Windows Home Server 1.0 finished, code goes RTM - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

hugh · 2007-07-16, 03:12 PM

Microsoft announced today that Windows Home Server has been released to manufacturing (RTM). Major Microsoft partners will be receiving final code in the coming weeks, which means we'll start seeing official server products based on Windows Home Server sometime in September.

I'm very interested in this product and look forward to the possibility of loading up an older PC with it.

Here is a good overview from Arstechnica

BHoward · 2007-07-16, 08:38 PM

I have been using this since Beta 2 thru CTP and RC1. This a nice piece of software ... again targeted at non-geek families with 2 or more PC's.

Yes ... I know ... for all you linux people, it can be all done there, but this is not the aim of the product. And since it is by MS, you can all hate it right away

I have 4.4TB attched to it filed with my movies (non replicated of course), my music, my photos, all my documents, etc.

Very easy to build a 2TB appliance that manages documents, backup of client PC's, stream music and photos, etc.

I really like it and will stay with it for awhile

I_Want_My_HDTV · 2007-07-16, 11:31 PM

This is a solution to a problem that MS created. That is, missing networking capability in most versions of Windows, especially home versions. Older versions of Windows (NT, 2000) supported up to 5 PCs as a server, plenty for most home networks. Later versions have even that capability removed. Now people must buy another operating system and PC to do what should be built in to the O/S. But wait, it is.

MS just cripples the workstation O/S to sell more copies of the same software. I guess 50$billion in the banks isn't enough.

hugh · 2007-07-17, 07:13 AM

Thanks for the rant, now can we stick to the topic at hand please.

BHoward · 2007-07-17, 08:04 AM

Well, I was using WinXP Pro for my server before WHS came along. You really had to know what you were doing to establish a home server

How to create mirrors
How to mount an NTFS drive in a folder
How to create backups and manage them
How to stream music, photos, etc

Too bad people dismiss products out of hand without any investigation or by actually trying the product.

With WHS you can
- Mix any type of hard drives of any size, type and maker. They are added to a storage pool that WHS manages
- Add users and security with a very simple interface
- Add as manny shared folders as you want
- Turn on replication for any folder. This will ensure that a file is stored of 2 separate phyical drives
- Automated backups of client PC's.
- There is an Extension API for developer to add new fucntionality

This is very much like NAS but does so much more. Try it Hugh, you just might like it.

hugh · 2007-07-17, 09:32 AM

I definitely will!

I have a lot of hard drives and external drives in my home. (please don't ask how many!)

I have tried a lot of different solutions but I always wanted a simple solution that could do what WHS promises.

My biggest thought now is what hardware and power management?

Do you have a tower case with lots of drive bays?
I would like to actively manage power consumption by having this puppy go into standby when not in use such as overnight since I can see it being a power hog.
I'd also like to have remote access so I can put this puppy in a cool spot in the basement and access it from my other PC's.

jacksparrow · 2007-07-17, 10:26 AM

Yes I have a PC with a few drive bays. Hugh what are you doing with all those HDs?

BHoward · 2007-07-17, 10:32 AM

I have mine sitting om 2 shelves in the basement. Here is the config

Asus P4S800D-E motherboard
Intel 2.8B
4 x 256mb P3200 ram
2 x Promise SATA300 TX4
Seasonic 600w PSU (Modular)
DVD rom
4 x 120mm fans
ATI 9200 video card
5 x 500gb sata
2 x 320gb sata
1 x 160gb sata
1 x 300gb IDE
4 x 200gb IDE
UPS 550w
15" LCD Monitor
MS Keyboard and Mouse

If you are using older hardware (like mine) then the C: drive must be the primary IDE. If that is the case, ensure that you have at lease a 300gb, better to have 500gb as that drive.

Older motherboards do not have the proper power management and cheaper IO boards like the Promise are also lacking. But I did "measure" my server thru the UPS. With the monitor off, I am sucking only 210w of power. With the monitor on, it is 270w. In therory, once setup, you can turn off the monitor and unplug the Keyboard/Mouse. The console provided in really good and you can use Remote Access to get to the computer.

hugh · 2007-07-17, 10:40 AM

The more I think about it, the more likely I am to buy newer hardware and maybe recycle some older components such as memory and DVD drive.

I would need a need a bigger case with good cooling fans since I would likely have about six drives. Most of my PC's now have two or more drives and sometimes an external so I could rationalize that and stuff some of the those drives in the server.

I would definitely go with replication so that I had backups of everything.

Jake · 2007-07-17, 12:39 PM

Quote:

5 x 500gb sata
2 x 320gb sata
1 x 160gb sata
1 x 300gb IDE
4 x 200gb IDE

Dude that is 4.4TB! You could archive over 100 HD-DVDs, or 600 DVDs, or 1,000,000 MP3s or 2,000,000 camera pictures.

stampeder · 2007-07-17, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jake

Dude that is 4.4TB! You could archive over 100 HD-DVDs, or 600 DVDs, or 1,000,000 MP3s or 2,000,000 camera pictures.

But if he runs all of them together at once the neighbours will report a grow-op generator running all the time!

hugh · 2007-07-17, 12:48 PM

Since I replicate, I expect to also have several terabytes. I was thinking maybe starting off with 4 x 500GB eSata drives with a few older 250GB drives.

I suspect a lot of BHowards space is movies. At 8 or 9gb a movie, it adds up!

KingBuzzo · 2007-07-17, 01:01 PM

I have been running the Beta for a while now.

I wish it had a better backup software than the one built-in (NT Backup).

In addition to server storage, I want to be able to store my most important stuff off-site.

Other than that, I like what I see...

BHoward · 2007-07-17, 01:21 PM

Yep ... 4.4TB ... kinda nice

I have, in Replicated Folder
- All our documents
- All our Home movies
- All our Music
- All our Photos

In non Replicated folder
- Over 400 DVD rips
- 30 HD DVD rips
- 10 Blu-Ray ISO's
- All backups of the 3 Vista computers
Still have 1.34TB of disk space left.

My network has a Sympatico Modem/Router for IP assignment
2 x Gigabit 4 port Switches
WHS server
My Personal PC
My Wife's Computer
HTPC
Canon i4000R network Printer
MediaGate MG-35
XBOX 360

All PC are running Vista. I love the entire setup

jacksparrow · 2007-07-17, 01:52 PM

WHS is pretty damned sweet. The ability to add storage just by plugging in additional drives and have it all show up as one big virtual drive is awesome. It automatically spreads out your data so that if a drive fails, you're OK. All without the complexity of RAID. They will probably add off-site backup features via Live Drive, and in the mean time you can use things like iDrive.

Add to this the remote access features, and the already awesome array of add-ins (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/whs-add-ins/), and this is gonna be a huge winner.

If Microsoft comes out with an update for the Xbox 360 that lets you use your Home Server as a storage location... game over.

2007-07-16, 03:12 PM	#1
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	Windows Home Server 1.0 finished, code goes RTM Microsoft announced today that Windows Home Server has been released to manufacturing (RTM). Major Microsoft partners will be receiving final code in the coming weeks, which means we'll start seeing official server products based on Windows Home Server sometime in September. I'm very interested in this product and look forward to the possibility of loading up an older PC with it. Here is a good overview from Arstechnica __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2007-07-17, 07:13 AM	#4
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	Thanks for the rant, now can we stick to the topic at hand please. __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2007-07-17, 09:32 AM	#6
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	I definitely will! I have a lot of hard drives and external drives in my home. (please don't ask how many!) I have tried a lot of different solutions but I always wanted a simple solution that could do what WHS promises. My biggest thought now is what hardware and power management? Do you have a tower case with lots of drive bays? I would like to actively manage power consumption by having this puppy go into standby when not in use such as overnight since I can see it being a power hog. I'd also like to have remote access so I can put this puppy in a cool spot in the basement and access it from my other PC's. __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2007-07-17, 10:40 AM	#9
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	The more I think about it, the more likely I am to buy newer hardware and maybe recycle some older components such as memory and DVD drive. I would need a need a bigger case with good cooling fans since I would likely have about six drives. Most of my PC's now have two or more drives and sometimes an external so I could rationalize that and stuff some of the those drives in the server. I would definitely go with replication so that I had backups of everything. __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2007-07-17, 12:48 PM	#12
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	Since I replicate, I expect to also have several terabytes. I was thinking maybe starting off with 4 x 500GB eSata drives with a few older 250GB drives. I suspect a lot of BHowards space is movies. At 8 or 9gb a movie, it adds up! __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2007-07-16, 08:38 PM	#2
BHoward Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ottawa,Ont,Canada Posts: 921	I have been using this since Beta 2 thru CTP and RC1. This a nice piece of software ... again targeted at non-geek families with 2 or more PC's. Yes ... I know ... for all you linux people, it can be all done there, but this is not the aim of the product. And since it is by MS, you can all hate it right away I have 4.4TB attched to it filed with my movies (non replicated of course), my music, my photos, all my documents, etc. Very easy to build a 2TB appliance that manages documents, backup of client PC's, stream music and photos, etc. I really like it and will stay with it for awhile

2007-07-16, 11:31 PM	#3
I_Want_My_HDTV . Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: London, ON Posts: 6,297	This is a solution to a problem that MS created. That is, missing networking capability in most versions of Windows, especially home versions. Older versions of Windows (NT, 2000) supported up to 5 PCs as a server, plenty for most home networks. Later versions have even that capability removed. Now people must buy another operating system and PC to do what should be built in to the O/S. But wait, it is. MS just cripples the workstation O/S to sell more copies of the same software. I guess 50$billion in the banks isn't enough.

2007-07-17, 08:04 AM	#5
BHoward Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ottawa,Ont,Canada Posts: 921	Well, I was using WinXP Pro for my server before WHS came along. You really had to know what you were doing to establish a home server How to create mirrors How to mount an NTFS drive in a folder How to create backups and manage them How to stream music, photos, etc Too bad people dismiss products out of hand without any investigation or by actually trying the product. With WHS you can - Mix any type of hard drives of any size, type and maker. They are added to a storage pool that WHS manages - Add users and security with a very simple interface - Add as manny shared folders as you want - Turn on replication for any folder. This will ensure that a file is stored of 2 separate phyical drives - Automated backups of client PC's. - There is an Extension API for developer to add new fucntionality This is very much like NAS but does so much more. Try it Hugh, you just might like it.

2007-07-17, 10:26 AM	#7
jacksparrow Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Southern Ontario Posts: 1,066	Yes I have a PC with a few drive bays. Hugh what are you doing with all those HDs?

2007-07-17, 10:32 AM	#8
BHoward Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ottawa,Ont,Canada Posts: 921	I have mine sitting om 2 shelves in the basement. Here is the config Asus P4S800D-E motherboard Intel 2.8B 4 x 256mb P3200 ram 2 x Promise SATA300 TX4 Seasonic 600w PSU (Modular) DVD rom 4 x 120mm fans ATI 9200 video card 5 x 500gb sata 2 x 320gb sata 1 x 160gb sata 1 x 300gb IDE 4 x 200gb IDE UPS 550w 15" LCD Monitor MS Keyboard and Mouse If you are using older hardware (like mine) then the C: drive must be the primary IDE. If that is the case, ensure that you have at lease a 300gb, better to have 500gb as that drive. Older motherboards do not have the proper power management and cheaper IO boards like the Promise are also lacking. But I did "measure" my server thru the UPS. With the monitor off, I am sucking only 210w of power. With the monitor on, it is 270w. In therory, once setup, you can turn off the monitor and unplug the Keyboard/Mouse. The console provided in really good and you can use Remote Access to get to the computer.

2007-07-17, 01:01 PM	#13
KingBuzzo Join Date: May 2007 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Posts: 273	I have been running the Beta for a while now. I wish it had a better backup software than the one built-in (NT Backup). In addition to server storage, I want to be able to store my most important stuff off-site. Other than that, I like what I see...

2007-07-17, 01:21 PM	#14
BHoward Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ottawa,Ont,Canada Posts: 921	Yep ... 4.4TB ... kinda nice I have, in Replicated Folder - All our documents - All our Home movies - All our Music - All our Photos In non Replicated folder - Over 400 DVD rips - 30 HD DVD rips - 10 Blu-Ray ISO's - All backups of the 3 Vista computers Still have 1.34TB of disk space left. My network has a Sympatico Modem/Router for IP assignment 2 x Gigabit 4 port Switches WHS server My Personal PC My Wife's Computer HTPC Canon i4000R network Printer MediaGate MG-35 XBOX 360 All PC are running Vista. I love the entire setup

2007-07-17, 01:52 PM	#15
jacksparrow Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Southern Ontario Posts: 1,066	WHS is pretty damned sweet. The ability to add storage just by plugging in additional drives and have it all show up as one big virtual drive is awesome. It automatically spreads out your data so that if a drive fails, you're OK. All without the complexity of RAID. They will probably add off-site backup features via Live Drive, and in the mean time you can use things like iDrive. Add to this the remote access features, and the already awesome array of add-ins (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/whs-add-ins/), and this is gonna be a huge winner. If Microsoft comes out with an update for the Xbox 360 that lets you use your Home Server as a storage location... game over.

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