WHS alternatives - What will you be switching to?

Matt897

Weaksauce
Joined
May 4, 2010
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87
As we all know.....Microsoft has decided to pull DE - Drive Extender from its next release of Windows Home Server code named "VAIL".

To me and a lot of other users DE was the core of the product and without it, makes it seemingly useless as there are plenty of alternatives most of which are either free or inexpensive.

As support for WHS V1 will likely fall behind, I can bet a lot of users will be changing their setups to accommodate either V2 or an alternative system.

Personally the most important ingredients to this OS was its ability to pool drives and its awesome/simplistic network backup. I've invested over the years in odd sized drives ranging from 500 gigs through to 2Tb so raid is not a solution for me - and I assume isn't a solution for many people.

My questions to everyone is:
1: What O/S/Software would you switch to and why.
2: Will it pool drives or will you switch to a RAID solution?
3: What network backup solution would you use?
 
I switched to Server 2008 R2 and FlexRAID. I was always worried about the robustness of DE - afraid it would get screwed up and I'd lose my data.
 
Linux, with MD RAID, that's what I currently use.

Eventually I want to try Open Filer for my storage needs and have iSCSI to my server(s) so the server(s) can be "stand alone" aka no dynamic data on them other then the OS.

I would never trust a proprietary M$ setup with my data. At least something like Linux MD Raid is open and supported by a large community.
 
I don't run WHS, but as an alternative you may want to look at Amahi Home Server. It does pretty much everything that WHS does, and a few more things besides. It includes Greyhole which is essentially the equivalent of Drive Extender.
 
Greyhole is still beta and quite complex to use, wouldn't trust production data to it. Keep using WHSv1 if that's important, there are no real alternatives. It will still work, there's no reason to upgrade. The only other drive pooling solution that works with drives of mixed sizes and is easy to use is unRAID.

If you just need client pc backups, run WHS virtualized under Hyper-V. If you are a Linux expert, there are other options.
 
I plan to stick with WHS v1 until it gets where I need drives and can't find compatible ones.

DE is the only reason I went with WHS. I got tired of spreading my media across multiple drives.
 
I switched to Server 2008 R2 and FlexRAID. I was always worried about the robustness of DE - afraid it would get screwed up and I'd lose my data.

I'm thinking i'm gonna switch over to that too....seems like the best of both worlds really - still need to figure out a network backup solution that i'd be happy with. I really would miss the incremental backups with drive imaging
 
I don't run WHS, but as an alternative you may want to look at Amahi Home Server. It does pretty much everything that WHS does, and a few more things besides. It includes Greyhole which is essentially the equivalent of Drive Extender.

You know its funny....before I had WHS i tried endlessly to get Amahi running on my box but couldn't get the thing to accept my unique ID doesn't it run on the older Fedora 12 or have they upgraded it to 14?
 
I'm thinking i'm gonna switch over to that too....seems like the best of both worlds really - still need to figure out a network backup solution that i'd be happy with. I really would miss the incremental backups with drive imaging

Yeah, for now I'm just running a scheduled backup using the Win 7 backup tool, but it isn't very elegant. I'd run a virtual WHS, but I guess the old CPU I have in my server isn't support for virtualization.
 
sticking it out with WHS till i run out of space and can't upgrade to 4TB anymore. by that time, Amahi should be mature or someone else would have alrady developed some drive pooling/DE alternative.
 
Staying with WHSv1 until Microsoft fixes V2.

Then if that doesnt happen, gonna stay with V1 until they yank it from my cold dead hands....:D


If that doesnt work, meh, probably Freenas.
 
Yeah, for now I'm just running a scheduled backup using the Win 7 backup tool, but it isn't very elegant. I'd run a virtual WHS, but I guess the old CPU I have in my server isn't support for virtualization.

Well for hyper-v I suppose it couldn't but something like virtualbox might suit your server in the meantime. Currently my setup is a hyper-v WHS but i'm getting awful streaming issues where videos randomly conk-out and I can't seem to fix it
 
Staying with WHSv1 until Microsoft fixes V2.

Then if that doesnt happen, gonna stay with V1 until they yank it from my cold dead hands....:D


If that doesnt work, meh, probably Freenas.

sticking it out with WHS till i run out of space and can't upgrade to 4TB anymore. by that time, Amahi should be mature or someone else would have alrady developed some drive pooling/DE alternative.

I don't blame either of you, i'm just concerned that Microsoft will pull the plug in the next couple of months in terms of updates - and I rather upgrade now while my server is only a couple of tbs of data before I end up with 10 or more and I need to figure out how to move it - while recycling the drives for the new server.
 
Currently my setup is a hyper-v WHS but i'm getting awful streaming issues where videos randomly conk-out and I can't seem to fix it

I have a similar problem with a WHS as a Hyper-V VM with all drives in the pool setup as pass-through drives direct to WHS. It works fine "most" of the time, but it's annoying enough that I am considering going back to a bare-metal install of WHS.
 
I don't blame either of you, i'm just concerned that Microsoft will pull the plug in the next couple of months in terms of updates.

According to Microsoft's own Support Lifecycle post, WHS v1 will be supported through 1/8/2013. So at a minimum, you should be able to continue using your product with decent updates/support for the next 2 years. I am pretty sure it would cause more problems than it's worth for Microsoft to just "pull the plug" any time before this date.
 
According to Microsoft's own Support Lifecycle post, WHS v1 will be supported through 1/8/2013. So at a minimum, you should be able to continue using your product with decent updates/support for the next 2 years. I am pretty sure it would cause more problems than it's worth for Microsoft to just "pull the plug" any time before this date.

hmmm, something to think about....It's just annoying because as a geek, knowing that its already built on technology from roughly 2003 its already going on 8 years old even though it wasn't released until much later.

I have a similar problem with a WHS as a Hyper-V VM with all drives in the pool setup as pass-through drives direct to WHS. It works fine "most" of the time, but it's annoying enough that I am considering going back to a bare-metal install of WHS.

Really? I figured I had some sort of driver issue, but I can't seem to figure out the problem. At first it wouldn't even let me copy over large files as the connection would time-out. After doing a ton of research I started a large copy and ran to the machine and watched the network lights. After about 30 seconds the lights on the Nic completely died and then came back on - for some reason it was losing connectivity. I then swapped pci slots and rearranged the nics on the software side of things (I have 3 total) to try to right the problem - which I did. The only problem remains now is streaming where it'll screw up atleast once during a full length movie but I can't catch it in the act of turning off the nic.

Mine too uses hard drives on pass through
 
I am also sticking with WHS v1. Does everything that I need it to do and really no complaints.
 
I'm thinking about UnRaid Plus running under ESXi and a WHS VM to do PC backups in the house.
 
i have been looking at running Hyper V with WHS Vail RTM when it is out for remote access and backups and Server 2008 with flexraid for storage and maybe even a W7 VM for my homeseer server
 
Sticking to V1, but if it comes down to it, I'll just go back to FreeNAS. I've been wanting to build a new file server from scratch anyway.
 
Server 2008R2 with a RocketRAID 4310. 4x 2TB RAID5.

I'll use the same hardware as my current WHS which is my old Q6600 gaming rig w/ 8GB of RAM.
 
Server 2008R2 with a RocketRAID 4310. 4x 2TB RAID5

I've considered going with something like this. When I started with WHS, I had a hodge-podge of hard drives that I used. Since then, I've basically cycled out and retired several of my 250gb/500gb hdd's, and am now down to 5x2TB, and 5x1TB drives.

Because my remaining drives are two sets of the same brand/model/sizes, moving to two RAID5 arrays would be fairly nice -- plus I could get some added performance with a decent hardware raid card.

The main problem is that I am fairly tapped for space, and finding a way to migrate the data from the current pool to a new raid array all while using the same set of hardware may prove to be a bit challenging without adding in a decent amount of new hdd's to use as a temporary medium.

Any suggestions on the best migration path, or at least the easiest?

Fortunately, knowing that WHSv1 will be supported until 2013 allows me to feel fairly secure sticking with WHSv1 for awhile. I will probably have to wait until the timing is right to phase out the 1TB drives with larger drives, and worry about a 'new' solution then.
 
I am in the same situation. For me I need to get off WHS ASAP because I have demigrator.exe problems that are causing huge lag for a game server i am hosting on the same machine.

I don't use DE for replication. I have an adaptec 5405 raid5 array. So not a huge loss there. I definitely was thinking of running WHS in a VM to keep the centralized backup feature. possibly only keeping WHS for that sole purpose and leave the file serving to server 2008 R2

One of my major problems with this solution is the cost. server 2008 R2 is more than 6x the price of WHS. Which i really cant afford. I am looking into server 2008 R2 Foundation as a possible solution for myself. I have to research its limitations a bit more though.
 
Server 2008R2 with a RocketRAID 4310. 4x 2TB RAID5.

I'll use the same hardware as my current WHS which is my old Q6600 gaming rig w/ 8GB of RAM.

Now that is a darn good idea. I might be making the change soon. I am currently running vail beta v2 which is fine for most of what I do. But, I need to get off it soon.
 
I am in the same situation. For me I need to get off WHS ASAP because I have demigrator.exe problems that are causing huge lag for a game server i am hosting on the same machine.

I don't use DE for replication. I have an adaptec 5405 raid5 array. So not a huge loss there. I definitely was thinking of running WHS in a VM to keep the centralized backup feature. possibly only keeping WHS for that sole purpose and leave the file serving to server 2008 R2

One of my major problems with this solution is the cost. server 2008 R2 is more than 6x the price of WHS. Which i really cant afford. I am looking into server 2008 R2 Foundation as a possible solution for myself. I have to research its limitations a bit more though.
-- You can create a bat file to disable DE during prime time. and re-enable it at night.



I wish I had an answer. I need to have

1) DE to create a dynamic storage pool that shows as one drive.
2) DE to allow me to keep some data redundant while other data is not.
3) Incremental nightly backups of all other PC's

But I also need support for 2TB hard drives. I filled all 6 SATA ports with 1 TB's and already bought an add in card for an additional 2 1TB drives.

DE causes me problems as well though, I have a script disable it 16 hours out of the day while using WHS, otherwise my media will skip and hang if DE kicks in while streaming.

All windows had to do to make WHS near perfect was
1) Allow support for extended format drives.
2) Allow users to set DE's process for writing redundant data and cleanup (to prevent it from kicking in while streaming).

I guess I'm stuck with 8TB indefinitely. I really wanted to upgrade with 2TB drives replacing my 1TB drives...
 
no one doing zfs?

I haven't done much research on it........it seems to be difficult to get going? I tried in Freenas to get it going smooth, but i always ran into issues with it

-- You can create a bat file to disable DE during prime time. and re-enable it at night.



I wish I had an answer. I need to have

1) DE to create a dynamic storage pool that shows as one drive.
2) DE to allow me to keep some data redundant while other data is not.
3) Incremental nightly backups of all other PC's

But I also need support for 2TB hard drives. I filled all 6 SATA ports with 1 TB's and already bought an add in card for an additional 2 1TB drives.

DE causes me problems as well though, I have a script disable it 16 hours out of the day while using WHS, otherwise my media will skip and hang if DE kicks in while streaming.

All windows had to do to make WHS near perfect was
1) Allow support for extended format drives.
2) Allow users to set DE's process for writing redundant data and cleanup (to prevent it from kicking in while streaming).

I guess I'm stuck with 8TB indefinitely. I really wanted to upgrade with 2TB drives replacing my 1TB drives...

I keep hearing about these issues with DE...have you tried a fresh install? hows the specs on your main rig?
 
If you really need a Server OS and you 'have' to upgrade from version 1, you probably need to go with a 2008 and RAID box. I actually use Windows 7 to handle my server duties. All I do is stream media around the house and that is easy with libraries and STB's at the TV.
 
I think i'll wait and see what's available when it's finally time to get rid of my WHS's.
 
I think i'll wait and see what's available when it's finally time to get rid of my WHS's.
it'll be a sad day :-(

If you really need a Server OS and you 'have' to upgrade from version 1, you probably need to go with a 2008 and RAID box. I actually use Windows 7 to handle my server duties. All I do is stream media around the house and that is easy with libraries and STB's at the TV.

I hear ya...I don't have same sized HD's though, and it seems to be kind of a pain to upgrade
 
Im also sticking with WHSv1, until MS gets DE back on V2 or waiting for V3, if it doesnt happen ever and i need to move to large capacity, then ill probably move to Synology, i have recently played with a friends server and its been really nice expierence, he has no problems at all so atm is on my short list, i might bring a lower end line just to see if it can do all the things i do with WHS.

MS is getting a lot of heat for dropping DE, im hopping they reconsider at some point and patch it. The only issue for me is getting 512 drives is getting harder this days with all the manufacturers moving to 4k soon, the prices are going higher on this drives instead of down, hoping companies realize there are still demand and keep making them.
 
--

But I also need support for 2TB hard drives. I filled all 6 SATA ports with 1 TB's and already bought an add in card for an additional 2 1TB drives.

I guess I'm stuck with 8TB indefinitely. I really wanted to upgrade with 2TB drives replacing my 1TB drives...

What is the issue with 2TB hard drives? I'm using a few Samsung HD204UI 2TB drives in my homebrew WHS box and everything works fine. I also have 2 of the newer WD Green drives with 4k sectors - the jumpers set to enable old style 512 and those work fine as well...
 
no one doing zfs?

I am. I'm using sub.mesa's ZFSGuru "distro" (based on FreeBSD) and having great results. You do lose the DE functionality, but ZFS is just so much better in just about every other way.

The only issues I'm having are having to replace my 8-port HBAs because FreeBSD doesn't support my AOC-SASLP-MV8's, and the ones that FreeBSD does support (LSI 1068e based) are in really short supply everywhere right now. Also I haven't settled on a client backup solution yet. Currently trying out Acronis TrueImage Home 2011, which I already had a license for. But I can already see that it's not as effortless to manage as a nice centralized solution like WHS.
 
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