The HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L – VMware Home Lab Review [Video]
The newest member of my home lab collection is an HP ProLiant MicroServer, model N40L. Because of its low price point and rather high potential, I’ve seen a lot of interest for this particular box floating around the Interwebs when it relates to both home lab and VCAP-DCA studies. In the video review below, I cover some of the talking points on using the N40L in both capacities, including:
- Raw compute power and VM density
- Some caveats on the ability to use this server as a ESXi host
- Memory upgrade options
- Noise, heat, and power consumption
- Storage and expansion slot options
- Comparison to White Box builds
- Overall thoughts
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26 Comments
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Can the eSATA port be used for running external storage for the VMs on something like the Drobo S?
I’ve definitely heard people hanging a Drobo off the N40L successfully, although I have not done it myself as I don’t have a Drobo. I have tested a Thermaltake external eSATA enclosure with a 1TB Western Digital drive inside and it presented without issue.
Drobo should be fine as add-on storage if you leave the default Windows OS on the box. If you scrap that and install ESXi for a VMware lab, however, you’re not going to be able to use the Drobo. Those desktop models aren’t raw storage; they’re filesystem specific storage. ESXi can’t use NTFS, it needs raw so it can lay down VMFS.
Thanks for the video.
N40L seems to be the home box of choice!
Hi Chris,
Great review, I run 2 N36Ls for my lab – great little boxes, cheap, quiet and powerful enough for lab use (perfect for the labguides.com/AutoLab !)
If you use the external SATA port make sure you have the latest BIOS, there was a bug where it ran slow on a previous version.
RE: 16GB of RAM – Here are some known working 8Gb Memory Modules:
ECC modules
Super Talent DDR3-1333 8GB/512Mx8 ECC Samsung Chip Server Memory – W1333EB8GS
NON ECC Modules
Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 CMX8GX3M1A1333C9
GSkill Ares F3-1333C9D-16GAO
Patriot Gamer2 PGD316G1333ELK
Cheers,
Nick Marshall
Awesome information, Nick. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I didn’t realise you could bump it up to 16gb !!
Have any of you compared the NL40 to the ML110 G7?
I think you are not able to do direct path on the NL40 but you can on the ML110 G7,
Are there any other limitations?
I am torn between a couple of NL40′s vs ML110G7 vs beefy desktop running Workstation
G
I haven’t had any hands on with the ML110 G7, and you are correct in that you cannot do DirectPath on the N40L. I haven’t found any other limitations, it’s a solid box.
Thanks for the review Chris, I actually ordered one of these last night. Looking forward to test it out.
I have only a ML110 G6 (Xeon 3430) but it has more CPU power than the N40L and can hold up to 32GB RAM (quickspecs states only 16GB). I have tried to put 2 of the Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 into my N40L and 50% of the time it reports 8GB than 16GB than 8GB an so on. Maybe this memory is not 100% compatible with the N40L, but it fits great into my ML110 G6 (24GB)
Fred – How do you find your ML110G6 compared to your NL40, even though it’s less powerful on spec wise, do you find the start up of your VM’s (if your HD config is the same) roughly the same or a lot slower?
Additionally, what is the noise like for both?
I am torn between getting a couple of the NL40 and the ML110 G6/7, but if I can get away with less, then great.
Any feedback really appreciated.
Thanks,
Gabi.
I think it’s a little bit slower, cause of the CPU power und CPU contention if you power up a lot of VMs. If you have a N40L with 16GB and VMs which are not CPU intensive than go for the N40L. If you have e.g. XenApp Server or a View environment go for the G6/7. I use the N40L for Infrastructure Service like DC, vCenter, Firewall. For Lab environment I use my ML110 (vCloud, View, Operations). To advantages against the ML110 are the price (204€ vs. 400-500€ without additional network adapter and memory) and the power consumption (35-50W vs. 70-100W). Concerning the noise the N40L is a little bit quieter than the G6/G7, but both of them are not bedroom compatible!!
Conclusion: If you need computing power go for the ML110 (Xeon CPU or E3 Xeon), if you need a Home Lab where CPU power is not so mandatory than go for the N40L.
I hope I have helped you. If you have any further question, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Fred
I also am having issues re the CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB sticks. 50% of the time (and randomly it seems) it is showing as 8gb in the BIOS while at other startups its showing as 16gb.
No matter how the BIOS sees the RAM 16gb is seen in Windows Server 2012 however 8GB in hardware reserved. I have checked msconfig and settings are correct here. Anyone else got any pointers?
Steve,
How are you getting on with your RAM, did you end up buying something else?
Thanks,
G.
I managed to swap one stick of my RAM with a friend for a different brand of 8GB RAM.
Now i’m using two unmatched sticks of 8GB Non-EEC RAM and it is working perfectly.
My finding and recent posts on other websites allow me to believe that 2X CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB. Work together inconsistantly and i would not bother buying them and look elsewhere first.
Hi Steve,
which brand is the second 8GB stick?
Thanks,
Fred
I have the n360L, only goes to 8gb. It’s a good product, really wish to move to a ML360, get more memory and iLO management
Thinking about builing a homelab since 2010 but have no money to build one yet
Anyone have experience using Shuttle XPC? I see some people use Shuttle XPC for their home lab, some series support up to 32GB RAM, if with similar barebone price I think I’ll choose Shuttle.
Beside HP MicroServer are there any good micro / small server that is affordable and support large amount of RAM Chris? another brand maybe? Thanks
I’m not personally familiar with others, although perhaps a reader of the site could comment with a suggestion for you.
I have a N40L at home, but I’m not running ESXi on it. I’m wondering if re-purposing it and my “new” Atom based system to an ESXi cluster/NFS host would be a decent idea (currently my N40L runs Xubuntu + Amahi 6.2 and the Atom runs PBX in a Flash). Is Openfiler or FreeNAS a better choice to present NFS Exports to ESXi?
Hi, I am looking to run a Windows file server and a Linux file server on N40L. Can someone take a look at my questions?
My plan is to boot up ESXi on a USB drive, run the 2 VMs by adding a HD where the CDROM sits, then use 2 of the swappable slots for Windows storage and 2 slots of Linux storage. Is this plan doable?
Can I use an SSD for the HD that will host the VM OSs? Is ESXi trim enabled? Is a 60GB SSD big enough for 2 vanilla OS’s?
I also plan to copy files back and forth between the 2 OSs, like 10GB at a time. Without direct i/o, will this operation be really slow?
Thanks!
Only up to 800Mhz memory modules are supported by the AMD processor, unbuffered, ECC.
Hi
Just got a pair of HP micro servers and 2 x 8GB CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 sticks.
Agree with other comments and having issues as it did not see the first stick and only see 8 GB when two sticks are in place.
Noted above comments and the other 8GB options and the ability to mix the CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 with other 8 GB sticks.
Any comments tips and recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks