How would you change Windows Home Server?
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 16th 2007 7:56PM
posted Nov 16th 2007 7:56PM
Now that Microsoft's latest flavor of Windows is out in the wild for anyone who cares to acquire it, we're wondering just how satisfied you are with the final product. Has it totally revolutionized your (previously non-existent) backup schedule? How functional have you found remote access to truly be? Has this quelled the bickering between your offspring over who gets to use the PC with all the Tears for Fears tracks on it? Feel free to share with us your favorite add-ins (along with ones you're currently working up), and don't hesitate to dole out as much criticism / adoration as necessary to get yourself noticed.
How about some real RAID support that can be optionally turned on. Its based loosely off server 2003 that supports software RAID1,5 at least AFAIK. I'd love to use this as long as i knew i was using a sensible RAID option, i don't care about the fact that i could put extra disks of any size in later on...
Yes! Give advanced users the ability to use real RAID if they want.
Because it's completely unnecessary. You need RAID for data redundancy or additional speed. Given that this isn't a PC that you're going to be using you don't care about additional speed and data redundancy is already provided. Now stop being an idiot.
One often overlooked benefit of RAID is storage density. The data redundancy provided by WHS makes terrible use of storage space. If you want redundancy on all of your files, you lose 50% of your available disk space. So if you have (8) 500GB drives, you'd have 2TB of available space and 2TB devoted to redundancy.
I would love to see WHS integrate a file system similar to the unRAID system as implemented by Lime Technology. See http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=47 for details. It offers all of the benefits offered by WHS: multiple sizes of disks can be used, disks use a normal/non-striped file system that can be mounted and read outside the array (if the server fails), easy array expansion, easy replacement of smaller disks with larger disks, etc. But it also offers much more efficient storage density. If you have (8) 500GB drives, you'd have 3.5TB of available storage space with only 500 GB devoted to redundancy.
UnRAID does not offer the write performance of a traditional RAID5 array, but neither does WHS (writes to staging drive then copies to "final" drive. Both are plenty fast for a "limited user number" home environment. And an unRAID configuration can easily serve 5+ movies to different clients at the same time, so read performance would not be a problem.
There is nothing that would prevent Microsoft from implementing this system on Windows Home Server. It's just a Reed-Solomon parity scheme with some disk management automation built-in. If WHS had this type of space-efficient redundancy, I'd purchase it in a second and recommend it to everyone. But as-is, I'd be wasting way too much disk space on redundancy when I could be using it for storage.
The problem with unRAID is that it doesn't provide full-blown redundancy. If you have multiple drives (say 5) and two of them fail you have no way of reconstructing the information stored on them. It's a software-dependent data safety system that attempts to reconstruct the missing data based on the content of the other drives. On the other hand in WHS if you lose 2 of your five drives and they don't contain each other's backups you will lose nothing. What it turns to is a trade-off between money and your data security (as always). Microsoft made the decision to go with data security. The question is: why not provide both?
a) Microsoft just like every other corporation out there is a for-profit company. It will do the least amount of work possible to get the most amount of money. Adding a feature like that is a lot of work and likely patent licensing with arguable return on investment.
b) Joe Blow (for whom this software is made by the way) won't understand the difference between unRAID's approach and WHS's current approach. He'll see that both can provide data safety, choose the way that gives him more storage, ignore the red warning that tells him one of his disks is nearly gone (because he can still access his data) and will then get really angry when another disk fails and he can't get at his data anymore. People have an unfortunate habit of messing around with options they don't understand and not doing proper research.
This is just an opinion but: I don't feel that it would be responsible to sell a product mainly intended for data back-up that doesn't offer at least double redundancy of data, especially given that the target audience isn't us, it's Joe Blow, who will buy the server and assume that all of his information is guaranteed to stay locked in that little box for all eternity (acts of god excluded).
Mark: In general, I agree with you, but there are two small flaws in your reasoning. First of all, WHS does not provide double data redundancy; it provides single redundancy. There is the primary copy of the data and the backup copy. unRAID also provides single redundancy: the primary copy of the data and the backup that is stored in parity data. (If 2 of 5 drives fail, you would lose the data on the failed drive, but the data on the other drives would still be readable. WHS would have to have strong and frequent warning messages in the event of a drive failure.)
Something else to consider is that WHS has basically half the storage density of unRAID-type storage, so it would require roughly twice the number of hard drives (for equivalent available space) and would have twice the opportunity for a disk failure.
Also, an unRAID-type configuration does not preclude the ability to mirror important data on more than one disk. That would give true double redundancy: mirrored backup and parity backup.
I think the target audience for WHS isn't ONLY "your average Joe." True, not everyone would be interested in flexible software RAID (similar to unRAID), but some would be. It would be nice if MS addressed the needs of both audiences. If WHS had this type of advanced disk management, I'd purchase it immediately. Otherwise, it's just too expensive to add 2 disks every time you need more storage space and only get the available space of one of those drives.
For anyone interested in having a "flexible, parity-based drive extender" (a.k.a. unRAID) feature added to WHS, please vote for this feature on the official Windows Home Server feedback page:
https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=306080
I'd like it to be the streaming device for movies and music to my extenders (XBOX360). As it stands today, I have to leave my PC on all the time. If my Home Server is going to be on all the time already, why can't it do the streaming?
Sounds good, but the question was how would you change it?
WHS already streams to an xbox 360.
Seriously? You don't get the MCE experience from Windows Home Server - do you? I don't know, but I didn't think it would act as a Media Center to extenders.
Seriously. It doesn't do the recording aspect of Vista/WMC but it does do the streaming, which is what you requested.
Well... yes, it streams to a 360 (or a PS3), as it provides a standard UPnP AV/DNLA server, a la Windows Connect. This allows you to stream WMV files (and JPEG, MP3 etc), but not other formats.
It is not MCE, so you can't use the 360 as an MCE Extender with it.
i'd take the hardware and install a hackint0sh version of 10.5 server.
Make it truecrypt compatible. The WinHS drive system doesnt recognize volumes mounted by TC.
Also, make the Home Server systems cheaper to the consumer to overcome the temptation to use an old PC and install Samba...free.
I'd make it open source and free.
How about the OS that is supposed to be the end all/be all for media sharing in the home actually have TV recording capabilities? It's incredibly efficient to have a second server just recording TV, storing it on the WHS, only to recall it again through the WHS hen the extenders need it.
hear, hear! one tivo to rule them all... that's what i'm after.
I've been using it for awhile and it's pretty damn perfect. Be neat to add more server add-in's so it could be my mail server / web server / NAT Firewall like a real server. But for what it does now, it's pretty impressive.
I've been using it for awhile too and this was also the first thing that came to mind when asked 'what would you improve'.
It's definitely the addins, the ones out there are half decent, but I would like to see more.
I had a concept for one but alas I'm not a programmer. Software wise, it would be some type of web interface so that you can remotely monitor your home, ie: temp, alarm system, hvac, etc. Could even set it up so that it would email or text you when there's some type of alarm or warning etc. On the hardware end, it would be based on the Arduino board, nice and simple with lots of flexibility.
When it can back up Vista 64, i'll be interested.
can you add a link that shows the incompatability to Vista 64?
thx
It can't backup a system with Vista 64
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server
http://mswhs.com/2007/11/02/installing-the-connector-software-on-vista-x64/
wow... most of the gripes listed here i assumed WHS did already. i'll stick with clark connect and mythtv
Most of the gripes here are asking for features already provided, by people that haven't seen more than a screenshot.
Format and install Linux server.
Then it wouldn't be WINDOWS Home Server, would it?
Being that I've beta tested it since february I think I got a good idea of what it needs. Overall it's awesome but the next version could add more features. Such as
1. ability to record live TV and act as a media center then you wouldn't need a media center and a WHS, you'd just need a WHS and a media extender like an xbox 360.
2. integrate into the performance and reliability monitro of Vista so you can easily rollback to a backup before the graph plummetted to zero. Since reliability monitor gives a good graph of your computers health if you could a WHS backup from within that program that'd be neat.
3. better account heirarchy and security. currently within the WHS console there's no admin account meaning that user A can go in and change user B's password without user B's permission even if user A doesn't know user B's original password to begin with. This would then make user b unable to access WHS. Also user A can go and delete or view B's backup without B's permission meaning a loss of privacy. So in a business enviroment which WHS isn't designed for but can do a good job in, shady employee A can look at files normally protected by a login password on the bosses physical computer through WHS without having to know the bosses password!! This isn't a huge deal at home unless you have files (read as pr0n) you want to keep from your kids with WHS your kids can go and access even change your password without your permission. Hence why there need to be admin and standard user accounts.
4.an ability to quickly know what clusters have changed on the hard drive and only update those. currently everyday WHS scans all drives for changes just before it does it's daily backup. If there was a way it could make a log or have access to a log that kept track of the changes as they occured instead of rescanning all the drives for changes everyday it'd greatly speed up the backup process.
5.The ability to restore from a WHS backup without access to WHS server. Say if you're on vacation or business trip with your laptop and it crashes you won't be able to restore from backup until you get back home or to the office. If there was a way you could choose a backup from the list stored on WHS and export that backup to external storage whether it be dvd/cd, hard drive or even usb flash devices and then do a restore while you're on the road that would be awesome!!
That's all I can think of right now. I've already notified MS of my wishes especially #3 and hopefully these will be added in the next version or as an update.
I have to agree with your first point (the others don't interest me). I'd really like to have a heap of Media Center boxes on my tvs and perhaps my Home Server recording tv or sharing tuners/files out to the other boxes for whatever reason. It'd also be nice to have VMC as well if you want to hook it up to a tv.
Recording TV is a big "Meh" to me. Most broadcast TV is shite anyway.
What this really needs is RAID. That folder duplication thing is pretty weak redundant protection. I will supplement with Jungledisk and Amazon S3 offsite backup. But still no resiliant RAID solution makes for sloppy recovery.
The other thing, I want to see a Flickr plugin.
I don't know if the itunes server really functions like a server being that itunes itself is so damn hostile toward any rationale approach to library management.
Other than that, I am very impressed.
The other thing, I want to see a Flickr plugin.
It's like they read your mind.
Sorry. First time, and didn't realize that there's no HTML tags.
Here's the link to PhotoSync, which is a Flickr plugin for WHS (albeit still in beta):
http://www.edholloway.com/archive/2007/06/21/PhotoSync-Beta2-for-Windows-Home-Server-is-Available_2100_.aspx
While this comment somewhat applies to Home Server, I guess it'd be better suited for the entire Windows OS...
UNIFY ALL THE DAMN STYLES! - or rather use only one damn style at a time... Why is it that from a design perspective Windows has always been such a mess. I mean hell, take a look at the screenshot of Home Server in this article... Main window is Aero/Glass - then some other window within the app pops up w/ the "classic" windows 95 style, then when you change anything you get the 'allow/deny" popup which uses the Aero Basic style.
Funny remembering how many Mac fans whined about there being both brushed metal and aqua in Tiger. :p
They can't do much about that since you access the WHS via remote desktop protocol so the WHS console is using the graphics capability of WHS server which is based on server 2003 and therefore can't aero. The aero box around it is cause the screenshot was taken in vista. here's another tidbit for you the mouser cursor also changes from the new Aero cursor to the old school server 2003 cursor as you move the mouse over the WHS console window and then it immediately changes back to the aero cursor as you move back into vista territory. If this pic was taken in server 2003 it wouldn't look different. Again this is cause WHS console window is accessed via RDP and it's not a local program installed on vista it's a local program on the WHS server and since the server is running on 2003 which doesn't have aero graphics it's not gonna look unified.
sigh, excuses excuses... oh what trickery Apple must have used to make the OS look good all of 8 years ago or so when OS X was just in development...
Better solution: On every computer change the style to windows classic. Now everything runs faster and is all the same.
I am not sure what to change with whs. I won;t leave my server 2003 until server 2008 comes out. While I think it is a neat idea, idk if the average computer user will ever use it.
"How irritated are you that you can't just load up WHS on any old PC / case-o-discs?"
--What? Huh? What's this system builder OEM version on Newegg for?
I'm lovin WHS so far. The whiist addin is bad ass and I can't wait for more addins to come. My Vista MCE streams all my media from it and I don't see why WHS should have dvr/tuner capabilities. It is't meant to replace your MCE/Extender, it's meant to be tucked away in some corner without you ever noticing it unless you connect to it.
Some good suggestions.
adding to what solomon said, I'd be keen for some exchange capabilities. Sure it's not meant to be corporate software, but being able to share calendars, access your email from any computer, etc etc would be pretty awesome.
I'm still waiting to update my clarkconnect server when they get the horde system fully working.
I agree that WHS needs some sort of RAID system or virtual pooled storage like Drobo or ZFS. The duplicate folders system is a nightmare for users. If you don't duplicate a folder and lose a drive, how would you know which files you may have lost?
Also, I wish the backup was silent on the client side (like RetroSpect) so my wife doesn't need to see a bunch of warning messages on her laptop if it was turned off overnight and not backed up. It should just proactively backup in the background.
This is an excellent program that is so ideally suited for our small publishing firm that we thought it was made just for us when initially announced. Within our small firm, where a number of the staff need to have concurrent access to varied files in order to publish Military Cruise books for the USMC and U.S. Navy, this is an ideal solution. The Beta Test allowed us to build our company with WHS as the data backbone of the firm, although we were also using external hard drives as primary backup systems. Now however, that WHS is primetime, those external backup drives have been integrated into the server itself. The computer was build by us for this specific application and we spent a sum of only $765 for the needed hardware and software. Not bad for almost 1.5TB of backup/storage power. Previous to this program the job entailed cutting numerous DVD's or CD's on a daily basis. How would we improve the program? We would think that separate and multiple backup time settings for each and every user would be a big plus, so as to not interfere with operation. This is definitely going to find more uses as time progresses and available applications become available.
Enhancements:
-Integrate WebGuide WHS (currently MS owns the rights) so that the user permissions can be inherited from WHS and use WHS interface.
-Add AVI (xVid, MP4, DIVX) transcoding to the DNLE server.
- Allow deactivation and removal of external drive from storage pool without WHS moving/deleting files off the drive (files are still there but WHS will not add the drive back to the pool without reformatting it).
I second number 2. For both WHS and Media Center.
More codec support for streaming to the 360. WHS uses Windows Media Connect which is not even supported by MS anymore and it cannot stream h.264, Divx or Xvid. It's ridiculous that I have to use Windows Media Player or the Zune software on another PC to stream these (and other) file types on the 360?
The ability to backup the 360 like I backup my PC.
This probably won't happen, but would love to see a Media Center version that can accept cable card tuners and act as a DVR which then can be streamed to extenders in the house.
Correct me if I'm wrong, which I very well may be, but if they add the codec support to the 360 won't that solve the problem.
I would love to have a user console or to be able to create shortcuts on the desktop that launch a specific app in the console so we could have centralized applications for users.
For example if you wanted to run a torrent addin client on the server that all users can use to download torrents so they don't have to keep their own machines on.
Fair comment, for multiple BitTorrent users it would be great. Though, I am running uTorrent directly on WHS and having no problems dealing with it via remote desktop.
WHS is a fairly decent product and very stable.
I had a backup plan before, but this has changed my backup plan and storage options. Now when my cousins or friends come over they can backup their computer to my server and not have to worry about backups themselves.
About the only negative I can comment on is the fact that even with a 1 gb connection, it is very slow at moving files over the network when you move large files into a shared folder. WHS seems to want to start balancing as soon as you start moving files and your connection will sometimes flat line (go to 0). My guess is this will be fixed sometime in the near future, so I'm not too worried right now.
WHS is also not a toy. Most of the people I've seen who have issues are those who want to play with it. I had tons of trouble until I stopped playing with it and let it do its job. No special screens or other little hacks that people like me love.
Outside of that, like I said, WHS is a great product for the money. Instead of me having a toy to play with everyday, it sits in the corner and does the job that I need it to do. I did not want something I'd have to play with everyday... I want something that works without me thinking about it. That is why this product works.
I turned off remote access, so I can't comment on how well that works. I tried it with the beta product and it seems alright. I have a notebook that travels with me so I don't have files on whs that should be with me but I forgot them at home... does not happen. That is why I purchased a 200 gb 7200 notebook drive. lol
But I guess the other part is that this product has taken the "raid" and other tech stuff off the mind of normal people. Want to add more storage? Get any drive you want, don't worry if it is not the same make, model and size of the HD in the computer. Want to remote access? Don't worry about it, here is an address... only need your password. Want to save space by only backing up certain folders? Click here to make it happen. Want to backup all your computers? Install this app and do a quick setup. Want to get the health of all computers? Do nothing, but make sure your WHS app is green.
Really, how simple can it get? MS gets some things wrong, but this it got right.
"How irritated are you that you can't just load up WHS on any old PC / case-o-discs?"
Not entirely sure what that is all about...I did the whole DIY Newegg deal since I already had a processor sitting around, and stuffed it into a Shuttle barebone computer with a 750GB hdd.
I would absolutely love to see a Exchange WHS edition for 5 users or something so I can have access to Outlook Web Access and sync with my HTC Touch on the go...
It already had the Dynamic DNS capabilities and the free domains...that is half the battle. Another quarter of the battle is Server 2003... I am not sure how the Domain stuff would work though...they would probably have to rewrite a lot of the Exchange code to circumvent that, since WHS is apparently incompatible with Domains.
Here's to wishing.
I've been using this since about the time the first beta came out in a VM and then put it on a real machine this summer. I'm really impressed--especially with the web interface and the ability to use RDP without having to remember an ip. What's better is it automatically updates DHCP addresses when they change. One thing that gets me though is that the certificate is invalid so I always get a warning and IE flips out. Other than that, it's a really sweet system. Not to mention Run:DCPROMO turns the thing into a domain controller hehe...at least on the version I have, they might have gotten rid of that file by now.
Make it a Mac! LOL
I know you are attempting a jest but you've unwittingly touched on a real issue. Apple has some great products but they tailor them to narrow niches. MS takes a shotgun approach. Not everything works out or takes a while to catch on but at least there is choice. That must be a hard thing for the truly devout Apple fanboy to take; the envy of what you can't have. Yet that envy shines bright as a star to all who read your little cry for help.
WOW! the fact that you took the time to say this is super sad!
I haven't tried the full release of WHS, but on RC1 I couldn't get the server to enter and stay in S3 sleep/standby. It would always wake up every 30 minutes. I checked for any automated tasks and such, but had no luck. It's not a hardware issue as in XP, I could put the machine to sleep with no issues. I don't need a 24/7 file server and only need access to it for brief periods and leaving it on wastes electricity and needless hardware use/abuse. Anyone, been able to get their WHS' to go and stay in S3 until needed?
I'd delete it.
Built-in RAID5
Support for thin clients
Automatic backup to DVD
Support for non-MS OS's
Two things, for me:
1) Get it OEM so I can put it on any box
2) Keep the current per-folder redundancy, but make it parity based. Effectively, RAID-5 on the folder level. That way, it'd waste much less space in 3+ drive configs. I'd apply it to most folders, except if I had some real big space hogs that weren't important, I could disable parity on those files and save the extra 25-33% wasted for parity.
Ummm, newegg has had an OEM version for several months now . . .
I've installed the OEM version on my former desktop, it's now happily running 1.5 TB of WHS server space on generic PC hardware...
OK, that's well and good, but it doesn't solve the problem that the only redundancy option it provides is duplication rather than parity.
If I put three 500GB drives in there and enable redundancy on everything, I want 1GB to play with (like RAID-5), not 750GB.
If it had that, I'd consider it. I really like ZFS and RAID-Z, but they have the fatal flaw of not supporting expanding a RAID-Z array like you can a ZFS pool.
You can get it OEM from Newegg. I did.
Best product MS has put out in years.
That said
Minimum, needs MCE blade support for 360 and other extenders... I would also like to optional support for more capture methods like Cable card and least a shit load of OTA type devices. Microsoft dosn't 'quite' get the purpose of garges and extenders.
Should have bear bone support for more phone clients for streaming (um yeah not just WMA).
Shit load of codec support (it's cheap through the people a bone).
Linux and OSX backup clients. MS has forgotten how to surround and absorb to win (Apple is currently the master). serously if you want to truly 'Own' the garage they way they claim with this product they have to take off the rose colored glasses and look around, it's not just MS world and expect to have my garages pieces support everything.
Better visual management of drives so that you can easily isolate data and remove storage from teh pool with out throwing the system into fits (its good about adding stuff though).
Better shadow copy UI and management for hardware fault backup through software.
Being able to set your network health level tolerance, right now the warning getting annoying really fast.
Better ability to bring boxes out of stand by with WOL to back them up autmagic like. Right now it's pretty flaky but then so WOL in general, so maybe they could come up with something actual innovative to address the issue.
Over all though I think Home server has a lot going for it. I'm not sure what the article meant it seems to stuff fine on almost any old box with drives (little picky on software raid drivers but seems to work with the xp one's).
They've got you covered on #1:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116395
Not sure about #2.
"How would you change Windows Home Server?"
I would make it free and I would put porn on the disk.
Torrents could accomplish both of those for you :D
I have all my stuff on a server 2003 machine on a couple of raid 5 volumes, despite being based on 2003, the lack of raid is a killer for me.
Ideally I would like to see a filesystem like zfs, but so I can add and remove disks at will so long as the free space allows for it. That would be a killer for me, also being able to have tv recording on the same unit isnt such a big deal to me. But I would like to see a low cost ethernet connectable tuner option available so I can stick as many on the lan that I would like to record simultaniously.
Me love the classic, Windows 95/98/NT/2000 windows coming up.
If there was one thing Apple learnt, it was to created a whole new OS from scratch first... and then support compatibility for classic apps later.
That way, there's absolutely no GUI inconsistencies. It still shocks me, once in a while, when I download something from Microsoft, and then the installation program has that freaky System font and a dialog windows that is obviously from Windows 3.1...
But the Home Server program... it looks clean, but crowded at the same time. I'd remove some features that soccer moms would never use, and maybe some of those long-winded text.
I think Daniel Smith has said it first and probably best. WHS needs to work with Windows Media Center. At very least it should be a focal point for storage of media, as well as TV recordings. Both products should be aware of and work with one another. The ability to use a USB tuner would be great for the WHS systems currently available. And of course, WHS systems with tuners built-in MUST BE in WHS 2.0
Also, RAID should be supported. And while you can build your own WHS box with RAID and it'd already work just fine, it needs to be better integrated in the pre-configured WHS systems like HP's.
cd /
rm -rf *
>How irritated are you that you can't just load up >WHS on any old PC
What are you talking about? Did you post this without actually looking at what is out there? Because you are working off the state of things 6 months ago. An OEM WHS is out now and the people I know who have it have went that route.
doesn't the thing already pool hard drives into a virtual fs? and there's built in redundancy. it may not be raid, but it's still redundancy.
and it is oem.
did anyone suggesting actually look at what the product is first?
"did anyone suggesting actually look at what the product is first?"
Your joking right? Then all the uneducated commenter's would have to go do something else to fill their day. I have found very few comments from people who have used the product so as I always say, an uneducated comment is just hot air that infects the weak minded.
Does WHS have a built in DHCP server?
Will it share an internet connection with other computers?
Ideally, I'd like for it to replace my router.
Does WHS have built in AHCI (SATA II) drivers? That's been a real pain with XP lately with some new machines I've had.
The current version of WHS disappoints me because of the need to have Vista Ultimate in order to do Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop is not supported in Vista Home Premium. Sigh...
The big addition I'd like to see in the next version of WHS or Ubuntu Home Server is Home Automation. I'd like to see the ability to control lighting, windows shades, audio/video distribution and video security cameras.
The WHS connector software allows you to remote desktop to your machine. I've been able to use Win2000, XP Pro, Vista Home premium and Ultimate. Correct me if I am wrong, but if you go to Start | Accessories on your Vista Home Premium, there should be a Windows Remote Desktop Connection icon for connections to a remote PC (if you are not using WHS).
According to the Windows Home Server website the two most prevelant operating systems Windows XP Home and Windows Vista Premium do not support Remote Access via Windows Home Server:
"You can connect remotely to the computers in your home and access all your files, even run applications, just as if you were sitting in front of your home computer.**
**To connect to one of your home computers via Remote Access, your home computer needs to be properly configured and running one of the following operating systems:
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Windows XP Tablet Edition with SP2
Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Enterprise",
Copied from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/features.mspx
There's an mControl plugin for WHS that should do exactly what you want, in terms of home automation. I wouldn't expect any sort of built-in software, though - there are too many home automation standards.
I can also confirm that I have no problems using remote desktop to get into WHS (RC) from Vista Home Premium. If your desktop OS supports Remote Desktop, there doesn't seem to be an issue.
KiwiDamo - you say that you have no problem using Remote Desktop to get into WHS. Please clarify if you can do the following:
From the internet at some public location can you use Remote Desktop to link to your WHS machine, start a Remote Access session from WHS to a Vista Home Premium machine in your home network and using Remote Access linked to the Vista Home Premium machine start an application on that machine. e.g. Excel or Outlook.
This is the scenario that I believe is not supported by Vista Home Premium or Windows XP Home. At least according to Microsoft on the WHS website.
You guys are talking about different things. Half of you are thinking you can't remote into WHS from VHP and the other half are asking if you can remote into VHP from WHS.
Media Center server - i.e. be able to stick your tuners in the box, and hide it away somewhere, then push to Xboxen and/or other Media Center PCs ('softsled').
No brainer, surely?
I was planning on just reading the comments and not necessarily reply but I just had to throw my 2 cents in. I have been using WHS for about 4 months stating with beta and then moving to OEM. I had an old LACIE network storage box running XP embedded which sucked bad so I put WHS on it. I would like more integration with mediacenter but i'm sure its coming. As part of being on beta and getting involved in WHS community, I have learned that MS just targeted 3-4 things out of 10 or so things that they wanted WHS to do. It is meant for families and not so tech savvy users who want the convienence of remote data access, backup and share. Building it on server 2003 platform is one of the best things they have done as it is easy for developers to port apps without redeveloping from ground up. I'm sure hardware manufacturers like HP and other will include apps/hardware in WHS to differentiate themselves. As always any MS 1.0 product feels not complete and this is no different but after a long time Microsoft is getting it and are updating/upgrading products to include better features in next gens. Here is the list of what I would like to see either by 3rd party or next gen.
1. better redundancy (like others have said raid-5 which you can do it on hardware raid but it is not MS supported and would like it not so user involved)
2. integration with WMC (webguide plugin is a good start but better integration with extenders and remote viewing)
3. integration with Zune(especially wireless syncing without PC)
4. backup non-MS OSs.
5. less intrusive backup(maybe kickon during downtime-less disk/cpu usage. Wouldn't like backup kicking on when i'm doing something with heavy disk/cpu usage.
6. Installable on Flash(like freenas and others) where don't have to worry about system reinstallation without hurting data. (i know it rather impossible as OS also does VSS and such)
7. I would like auto shutdown/startup based on time (my buffalo terastation live does it and its awesome)
8. Mapped UNC drives(i.e. use my teratation or any other old NAS drives as one of the drives)
9. Printer sharing(You can do it as its a 2003 server but not cleanly)
10. shared calendar/to-do lists/notes that sync to client(popup on changes, user selectable ofcourse)I'm sure someone will do it as a plugin soon.
Sorry for going little too long but here is a good link of all the available WHS plugins http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/windows-home-server-add-ins/
thanks.
I'm a photographer with huge storage needs. I've been working with RAID systems for years now (several Tbytes so far) and they are just too damned hard. I'm sick of RAID. They are great until something goes wrong and then it's a lot of serious work to get things back where it was... and you need matched hard drives which you might not be able to get later. I'm moving away from RAID toward systems like Drobo and WHS. I've ordered both. I hope I'm not making a mistake.
I still don't understand what it is, and why every home needs one...
For a first release, it ain't bad. In fact, it's pretty damn good, and nails the entire backup thing completely. So, yay for doing one thing very right!
IMHO, it makes the most sense to think in release cycles:
1. The next release, they should focus on media and TV support. Zune, Media Center, and UPnP, I'm thinking.
2. The cycle after that one, I'd like to see them integrate more communications functionality. I'm thinking that Exchange-like support for contacts and calendars, plus some sort of VoIP service (eg, through a stripped down version of Comms Server). Definitely use Live pass-thru for both, for remote usage.
After that, they could reiterate through the "backup, media, comms" loop to refine what they've got (eg, RAID support).
I used it for about 4 months now.
I have a old desktop running it with 500 GB disk. My family has 3 notebooks as clients to WHS. All of them with backup enabled to WHS.
1. backup causes notebooks to running very slow, sometimes freezing even the cursor. My perception it doesn't have any form of throttling in the client.
2. Notebooks go often into sleep mode and if backup was happening during that time, the backup fails. I have no notebook that stays on overnight, so with default backup times (midnight to 6 am) it never does backup.
3. I wish they offer MCE in WHS next release. It does make sense because: 1) it is a 24/7 machine with loads of storage; 2) extenders are becoming common (HP LCD TVs, XBOX 360, etc.) and we don't want more machines around consuming power.
Yes there is a DHCP server addon for it.
You can find that addon and a lot of others ones at
http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/windows-home-server-add-ins/
I'd try blending it.
I know a few people have argued that 'its not a replacement for MCE' but as someone who has all laptops in the house - I would love if it was. Laptops to do 'work' and an MCE/WHS appliance which sits under by TV.
Email is the killer function missing from this. Im guessing Microsoft didn't include it as it will start to move WHS towards the market of its Small Business Products. Be interesting to see if anyone writes an email add-in.
WHS needs an easy way to backup the entire WHS so the backup can be taken to another location. This backup must be a full backup of the home server including all the data on the shares and the client backups.
It is great that all my PCs are being backed up but what happens if there is a fire that burns my WHS and my Laptop. I lose everything so WE NEED backup of EVERYTHING that can be taken offsite ie TAPE ? DVD ? USB HD ?
I Still have to jump through hoops to make sure ALL my data is safe !
Put in "Exchange-lite", so that I can download my e-mails to a local server (yes, this does make sense) and provide a central calendar/bulletin board/to-do list for the family.
Let me load my TV tuner cards into this box so I don't have to keep my PC running all the time to record. Even better, let me stream this content elsewhere (a la Slingbox)
Can someone please list for me the apps I would need to make MCE 2005 behave EXACTLY like WHS??
I only have one extra system at the moment, and it's my MCE rig. All of my extra HDD's go into that box, along with all of my media (video, mp3's, photos, etc). Using my 360, TVsersity, and MCE, it's worked out OK so far. But, I REALLY want the simple backup power and monitoring that WHS offers as well!
Sooo...
Thanks ahead of time!
Make it more of a media/control hub for the entire home.
Add HDTuner/DVR support for 4 tuners and enable it so the content can be served up to any extender or PC ala an MCE interface. Other things that could be displayed from a central repository are RSS feeds, weather, etc... This functionaly is alredy what many MCE power users do today. But it's not necessary easy for the average Jane or Joe.
While we're at it, integrage WebGuide too so I can get my content remotely on another PC or my Mobile.
Home automation is the last thing that is clunky to centralize so far. I personally like mControl and their building something for home server so I guess we can leave that to them. :-)
I tried WHS beta and ran side by side with my Linux server on comparable hardware (pokey old RAID1 on Linux). No contest. The Linux server is faster at file handling. I'll stay with the penguin.
I built my own WHS using the Newegg method to the following specs:
3.2GHz Celeron D (65nm) - Considering underclocking
uATX ASUS motherboard
1GB RAM
3 500GB WD hard drives
1 DVD Burner (borrowed from other desktop to install WHS)
80Plus Power supply rated at 380W
Using my Kill-a-Watt meter, the unit pulls anywhere from 110W idle to 130W during backup, installation, and 100% CPU load. The idle is a little high for my taste.
Running my worst case numbers, assuming $0.13 per KWh:
(130W / 1000) * 24hours * 365days * $0.13KWh = $148.04 per year.
Yeah it may cost a little more to manufacture the equipment and buy it seperately instead of buying HP's box, but I was going to buy a backup solution anyway and if I'm going to drop $750 on the box, then $12.33 per month isn't that big of a hit to me.
My complaints are basically what everyone else has stated. Ability to place tuners on the box and use it as the Media Center recording device. It doesn't even need the fancy interface, just the ability to record shows. I guess I could do that myself with some 3rd party software and just stream the files to another device to play on the big screen, but integrated solutions are what Microsft is about. Maybe the next version...
Other complaint is the backup time. I've got my desktop and the WHS connected to the same Gb switch and my desktop during backup sessions doesn't even break 1% utilization of the available network. What gives???
I want one simple thing-
When connecting to folder shares remotely over the Internet I would like to be able to have a thumbnail view of my image files. It is impossible to find anything otherwise.
I thought it was an April Fools joke. Since Bill seems to not want anyone developing for it (not on the MSDN site) or to be able to support it (not available to TechNet) one would have to assume that he is selling it as a joke.
For some reason mine has never stopped balancing. I have 8 TB of storage and otherwise think it's a useful product.
I've used the OEM WHS for about 2 months now and overall find it a fantasic system. I installed it on $400 hardware (1gig ram, 4400 X2, and 6 500G WD drives), it was simple piece of cake stuff.
I would like some minor changes (the fall xbox update solves alot of DivX type requests etc) for backup and bare metal for the ACTUAL WHS machine - once you migrate all your data off your workstations, the WHS machines becomes FAR more important to restore.
I would like a disk perf monitor and balancing options (as I don't want it balancing when I want to copy over 200 gig of data or are watching movies).
It 100% needs PerfectDisk for defrags (pretty cheap at $39.95) and anti virus wouldn't go astray.
Overall I am sold. I spent hours mucking around each week copying my work and 'home' data to a Nas or shared workstation. This is just easy and my wife knows exactly where the music, photos, her data is.
Remote access if simple and 'just works'. The new $100 free domain certificate is a great bonus.
I will definately buy WHS 2.0.
Make sure your disks are COOL as it will cook them otherwise (keep the warranties too) as it works them hard with balancing, mirroring, disk checks.
One issue is that if you have 2+ terrabytes of data, when a drive dies, it can take hours and hours to remove the drive from the system (while it copies all the files off to other drives). I would make sure you have 1-2 times the dying drives size available to make sure you don't loose any files off the stuffed drive and to 'speed' the balancing that will result.
Overall a life saving, useful tool from MS that will only improve. Just remember it's a backup, server solution. Since when have people heard about servers with TV tuners in them?? Maybe it's 'the future'!
9 Stars
It definitely needed more memory on the EX470 media smart version of windows home server. I added a 2G stick of ram for $69 and it was much happier. It was pretty interesting upgrading the EX470. Go to http://homeserver.netartifex.com if you want to see how I did it.
Since it is essentially windows server 2003 you can run just about all the applications that you might like on it once you add that memory.