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

[wonder_lander]

I'm in exactly the same situation with regards to the hardware. My current WHS 2011 is running on a quad core AMD Opteron 1352 with 4GB of RAM but my Quad Tuner DVB-S2 card is causing the CPU to max out when decrypting 2 HD streams.

My current thought is to get an i5-2500k setup

 

[Jed Shields]

Need to send a 30Mb+ folder to someone - solutions?

Ooops, wrong thread!

 

[ChileanLlama]

I'm in exactly the same situation with regards to the hardware. My current WHS 2011 is running on a quad core AMD Opteron 1352 with 4GB of RAM but my Quad Tuner DVB-S2 card is causing the CPU to max out when decrypting 2 HD streams.

My current thought is to get an i5-2500k setup

Are you also sharing the feeds? My Sky HD is through 2 dual DVB-S2 (4 feeds) and I'm using DVBLink to share it. I've a separate HTPC (Win 7) with an i5 2500K for this, and it doesn't break a sweat - even with 4x HD feeds at once, I don't know for certain, but I'd expect it still to have enough grunt for WHS2011 as well.

 

[wonder_lander]

Are you also sharing the feeds? My Sky HD is through 2 dual DVB-S2 (4 feeds) and I'm using DVBLink to share it. I've a separate HTPC (Win 7) with an i5 2500K for this, and it doesn't break a sweat - even with 4x HD feeds at once, I don't know for certain, but I'd expect it still to have enough grunt for WHS2011 as well.

That's good to know! I am using DVBLink and ACAMD so it sounds like it should be fine. It's ACAMD carrying out the decryption that seems to kill it, especially with HD content.

I will look at sourcing a 2500k replacement system.

 

[ChileanLlama]

Sounds like the same setup as me I went for the i5 2500k because I couldn't find much info on what people were using for 4+ HD feeds, and my old E5200 couldn't cut it. Figured that if needed I could OC the 2500k, but haven't needed to - still on the Intel fan, running nice n cool and quiet.

 

[paradisiac]

I few questions :
1. is there any way when uploading via remote access page to increase the max file size of an upload from 2GB

2. is there any way to change the background picture (and/or text) on the web/remote access login screen (EDIT : managed to change the login screen, but how do I continue that theme once logged in)

3. is there any way so if a user has media, it only shows up on their media library not everyones? (via the Remote Web Access)

4. upload folders as well as files using remote web access

 

[ChileanLlama]

Don't have the answers but...

1. Have you considered Live Essentials SkyDrive running on WHS2011? This would allow you to Sync with the machine from your Live Account Skydrive directly to the machine.

2. I don't know how, but I'd think it is possible if you know IIS

3. I don't believe that's possible, if Media Sharing is enabled everything is available. If you're just sharing media in a share itself, then it wouldn't be visible through the media library - just as files in their folders

4. Again you could use SkyDrive to get round this instead of using the RWA.

 

[paradisiac]

Don't have the answers but...

1. Have you considered Live Essentials SkyDrive running on WHS2011? This would allow you to Sync with the machine from your Live Account Skydrive directly to the machine.

2. I don't know how, but I'd think it is possible if you know IIS

3. I don't believe that's possible, if Media Sharing is enabled everything is available. If you're just sharing media in a share itself, then it wouldn't be visible through the media library - just as files in their folders

4. Again you could use SkyDrive to get round this instead of using the RWA.

thanks for the info I have never used skydrive, is this limited to online storage? as in, would I upload to MS servers, then have to remotely download it then to the server from there?

 

[ChileanLlama]

You can choose. Basically you can choose to hold it on the MS Skydrive (Cloud which would limited to 5GB at present), or you can choose to set it up to sync to the WHS2011 and any other device - providing both machines are on it will then sync directly, peer to peer without it being held on the Skydrive cloud folders.

Though if you didn't want to hold it on the Skydrive cloud folder, I'm not certain if you'd be able to use the web upload feature, so you'd need to be running a laptop/PC/device with Skydrive installed on it.

I don't use it but I'm guessing you could do something similar with Dropbox etc. And if those options don't work then you could always look at setting up FTP on the WHS box.

 

[paradisiac]

You can choose. Basically you can choose to hold it on the MS Skydrive (Cloud which would limited to 5GB at present), or you can choose to set it up to sync to the WHS2011 and any other device - providing both machines are on it will then sync directly, peer to peer without it being held on the Skydrive cloud folders.

Though if you didn't want to hold it on the Skydrive cloud folder, I'm not certain if you'd be able to use the web upload feature, so you'd need to be running a laptop/PC/device with Skydrive installed on it.

I don't use it but I'm guessing you could do something similar with Dropbox etc. And if those options don't work then you could always look at setting up FTP on the WHS box.

I have read FTP isn't very secure. so with skydrive, can I have it installed on the server, but have login accounts so different users see different folders?

 

[ChileanLlama]

Absolutely. This is what I do.

You create the folder and then define who has access to it, either through the Skydrive webpage or the Skydrive app running on your server. For each folder you can then decide which of your devices it syncs to (including the Cloud as a device). Similarly the different users can decide which devices it syncs to on their side as well. [Edit: Just to clarify, they don't actually have access/logins to your server - you provide them with a link for them to set up their Skydrive and location on their devices - once setup Skydrive sync's the file between your folders on the WHS2011 box and wherever they want to put the folders on their machine. Also, Skydrive doesn't allow UNC paths, so I've created a share on the WHS2011, within that a folder for each Skydrive folder, each with different Skydrive permissions]

I've used it in the past as a way to sync changes/backup to an offsite server. Also for your fixed PC's at home they can access the folder directly on the WHS2011 as shares, so there's no need to install Skydrive separately to them - unless you want to.

Hope I've not confused too much...particularly with that edit

 

[paradisiac]

Absolutely. This is what I do.

You create the folder and then define who has access to it, either through the Skydrive webpage or the Skydrive app running on your server. For each folder you can then decide which of your devices it syncs to (including the Cloud as a device). Similarly the different users can decide which devices it syncs to on their side as well.

I've used it in the past as a way to sync changes/backup to an offsite server. Also for your fixed PC's at home they can access the folder directly on the WHS2011 as shares, so there's no need to install Skydrive separately to them - unless you want to.

awesome thanks for that can I set up folder quotas with the folders the users have access to (that are shared vid skydrive) as in, the remote web connection that WHS uses gets this from the server, will skydrive do the same?

do I just need skydrive or do I need live mesh too? (sorry been looking at tutorials)

 

[ChileanLlama]

Oh sugar....sorry...

It's Live Mesh you need - not Skydrive at all...well kinda Skydrive because that's what it calls the Cloud folder if you used it. But replace all previous references to Skydrive with Live Mesh...really sorry!

I don't think you can setup quotas, but it's not something I've looked at.

What sort of numbers of users/amount of data are you wanting to share? I'm thinking you might want something more heavy duty than Live Mesh (get's it right at last!).

 

[paradisiac]

Oh sugar....sorry...

It's Live Mesh you need - not Skydrive at all...well kinda Skydrive because that's what it calls the Cloud folder if you used it. But replace all previous references to Skydrive with Live Mesh...really sorry!

I don't think you can setup quotas, but it's not something I've looked at.

What sort of numbers of users/amount of data are you wanting to share? I'm thinking you might want something more heavy duty than Live Mesh (get's it right at last!).

at the moment there are about 5 users. basically, I have set the server up to be a file server for my family so they can store their backups somewhere other than their house, just in case. but with the remote web connector, it will only let you do files, which would mean creating all their directories for their photos again manually and then uploading all the files individually. this would be time consuming and a pain. I considered just getting them to zip everything then it would be a single file, but with the 2GB limit, and the fact if they ever wanted to retrieve 1 file they would have to download the whole folder and unzip it, this seemed just as long winded.

 

[ChileanLlama]

Hmmm....

I can offer another solution that I use for my family's servers to backup to mine.

Hamachi Logmein on each of the devices to create a VPN and then use SyncBackPro to run a scheduled weekly backup of changed files in the selected folders. Basically it runs as though all the servers are on the same network and I can RDP into them if I want to change the schedules/folders or if there's a problem.

Whilst Live Mesh would do this, what I was finding is metadata was changing regularly and meaning basically more files were being synced than was necessary.

 

[paradisiac]

ah right, I will give mesh a go and see how I get on with it. I may need your help with setting it up though lol

 

[ChileanLlama]

No problemo

The Hamachi might be a better option, if they're making lots of changes then Live Mesh will be continually syncing, this could cripple bandwidth. Try it with a few folders and see how it works. Also I'm not sure if it will allow you to use a system folder such as My Documents directly on Live Mesh, which might mean they have to start remembering to put files on the Live Mesh folders in order for it backup [Edit: just tried My Documents and it allowed it - so just be mindful of what's in each folder and how much data might be changing - also think about doing an initial sync by getting them to backup to a USB drive if there's going to be a lot of initial data, but relatively small changes on a regular basis]

See how you get on

 

[paradisiac]

No problemo

The Hamachi might be a better option, if they're making lots of changes then Live Mesh will be continually syncing, this could cripple bandwidth. Try it with a few folders and see how it works. Also I'm not sure if it will allow you to use a system folder such as My Documents directly on Live Mesh, which might mean they have to start remembering to put files on the Live Mesh folders in order for it backup.

See how you get on

it wont be lots of changes, probably once every 2-6months.

 

[paradisiac]

ok im lost now. I have installed mesh on my server, added a folder. now how do I access it from another pc and assign it users?

 

[ChileanLlama]

Cool - see edit above - about initial dataset and what data is in each folder

On your side I'd set up a share on WHS2011 for each folder - call it "Backup - name". Then within each share create folders for "Pictures - name", "Music - name","Documents - name" etc.

Then using Live Mesh app, use the Sync a folder and select each one in turn. Then invite "name" to share each of the folders.

"Name" will then need to "Choose the location" and point that to their relative folder. *** This is the important bit to check out before doing it for real *** If you invite them to a Share and they point it to an existing folder with data in it, will it wipe it all as your folder is empty or will it retain their data and populate that to the server. If it's the former, then get them to create the Live Mesh folder and Share it with you, then you point it to the WHS2011 folders you've created.

Finally if you want belts and braces, you can then add your family as users with RWA to WHS2011 to their "Backup - name" folders, and they can access their backed up data either through Live Mesh or your WHS2011 web interface

Hope that helps, good luck