Power Pack 1 and the Backup Database Feature (or NOT)
We Got Served picked up on a post on Microsoft’s WHS forums stating that Power Pack 1 of Windows Home Server will not allow you to back up your backup database via a built in tool as was previously announced.
Todd Headrick of the WHS Team stated:
A feature isn’t a feature until it ships. And sometimes marketing gets things wrong … by pre-announcing stuff at CES that ends up getting cut before it ships.
The feature had to be cut due to the interplay with the connector install and the fact that consumers may hork their backup database by doing an incomplete backup or interrupting the restore process. The team will look to add this functionality in a future release after Power Pack 1.
Of course this is not a problem as you can still back up the backup database manually, using the steps in the Home Computer Backup technical brief.
Share this WHS Article with Others:
“The team will look to add this functionality in a future release after Power Pack 1.” One of the many problems with WHS is that all the basic features and functions are missing even still despite third party (Mostly Beta) add-ins coming to the rescue.
Wasn’t WHS “Power Pack 1” suppose to offer more than those “Service Packs”, right?
Why did Microsoft really need to delay this “Backup Database” feature? Is this really the customers fault, as Microsoft claims here, because consumers may “hork” their backup database?
So is it really the customers fault here that this feature is cut, as Microsoft thinks customers will just be horking? Come on, that’s just ridiculous.
So is it really the customers fault here that this feature is cut, as Microsoft thinks customers will just be horking?
Come on, that’s just ridiculous.
Actually, accordingly from Ken Warren on the WHS Forum, the reason customers will NOT get this backup feature in WHS PP1, is due to the lack of meeting the internal quality bar standards set by Microsoft.
Just seems a bit unfair here by Microsoft to make up an excuse that WHS customers may hork. When in fact, the real reason is Microsoft’s own fault.
Moderator MVP Ken Warren stated, “it doesn’t meet the quality bar. I know of at least half a dozen bugs submitted around that feature that left end users in a bad place with no obvious way back”.
Well, let hope when Microsoft does get around to actually releasing this feature, it’s going to work correctly. Better late than never?
When asked on the WHS forum about what would happen if during the WHS backup database was interrupted, Ken Warren said,”if you were to disconnect the drive to which you copied your backup database partway through the process of restoring it, you would have a partial, and therefore corrupt, backup database on the server”.
I’m glad Microsoft isn’t releasing this backup database feature now, until the issues of data corruption will be addressed. But, I also think calling your customers “horks” isn’t polite and respectful here.
It’s not the customers fault that the backup feature leads to data corruption. That’s a design issue of the feature being used.
Are you serious? It’s ok for MS and the MVPs to talk about PP1 and it’s features since January, but it’s not ok to mention the fact that “Oh yeah, by the way, one piece of the community’s most-wanted (not to mention previously-announced) features got scapped some time ago due to low quality issues”?
Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 doesn’t have the ability to back up the backup database. I’m very disappointed that this feature had to be removed
WHS PP1 was advertised to provide features that it appears now it will never deliver!
I regret having bought my HP EX475, as I have been forced to remove one of the hard drives to avoid the data corruption bug, since last year. Now, it appears even WHS PP1 isn’t going to deliver what was promised before as well. What’s there to be happy about WHS when I’ve been needing to workaround just about everything to get things to function and work?
And that’s been a problem having to tinker around, as the software running on the WHS to facilitate the Remote Desktop connection will only allow for up to two simultaneous sessions.
Which WHS was limited by design to only allow 10 PC clients to be connected to WHS on top of this.
Sounds more like a rant here, but these things just are NOT the customers fault here. Microsoft really needs to step up to the plate and do a better job here.
And is WHS version 1 ever going to be upgradeable to a better working version two ahead? I would like to know, as if NOT, then there is no need to continue using WHS.
The comment from Teri: re database transfer interruption.
In fact, this also applies to the manual method of backing up your backups, as described in the technical documents.
Any interruption to even a RoboCopy will screwyour server backups.
Colin
Very Disappointing News…
Very Disappointing to know another feature needed isn’t going to be delivered as promised.
Despite WHS own data corruption issues, I cannot even connect to my XP clients now, because after updating to SP3, I’m experiencing endless rebooting, and I’m NOT talking about Vista with SP1 here too.
Microsoft has so far failed to provide any plausible solution here which has caused my PC to be crippled by the install of service pack three (SP3).
I read somewhere online, individuals using AMD processors are at risk due to wrong OEM drivers? Unfortunately, WHS isn’t able to restore my backup files at this point. I cannot even get to SAFE mode!
Must I be forced to reformat and start all over? What to do? What good is WHS when I cannot even restore my backup images?
@Keven
Maybe if you got a WinPE CD, you can boot up and just disable the wrong driver intelppm.sys? If I recall AMD requires amdk8.sys.
If it’s NOT the hardware driver issue, it’s possible this problem with your PC clients could be another issue with certain motherboards. Unfortunately, at this time there isn’t a resolution as yet.
If you get this warning message when you boot up, the issue is the second of these two issues with SP3.
“Problem was detected and windows has been shut down to protect your computer from damage. The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant.”
As for restoring your WHS image, well… best of luck.
@Henry:
You sound a bit like a sourpuss.
Sure, I would like a simple button that would “backup the backups”, but frankly most users wouldn’t take advantage of it (I can hear my Dad now: “Backing up the backups? Are you serious??”). WHS does a great job of making it trivial to protect multiple machines from single hard failure, which for most users is a huge step forward (I know that I was always putting off regular backups before WHS b/c it was always a PITA).
Anyway, if you do really want to back up your backups, you can still do it; there’s even a public MS doc that explains how. I have this running as a scheduled job on my WHS right now; it took about 20 minutes to set up.
@O’Brain:
PP1 *is* more than a service pack. Check out blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2008/01/06/windows-home-server-power-pack-1.aspx before rushing to judgement. It’s a significant improvement — not an oh-my-god-its-so-awesome change, but then it’s being positioned as a minor upgrade, sort of a service pack plus a few new features.
@BillDeFoe
If PP1 is “more” than a service pack, where are these features? Per the WHS Team Blog article you linked to, the top four features are Connector, Data Backup, Remote Access, Database Repair.
The first “feature” is merely making the Connector compatible with versions of Vista that should have already had compatibility in the first place. As this article has already noted, the Data Backup feature has been scrapped. Remote access already existed– this is just a GUI permissions tweak. This leaves the last “feature” as a tool that repairs corrupt backup databases– great to know that a dedicated server solution should require such a tool in the first place.