Home / server / Questions / 183284
In Process
user409518
Asked: 2010-09-22 10:36:48 +0800 CST

HP Proliant ML110 G6 as first file server (RAID)?

  • 772

Bit of a noobie and this will be the 1st server hardware I have purchased. We are a small design studio and I am about to buy our 1st server. I have successfully run Ubuntu on an old PC which has acted as our file server untill now.

I am keenly looking at the HP Proliant ML110 G6 which seems to me to fit the bill.

Any reason why this wouldnt be a good choice for an Ubuntu file server?

I am hoping to fill the 4 drive bays with 1TB SATA hard drives in some kind of raid configuration. I think RAID 10 or 1. My goal is data mirroring, surviveability, minimum disruption to operation, and fixability if somthing goes wrong. Any sugestions? Will the embedded, HP Smart Array B110i SATA Controller RAID 0/1/10, work for me or will I need a seperate RAID card?

I know this is all a bit vague, but I do hope that someonwe will be able to give me a few words of advice, so as to give me the confidence to make the purchase.

Thanks,

G

ubuntu raid hp file-server sata

5 Answers

  1. That server should do you well.

    I would recommend picking up the add-on that gives the RAID card some cache, that can provide a significant performance improvement. Otherwise, that's a solid value performer.

    • 3

  2. We have both ML110 G5 and G6es, and have had great luck with them considering the price. We run a FreeNAS file server for network-based backups with 5.25 TB on one box (removed the CD-ROM for bay and SATA port) and another as a low-end NAS using only the software RAID in the OS -- this performs adequately, but using the onboard RAID with some added cache for more high performance storage as @sysadmin1138 mentions makes quite a difference.

    • 0

  3. As a server, for what it costs, you can't go far wrong.

    What I would do is hit the Ubuntu documentation/mailing lists and see if there are any known issues with that RAID controller card, as that seems to be one area that can really trip people up (not sure from your post what level of linux knowledge you have or whether you're a "put in the CD and so long as it finds all the hardware I'm fine" type or person).

    • 0

  4. You may wish to consider a server with a redundant PSU, however you would be looking at significantly more expensive hardware, such as a HP ML330

    Furthermore the benefit of the redundant PSU is reduced, unless you can put them on separate feeds.

    I would recommend putting whatever you buy on UPS backed power however.

    • 0

  5. I'm a bit of a HP geek and would warn you off that model and suggest you go for the ML150 if you have the budget for the following reasons;

    • Dual CPU sockets - fill one now but know you can almost double your compute performance in a quick and inexpensive way in the future if required.
    • 12 memory slots, three times the memory capacity, the 110 is limited to 16GB.
    • More PCI/PCIe slots and more higher bandwidth in those slots.
    • Capability of getting the machine with the much better P410 disk controller, faster, more capably and better supported than the B110i.
    • Dual PSU capable - I can't stress how important I believe this is for any server.
    • 8 disk slots, twice as many as the ML110.
    • Server can be converted from tower to rack mounted - unlike ML110

    Now obviously the ML150 is more expensive than the ML110 but I genuinely believe the upgrade is worthwhile to give you the ability to expand your CPU, memory and disk seamlessly in the future if needed.

    Bare in mind however that HP don't officially support Ubuntu so you might want to check for drivers and also that HP don't officially support non-HP disks on any of their controllers, again you should be fine but perhaps do some research first.

    Hope this helps.

    • 0