HP Proliant ML350 G5
 

Hi all

In my line of work we get given a lot of 2nd hand PC's, I was given a HP Proliant ML350 G5 a couple of weeks back, was a Primary School Server, I know its a little old but it still runs ok.

Specs to the Server is here,
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/q.../12475_div.PDF

I'm wiping the drives now due to old data still there.

I'm normally run a every day PC for my server using Ubuntu Server Software, just wondering if Ubuntu Server software will load

1st time using a server like this for linux

cheers TT

You shouldn't have a problem at all. Loads of commercially used HP Proliants are running Redhat, CENTOS, SUSE and other distros. I've got an ML370 G4 with Ubuntu, Fedora and Centos on it. I need to do a bit of work to get it exactly the way I want it though as I had the system board die a while ago and had to replace it.

HP use a thing called a SmartStart CD to allow you to set up the SmartArray 200i RAID array and configure the disks. I think you should still be able to find an image to download out there on the Interweb. Probably version 8.2 would do. It also contains diagnostics to check the hardware out. They don't use this method any more as they've now got something called "Intelligent Provisioning" built into firmware which does the same job in their Gen 8 boxes. I wonder who thought that name up? :scratch:

Note that configured disks will show up as /dev/cciss0 for the first logical volume set up, /dev/cciss1 for the second, etc.

Hope your install goes well! Enjoy!

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

I've gone to HP site looking for the image, I dont see Ubuntu there

Drivers, Software & Firmware for HP SmartStart Software

SmartStart is a stand-alone bootable CD which allows you to configure the SmartArray RAID card and run diagnostics only. Use the RedHat one below... It's also got some utilities to help with installing the OS (hence the different OSs listed) but I've never bothered.
Failing that, you can get to the ACU (Array Configuration Utility) from somewhere within the POST messages, not so easy to use if I remember.

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/sit...tte.cachetoken

Once you've set up the RAID, just boot from a normal Ubuntu Live CD downloaded from, er... Ubuntu :D

You may also be able to download the firmware upgrade CDs though HP have just changed the availability of this stuff to "Contract holders only." The ML350 G5's may still be available outside HP's box though, I don't know.

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

Cheers for that, I'll get onto it today and ask a few questions at work

TT

OK I got it up and running

I asked a few questions at work and they kinda of explained what to do with the Raid, I chose 0
I have two drives in there, one is a 250G and the other is 500G, the raid told me it was using 500G, unsure to what its really doing but I was able to install Ubuntu Server, latest one version with long term support

At lest i can see the default web page

TT

OK, with two different size disks I doubt you needed to do any RAID set up. Has it even got a SmartStart array fitted?
My ML370 G4 has a couple of 36Gb disks stuck in a wee cage which fits in the Tape drive space at the front, both on the same SCSI channel, plus I've got 8 x 72.3Gb SAS drives in the main SmartStart array split two mirrored and 6 RAID 5.
Ubuntu 12.04 on one 36, Fedora 14 on the other, Centos 6 on the mirrors and the RAID volume I've left for data at present.

Good luck and..

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

Yer is does have a SmartStart array fitted, I may play around with it tonight again, been pretty busy with new PC's this week, customers freaking out over XP, LOL

I've uploaded a image of the inside of the server

TT

Doh! It's got an embedded Smart Array 200i which is why there's no obvious card visible in the box. (The 'i' postscript means integrated.) I can see the RAID cache & battery at the bottom of the picture.
If it hasn't been used in a while, the battery takes 24hrs to recharge and the cache will be limited to write through only meaning slightly slower data access. No biggy. The batteries also should be replaced periodically. You get a message running Windows, I'm not sure about Linux, when it needs replacing. It'll also say in the POST messages. Again, if you're not particularly bothered, it's not a show stopper. If you use the server for business purposes it may be an issue.

I've never seen one fitted with only two disks with different capacities though. If you fit same capacity, different speeds, data access will be limited to that of the slowest disk. Anyway...

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

RAID 0 means no redundancy at all. If (when) one of the drives fail, you'll lose everything.

The 250G disk has to be pretty old. I'd recommend replacing it with a 500G drive and set up a RAID 1 (mirror) array. Any regular SATA drive will work; just (re-)use the hot-plug tray that the 250G drive is currently using.

If you can get your hands on more trays and drives, you can create a RAID 5 array since your server has a battery-backed cache module.

it has more more trays in there to fit more HDD's I have a 1 TB in my old server, so one 1TB and a 500G and 250G, will that do, I just have to get every thing off it first, LOL

Was just chatting to my brother that works on servers a lot, he was saying no need to set up raid due to not having all the same size drives, it should run OK with out it.

So I'm going to use the 1TB and the 500G as backup using cron jobs, then I'll save some dollars and up the memory and buy three same size drives.

what do you reckon !

By the way Happy Easter for those that are my way..

cheers TT

The server will run fine without RAID, as long as you're comfortable with the idea that an inevitable drive failure will result in hours of downtime and work, as well as the loss of all data added or changed since the last backup.

Running servers without RAID hardly even make sense in testing environments. The controller already supports RAID, and drives are cheap while work and downtime aren't.

Yup! You don't have to set up the RAID but ensure that you use the proper HP drives, you can't just buy a drive and swap it into the caddy!
The list is quite big and dependant on the chassis and controller, etc! HP Part No's included, (I've Bolded a couple.) you can Google them for prices & availability.
You should be able to ID the drives you already have from this list. You normally use the Spare Part FRU No.

Info below from the ML350 G5 QuickSpecs openly available on the internet, Google Err... "ML350 G5 QuickSpecs"
Hope it's of some use!

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

OK thanks for that,

I put the 1TB in and it booted OK, one problem NO network. just wondering if I reset the network would it be OK to run, it all ready has Ubuntu Server on the drive.

I can see I have eth1 and eth2

TT