Windows 10: HP proliant Gen 10 Microserver replacing my Gen 8

Hi folks

I've just upgraded one of my 2 aging HP Gen 8 Microservers with the Gen 10 model -- I love the small cube micro size of these servers.

The new Gen 10 has a significantly more powerful processor, more RAM can be allocated up to 32 GB (the Gen 8 had a Max of 16GB) and you can boot directly from an SSD. As before there are 4 built in HDD bays but you can connect an SSD to a 6th (hidden but available !!) SATA connector and use that as an extra SSD drive.
5th SATA connection also available either for a DVD (has to be slimline) or fit an SSD etc and is bootable unlike the GEN8 server .

HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 | IT PRO

The only negative thing about this server for some people might be that there's no ILO on it unlike the GEN 8 but for most Home users this isn't a problem.

Unlike the Gen 8 this server has built in graphics (up to 4K UHD supported) with provision for TWO monitors (you need Display port-->HDMI adapters if using HDMI screens ) and the much more powerful processor (up to 8 cores) means you can run a slew more VM's on it etc.

This machine can also function as a desktop as well as a server -- being able to boot also directly from the 5th SATA port in AHCI mode (I don't bother with the built in RAID) means you can easily run Windows OS'es -- on the Gen 8 unless you used the hideous onboard RAID the 5th port wasn't directly bootable -- but you could boot from an internal micro sd card so running Linux was fine -- install the Linux bootloader via GRUB2 to the Micro SD card on /boot and the rest of the OS on the SSD.

If I like this machine I'll replace my other Gen 8 server with a GEN 10 one. Love the small footprint, quiet running and flawless 24/7 reliability I've had with these machines.

Anybody looking for a decent Home server that can also work as a desktop ought to look at these machines --excellent value for money, robust and built by a solidly decent company (HP).

First type of server I've seen that can also work as a decent desktop workstation too !!! owing to the high quality graphics on board -- I know a lot of traditional servers don't need this feature but if you are using a Home lab / have a small workplace etc this is not a bad feature to have on board.


Here's a review that's worth reading and how to access the 6th SATA Port.

My First Review of HPE ProLiant Gen10 MicroServer BETA - Microserver Gen 10 - RESET Forums (homeservershow.com)

Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

Windows 10 - Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet no longer working

It is a BIOS problem, update link:

BIOS for HP ProLiant MicroServer G7 N54L - msdonkey

I do it on my proliant microserver and problem resolved

 

Windows 10 - Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet no longer working

I tried to Update my HP ProLiant MicroServer from windows pro 7 to windows 10.

Following the update there was no internet connection through the Network Adapter.

The message was A network cable is not properly plugged in or may be broken. There was however no problem with the cable and it was plugged in.

Reverted to Windows 7 and all worked fine again

The network adapter is a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet.

Section Name BCM5764MX_LHinst.NTx86.6.1

Hardware ID pci\ven_14e4&dev_165b

So you have a patch to fix this problem

 

Nice job on the review, Jimbo. Thanks for sharing. Reminds me of the older MediaSmart Server boxes that HP had out for a while, which I also really liked as well. Wrote about them for TomsHardware back in 2009.
--Ed--