MS Windows Home Server

If you stream from your Windows Home Server shared folders to any media player via smb (such at the Popcorn Hour or Myka) you can only mount 1 share at a time. Meaning you will have to create a separate smb share for each shared folder and you will only be able to access one share at a time on your media player.

But MediaSmartServer.net has a post with a solution which allows all your WHS shared folders to appear under one smb share, which you can read here.

HomeServerLand have a tutorial on how to setup a magicJack on Windows Home Server.

magicJack is a little USB device which allows you to make unlimited free local and long distance phone calls within the US and Canada, and allows you to choose your own phone number and provides call waiting, voice mail and caller ID.

The tutorial goes through the magic behind the device and why magicJack your Windows Home Server in the first place. The tutorial along with troubleshooting tips is available here.

If you would like to install Team Foundation Server (TFS) onto Windows Home Server you are in luck.

TFS is a team collaboration server that provides work item tracking, source control, reporting, process guidance and more. Version 2010 Beta2 can be installed on WHS by using a remote desktop connection and website “Gaffer-Tape Engineering” takes us through the steps and also explains how to export the Home Server certificate which is also required.

You can read the full tutorial here.

I have looked at everyone’s comments from part 1 and have to say I agree with them, so I want to clarify what it is I am trying to convey. Hyper-v isn’t going to be for everyone, I except that, and I also except that hyper-v is not going to be for the average user that only uses WHS for just backing up, maybe a laptop and desktop, then maybe accessing some files on their WHS from work. At the same time, that same person, probably won’t be reading this article, this article is for enthusiasts, professionals and anybody else interested in enhancing their use of not just WHS but a completely different way of working with multiple OS’s.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ok I have been running my WHS on Server 2008 Hyper-V for around 12 months now and before that I ran it in Virtual Server 2007. First let me tell you a bit about the hardware I am running it on, I use a HP Proliant ML110 with a Xeon 3065 2.33Ghz, 8Gb RAM, 1 x 250Gb HDD, 2 x 500Gb HDD and 1 x 1TB HDD, I have 2 network cards both are Gigabit and 1 of them I have dedicated solely for the use of the host server i.e. the physical hardware, this stops any hardware bottle necks and allows me to be more flexible.

The reason I use hyper-v is simple I use lot of operating systems both remotely and at home, I need and use XP Pro, XP Home, Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate, Windows 7 Home and Windows 7 Ultimate I also use most variants of server OS i.e. server 2008, server 2003 and sometimes server 2000, ok so I use a lot of OS but this is only for work reason but I would still run WHS on hyper-v even if this wasn’t the case and the reason is simple flexibility, ease of use, energy savings, I am sure you will see for yourself as we go through this guide.

I sometimes use me hyper-v server as main machine when I don’t need to do anything intensive I don’t mean use the Server 2008 OS, I mean just open up hyper-v manager right click my windows 7 machine and away I go, sometimes I even think I wouldn’t need to use my desktop if I didn’t have to do intensive tasks.

There are 4 different types of hyper-v but the 2 that are mainly going to concern those wanting to run WHS on, is Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Core now this is the one most of you are going to want to run because plain and simply, this version is free. The second version is Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard and hyper-v comes with this version and this version allows for much more things like Active Directory and Exchange Server (this does not come with Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard but is usable on this version) this is the version I run but only because I get it very cheap due to my MAPS subscription.

Setting up is very simple and easy the core system you can’t go wrong with it is a case of clicking next, next and next again, a few more question with server 2008 standard but nothing more than when installing WHS.

Once you installed the core version you will find you have no user interface the reason for this is because it is the most basic version of hyper-v the only way to use this version of hyper-v is to install the hyper-v management console on your Vista or Windows 7 machine only (be aware you can’t install this on Windows XP) you can download the app from here once you are connected you need to connect to your remote hyper-v install and create a virtual machine which I will go through in the next part of this post.

Imagine this:-

You have your Home Server configured to wake up for a couple of hours a day to perform backups and then go back to sleep, which is made possible via the LightsOut add-in. However to use your Home Server outside of these hours you can send it a WakeOnLan (WOL) request to wake it up without physically switching the machine on.

But how do you send it back to sleep?

By using a third party application called Poweroff and the add-in Advanced Admin Console you can easily send your server back to sleep via a toolbar button. And if you want to know all the details, they are available from here.

With the new iTunes 9 being made available from Apple, some have been asking how to install a copy onto Windows Home Server, enabling you to use the Home Sharing function to copy and share media over your LAN connection.

With a little hacking and a follow of the following seven step guide, you should be good to go.

Kam Lau from KAMLAU.COM has a great guide on setting up eSata port multiplication with the Acer Aspire easyStore using a eSATA PCI-X port multiplier card included with a Sans Digital TowerRAID Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) unit.

What does this mean?

Basically when your storage capacity runs out on the Acer you can use a DAS unit (like the Sans Digital TowerRAID) for additional storage space. In this example 4 hard drive slots in the Acer and 4 more in the Sans Digital TowerRAID TR4M-B. An impressive 8 hard drive slots!

You can read the full guide here.

Story courtesy of MediaSmartServer.net.