Top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server in your SOHO

[carioca]

I used a little spare time between herding chooks, baking bread (my wife's product, actually) and picking her up in town to install MS WHS on a nice silent machine with twin 500GB SATA drives. I took some precautions, and spilled some blood (when removing an ATI Radeon 4850 from the machine and cut my index finger on some sharp edge...) I also took the cable off the boot drive (with Win7 Ultimate) just in case, and let the install wipe Ubuntu 9.10 from the other HD.

The installation went smoothly on auto-pilot BUT: the new system doesn't see my BiPac 7404VGO-M router with its network having all fixed IP addresses. Instead, HS asserts the network status is 'healthy" - and flatly refuses to connect to anything, including the Internet!

I obviously have some more reading to do... (once I've finished putting two more clerestory windows up in my shed LOL).

This thing WHS) looks like it might be worth the effort, even though at the moment it also refuses to recognise anything from 'multi-media controllers' (must by my cheap Leadtek DTV card) to high-definition audio devices and - you guessed it - an Ethernet controller. I am going to have fun!

Cheers,

LMH

 

[Lordbob75]

I used a little spare time between herding chooks, baking bread (my wife's product, actually) and picking her up in town to install MS WHS on a nice silent machine with twin 500GB SATA drives. I took some precautions, and spilled some blood (when removing an ATI Radeon 4850 from the machine and cut my index finger on some sharp edge...) I also took the cable off the boot drive (with Win7 Ultimate) just in case, and let the install wipe Ubuntu 9.10 from the other HD.

The installation went smoothly on auto-pilot BUT: the new system doesn't see my BiPac 7404VGO-M router with its network having all fixed IP addresses. Instead, HS asserts the network status is 'healthy" - and flatly refuses to connect to anything, including the Internet!

I obviously have some more reading to do... (once I've finished putting two more clerestory windows up in my shed LOL).

This thing WHS) looks like it might be worth the effort, even though at the moment it also refuses to recognise anything from 'multi-media controllers' (must by my cheap Leadtek DTV card) to high-definition audio devices and - you guessed it - an Ethernet controller. I am going to have fun!

Cheers,

LMH

It HAS to be hard-wired, just fyi.

~Lordbob

 

[myzr7]

I used a little spare time between herding chooks, baking bread (my wife's product, actually) and picking her up in town to install MS WHS on a nice silent machine with twin 500GB SATA drives. I took some precautions, and spilled some blood (when removing an ATI Radeon 4850 from the machine and cut my index finger on some sharp edge...) I also took the cable off the boot drive (with Win7 Ultimate) just in case, and let the install wipe Ubuntu 9.10 from the other HD.

The installation went smoothly on auto-pilot BUT: the new system doesn't see my BiPac 7404VGO-M router with its network having all fixed IP addresses. Instead, HS asserts the network status is 'healthy" - and flatly refuses to connect to anything, including the Internet!

I obviously have some more reading to do... (once I've finished putting two more clerestory windows up in my shed LOL).

This thing WHS) looks like it might be worth the effort, even though at the moment it also refuses to recognise anything from 'multi-media controllers' (must by my cheap Leadtek DTV card) to high-definition audio devices and - you guessed it - an Ethernet controller. I am going to have fun!

Cheers,

LMH

I used this site for how to's and tips to get my WHS up and going might be something of a help to you. Good luck to you.
Get Started With Windows Home Server | We Got Served - Windows Home Server & Your Digital Home

 

[JRS47]

For someone wanting to jump on the WHS bandwagon at a reasonable price new egg has a limited time special on the Acer H340 at 300 bucks a guy can't build a server for that.

Newegg.com - acer Aspire Easystore H340 Intel Atom 1.6Ghz 2GB 1TB GBLAN 4 Bay Hotswap Windows Home Server - Server Systems

Setting up my backups through schedule tasks under control panel gave me better flexibility to choose what files and folders to included plus when the backups are to be preformed.

Adding Advanced Admin Console add in allows you to access control panel from your Home server console

Downloads | Andreas M's Windows Home Server AddIns

 

[jimbo45]

Hi all

I still don't see the value of WHS compared with a bog standard server such as Windows 2003 (probably one of the most robust and fastest OS'es MS has written to date) or even a Linux machine.

(I'm playing around with Windows 2008 server - but haven't got enough experience to rate it yet over the incredibly reliable W2K3 server).

By altering a few things to make your server more appropriate to running like a workstation you can run ordinary apps on it - including multi-media streaming, use it as a spare workstation when you need one and conveniently share files / printers / dvd drives etc in a "normal standard manner".

I'm not sure where WHS fits into the typical home where you might have 5 or 6 machines with users having very different requirements.

Using a "conventional" server seems much the better bet once you've followed a few basic rules to switch off those parts of it that are more applicable to a "Business" server.

Here's 2 links on converting W2K3 and W2K8 servers into workstations - without losing any server functionality.


Convert your Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation!

How to convert your Windows Server 2003... to a Workstation!

Cheers
jimbo

 

[pparks1]

I still don't see the value of WHS compared with a bog standard server such as Windows 2003 (probably one of the most robust and fastest OS'es MS has written to date) or even a Linux machine.

I'm not sure what is so hard to see. Windows Home Server is geared towards a basic home user that has more than 1 computer and wants a nice and easy place to store files so they are easily accessible. In addition, this solution out of the box provides ability to easily add/remove hard drives to expand capacity down the line and it also provides full backup functionality for up to 10 machines connected to it...and can restore these machines bare-metal. The key is that it's EASY, Automatic and Inexpensive.

People outside of these forums and such don't have Technet subscriptions so they don't have cheap access to Server 2003. Second, tons of people don't have the necessarily skill sets to setup the various things that Windows Home Server does out of the box. That's a whole lot of complexity to handle a few set of tasks that Windows Home Server can meet by design. And many of these people don't want to learn about setting up servers and learn how to do things...they just want a turn-key solution that meets their basic needs.

As a competent server admin for 10+ years, who is certified in both Windows and Linux...I totally understand the power and performance of "real" server operating systems. But I also understand that these aren't suitable for every environment. In fact, I've even considered replacing my CentOS linux server at home for Windows Home Server because WHS would provide 100% of what I need from my server with the advantage of easy backups of my Windows hosts.


And I don't agree with using your server as a workstation. A home file server needs to be available, online, and serving up files 100% of the time. I don't think you should install apps and surf the Internet and such from your server. That's what your workstations are for. Set up the server, keep it patched, but otherwise leave it alone and let it do it's thing.

For someone wanting to jump on the WHS bandwagon at a reasonable price new egg has a limited time special on the Acer H340 at 300 bucks a guy can't build a server for that.

Newegg.com - acer Aspire Easystore H340 Intel Atom 1.6Ghz 2GB 1TB GBLAN 4 Bay Hotswap Windows Home Server - Server Systems

Exactly, for $300 you get the hardware, the OS, 1tb of disk space, with the ability to add 3 more SATA drives for easy expansion. Through a simple web interface, you set up some shares, put your files on it, turn on workstation backups and you are done. I might even buy one of these and try it out. It's only $10 more than my 80GB SSD drive. Of course, I'll probably hold out for the HP server to be $399 again as it's going to have far better support after than sale than Acer.

You cannot get into Windows Server 2003 for this price. A technet subscription alone costs more than this...plus the cost of the hardware that you would have to buy, and then the 3rd party backup software (like Acronis True Image or similar), etc. Factor in the time and effort to set everything up, troubleshoot any issues and maintain the box and it's a bit too much for a simple home user that just wants to protect their data and make it available easily from other workstations in the home.

 

[JRS47]

"The key is that it's EASY, Automatic and Inexpensive."
pparks1 nailed it for me

I am not an It pro maybe I shouldn't even comment but I will
At home I set this up with no trouble what so ever it has made life here easier and more efficient.
Immediately cost a couple hundred but long term will save money will be able to eliminate a whole system plus the time factor saves money

I did order the Acer plus couple extra drives for my shop where I currently pay a friend to maintain a Linux server which I know some basics but I can not maintain or have the time to learn to maintain. Friend is totally onboard with this said its good idea.He isn't completely sold on the Acer wanted me to buld system for more flexibility or an HP unit.
I do have concerns about this like connecting my 2 mac's or an old dos box running a ripping program that I can't seem to get rid of. Have been told will be ok. (time will tell there) My mail is hosted by my friend and don't think that will ever be on site just to important and to large for me to be messing with maybe in time.
Long run here though believe this is cost effective move on my part

 

[carioca]

Tks LordBob, of course I was referring to the onboard Realtek chip rather than a separate card...

@ myzr7: will follow up that link - I've got as far as installing WHS on the host machine, setting up folders etc. and starting the beast, but it is still not been "seen" when I run the connector setup on a client machine. Will persist.

@ him/her who glowingly referred to Windows 2003 Server (I think), it is odd to see the WHS named "Small Business Server 2003" in the installation process somewhere...

Cheers,

LMH