HP Proliant DL380 G3

[CKnight90]

OS: Windows XP. I've already contacted HP Support to see if any hardware that worked with windows server 2003 will be compatible with Windows XP. They told me no. So I had to get a PCI ethernet card(which works). So now I'm looking for a audio card and video card that will work! I bought this server from a guy who worked at South Dakota Network Company who got it from the company, and didn't need it anymore. So i figured I would try to turn this server into a Gaming System, if not then go back to windows 2003 and host game servers.

Anyone out there know of a video card and a Audio card that is compatible with this server with Windows XP installed on it?

I've tried an audio card Encore PCI 5.1 channel sound card, and when I powered up, I get this power failer message, but it continues to boot windows.

 Let me know soon!

Thanks!
CKnight90 

[Matti_Kurkela]

Finding a graphics card with gaming-level performance will be very difficult, since a DL380 G3 has neither AGP nor PCIe slots - it has PCI-X slots only (which are downwards compatible with regular PCI cards, if the card can run on 3.3 volts). Regular PCI graphics cards are not exactly high performers by modern standards (they are bus-speed-challenged compared to AGP and PCIe), and PCI-X graphics cards would be rare and thus expensive for their performance level.

As this system is designed to be a remotely-operated, rack-mount server, it has no facilities for supplying extra power to a high-performance graphics card. If I recall correctly, while it isn't "jet engine" loud like some later versions, a DL380 G3 is not exactly quiet as a whisper either.Because there is so little space inside the chassis, the server needs all the airflow rate it can get to avoid overheating, so modifying the fans to reduce the noise is not a very good idea.

Hosting game servers, on the other hand, would be a good use for this system: you can place it to some out-of-the-way location where its noise won't bother you.It's equipped with iLO remote management, so you can even switch the server off & on remotely if you want: even if the main server is shut down, a separate iLO management processor still receives power and can be accessed using its own network interface.

[CKnight90]

Alright, hosting games it will be! I've been looking for 3.3volt sound cards, but can't find any, are you able to point me to one?

Also is there a program that help setup and how to use ILO? I don't have a data center to put it but I have a friends blazing fast intternet I can put it.

Please! Thanks! CKnight90

[Matti_Kurkela]

You can identify a 3.3volt capable PCI card by just looking at the card edge connector:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_PCI#Conventional_hardware_specifications

Having said that, I don't know much about hosting games specifically, but I wouldn't expect a dedicated server to require a sound card, since all the audio is usually generated by the clients anyway.

While the server is starting up, look at the screen. At some point, the system will prompt you to press F8 to set up iLO parameters.

In Proliant server startup, F9 is the standard key for accessing the main BIOS settings; F8 is used to access the configuration of various BIOS extensions like iLO and the SmartArray RAID controllers. There should be a clear prompt telling you to "press F8 to access X" or similar.

If iLO has been configured to require passwords even with F8 access, you'll have to open the server and find the set of DIP switches on the system board. The meanings of the switches are usually described on the inside of the system cover: one of the switches will disable password protection on iLO, allowing you to reset the passwords.

In the iLO setup, you can configure iLO usernames & passwords, hostname and a static IP address or DHCP. There are also some settings for virtual serial port access, but these should not be too important for Windows. After configuring iLO wait for a minute or so for the iLO processor to reset, then you can try accessing it with a web browser.

iLO documentation can be found here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64179&taskId=101&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=397989

You'll find all the downloadables for DL380 G3 + Windows Server 2003 here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3288130&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=316529&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1005

(Procedure to get there in case the link changes: go to http://www.hp.com/go/support and select "Drivers & Software". Type in "DL380 G3" and confirm that you want the basic DL380 G3 server, not one of the "Packaged Cluster" options. Then select your OS.)

Click the name of the downloadable (not the "Download" button) to find an extended description and installation instructions.

[CKnight90]

Alright! Thanks! Been very helpful!

Also, you have to use a broweser to turn on the server remotely? Where's the site that guides you how to connect? Do you use the servers Internal IP + a port (ex. 96.X.XX.XXX:9444) or just the ip (ex: 96.X.XX.XXX)?

[Matti_Kurkela]

As the iLO has a dedicated network interface, it has a separate IP address. The iLO web interface uses HTTPS in the standard port 443, so you don't have to specify the port number. The standard HTTP port 80 of the iLO IP address will also have a simple HTTP redirector that will switch you to the HTTPS access, but you can specify the https://<iLO IP address> URL directly too.

The power button control is in the "Virtual Devices" section of the iLO web interface. It is fairly intuitive to use, and you can get more instructions by clocking on the big blue question mark in the web GUI.

Depending on iLO firmware version and configuration settings, you may be able to access iLO with telnet and/or SSH too. (The SSH feature used to require a iLO Advanced license, which was applied by entering a license code to the iLO web interface.) When you use telnet/SSH access, you will be presented with a command prompt: type "help" and press Enter to see a list of commands and their descriptions.

Security Note: if you plan to access the iLO over the internet, definitely don't use telnet access and make sure all iLO users have strong passwords configured.

In my previous post, you'll find a link to iLO documentation. That includes the User Guides for all iLO versions: yours is the original Integrated Lights-Out, not iLO 2 nor iLO 3. Please read the documentation: it will contain the answers for your questions.