ServersPlus

If budget is a huge issue, I think the cheapest that ticks all the boxes is a Zyxel switch - 91-010-217004B

For all HP switches, use this tool: HP Networking Switch selector tool You do end up at the V1910-24G-PoE of which there are two versions. If you want an alternative, take a look at Netgears GS724TP-100EUS

The event is this Thursday - Anybody from here going along? I'll be there, would be great to meet up with you if you can make it!

Just to clarify, the HP MicroServer does come with the caddy's (basically trays like you'd find in a NAS box) - As seen in the datasheet - http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13716_div/13716_div.HTML - The official HP drives for these are the non-hotplug internal SATAs that also fit in the ML110/ML115. This means you can use pretty much any 3rd party HDDs in there.

Haway the lads! VMware are holding a customer solution update at St James Park, Newcastle on Thursday 23rd September 2010 through partners of ours, SITS Group. If anyone is is interested in attending please drop me a PM and I'll give you more information and get you signed up. Thanks

We will be, but they're so new we haven't had an ETA yet! We managed to get hold of the last ever stock of the old ML115's before they were discontinued to last us until these microservers appear though.

HP ProLiant MicroServer series overview - HP Small & Medium Business products Looks more like a NAS box than a server, but may prove popular as a VM test box if the price is right. What do you guys think?

Due to internal expansion Servers Plus is recruiting for an IT sales person. If this is something you are interested in or know somebody who may be suitable and would like more details, please drop me a PM.

That part code (574893-B21) is for ProLiant SL systems ... The equivalent part for the DL360 G6 is 530888-B21 - this ships with the HDD cage. As others have mentioned, HP HDD cages are next to impossible to get hold of (outside of ebay) as HP don't supply them without the drives. HP QuickSpecs are great for getting the correct part codes - http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13235_div/13235_div.HTML

If you bring the wireless controller up in the device manager you can access the power saving option in the 'Power Management' tab. Maybe this is what nicholab is referring to. I'm not sure Windows would cut the power to the wireless card when it was connected to a network though, even if it wasn't 'in use'. Could be that it's just reducing power to the point it falls out of range though? HTH

... and the only two HP add-in cards for the DL360 G6 have SFP ports, which is why I'm thinking either the server is wrong or they aren't 10GB ports. Specs here: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13235_div/13235_div.HTML

Are you sure these are RJ45 ports at the server end? IIRC, the NICs on the DL360 G6 come with SFP+ sockets as standard... if this is the case, you'd only need the DAC cable (sfp+ connectors at both ends)

Just be careful if you're looking at the ML110 - The cheapest version at the moment only has a pentium dual-core CPU that doesn't support Intel-VT The best option is the quad-core ML115 ... It's only slightly more expensive but has a quad-core AMD chip which does AMD-V (if you enable it in BIOS first) Very highly recommended boxes for ESXi testbeds - we sell loads for this purpose.

If anyone is interested in one of these, there is currently a HP £50 cashback promo on them until the end of the month - So you can get one brand new for about £110 ex VAT HP Imaging and Printing Cash Backs- HP United Kingdom

So you think that old server is worthless? Think again - HP are celebrating 20 years of their x-86 architecture by offering a free ProLiant G6 server to the school or business that has the oldest Compaq/HP SystemPro server still in operation! Take a look here - If you've still got one of these machines running, register it and see if you win a replacement! It would be pretty embarrasing for the government if one of you were to win this, but I know many of you have complained about the outdated systems you're running