HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 1U RackMount 64-bit Server with 2×6-Core E5-2640 Xeon 2.5GHz CPUs + 64GB PC3-10600R RAM + 8×300GB 10K SAS SFF HDD, P420i RAID, 4×GigaBit NIC, 2×Power Supplies, NO OS (Renewed)

The server arrived exactly as described with regard to CPUs, memory, and hard drives. Server was clean inside and out, but was obviously used (of course.) No dings, bent metal, or defects. It arrived with Server 2012R2 evaluation copy installed, with all 8 drives striped into a RAID0 array, which made it easy to check for issues.The BIOS was current, but most of the other system firmware was a bit behind, so I updated them with downloads from the HP site. No issues performing the updates.iLO works properly on the machine, but is unlicensed. If you want to be able to run a remote console through iLO for more than a few minutes, you will need an iLO license key. Once added to the server, the iLO remote console works properly as well. Note that you need the key for the remote console, but not for other features if iLO.Don't expect this to be a quiet machine. It is a 1U rack form factor, and has a bank of 8 small fans in the front to force air through the case. The chassis is filled with temperature sensors (you can see all of them on the iLO webpage.) When the machine is idle, the fans run at about 20% speed, which is like a small desk fan. When it is booting up the fans run at around 55% to 60%, which is "ready for takeoff" mode. Don't plan on keeping it in your workspace...it may need to be set up in another room and wired into the network there.It came with redundant, hot swappable power supplies. Great for server use, but with a caveat. The power supplies have NO power cables coming off of them. They attach directly to the motherboard through a single connector, much like a hot swappable hard drive. This means that there are no loose power cables to connect to an added PCI card.There is a "slim line SATA" port to attach a DVD-ROM drive, where some power can be tapped (5V, 1.5A.) However, because of the layout of the case (1U height) and the way it manages heat (one row of fans up front), it is very sensitive to anything that obstructs or modifies the airflow in the case. so cable management that does not obstruct the airflow is critical. I tried adding a full height USB3 card with an external cable for port power to the server, and the fans switch to idling at 50%.The server has two PCIe slots...one 8x half-height slot and one 16x full height slot. Great for SAS cards and 10Gb network cards, but I wouldn't try putting a video card into it (no external power connectors other than that SATA port.) Might be OK if the video card does not require a power supply connection, but I would still be worried that the fans would kick into "blow out your eardrums" mode.The p420i raid card it uses is capable of using both SAS and SATA drives, but not in the same virtual disk. It can read SSDs as well. I reconfigured it with a 1TB Mushkin Reactor MLC sata drive I had handy as the OS drive. (Yes, I realize that consumer grade drives don't have nearly the write cycles of an enterprise grade SSD, but it will be fine as the OS drive, especially given the 1TB size vs the space requirement of a running OS. Of course, if your deploying a production server to a data center, other parameters apply...)The p420i card has two operating modes...RAID and HBA. It can only do one or the other. In RAID mode, the physical drives are not visible to the user, only the RAID virtual drives. In HBA mode, the drives are all visible to the OS. That said, I was not able to get the machine to boot from a drive in the drive array in HBA mode. It was visible, but the machine reported that it could not boot from the drive. So plan on using the RAID functionality of the machine for all of the drives in the front bay, not storage spaces. (This can be worked around by booting off of an INTERNALLY mountable SD card...the server is designed to do this for added security. I did not try it as I do not have a suitable SD card handy.)The evaluation version OS initially installed on the machine was password protected. I had to call to get the password. No issues doing so, the phone was answered immediately by someone who was able to give me the password. Nice service :)Overall, the machine is exactly what I expected and the components were all as advertised. It included 2 power cords. The service call I had to make to the seller was answered quickly and competently. I would buy from this vendor again.

This is probably the best deal to get you started with a home lab system. If I have to piece the components together, it will be way over this package price.This is my first HP Intel based server, I am very impressed, very well designed, on par with the Dell PowerEdge systems that I have worked with.This package has fairly powerful processors, plenty of memory, and enough drives to setup a RAID 5 array with a hot spare, to give you around 1.5TB of space to setup multiple VMs. I am using XCP-NG (XEN) now, but shouldn't have any issues with others. Plenty of memory slots to expand your memory as well.Idle power consumption is around 125 Watts goes up to 150-160 with multiple VMs running, which translates to around $10-14 a month in my area (Florida) if I run it 24/7. Since I don't leave it on all the time, it's not so bad.It's only loud when you first power it on, after that, the noise is fairly tolerable, but i wouldn't have it sitting next to my bed though. :)Overall, great, price, powerful, ready to get you started with virtualization.If you are thinking about using it for home media server, just think about power consumption (and heat it will generate).

The only bad thing i can say about this server is the bios resolution didnt fit my monitor and cut off (hp issue), and it only came with 3 900 gig drives instead of the 8 300 gig drives, i would have liked to have gotted the caddies, but its perfectly fine more just a preference, though going back to hp installing windows was strange and the bios wasnt very helpful though i got it to work in the end, overall it came with the same internal hardware as i expected 64gb of ram the 2 xeons 2 power supplies a 4x gigabit nic and the health light is correctly green, the server is clean and tidy and fairly quiet, an amazing product for an amazing price

The shipping was fast and the packaging was well done. I will keep the packaging for 30 days just in case something comes up but I doubt it.These servers are perfect for moderate loads. I have 2 of them in a pool running XCP-ng for a home lab. They are running well for the little bit of time I have had them running. They are not all that loud for 1U servers and came loaded as specified in the description. The only sad thing was the io panels are missing on the back. Not that big of deal.I am very pleased with the performance overall. The drives are actually quite speedy. They are set up in 2 virtual disk arrays. 2 in RAID 1 (Host OS) and 5 in RAID 6 (VMs OS.) Backups are running smoothly and it seems like the memory and processors are efficient and the OS's load speedily. I highly recommend them.

First I have to say the seller was extremely responsive and helpful. I initially had a problem getting the fans to run at normal levels and they were quick to offer some suggestions in diagnosing the cause. Once I got that sorted out it's been running great, and for the price I'm more than happy with the product. I bought this to run some virtual servers in my small business' office, and it's working out very nicely for what I needed. The case vents out the top and sides, which could be an issue in some rack environments with no space between the individual servers, but that isn't a problem in my particular situation. It came with the latest BIOS and firmware already installed so it was ready to install the OS out of the box. Vmware ESXi 5.5 is embedded and can be installed easy enough, but a custom HPE iso of vmware 6.5 is available on the internet and is worth the effort and time to get. If you're on a budget this is a great little server.