Windows Home Server

FrankGrimes

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting Windows Home Server to add into my setup: I have a htpc in living room running Vista Ultimate (mainly used for Media Center), and a PC in office running XP Pro, and a Roku Soundbridge in the kitchen, which I use to play internet radio and MP3s from the office PC over my wired network.

The backup functionality and features like that would be useful, but the main thing I want to achieve is the ability to play MP3s currently stored on the PC when the PC is switched off. I understand a NAS could do this, but if WHS would handle this and would run on a cheap machine, I'd think about going for it, as I have a contact in MS and can get it very cheap through him.

I just know the basics of what WHS does - are there any other cool features that might really benefit my setup?

SouperComputer

I dont think the software will be available on its own legimately. In any case the hardware requirements will be low as WHS doesnt really do a lot TBH, its a glorified file server. IIRC min CPU is 1.2Ghz. Personally, id go with Linux or a NAS and use synctoy to backup.

Just be forwarned that you can't store your recorded TV on WHS, or at least its not in any way practical. That would make too much sense!

If you are curious, why not sign up for the trial?

kaizersoze

I've been running WHS for a couple of months and it's great. I really like the simplicity of it's setup and use. The automatic backup is one of it's best features and has got me out of a couple a couple situations already.
One feature it doesn't have (yet) is some sort of email handling setup. It'd be great if you could have access to the same mail an each pc on the network. I'm not talking about a full Exchange setup, just something that would syncronise Outlook to multiple machines on the network. I believe that this will be added, either in a later release or in the form of an 'Add-in'.

You also get a domain name (yourname.homeserver.com) which is handy. It allows you to access the machine on the internet and access pcs on the network.

As SouperComputer said the minimum requirements are low so it will run on older machines. The only problem you may face on older machines is driver compatability. The OEM version will be available soon but it looks like it'll be a bit pricey (~E200). Download the 120 day trial first and see what you think.

dingding

Would it be possible to run a machine on windows home server and use it also for web browsing, office applications.

This would be great as you could use an existing pc and keep your laptop backed up.

Would there be an upgrade path from XP home / professional. Vista.

kaizersoze

dingding wrote:

Would it be possible to run a machine on windows home server and use it also for web browsing, office applications.

This would be great as you could use an existing pc and keep your laptop backed up.

Would there be an upgrade path from XP home / professional. Vista.

No. It's not designed to be used as a pc. It's a server os. Once the initial install is done you remove the mouse, keyboard and monitor. All admin functions are done via a console on the client pcs. The units you buy of the shelf with WHS pre-installed won't even have a monitor connection.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

To be honest, I'd personally go with a linux distro. It's free It'd allow you to use the machine as a desktop computer as well, but because you're getting WHS via employee purchase scheme it's probably only costing about €30 odd, so it's much of a muchness. If you're more comfortable with windows then go for it.

FrankGrimes

Thanks for the replies lads.

Not storing recorded TV on WHS is a major disappointment – I was hoping I could backup all TV to the WHS and then watch TV off it through the office PC if the living room tv (with MCE) was turned off. It doesn’t seem easy to do this even with both machines turned on, but I thought WHS would sort it out.

I’d be getting it through employee scheme so the software would be cheap, but I’d still need to pick up an old machine to run it on, and I guess the hassle of moving around my hard-drives (probably requiring re-installs) means I’d get lazy and just buy one or 2 new 500GB HDDs, so the cost would end up at a few hundred and I’m not sure what I’d be getting for it.

I’m not really concerned about backup – if my drives get corrupt so be it, I was more interested in what I thought were the sharing media features it would offer. So it seems the only real benefit I’d appreciate is the ability to play my music through my Roku even with the PCs turned off. If I could get Wake-On-Lan working I’d just use this to ensure I always had access to my MP3s on the PCs, but I can’t even get S3 standby working properly (why is it such a nightmare?) so I’ll probably accept the cost of dedicated hardware just to sort this out.

I’m not sure I really understand it, but am I right in thinking a NAS is basically a box that you put any HDD into and then you can stream media from that device at any time? Is it always on (i.e. consuming full energy), or does it go into standby and then only wake up when you try to pull media from it? I guess the NAS would need some form of server software installed on it but I’ve no knowledge of what software they come with (if any) and what would be compatible with my Roku, so I guess I was hoping that WHS would do all this with a plug-and-play approach amongst other functionality.

FrankGrimes

bump - just wondering if anyone has anyone has any comments on the last 2 paragraphs of my previous post? thanks

Snowbat

NAS device features do vary but they should all operate as a SMB fileserver.

If you only need access to your files, NAS should work well for you.

If you want a box that gives access to your files and can do a multitude of other useful tasks, I'd recommend installing Linux on whatever old hardware you have lying around. I have an ancient Pentium 200 MMX doing a whole bunch of stuff here (Fetchmail > SpamAssassin > IMAP, ftp/SMB/NFS fileserver, rsync backups, Apache webserver, MySQL database server, WebDAV iCal calender server, MRTG graphing, Webmin, ssh tunnel endpoint for remote access, and more).

FrankGrimes

Thanks Snowbat - useful links thoug I'm not sure I get what the SMB part is (is that software you install on the NAS)?

One thing I can't find a clear answer on is - if I backup all tv recorded by Media Center (Vista Ultimate) to the NAS in the original DVR-MS format, will I be able to play those files on another PC that also has Media Center (MCE 2005) installed, either through MCE or an alternative?

SouperComputer

a NAS is a device that contains the software and hardware to provide a fileshare, simply put.

SMB (Server Message Block) is a common set of protocols used to share files. It is implemented on linux with SAMBA which is compatible with both windows and Mac OSX.

Most NAS's contain a power efficient, embedded platfom computer which has linux installed. However you dont need to know linux to use them, they are typically web based, just like a router.


If you copy the DVR-MS files to the NAS, and add the location of the NAS to the "watched items" folder you should be able to watch recorded TV from it. You may need to instally third party software for this to work across a network share. Recording is not going to happen without a lot of messing around. Its best to do that locally.

However if you record locally on each MCE computer, you will of course end up with duplicates of programs. It might be best to write a batch file that cut and pastes the shows from each MCE computer to the NAS.

To be honest, if you want multiple PC accessing content, MCE is the worst candiate. MythTV or MediaPortal with the TVEngine are much better at working with networks like this.

Have a look at qnap.com for some excellent NAS options, IIRC you can install slimserver on them should you want to stream music to either your soundbridge or Squeezebox. Contact qnap support to confirm this.