Server 2008 R2 on HP Proliant DL380 G4

[superatticman]

Hi

 

Was thinking of running this on one of our older DL380 G4's as a new tape backup server. I notice that 2008 R2 server isn't officially supported (no HP support pack available) although 2008 server is.

 

Has anyone managed to get this working and download all the drivers on a DL380 G4?

 

Regards

[Chris_]

I installed Server 2008 R2 on an ML350 G4 (similar era I think).

 

I used the latest version of the HP SmartStart CD with support for the ML350 from the HP site. It installed all the relevant drivers and configured the RAID fine.

[ConradJones]

be aware of throughput? Not sure how how much data you need to send through the device but the disk io on them isn't fast by todays standards, which might not be a problem for you but might be if yesterdays backup ends up wrapping tomorrows.

[superatticman]

be aware of throughput? Not sure how how much data you need to send through the device but the disk io on them isn't fast by todays standards, which might not be a problem for you but might be if yesterdays backup ends up wrapping tomorrows.

 

Thanks for the responses. Am currently installed 2008 R2 and will see how I get on with drivers etc. Will give that support pack a go!

 

Am also aware of throughput issues here. Currently the G4 has a PCI-X 100 riser card in. It would appear that the SAS controller cards of which the majority of LTO6 tape devices use require a PCI-E capable riser card. It would appear the G5 is the minimum recommended for SAS compatibility.

[ConradJones]

pretty sure i had 2008 r2 running on ours, the only problems i remember where 64bit vms, because the cpu didn't support hardware assisted virtualization.

 

we have an LT05 on a new DL185G6 onto 2 LTO5 tapes it takes more than 12 hours now. even with an SSD for the backup software database.

[superatticman]

pretty sure i had 2008 r2 running on ours, the only problems i remember where 64bit vms, because the cpu didn't support hardware assisted virtualization.

 

we have an LT05 on a new DL185G6 onto 2 LTO5 tapes it takes more than 12 hours now. even with an SSD for the backup software database.

 

Conrad how much data are you backup up and what is the nature of your data? ie mailboxes, user files, servers etc.

[ConradJones]

File Shares (home and shared), exchange databases, system states of 2008 r2 vms, SQL databases, images of linux vms..

 

How much i'm not entirely sure (i'm not in the office) but the backup server has about 13tb usabe (after raid etc) and about 6-7tb is in use iirc thats about 5 days retention on disk as DPM only stores the deltas after the initial recovery point that doesn't mean its 6tb / 5 per day.