Question 1

Does this server do raid 1?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the built in B120i does RAID via a Driver in the OS.  You configure it outside the OS but the driver does the RAID calculations.

I have tested this with vSphere 5.5, 6.0 and Windows 2012 and they all work fine.  For VMware use the HP Custom ISO at http vibsdepot . hp . com

You can also upgrade it with a P221 or P420 RAID card to get a fully Hardware RAID engine, SAS drive support and RAID5/6 support.  
I put a P420 in mine and a Thermaltake MAX-2533 which gives me 7 x 3.5" SAS/SATA bays (no DVD)

Question 2

Can someone suggest me which Non HP memory to purchase for this system? Thanks

Accepted Answer

Go to Kingston or crucial websites and enter the make and model of proliant ml310e gen 8 server.you will get your results. Hope this helps.

Hint. Add the .com after Kingston or crucial, newegg would not allow me to add the website name,its competition for them.

Question 3

What is the hard disk capacity in this server?

Accepted Answer

Out of the box, 4 x 6TB drives via the standard drive bays.

2 additional SATA ports internally (1 for optical drive) could also be used for additional drives.

With a P420 RAID card and a Cooler Master MAX-2533 (from NewEgg of course), I got mine up to 7 drives and then sticky taped an SSD inside the case for the 8th channel on the P420.

Question 4

Is this product for gaming or budget?

Accepted Answer

Neither.  This is a low end Server.
You can run it as a FileServer, VMware host, Plex media server, etc.  Mine runs Ubuntu 14 as File Server (linux "Samba" allows Windows clients to connect), pfSense firewall as VM (VirtualBox) and Minecraft server for my kids.
It is meant to run 24x7 for light duty.
ProLiant = HP Server brand.

Question 5

Does this server require special HP memory or can it accept compatible server memory? This is a question similar to HP's 'smart drives' requirement, not whether it needs ECC.

Accepted Answer

I'm using Crucial brand ECC in mine just fine for over year now.  
You don't have to use HP branded drives either if you are ok with Non Hot Plug.
The server comes with 4x  3.5" NHP drive caddies.

I added a P420 RAID and Thermaltake MAX-2533 to mine so I have up to 7x 3.5" drives and then an SSD just taped inside for drive #8.
If you do this, you need an SFF8087 to 4x SATA breakout cable as well.

Question 6

What kind of RAID support does the system have, hardware or software?  The reason I ask is that I would like to run VMWare ESXi, but if the system does not have true hardware RAID support VMWare will not run on it.  Thanks.

Accepted Answer

Hi,
This server has hardware RAID, but you need to download ESXi image from HP site. I currently use this server with ESXi 5.5 and I don't have any problems so far.

Question 7

I'm looking at buying this for a Christmas present.

I know zilch about servers - what other components do I need? I am getting Hard Drive (Seagate NAS HDD ST2000VN000 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive)

Previous answers in this thread talked about "cradle" Can you point me to an appropriate one?

Lastly server software. I really want this to be a complete Christmas day package! Thanks!

Accepted Answer

That's all you need to actually get it running. The drive cradles are included. Server software, it depends on what you are doing.

Question 8

what is the recommended 1Tb or 2TB HD for this unit?

Accepted Answer

Where did you purchase the hard drive cradles for this baby server?  Directly from HP or ?  If not, can you provide a link?

Thanks

Question 9

Two questions....
1) Does this server accept regular off the shelf SATA drives or do they have to be smart drives?
2) Does it have 4 hard drive blanks? In some of the HP documentation it mentions only 3 HDD blanks are included.

Accepted Answer

You will have to purchase compatible hard drive cradles. You can use any drives but during the boot process it will say you do not have hp smart drives blah blah. I have installed dozens of these and have not had any issues setting up raid etc.. One empty bay and 3 blanks included.

Question 10

Vmware compatible?

Accepted Answer

Yes, 5.1U1 and higher.

vSphere Compatibility List:
Google this: "VMware from HP ProLiant Server VMware Support Matrix"

HPs VMware MicroSite:
vibsdepot (dot) hp (dot) com

Questions & Answers