Windows Home Sever

[nawbus]

Has anyone got / played with Windows Home Server? Is it worth buying? Is there any alternatives?

 

Ta

[webman]

Yeah I had a look at a beta a while ago, didn't like it much. You can see some screenshots here.

 

Depending on how much you want to do with a server, FreeNAS for plain storage or Ubuntu Server + other apps for anything else will do the job (probably) better and at zero cost.

[Domino]

Its not really aimed at us though is it?

 

Its more Joe Homesmith who wants all his documents in one place

[Guest aliv25]

Do you think this would be good to store information and data to produce a website for a final year project or would it be too extreme?

[webman]

Too extreme I think (and could you justify the cost?). For publishing and storing data for a website, try SME Server or ClarkConnect. Both linux with a nice web frontend.

[nawbus]

Depending on how much you want to do with a server, FreeNAS for plain storage or Ubuntu Server + other apps for anything else will do the job (probably) better and at zero cost.

 

Hmm thought that might be the case. Probably give Ubuntu server a go.

[Guest aliv25]

Well im only on my placement so still got a long way to go to decide how im going to go about my final year project. So your saying Ubuntu server would be better / cheaper?

[Guest aliv25]

Well im only on my placement so still got a long way to go to decide how im going to go about my final year project. So your saying Ubuntu server would be better / cheaper?

[nawbus]

Windows Home Server £88 (ish) from Novatech - Ubuntu server free!

[dancingdruid]

Windows Home Server £88 (ish) from Novatech - Ubuntu server free!

 

I considered WHS but decided on ubuntu server instead - the price was only one factor, but the main factor for me was the transparency of Ubuntu and also the control you have.

 

My ubuntu server at home is running:

 

LAMP server

SAMBA

Torrentflux

Dyndns updating client

ssh server exposed to Internet

 

In its favour WHS does pool disk space well, but I didn't like just having a web front end after being used to having full control over ssh.

 

Is there anyone from a technical background that would pick WHS over a linux box?

[FN-GM]

I had a go on home server and to be honest you can do most of the stuff on that with a Windows XP/200 or Vista install. The only main thing you can't do on them is a remote backup.

 

Z

[john]

http://www.cclonline.com/product-categories.asp?category_id=639 - there ya go, 2 ready made pre-done WHS boxes from HP

[sidewinder]

Tried it for a while, it was OK, I did like the way it merged all storage together, but it was frustrating how little control there was over some things

I think it would be ok for the average user though

 

Main thing that stopped me using it was it hanging quite often when I was copying data to it. Now back to Server 2003 and its rock solid again

[dhicks]

Has anyone got / played with Windows Home Server? Is it worth buying?

 

Just dredging up this old thread - same question, 3 months on. Some background: I've had a couple of people ask me about their home computer systems. One's a self-employed electrician who's recently suffered a disk crash on his main PC and wants to move to a reliable system that requires no messing around - he just wants it to work and not break. The other is a parent with two daughters with their own laptops and wants them to have decent Internet access control in place, file backup and sharing, etc.

 

So has anyone got any experience of anything similar? We're a private school, we have a fair bit of latitude in what we do, it might be that we start offering to sell managed server systems to parents. Is Windows Server worth the cost, does it offer any advantages over something like Ubuntu? Bear in mind the end-user isn't actually going to have to do anything much with the server itself, I just need to know what features Windows Home Server has that Ubuntu doesn't. I know the HP Home Server devices are marketed as being compatible with iTunes (so users can share their iTunes library across a network), but can't you just do that with a Samba share anyway? Does Home Server support all Windows XP printer drivers?

 

Hardware wise, I'm thinking of a fanless Jetway J7F2 1.2Ghz motherboard with a gigabyte of RAM and a 3-port gigabit LAN daughterboard (so it can basically act as a network switch), a silent case of some kind, and a Stardom SR2600 internal hardware RAID bay - takes two SATA drives, hot-swap capable, automatic RAID array rebuild. Does anyone know of a case and power supply that is actually silent - to the extent that you could park it in someone's front room and they wouldn't notice it?

 

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David Hicks

[CyberNerd]

Is Windows Server worth the cost, does it offer any advantages over something like Ubuntu?

 

It's going to come down to wizards. As with full blown windows servers they just offer a gui/wizard. In most cases (especially file/print serving and proxies) you can do a lot more with ubuntu than you can with windows 2003 server, let alone the home edition. Setting it up for home users is a different matter if they are going to have any control of it.

 

Does anyone know of a case and power supply that is actually silent - to the extent that you could park it in someone's front room and they wouldn't notice it?

 

via epia (small form factor) boards can use external laptop PSU's. 17w idle IIRC

http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/

Edited February 10, 2008 by CyberNerd

[DMcCoy]

The problem is that these things still don't get around the problem of people not having backups, especially if they start moving stuff on it to share

[dhicks]

In most cases (especially file/print serving and proxies) you can do a lot more with ubuntu than you can with windows 2003 server, let alone the home edition.

 

I'm mostly worried about home users wanting to plug in any old printers they have floating around - crummy Windows-only drivers for cheap inkjets, etc.

 

via epia (small form factor) boards can use external laptop PSU's. 17w idle IIRC http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/

 

17W idle? Thanks, good to know. Any idea what it requires at peak? I have an Epia board and power supply handy. The power supply is rated at 19V 6.32A - 120W. That would have to power the motherboard, hardware RAID controller, two SATA drives, DVD drive and possibly USB bits and bobs. Will a 120W power supply manage that do you reckon? Some Googling reckons a SATA drive takes up (maybe?) 15W at peak, so that's 30W gone already. There's also the question of how I get it plugged into the case neat and tidily - all the desktop-style cases I can find are designed to take an ATX power supply with kettle-lead style AC connection, not a laptop-style DC connection (the ultra-small form factor ones take DC in, of course).

 

The problem is that these things still don't get around the problem of people not having backups, especially if they start moving stuff on it to share

 

This is why I figure proper hardware RAID 1 mounted in the front of the case - "backups" simply consist of pulling one of the harddrives out, shoving a new one in and letting the RAID card rebuild the array.

 

Hmm - I suppose I could go for an external eSATA RAID box and a fanless motherboard, case and power supply. Does anyone know if these external RAID contraptions make much racket? I assume they have their own power supply of some kind - a laptop-style external brick again? Any cooling fans?

 

--

David Hicks

[dhicks]

Some more Googling turns up several almost-but-not-quite suitible systems. Small fanless systems are around, but none with eSATA connectors or enough room left in the case to add one. I can either use a USB connection (a third the speed) or... have I got this right, is an eSATA connector just a fancy way of leading a SATA cable outside the case? Can't I just drill a small hole in the case of the PC and poke a normal SATA cable through it?

 

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David Hicks

[DMcCoy]

The one in the back of my external drive seems to be a different shape from sata, although I've never used esata yet

[Ric_]

Take a look at http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=64&pp=63,64 - mini-ITX cases galore and some of them have multiple drive bays

 

If you do not intend the end-users to do anything to the machine (keeping it as a black box), I would have thought Linux would be the way forward - not least since you could make some extra money off it.

 

eSATA does indeed have a slightly different connector (they did this to distinguish between the two IIRC).

 

From my experience, Linux has great support for printers and you still need the Windows drivers at the client anyway due to the way Windows prints.

[broc]

The biggest advantage WHS has over a vanilla server solution is most of the technicalities are hidden from the end user. The original MS concept was for OEMs to deliver an 'out of the box' solution that required limited technical expertise to set it up and have it managed backups of client PCs.

 

The fact that we can buy the software and put together our own WHS is a bonus for those people who want some choice in the hardware vs buying WHS from an OEM.

 

I used to have an old SCSI based 'server' at home which was used for backups; although all of the PCs in the house (my wifes laptop, my kids' PCs) were connected to the server and I had shown them how to backup their data they seldom if ever did. (A situation I find myself experiencing almost every day at school, with teachers!).

 

When the WHS Beta was announced, I downloaded it and had a play. It looked promising so I bought a cheap DELL Dimension system unit, stuffed it full of SATA disks and installed WHS on it. It worked. When the Beta expired I bought the OEM software from Novatech. WHS backs up our data painlessly; it acts as a media server for our family photographs which we can now stream wirelessly to our 42" Plasma TV via a PS3.

 

It's true I could have gone for a Ubuntu server like others have suggested; I would have found that an interesting technical challenge but on this occasion what I was looking for was a quick & easy solution to backing up our data at home. WHS works for us.

[CyberNerd]

17W idle? Thanks, good to know. Any idea what it requires at peak?

30W apparently. Of course you'd need to factor in the drives. We use these as thin clients:

http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=91

[torledo]

i personally think that Apple with leopard and some of the newer hardware they've released are delivering better home-centric products. I think time machine and the wireless time machine thing is the right approach to the problem of backing up data and making it simple to use.

 

They're still struggling with a competitive media center product to match WMC. I think focusing their efforts on trying to create a cash cow with the apple TV is the wrong tactic. They'd be better served finding a replacmenet for front row, and developing a true media center application within leopard.

 

if you want seamless file, print and internet sharing in the home i'd opt for the mac mini for file sharing, with the time capsule for wifi backups. And then a macbook for working wirelessly and the ipod touch for occasional web browsing while sitting on the bog. And that isn't going to break the bank either.

 

Much better package than WHS..

[Athlona]

I purchased one of them over the weekend, and it`s great there are lots and lots of addins on the web for it... Well easy to access data remotely...

Plus you can have it downloading things from the INTERNET utorrent hehe at a very low electric costs... Plus you can access it like a normal interface windows 2003 whichs is good...

[dhicks]

Take a look at http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=64&pp=63,64

 

Thanks - I've ordered stuff from them before, works well (I go past their office regularly, too, so I might be able to save on postage!). The nearest thing to what I want seems to be the M200. This doesn't actually have any eSATA connectors or room to add one of those passive eSATA plates that come with external RAID boxes, however I figure I can have at said plate with the tin snips to chop it down a bit, then Dremel a hole in the side of the case to screw it in and have an eSATA connection available.

 

A lot of the cases on there are designed to fit Via boards, but I figured to use the 1.2Ghz fanless Jetway board and add 3 extra network ports via a daughterboard, effectively turning the device into a switch.

 

From my experience, Linux has great support for printers and you still need the Windows drivers at the client anyway due to the way Windows prints.

 

I figure I might set these up as redirected printer ports again, so all you need client-side is a generic Postscript driver.

 

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David Hicks