Hi all
Before you spend your money and find out too late :
I don't think Windows Home Server is actually what you need for your application.
Note also YOU CANNOT INSTALL REGULAR APPS ON HOME SERVER.
Quote from the MS site:
No, regular Windows software may not be installed on Windows Home Server. Only add-ins that are specifically designed for Windows Home Server can be installed on a Windows Home Server machine. Attempting to install software that is not an add-in can potential break the integrity of Windows Home Server and is not supported by Microsoft or OEMs. .......
It's fine for sharing documents / files / media streaming / backup / restore but not much good for anything else
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx.
You will need a "Real Server" for what you are trying to do and Windows home server doesn't fit the bill - especially when you want DB access and a web server.
The main problem with Windows 7 is it's a SINGLE USER OS. This doesn't mean that different people can't use the computer -- but only ONE person at a time can be logged on.
Unless you are a technet suscriber or can get a copy of W2003 or W2008 server which are both fairly expensive and will need to be licensed depending on the number of users (although I think up to 4 is permitted with a single license) You would be better advised to go the Linux server route for hosting data bases and web applications.
It's quite easy to set up -- the best approach is to use what they call L.A.M.P which is a combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php where Apache is the server, MySQL is the DB and Php your scripting language.
Connection to Windows machines is usually straight forward and ALL THE SOFTWARE IS FREE.
Here's a link to get you started. (Based on SUSE which is what I use as a server).
(Note download the SUSE LIVE CD first -- you don't need a full blown installation for a server --in fact it's better to keep it Lean and Mean).
Suse distribution stuff
http://www.opensuse.org/en/
L.A.M.P installation
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linux_Apache_MySQL_PHP
Note also before opening up any web server to the Internet test it locally first and ensure access is secured. !!!
Once you've got your server up and running it's quite easy to add Windows Virtual machines too for office and other type apps. VBOX and VMWARE work fine on Linux SUSE. VBOX is free as is vmware player.
Cheers
jimbo
