How would you change Windows Home Server?
By Darren Murph 
posted November 16th 2007 7:56PM
posted November 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.
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.