Windows Home Server

swatbat said:
My notebook has a legit copy of enterprise on it(first one not r2).

Home server is running 2k3 std right now. Would try home server but really don't feel like downgrading.

Still I see this as a real nice setup for homes with multiple machines. I'm sure I'll end up having to learn it at somepoint.
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Actually WHS is a stripped down version of Small Business Server.
 
saintrobyn said:
Actually WHS is a stripped down version of Small Business Server.
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Small business server is pretty much a watered down version of std with exchange and whatnot included. Great system(most of our clients use sbs).

Right now my next upgrade is going to be to load get a copy of 2003 64 bit and load it with exchange 07 on my home server.
 
Well this weekend I just tried to get it running. I used a 120gb drive for the install and had 2 other sata drives plugged in. A 250GB and a 500GB. During the install it wanted me to click "I acknowledge that all data on all drives will be lost..." I shut the pc down and uplugged the other two drives. Got WHS installed on the 120. Poked around a bit, then shut down. Plugged the 250GB drive in to see how it would react to a new drive. Well, the computer went through post loaded up WHS and flashed to the login page and restarted. Did this with the 500gb drive as well. Im stumped. I was really looking forward to spending all day sunday messing with this but now I cant. I reinstalled my old 80gb drive with XP and everything works flawlessly. Ill tackle it again this weekend or week if I have time.
 
hity645 said:
Well this weekend I just tried to get it running. I used a 120gb drive for the install and had 2 other sata drives plugged in. A 250GB and a 500GB. During the install it wanted me to click "I acknowledge that all data on all drives will be lost..." I shut the pc down and uplugged the other two drives. Got WHS installed on the 120. Poked around a bit, then shut down. Plugged the 250GB drive in to see how it would react to a new drive. Well, the computer went through post loaded up WHS and flashed to the login page and restarted. Did this with the 500gb drive as well. Im stumped. I was really looking forward to spending all day sunday messing with this but now I cant. I reinstalled my old 80gb drive with XP and everything works flawlessly. Ill tackle it again this weekend or week if I have time.
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Amongst other things: when you do reinstall, install on the largest drive. WHS at the moment has limitations in transferring data that would fill up whatever drive it's installed on.
 
Is that for copying and pasting data to a network drive or for both that and the backup feature? That was part of the reason I tried to get WHS installed on a 120. It was perfect for leaving me with 100GB free space after a 10GB install/partition.
 
Sweet, thats what this thread needed, some pics!! :)
Thanks for taking the time to post them up.
 
Has anyone had a chance to measure throughput from the WHS to another box on the network?

I have WHS but have been so busy I haven't had time to install it yet.
 
I just realized I never heard back from my beta invite request. Hmmmm.
 
swatbat said:
Small business server is pretty much a watered down version of std with exchange and whatnot included.
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What's watered down? Seems to me that it uses exactly the same binaries as server 2003 std.
 
pigster said:
What's watered down? Seems to me that it uses exactly the same binaries as server 2003 std.
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Fine feature limited. It has a lot more restrictions in place that std doesn't.

Considering how much cheaper it is though it is a no brainer for smaller organizations.
 
The only thing I can see WHS falling short of is media center extender capabilities. I have my server running Vista Ultimate so I can run Media Center on my 360. With MyMovies, I get a nice listing of my ripped DVD's complete with covers, ratings, cast, etc.
 
One thing that I keep wondering is if MS will allow this to run other software. Either in the background or have add-ons for the console. No reason you couldn't have symantec, nod, or whatever with a home user managed version of their software that would run off this. That would be real cool. Maybe throw a usb modem on it and have it act as the homes answering machine as it will be on 24/7.

I would love to see this be more then just file storage and backup(which is a great start)
 
I would like to install the SageTV back end to this, or some other media center software. I've got a spare box from school, but I haven't had time to install WHS yet. I'd ultimately like to run the box as an HTPC, but I think having WHS in the background would be best for my particular purpose. I've got a 74 gig Raptor and a 400 gig WD SE16 in my main rig. I bought a Seagate 500 gigi 7200.10 in anticipation of buying a Mac Pro desktop, but they haven't updated them yet. So I was going to pull the existing 80 gig from the spare box and install the 500 gig for WHS.

Spring break is next week so I'll have time to pull out the old box and install and play with WHS.
 
Not to revive an old thread, but...the WHS CTP is now available to those invited to join. Invitations can be requested at http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer

They should be opening up the ranks quite a bit more than they did for Beta 2, as they've addressed a lot of annoying bugs. Still some issues/missing features (the connector doesn't work in 64-bit operating systems) but all in all, I'm quite impressed so far...we'll see if I'm still thinking that in a few days once I get it up and running as a media server... :)
 
LhasaCM said:
Not to revive an old thread, but...the WHS CTP is now available to those invited to join. Invitations can be requested at http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer

They should be opening up the ranks quite a bit more than they did for Beta 2, as they've addressed a lot of annoying bugs. Still some issues/missing features (the connector doesn't work in 64-bit operating systems) but all in all, I'm quite impressed so far...we'll see if I'm still thinking that in a few days once I get it up and running as a media server... :)
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I just did an upgrade to the CTP release and it was pretty painless. The only thing I had to do was add back in the User accounts. After that everything was back up and running perfectly.
 
Is WHS eventually going to be sold OEM-style? Because if it is, I'm gonna take that Pentium D 830 and ECS 945-P and turn it into a complete system...
 
Sovereign said:
Is WHS eventually going to be sold OEM-style? Because if it is, I'm gonna take that Pentium D 830 and ECS 945-P and turn it into a complete system...
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Yes - the plan is to have it available as a pre-built system from OEMs (like HP) and as a standalone product for DIYers. Delivery sometime in the second half of the year, if all goes well. Pricing is still a big question mark...
 
Real quick question towards those that have been in beta 2.
I just got my invite last night, and I was wondering since this is in beta, should I put any "real important" data on these disks in this server running this OS? I mean, do I stand to loose it all since it is in testing?

Just curious.. I have additional disks with no data on them, that I could use instead of my pair of 250gb sata drives loaded with all my important data.

Thanks!
 
hyt3k9 said:
Real quick question towards those that have been in beta 2.
I just got my invite last night, and I was wondering since this is in beta, should I put any "real important" data on these disks in this server running this OS? I mean, do I stand to loose it all since it is in testing?

Just curious.. I have additional disks with no data on them, that I could use instead of my pair of 250gb sata drives loaded with all my important data.

Thanks!
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You'll need to use blank drives when setting up - at installation, any plugged in drives are erased. Also, there have been a few isolated cases where people have lost their data due to a problem with the drive extender used. I wouldn't (nor do I) trust anything irreplacable on there at this point...also, since there's likely to be another pre-release version (i.e., a Release Candidate) prior to final, and since the upgrade process has not worked for everyone this time around (from beta 2 to CTP), I wouldn't risk it.

But then again, that's true of any system - anything "real important" shouldn't be in just one place...
 
still wondering what would be the point of this if someone was tech savy enough to install SBS, and if they weren't would they have enough knowledge to set this up and use all the features? While i havent gotten my invitation yet, i dont see what this is accomplishing that a standard xp/2k box setup as a fileserver wouldn't.
 
lAciDl said:
still wondering what would be the point of this if someone was tech savy enough to install SBS, and if they weren't would they have enough knowledge to set this up and use all the features? While i havent gotten my invitation yet, i dont see what this is accomplishing that a standard xp/2k box setup as a fileserver wouldn't.
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This is aimed for home networks where most people would not spend the 400 bucks on a copy of sbs. Also this is going to be easer to setup and configure. They are for 2 different markets.
 
ill just have to try it and hold my opinion till after. is the setup and configuration very "let me hold your hand while we do everything" type?
 
lAciDl said:
ill just have to try it and hold my opinion till after. is the setup and configuration very "let me hold your hand while we do everything" type?
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Very much so - the creation of network shares and setting up security is quite simplified, as well as the automated system backups (i.e., backup any Windows XP/Vista PCs on the home network automatically).

Disk management is also very simplified - by default, everything goes into a huge storage pool that the OS "balances" across different physical drives. If you turn on folder duplication, a second copy of each file is stored on a separate physical drive. However, it does away with having a zillion drive letters, and eases the installation/upgrade of the server's hard drive (if adding, just pop it in, add it to the pool, and voila!)

Paul Thurott's site has a nice pair of photo galleries walking people through the installation process (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/whs_b2_gallery.asp) and the client installation/configuration processes (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/whs_b2_gallery_02.asp)
 
swatbat said:
This is aimed for home networks where most people would not spend the 400 bucks on a copy of sbs. Also this is going to be easer to setup and configure. They are for 2 different markets.
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Precisely - this is really aimed at the market of semi-tech savvy people who have a bunch of PCs networked at home and want to easily share files and backup systems by buying an inexpensive box (i.e., the same price as a low end PC), plugging it in, and being done.

The DIY market for this product will be interesting to see - it appeals to me because it should be cheaper than SBS, and at home, I really don't want to have to be "server admin" that often so I like having it dumbed down enough, at least for the simple stuff like adding users/configuring shares. At least in the Beta 2/CTP releases, enough power is there under the hood that more fun can be had. (I'm using it as my Sage server box, and others have installed IIS or Sharepoint for use in web hosting...)
 
LhasaCM said:
...(i.e., backup any Windows XP/Vista PCs on the home network automatically).
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I should've pointed out - at this time, the Home Server Console does not work with 64-bit versions of Windows. (Network shares still work, and you can always use Remote Desktop to poke around, but the automated backup does not function.)
 
I've got server 2003 enterprise already but am in the beta program for this. Am I gaining any functionality? I don't care much about the 360 extending as I don't use any media that uses any of MS's crap formats. Other than that, is home server going to get me anything? I was thinking of running it in a VM.
 
lAciDl said:
still wondering what would be the point of this if someone was tech savy enough to install SBS, and if they weren't would they have enough knowledge to set this up and use all the features? While i havent gotten my invitation yet, i dont see what this is accomplishing that a standard xp/2k box setup as a fileserver wouldn't.
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It makes it easier to create network shares, and includes automated backup for every pc on the network. IMHO its much better than an XP/2k box serving as a server.
 
LhasaCM said:
I should've pointed out - at this time, the Home Server Console does not work with 64-bit versions of Windows. (Network shares still work, and you can always use Remote Desktop to poke around, but the automated backup does not function.)
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Boy that about fucking sucks...ugh...
 
LhasaCM said:
I should've pointed out - at this time, the Home Server Console does not work with 64-bit versions of Windows. (Network shares still work, and you can always use Remote Desktop to poke around, but the automated backup does not function.)
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Ouch - Oh well, I can give 'er a whirl on my 32bit business box 'til they sort the mess out. Hadn't seen that in the tech sheets, but I guess that's cause I skimmed them until i as ready to set up.
 
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