Newbie Questions

[malvern24]

Apologies for the post but I am struggling to trawl and find the answers to my questions.

 

I'm looking at the N54L with the idea to use it to host a few test VMs mainly to try out random new technologies. I was doing this with a standard PC but that has died from which I have several drives that I plan to re-use.

 

So the questions:

 

1. Can I just add the drives and use them in a none RAID?

2. I have a SSD drive from the PC which I might as well use for the OS can I mount that in the DVD drive bay, will I need an adapter?

3. For the OS I was using windows server 2012 on the PC but I was thinking of using "Hyper-V Server 2012 R2" as its free :-) Does that now work? Or are there better options? (PS. I'm not really a UNIX guy)

 

Thanks 

[ikon]

IIRC, Hyper-V Server 2012 r2 is command line only; i.e. there is no graphical interface at all. That may be OK for you, but you may also find it more work than it's worth.

[adsboel]

Add hyper-v server and then add your windows 2012 under hyper-v .. gives you a lot flexibility, but its abit of a fight to get up the first time. If your unexperienced or feel time is a limited resource, stay away from hyper-v core and use 2012 and add hyper-v in there.  The only reason why I run Core s that it gives an administration layer on the resources, so you can basicly run more virtual on same box, than on a box with full blown windows server with all bells and whistles and hyper-v as a feature.

 

B.

[malvern24]

thanks for the answers on hyper-v I just found out the Infrastructure side of IT at work use it, they've given me a quick walk through and that looks good to me.

 

Can anyone answer the other two questions?

[ikon]

Good luck with Hyper-V Core. I can understand your work using it as they will be dealing with it on a daily basis. For me, using Hyper-V Core at home is not viable because I wouldn't be using the commands often enough to remember them between sessions.

[adsboel]

Using N36L as reference ..

 

1) yes - I run windows software raid-5 with drives exposed normally on a N36L.

2) As far as I remember there is nothing special about the connectors. I used ODD for another SATA drive to get 5 in the N36L using onboard connectors only. brilliant little box..

Edited December 23, 2013 by adsboel

[malvern24]

Using N36L as reference ..

 

1) yes - I run windows software raid-5 with drives exposed normally on a N36L.

2) As far as I remember there is nothing special about the connectors. I used ODD for another SATA drive to get 5 in the N36L using onboard connectors only. brilliant little box..

Thanks adsobel - am I right in thinking I need to flash the BIOS to use the SATA connection for the ODD with an SSD?

[ikon]

AFAIK, you don't have to flash the BIOS with modded version, but the port will only run at SATA I speed (1.5 Gb/sec) if you don't. That's quite a bit slower than most SSDs can run.

[Joe_Miner]

-snip-

2. I have a SSD drive from the PC which I might as well use for the OS can I mount that in the DVD drive bay, will I need an adapter?

-snip-

 

 

Thanks adsobel - am I right in thinking I need to flash the BIOS to use the SATA connection for the ODD with an SSD?

 

 

AFAIK, you don't have to flash the BIOS with modded version, but the port will only run at SATA I speed (1.5 Gb/sec) if you don't. That's quite a bit slower than most SSDs can run.

 

Hi Malvern24 and welcome to the Forums.

 

Like ikon said you don't need to flash the BIOS with the BIOS-Mod but if you don't then ports 4 & 5 will be in IDE emulation mode with their speeds capped at SATA I and I don't think trim will work on your SSD.

 

In the ODD bay you will need a Molex to SATA power converter for your SSD and you'll need either a SATA cable to run from the System Board ODD SATA port (port 5) to the ODD space or you will need a eSATA to SATA cable to run from the eSATA port (port 4) to the ODD Space. 

 

In the past I've anchored my SSD to the ODD space with duct tape but you can get fancier -- check te ODD Mods & other Mods in the links page below and check out some of the past blog postings like http://homeservershow.com/the-icy-dock-5-25-hot-swap-drive-caddy-for-a-2-5-and-a-3-5-sata-drive-duoswap-mb971sp-b.html

 

There's a LOT of info (links to info) on modding the ODD and other things on the MicroServer Hardware Links Page at http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5190-microserver-hardware-links/

 

And a lot of information at More Interesting MicroServer Links http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3506-more-interesting-microserver-links/

 

Since you're looking at S2012R2 you'll want to check out http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5734-anyone-successfully-install-server-2012-r2-essentials-on-a-microserver-n36ln40ln54l/

[malvern24]

thanks all for your replies, they've been very useful