WHS question

[SXRguyinMA]

WHS 2003 or 2008? Standard or R2? I can get them free through school, want to set up a WHS for the house. Which one would be best?

[OvRiDe]

Depends if you want Drive extender.. if so.. don't go past 2003 because unless things have changed it was not included in 2008.

[x88x]

Well, technically they're WHS and WHS 2011. 2003 and 2008 are Windows Server releases, not WHS releases, though WHS was based on 2003 and WHS 2011 is based on 2008. ;) But, names aside, like OvRiDe said, if you want drive extender get WHS. Otherwise, this article has a pretty good run down of the changes in WHS 2011.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/11/has-microsoft-just-ruined-windows-home-server.ars

[SXRguyinMA]

well it's not WHS, just Windows Server. I just downloaded them both :D

[Airbozo]

I would go with 2008 then.

[Fuganater]

I got the older WHS so I could have Drive Extender.

[Technochicken]

You may already know this, but 2008 is the server version of Vista, while 2008 R2 is the server version of Windows 7. If you are choosing between those two, definitely get R2.

[SXRguyinMA]

IIRC I did get the R2 of both 2003 and 2008, I'll check when I get home

[NightrainSrt4]

If you've got a cpu that supports virtualization you could always go the route I did: Server 2008 R2 with WHS v1 under a virtual machine in Hyper-v with disk pass-through.

I've got WHS for all my media stuff, but still have the capabilities of a standard server without having to worry about breaking things in WHS.

[SXRguyinMA]

Well they don't have Home server available, just the regular Server. They do have all sorts of java, C++, C# and other SDKs available as well, I'll have to see what they've got

[Airbozo]

I still use the older version of WHS as well. Drive extender is nice, but the newer version of WHS will actually let me use a raid card, and that is better than drive extender. IMO anyway. That and the fact that the new version of WHS will stream audio/video (remotely) with no addons.

BTW: The older version of WHS is 32 bit and the newer version is 64 bit.

[Airbozo]

You may already know this, but 2008 is the server version of Vista, while 2008 R2 is the server version of Windows 7. If you are choosing between those two, definitely get R2.

This.

BTW: The non R2 version is available in 32 bit and 64 bit. R2 dropped 32 bit and is available only in 64 bit. There were serious problems with the 32 bit version and I don't think they are fixing anything (at least from what I have heard).

Stay away from the non R2 version of Server 2008 or you will learn way too many new cuss words.

[SXRguyinMA]

yea, I got 2003 R2 and 2008 R2

[SXRguyinMA]

Also just picked up MS VM 2007 64-bit

[Airbozo]

This is why I love Technet.

I have access to ALL M$ products, even previous versions and Beta releases.

[SXRguyinMA]

well this is all through school with MSDNAA, not technet

[Airbozo]

well this is all through school with MSDNAA, not technet

Ya I knew that, just commenting on why I pay for Technet every year.

Does MSDNAA allow you to download all the products for free or just specific ones for reduced cost?

[Fuganater]

Oh what I would do to have MSDN again... I have all my keys but no .ISOs :(

[NightrainSrt4]

Technet is great for testing purposes, ;). Until your sub is about to run out and they call you three times a day every business day even when you have asked them not to.

[SXRguyinMA]

Ya I knew that, just commenting on why I pay for Technet every year.

Does MSDNAA allow you to download all the products for free or just specific ones for reduced cost?

Everything I've looked at so far was free. Got a copy of Win 7 Pro x64 and Ultimate x64, and Office 2010 Plus all for free, as well as Server 2003 and Server 2008 :D


Oh what I would do to have MSDN again... I have all my keys but no .ISOs :(

What do you need .ISO's for? I can d/l them and send them to you or something. If you've got your own keys it should be all perfectly legal right? :think:

[Airbozo]

Everything I've looked at so far was free. Got a copy of Win 7 Pro x64 and Ultimate x64, and Office 2010 Plus all for free, as well as Server 2003 and Server 2008 :D

Cool!

What do you need .ISO's for? I can d/l them and send them to you or something. If you've got your own keys it should be all perfectly legal right? :think:

Yes, according to the last conversation I had with M$ Licensing... (A customer has the same issue with an old MSDN account)

[Fuganater]

They won't give me access to the .ISOs anymore since my account is expired... I might take you up on that Sig!

[SXRguyinMA]

let me know what you need and I'll see whats available

[OvRiDe]

They won't give me access to the .ISOs anymore since my account is expired... I might take you up on that Sig!

Technically the keys are part of the subscription and expire when your subscription expired. It doesn't mean they won't work, it just means that with out the subscription it's not legal to use them. :whistler:

[x88x]

Technically the keys are part of the subscription and expire when your subscription expired. It doesn't mean they won't work, it just means that with out the subscription it's not legal to use them. :whistler:

I'm not sure about that, actually. I remember getting into a discussion about this at work a while ago and after looking into the actual terms in the TOS, I think the keys are permanent...I think.

[Fuganater]

They still work so its legal in my eyes :P