Windows Home Server - An Update

A new story entry has been added:

[drupal=613]Windows Home Server - An Update[/drupal]

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By Colin M. Ormsby

Many MANY moons ago, I started writing a series of articles relating to Windows Home Server, Microsoft's attempt to get a Windows based server into the home of the average family. Version 2 of the OS is just around the corner, with the Release Candidate recently released by Microsoft and something in the news has prompted me into resuming these articles. Read on by clicking this link...

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Thanks!

Great writeup and you are spot on about the Drive Extender technology.

Microsoft has been getting flak for this and the technet articles seem to allude to the fact that MS is working to replace it (not sure if it is a technical issue or a licensing issue).

One of the things that does bother me with version 1 is the fact that you cannot use a Raid controller. I spent a couple of weeks trying to inject drivers, create a BartPE disk, whatever it took, I tried and all failed. Most people tried this and failed. I have heard of a couple people getting raid controllers to work, but I could not repeat their success. I would prefer a raid controller (a good one) to Drive extender. With a good raid controller you can accomplish the same thing as Drive Extender and have that extra protection Raid offers.

Here are a couple of notes:

Version 1 - built using the core components of Server 2003 R2 with no 64 bit support.

Version 2 - Built using Server 2008 R2, with 64 bit support only.


I have been investigating a linux alternative to WHS but have not done an install yet. That should happen in the next few weeks.

The alternative I am looking at is Amahi.

Nice! Love the article, I have wanted to try this for a long time.

Terry- Can we get a report on what you think of Amahi when you are done?

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Originally Posted by jdbnsn

Nice! Love the article, I have wanted to try this for a long time.

Terry- Can we get a report on what you think of Amahi when you are done?

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I will keep a log of what I find out. I am going to use my old gaming rig to setup amahi since I use my laptop to game now...

BTW: What the hell have you been up to Jon?

This is another reason I have been so busy:
http://www.rrobotics.com/
I designed, modified and built the computer for this system. I am getting permission now to post my build log...

That is awesome! I need new hair, do you know how to run it? ;) Are you done working on the Cyberknife then? I've been up to the usual, books and sick people.

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Originally Posted by jdbnsn

That is awesome! I need new hair, do you know how to run it? ;) Are you done working on the Cyberknife then? I've been up to the usual, books and sick people.

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Still working on the CyberKnife and we are currently working through a new HW refresh. I have some hair pulling stories about that adventure I can't share in public.

I know RR is looking for test subjects... lol!

(sorry for the HIjack!)

I still want to know what hospital... I was not able to take part in the PLAR raffle (damn PayPal) but want to do something nice for them and the new one.

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Originally Posted by Airbozo

I have some hair pulling stories about that adventure I can't share in public.

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Well its convenient that you went to the Restoration Robotics project after that! :think:

:lick:

I am intrested in the Amahi results as well. I have been following the Greyhole project for a while, but was never in a position to test it. I am glad to see its maturing well.

EDIT: Oh wow.. just got a chance to look over the Amahi website and now I am super interested! It has a Plug Computer version compiled for ARM. It just so happens that I have a Guru Plug Server Plus that I have been debating on what packages I was going to run on it. This changes everything!

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Originally Posted by Airbozo

I would prefer a raid controller (a good one) to Drive extender. With a good raid controller you can accomplish the same thing as Drive Extender and have that extra protection Raid offers.

Here are a couple of notes:

Version 1 - built using the core components of Server 2003 R2 with no 64 bit support.

Version 2 - Built using Server 2008 R2, with 64 bit support only.

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Two things to mention regarding this. One of the gems about WHS1 was the fact that it had relatively low (RAM aside) requirements so people were free to repurpose old machines into something useful. The lack of 64bit support wasn't really as issue for those people. WHS2 being 64bit only kills this feature to a degree, not to mention killing the upgrade route for many. As it happens, I'm NOT one of those as my WHS1 is built around a 754pin sempron 2800/3000 (can't remember which) which does support 64 bit and I also happen to have a 3000 A64 lying around somewhere (I think lol) which again, clears that hurdle. Folder duplication under WHS gives you the same redundancy (albeit at a greater overhead) as RAID does anyway - any folder which is marked to be duplicated is automatically stored on more than one physical drive so a drive failure doesn't result in the loss of any marked data.

As for the RAID issue - that's always going to be down to the individual - with ever growing drive capacities, being able to easily mix and match drives of different sizes is a great thing, something which RAID doesn't always like, not to mention that the ability to mix connections is a bonus too - my server has 8 sata ports plus 2 more on an add in card - they're all full and I think I have 2, at most, drives of the same capacity so for me personally (and I know that doesn't mean for everyone) RAID really isn't the most cost effective option.

Bottom line, WHS was billed and marketed as the server for use at home which anyone can run - not everyone has the knowledge, tools, or interest to work with RAID - WHS took that burden away completely.

When I switched from having to reorganize which folders are on which drive to everything being mounted in one directory in WHS it made life much simpler.

I'm OCD about keeping all one file type together, and when it got to the point I'd have to constantly shuffle things around on the different drives to keep things together I switched to WHS. I love being able to just pop a drive in and the free space just expands. No need to do the file shuffle dance.

I've got duplication on everything, just in case a drive dies it will be less of a hassle. Anything critical is backed up elsewhere, but I like the idea of everything being on two separate drives, and I like that windows handles all of the balancing. I don't have to be the one to shuffle things around.

It is simple enough that I don't have to worry too much. Sometimes I want to be able to do more with the server, like I used to, without having to hunt down plugins and such. I've been thinking about switching the motherboard/cpu from one of my rigs with this one, so I can run Hyper-V on Server 2008 and virtualize WHS with disk passthrough, but I don't want to switch motherboards as the one the server is on is rock solid while the other hasn't been. And the effort of switching everything over . . . bleh. I'm comfortable with the way it is for now.

It has just come to my attention that there are at least three third party companies already working on an add-in to WHS2 which will effectively put the Drive Extender back in place while adding additional benefits - I'm going to have a look into these and will report back when I know more than "I heard this...."....

Where is part 2?