***The Official Windows Home Server 2011 Thread***

RimBlock said:
Really depends on where you plan to put it. Most cases will probably do what you want. Are you concerned about looks / noise ?. Is it going to be in public view or in a cupboard somewhere ? How many hard drives for the case, hot swap or not ?. :D.

Oh and connectivity (eSata / USB 2 or 3 / Firewire) ?

Lots of questions but better to give a decent recommendation.

Cheers
RB
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A few options would be good really :p.

eSata is more than enough, hot swappable overkill, and scalable. My idea, long term, is one of two things: a rack solution with a 1u server, and an nu HDD box, so looks are irrelevant as it will be in a cupboard with gigabit ethernet links. That said, it wouldn't have to be a rack mounted hdd box as others would happily fit in a small rack.

I'm also looking at an option for nice looking hardware that can go in a central console as part of a home cinema set up.

Do you do this kind of thing for a living?
 
platypus said:
A few options would be good really :p.

eSata is more than enough, hot swappable overkill, and scalable. My idea, long term, is one of two things: a rack solution with a 1u server, and an nu HDD box, so looks are irrelevant as it will be in a cupboard with gigabit ethernet links. That said, it wouldn't have to be a rack mounted hdd box as others would happily fit in a small rack.

I'm also looking at an option for nice looking hardware that can go in a central console as part of a home cinema set up.

Do you do this kind of thing for a living?
Click to expand...

One last two... DIY or ready made, how many drives ?.

For DIY you could get a case, some mounting brackets, a eSATA to SATA bridge and build one. Ready made are more expensive and rarely come without hot swap these days but remove that hassle.

RB
 
Just thought I would add what I have as my WHS 2011 setup.

I have an HP Microserver (one with the 160GB disk) and 3 other disks in it. A 250GB spare that was around, and 2 x 1TB Samsung disks.

I currently have ESXi v5 installed onto a USB stick mounted internally and I have WHS 2011 and several other VMs running off it.

The 250GB disk is the datastore for the WHS 2011 install and contains two partitions as WHS insists on installing a C and D drive :rolleyes:

Then I have 2 other datastores, one for each of the 1TB disks and mount those as drives F and G within WHS. My client backups, shared folders etc all reside on drive F and the server backs itself up to drive G. In addition I am setting up Crashplan as a cloud based backup solution for my most critical data. That way effectively I have full redundancy should any of the individual disks go down. No RAID at all as it would have to be Windows software RAID and with it being a virtual machine I didn't want to waste CPU cycles on it.

I currently use WHS as a backup solution for my 4 PC's and also use it to stream media to the media PC under the TV. I also use the remote access function to copy files to family members PC's like photos of the niece and nephew etc.

Finally I run Spiceworks on WHS 2011. Spiceworks is a network monitoring solution complete with helpdesk and reporting. I have it as a central site so my customers can submit helpdesk calls via email and log a ticket for support.

All in all I am really pleased with it.

I also installed a similar solution for a customer whose small business had 3 PC's. Crashplan works very well for them too ensuring they have full DR in case of a fire/flood etc.

The Microserver is ace! And they have just announced they are refreshing it. See my website for more details if you are interested.

Forza IT
 
I have the same but have sorta gone the other way....

I have a 20 hotswap Norco 4U rack case with an Z68 board running an i5 2400 with 12GB ram and ESXi 4.1 from a memory stick.

I have WHS 2011 installed as a VM with a VT-d passthrough of my two SAS controllers which connect to 16 of the hotswap bays (only 6 currently populated)

I also have 2 MineCraft servers (private), a dedicated webserver (CentOS 6 + LAMP) and a torrent server. I run DHCP and local DNS on my WHS 2011 install and was considering putting another on for the WSUS functions as the update service is great to keep all my PCs up to date with only one download from MS but it also creates another 3 shares that don't look so good when using the media player.

I have a 60GB Vertex III on its way for my Linux VMs (MineCraft in ramdisk is a pain when I have to backup) and some more ram to knock it up to 16GB.

I am pretty pleased with WHS 2011 although have not tried WHS 1 so cannot compare. It is also pretty light on resources so putting it on a VM and using the rest of the machines resources for something else is a pretty good option.

RB
 
WHS v1 was very good too. It had the benefit of DE which in truth was it's main selling point.

The benefits of 2011 over v1 are:


  • The improved core technologies of win 2008 r2 and more full access to the base OS via local console login.
    Excellent remote access website
    Backup of the server OS itself (this wasn't done on v1!)
    Integration with homegroup (excellent for my environment with Win 7 machines)
    Better support for remote streaming over the web
    Better codec support out of the box

Its a shame about DE but to be honest, 2011 is a better product all around. Since I'm virtualised DE is not that important to me anyhow and and least I have a simple recovery mechanism should anything happen to any of the disks.

EDIT: One more thing that may be of interest. You lose the excellent home server status icon that you used to have in V1 which gave a decent indication of whether a client was backing up or not. An add-in maker has developed one which can be purchased. It's around £4.30 and can be used on all your machines connected to your home server. It is very very good.

http://www.mswhs.com/2011/08/add-in-home-server-status-2-01/

There was a thread on it at WGS but it seems to have been deleted. Not found out why yet.
 
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Great, turns out DB Poweramp doesn’t do auto ripping anyway so that wouldn’t work for me as I’d have to remote onto the server to rip the cd’s anyway. May as well just do it via my laptop. Although speaking of which it seems to be having a problem ripping directly to my server. Which means I have to rip to my laptop and then transfer files over to the server. Not a huge issue but slightly annoying all the same.

As for pooling the drives, I had considered that although I’ve currently got 2 x 2tb external hard drives which I’m using to back up each drive so it makes life quite easy knowing exactly which drives are backed up to which external HD. Throwing in another HD isn’t much of an option due to limited space inside my case unfortunately. Who’d have thought the big Lian Li cube cases would only take 2 HD’s as standard!!!

Another issue I’ve found is that whilst I can use a laptop and browse all the folders on the server, I seem to have various options when it comes to streaming (will take a screenie later at home) so it gives me the option of

Home Group: Administrator-Media Server
Home Group: Server-Media Server
Media Server

Clicking on either of the above then opens WMP, however only a selection of files appear. Likewise on my Xbox I don’t appear to be able to view any files from the server.
I’ve got all the streaming options I can find ticked in the server Networking options and my only final thought is that the files I have aren’t compatible with WMP which is causing problems. Am I better off getting something like Subsonic to handle my streaming?

The other thing i noticed was that if i tried to connect to my server remotely then it comes up with a log in window. The only log in i have is the Administrator one, however it won't let me log in as Administrator. Do i have to create additional users on the server for this function?
 
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Marvt74 said:
Great, turns out DB Poweramp doesn’t do auto ripping anyway so that wouldn’t work for me as I’d have to remote onto the server to rip the cd’s anyway. May as well just do it via my laptop. Although speaking of which it seems to be having a problem ripping directly to my server. Which means I have to rip to my laptop and then transfer files over to the server. Not a huge issue but slightly annoying all the same.

As for pooling the drives, I had considered that although I’ve currently got 2 x 2tb external hard drives which I’m using to back up each drive so it makes life quite easy knowing exactly which drives are backed up to which external HD. Throwing in another HD isn’t much of an option due to limited space inside my case unfortunately. Who’d have thought the big Lian Li cube cases would only take 2 HD’s as standard!!!

Another issue I’ve found is that whilst I can use a laptop and browse all the folders on the server, I seem to have various options when it comes to streaming (will take a screenie later at home) so it gives me the option of

Home Group: Administrator-Media Server
Home Group: Server-Media Server
Media Server

Clicking on either of the above then opens WMP, however only a selection of files appear. Likewise on my Xbox I don’t appear to be able to view any files from the server.
I’ve got all the streaming options I can find ticked in the server Networking options and my only final thought is that the files I have aren’t compatible with WMP which is causing problems. Am I better off getting something like Subsonic to handle my streaming?
Click to expand...

Are you sure your files have the right permissions and your users can access them all. Have you set logins for the different media players and made sure they have permissions to view the files and navigate the directories. I would check a file that was visible under the Homegroup:Administrator option to try and find out why it is not showing in the Homegroup: option.

Compatibility with WMP is a potential issue with streaming some files but it should be consistent across all devices and account.

RB
 
RimBlock said:
One last two... DIY or ready made, how many drives ?.
Click to expand...

I'll be a pain and say both :p. Not sure on number of drives. I have 6 HDD's (5 in the actual whs storage pool) in my WHS(v1) at the moment, and it's too crowded/hot already and I'll want to add more, so some sort of unit that is modular would be good too.

I think also long term I'll probably get a ssd for my server, I know it won't be of massive benefit but they're getting to the cost price now where its a nice addition.

I was thinking of something like this for my server (not that exact case but it'd be fine for what I want long term. The only downside with U servers is they're generally bloody noisy. Even in a cupboard I'd want it fairly quiet.
 
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Marvt74 said:
Great, turns out DB Poweramp doesn’t do auto ripping anyway so that wouldn’t work for me as I’d have to remote onto the server to rip the cd’s anyway. May as well just do it via my laptop. Although speaking of which it seems to be having a problem ripping directly to my server. Which means I have to rip to my laptop and then transfer files over to the server. Not a huge issue but slightly annoying all the same.

As for pooling the drives, I had considered that although I’ve currently got 2 x 2tb external hard drives which I’m using to back up each drive so it makes life quite easy knowing exactly which drives are backed up to which external HD. Throwing in another HD isn’t much of an option due to limited space inside my case unfortunately. Who’d have thought the big Lian Li cube cases would only take 2 HD’s as standard!!!

Another issue I’ve found is that whilst I can use a laptop and browse all the folders on the server, I seem to have various options when it comes to streaming (will take a screenie later at home) so it gives me the option of

Home Group: Administrator-Media Server
Home Group: Server-Media Server
Media Server

Clicking on either of the above then opens WMP, however only a selection of files appear. Likewise on my Xbox I don’t appear to be able to view any files from the server.
I’ve got all the streaming options I can find ticked in the server Networking options and my only final thought is that the files I have aren’t compatible with WMP which is causing problems. Am I better off getting something like Subsonic to handle my streaming?

The other thing i noticed was that if i tried to connect to my server remotely then it comes up with a log in window. The only log in i have is the Administrator one, however it won't let me log in as Administrator. Do i have to create additional users on the server for this function?
Click to expand...

I created the same user account (myname) on each of the PC's and gave it a password. Then I created the same user on my home server and gave it the same password. Then on my media PC I auto-login with that username and I can access everything without the need for logging in etc
 
I’ve always been a bit of a muppet when its comes to Networking.

Perhaps I’ve made a balls up at some point where I’ve created two Homegroups (don’t think I need two!) Maybe if I explain what I need you can advise better

Server with all content on it. Then from the server I’ll have the following

My Laptop
Fiances laptop
2 x kids laptop
Xbox 360
PS3
Boxee Box
2 x iphones
3 x squeezeboxes
1 x Android tablet

(Seems a lot when you list it all!)

I’ve already got the squeezeboxes and iphones sorted as these use the Squeezeserver software so that’s all sorted. I can use the file browser on the Android tablet to access the files structure on the server also so that’s not a problem. Same with the laptops. It seems that anything which is able to browse the file structure is fine. The problems seem to be coming when devices want to properly “Stream” files.

So do I need to create a new user for each of the Xbox and Boxee? I did notice that the Xbox had some kind of profile on the Server which was all set to stream media by the look of it but it still didn’t seem to work.
 
platypus said:
I'll be a pain and say both :p. Not sure on number of drives. I have 6 HDD's (5 in the actual whs storage pool) in my WHS(v1) at the moment, and it's too crowded/hot already and I'll want to add more, so some sort of unit that is modular would be good too.

I think also long term I'll probably get a ssd for my server, I know it won't be of massive benefit but they're getting to the cost price now where its a nice addition.

I was thinking of something like this for my server (not that exact case but it'd be fine for what I want long term. The only downside with U servers is they're generally bloody noisy. Even in a cupboard I'd want it fairly quiet.
Click to expand...

I will see what I can find for you.

RB
 
Marvt74 said:
I’ve always been a bit of a muppet when its comes to Networking.

Perhaps I’ve made a balls up at some point where I’ve created two Homegroups (don’t think I need two!) Maybe if I explain what I need you can advise better

Server with all content on it. Then from the server I’ll have the following

My Laptop
Fiances laptop
2 x kids laptop
Xbox 360
PS3
Boxee Box
2 x iphones
3 x squeezeboxes
1 x Android tablet

(Seems a lot when you list it all!)

I’ve already got the squeezeboxes and iphones sorted as these use the Squeezeserver software so that’s all sorted. I can use the file browser on the Android tablet to access the files structure on the server also so that’s not a problem. Same with the laptops. It seems that anything which is able to browse the file structure is fine. The problems seem to be coming when devices want to properly “Stream” files.

So do I need to create a new user for each of the Xbox and Boxee? I did notice that the Xbox had some kind of profile on the Server which was all set to stream media by the look of it but it still didn’t seem to work.
Click to expand...

I would find a file I can only see under the administrator option and [right click] -> properties -> permissions. Now do the same for the homegroup: item and see if there is any difference.

Can take a look at the homegroups afterwards. You should only need one homegroup as it is the same as the older workgroups which just link a number of Windows machines together.

RB
 
For those who have moved from v1 to v2001....how are you finding the transition? Does it come with an upgrade option, or do you just reinstall and rebuild the server?

And how are you getting on without DE...?
 
From what i read when i was looking there is no upgrade option due to the 32bit to 64bit factors so it has to be a complete reinstall.
 
Ok, just logged on and this is the view i can see if i click on network on my laptop


My WHS is called Media-Server. So its showing it me effectively 4 times. If i click on either Media Server: Home Server or Media Server: Administrator it opens up WMP showing me the same files (althogh not all files on the server)

If i click on "Media Server" (The one with the green play icon) i just get a pop up showing some properties of the server. And if i click on the option from the bottom icon then it asks me down download software which i already have on the PC!
 
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Now I have fixed my USB issue with V1 i'm trying to figure out the pros of upgrading just now or wether it will be a royal PITA :p
 
RimBlock said:
Ok, a couple more questions.

How much space do you have left over those 6 2TB drives (4 used, duplication on, whats left) ?. I believe the duplication works like a raid 1 array so you should have 4 GB left (2 usable if raid 1).
Click to expand...

Just under 1TB


Do you need to backup more than once a night ?
Click to expand...

No


I imagine you are using the 250GB as a boot drive then ?
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yeah thats the boot drive but V1 also uses this for storage after its created the 20GB partiton

I would be inclined to just setup a raid 10 (1+0) array. Now the slightly dodgy bit is that you are mixing and matching drives which is not such a great idea as one manufacturers 2TB drive may not have the same space, cylinders, alignment as another so it will not be so efficient as matched drives and may even cause issues. Some insist on the same firmware rather than just matched manufacturer and size.
Click to expand...

I have bad times with Raid in the past and is it easy to exapnd the array without removing data and copying it back?


Another option is to just creating two spanned drives where the different types will not matter as it just links one drive to another and then another and shows them as a single drive (JBOD) and sync them together which is more or less what I am doing. Using robocopy (free MS tool) you can set scheduled tasks on specific folders so they can be backed up at different time intervals (photos/docs etc every 15 minutes, movies/music every night). Robocopy can be set to keep the source and destination in perfect sync or can be set to update only with new stuff.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an option but its not DE and duplication!


Both of these options are only to give a live snapshot of the current system and are not able to let you roll back to a previous time (ie, if someone has deleted an important file and the sync has run). For that you would need something like Windows backup with WHS and enough storage to support it.

RB
Click to expand...

Thanks. Rolling back after a deletion is not an issue
 
I'm still struggling to see a reason for me to update without DE. Maybe once I fill up as many 2TB drives as I can, and I require WHS2011 for the >2TB disk support.

I can't imagine now going back to having to worry about where all of my data is, splitting it across partitions etc. In the 18 months I've had my WHS machine all I've done to it is throw in an extra disk and clicked about 3 buttons!
 
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