to be nothing more than the latest version that was already on my system out of the factory.  So as far as I can tell, HP have done exactly nothing to address this issue so far, other than string along frustrated customers here in this thread.  Some real progress would be much appreciated.

[Erathiel]

Exactly the same story here - I had the latest (as of today) BIOS already on my servers as they were shipped to me (in December 2013) and there has been no progress since then. HP doesn't seem intent on admitting the server design is faulty and providing a fix for that. Instead they (meaning: HP tech support) insist on the "works as designed" crap.

As for the screenshots, no they are not going to solve anything, obviously -- they are nothing more than proof to what you say, Paul :)

[Telmah]

here is some results of my experiments.

configuration:

- ProLiant MicroServer Gen8
- System ROM    J06 11/09/2013
- iLO Firmware Version 1.40 Jan 14 2014

- ESXi HP image installed to SD card

- 1Tb HDD in first bay

1. AHCI support enabled in BIOS, ESXi in mantenance mode - Fan reports 25% speed

2. RAID support enabled in BIOS, no drives configured, Fan reports 6% speed

3. RAID support enabled in BIOS, drive configured as single RAID0 disk, Fan reports 6% speed

3. RAID support enabled in BIOS, drive configured as single RAID0 disk, virual Windows 7 is running, Fan reports 6% speed

so looks like problem are not solved

PS. in AHCI mode 04-HD Max sensor does not reports any temperature
PPS. in RAID mode every 5 - 7 seconds disk reported some smalll activity (like single "dr" with heads :) ) - even if ESXi guests are powered off, which are not registered in AHCI mode - so need to select - noisly fan or permanent dr-dr every 5 seconds

[karma4u101]

For Ubuntu user this thread [1] holds some promises :) as it mentioning work on converting the "phvisa" driver to a dkms module.

[1] https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu-certification/+question/214703#comment-43

Post #43 second paragraf

best regards Peter Petersson

[ZakSmith]

For anyone who wants real hardware RAID, you can get an LSI 9271-4i for about $380.

They have a "dumb" JBOD controller in the LSI 9207-8I, and it can be reflashed to the 9217 mode which can do RAID1 in hardware, albiet somewhat slowly since it does not have a powerful RAID chipset.  I have used this in the DL320e with success.  And it can run at 6 Gbps on all 4 or 8 ports.

If you are going to run software RAID, do yourself a favor and do it with ZFS.

[Jimmy Vance]

---

ZakSmith wrote:

For anyone who wants real hardware RAID, you can get an LSI 9271-4i for about $380.

They have a "dumb" JBOD controller in the LSI 9207-8I, and it can be reflashed to the 9217 mode which can do RAID1 in hardware, albiet somewhat slowly since it does not have a powerful RAID chipset.  I have used this in the DL320e with success.  And it can run at 6 Gbps on all 4 or 8 ports.

If you are going to run software RAID, do yourself a favor and do it with ZFS.

---

If you shop around you can find the Smart Array P222 w/512 cache for about the same price

specs

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/search#q=Smart%20Array%20P222%20w%2F512&t=All&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=25

Moderator Note: [Updated with new links]

[ZakSmith]

Wow, half the memory and you get to pay another $329 for the "Smart Array Advanced Pack (SAAP)" to enable RAID6 and 60 (which is included on the LSI). 

I bet they'll throw up their hands if the controller gives errors with any industry-standard-but-not-rebranded-as-HP-with-a-200%-markup drive.  http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/ATA-hard-reset-errors-on-DL320e-v2-in-AHCI-mode-with-NCQ-write/m-p/6423452#M141731