Author: admin

HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L + OpenMediaVault

admin

Αγορασα χθες το HP ProLiant N40L MicroServer . Ειναι ενα καταπληκτικο και αθορυβο μηχανακι. Απο οτι καταλαβα ειναι πολυ διαδεδομενο εδω στο UK.  Ηθελα ενα μικρο NAS μετα το τελευταιο ατυχημα με τους δισκους κυριως για τις photo της οικογενιας που πλεον εχουν φτασει τα 48GB.
Κατεληξα σε αυτο οταν το ειδα στο http://www.hotukdeals.com/. Το κοστος του ειναι 239 λιρες – 10 λιρες εκπτωση – 100 λιρες cashback απο την HP – 3 λιρες topcashback.co.uk = 126 λιρες! Πολυ καλη τιμη. Απο dabs.com .

Τα χαρακτηριστικα του
Processor:
AMD Turion™ II Neo N40L (1.5GHz)
AMD RS785E/SB820M chipset
Memory:
Two (2) DIMM slots
2GB (1x2GB) Standard or 4GB (1x4GB)/8GB Maximum, using PC3-10600E DDR3 Unbuffered (UDIMM) ECC memory, operating at max. 800MHz
Storage Controller:
Embedded AMD SATA controller with RAID 0, 1
Embedded AMD eSATA controller for connecting external storage devices via the eSATA connector in the rear of the server
Internal Drive Support:
4 Internal HDD Support
Maximum internal SATA storage capacity of up to 8.0TB (4 x 2TB 3.5″ SATA drives)
Network Controller:
Embedded NC107i PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Server Adapter
Expansion Slots:

Slot 1: PCI-Express Gen 2 x16 connector with x16 link
Slot 2: PCI-Express Gen 2 x1 connector with x1 Link
Slot 2-2: PCI-Express x4 slot for optional management card

USB 2.0 Ports:
Seven (7) USB 2.0 ports: 4 front , 2 rear, 1 internal (for tape)
Power Supply:
150 Watts Non-Hot Plug, Non Redundant Power Supply

Δυστηχως οι τιμες των σκληρων ειναι ακομα πολυ ηψηλες και προς το παρων δε θα το γεμισω. Οταν πεσουν θα βαλω 4 χ 2 TB. Για τα data + 250gb για το λειτουργικο.

Αποφασισα να βαλω το OpenMediaVault http://www.openmediavault.org/
 Καταπληκτικο! Debian based. Αφηνει πισω του freeNAS και αλλα πολλα. Ισως το βαλω να τρεχει απο usb stick…

Την μονη αλλαγη που εκανα ειναι να βαλω τον δισκο που ερχετε στο Optical Bay (χρειαστηκε ενα sata καλωδιο και ενα molex + sata power) ωστε να ειναι ελευθερα τα 4 SATA bay για δισκους.

 

Format… and now what?

admin

I admit it. I am not a fan of format. I like my system as it is. After almost 4 years I had to format my workstation. Since I had to do it I installed a Crucial m4 SSD which was sitting on my desk for some time. Windows 7 Ultimate installed in no time thanks to Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool.

And now what? It is really boring and time consuming to reinstall all the nice tools I use daily.

OK I have installed too many applications and a clean up it is nice. I found this incredible nice tool called Ninite ! It is amazing!

It includes most of the applications I really need in daily basis and with just one click I was able to install them. Latest version too!

Fantastic! Saved a lot of time.  Give it a try!

 

Resize and Expand Disk Partitions in Vmware / Vsphere ESX

admin

We all have come accross the problem that we run out of space on the main/boot partition of a virtual machine.

Well if you work with Vmware ESX or ESX(i) then you are very lucky. You can very easy resize the hard disk.

Switch off the VM go to Edit Settings and just add more space to the disk. Case solved? No yet!

You now have a bigger disk but the partion is still the same.

If it is a logical disk or any data disk then what you need is diskpart but if your disk is the boot disk the diskpart does not work.

What you need is a third party software to expand the partition and what better than an opensource solution.

Gparted is the name of the tool I used. You can download the live CD iso and boot from there..in minutes you can resize the partition!

It worked perfect on an Microsoft Windows 2003 R2 server who run out of space on C:

I have not tried it yet on a physical server but the procedure is the same, it will just take some more time.

Ofcourse there are a lot of other utilities for resizing and expanding a partition out there.