By on July 08th, 2011

WHS 2011 in the Rack Mountable T2i

The rack mountable T2 chassis from Tranquil PC is now almost 7 years old but it has had a brush up and is now supplied with a new CPU and supports WHS 2011.

The T2iWHS series is powered by Intel’s latest 2nd generation Core 2 CPU (the i3-2100T) and is available in either Satin black or Metallic silver.

Tranquil PC T2i Satin Black

The silent fan less chassis is a near silent unit with a low power consumption, consuming just 23W with 1 hard drive. There is a limit to the number of internal HDDs, with just  2x being available, but for many a 2x 2TB server is more than enough and Tranquil PC are now including all of the Leo HS4 services with the unit – AVA Media CD ripper, MonStor Storage Manager etc.
 
What do you get:

  • T2iWHS Home Server appliance incl Window Home Server 2011
  • 2TB Low Energy Primary Hard Disk
  • 2GB DDR3 RAM
  • Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor (i3-2100T 2.5GHz)
  • AVA Media CD ripping Add In (new 5th July 2011) Innovative storage expansion manager (to create storage pools, and also manage data duplication)
  • Media Kit including PC Restore CD and Server Restore DVD
  • 120W 12V external power adapter
  • 24 month RTB (return to base) warranty

Rear connections:

  • Display: DVD-D
  • DisplayPort
  • HDMI (Audio / Video)
  • Audio: Centre / Sub – Rear – Side – In (Line) – Out (L/R) – Mic’ In – SPDIF Optical
  • Storage: 2x USB 3.0 – 4x USB 2.0 – 1x eSata
  • Network:10/100/1000 LAN
  • Power: 12V DC Input

The T2iWHS series has low power consumption, is powerful and rack mountable, but looks equally as good on the desk and is affordable. Priced at £549 you can save £45 + VAT at checkout by using the coupon code T2WHSSAVE

More details on the T2iWHS series are available from here.

Hardware • News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 08th, 2011

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 142

home_server_show_small

Episode 142 of The Home Server Show podcast is up with live audio from their meetup.

And that of course is along with the weeks Home Server news with plenty of chat, which you can find here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 07th, 2011

Offers from Tranquil PC

Tranquil PC in the UK have some great offers currently in place if you are thinking of purchasing a server.

The Leo SS4 Storage Server appliance powered by Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is available with a £100 + VAT discount by using coupon code: CSS10011 during checkout.

Storage Server is very similar to Windows Home Server 2011, with a few extensions, ie it supports up to 25x connected users (auto-backups etc) compared to the 10x users supported on the Leo HS4 (WHS2011).  You can also join the Leo SS4 to a domain, for simplified integrate your into your existing infrastructure.

The tiny, almost silent T7 Harmony Series 3 running Windows Home Server 2011 has just seen a massive price reduction from £329 to £249 for the 2GB /1TB version whilst the 2GB/2TB version has also been reduced by a huge £107

T7 Harmony Series 3

Great savings keeping more money in your pocket Smile

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 07th, 2011

SBS 2011 Essentials Available Today from all Channels

Microsoft have announced that Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials is available as of today in all channels.

SBS Essentials 2011

SBS 2011 Essentials (formally known as Aurora) is now available for customers to purchase either through Volume Licensing, retail or most OEM partners.

More details are available here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 06th, 2011

Stream Audio and Video to your iPhone / iPad from WHS2011

If you would like to setup streaming from your Windows Home Server 2011 to your iPhone or iPad then Tranquil PC have some details for you.

You first have to install the StreamToMe app from the app store for the nominal fee of £1.79 and then if you would like to give the server a test drive for yourself, drop a line to Tranquil PC now, and we’ll provide you with the WHS2011 details to stream from.

You can stream music test files, recorded TV (.wtv), HD recorded TV, .mp4 video (HD) etc. There may be occasional issues with some of the video files, ie the audio codec may or may not stream.  (SALT in the videos folder is a good example of movie streaming!)

iPad-LandscapeFolderPlayerVisible

iPad-PortraitMusicFolderPlayerHidden

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 05th, 2011

SBS 2011 SDK Training Module Released

Basic CMYK

If you would like to develop for SBS 2011 Essentials then Microsoft have some help available to you, as they have just released 2 ISV training modules for SBS 2011 Essentials covering topics such as:

  • Development requirements, SDK Installation and Template import
  • Dashboard Templates
  • Health and Alerts Templates
  • Creating a Dashboard Add-in
  • Creating an installation package
  • Extending features
  • Dashboard & Launchpad Provider
  • List Templates and Samples

SBS 2011 SDK Training Module 1:

This video introduces and provides an overview of the SBS 2011 Essentials SDK; Walkthroughs Extending features; Dashboard, Launchpad, Provider; List Templates and Samples; Review of development requirements and SDK Installation and Template import

SBS 2011 SDK Training Module 2:

In this video we review Dashboard Templates; Review of Health and Alerts Templates; Creating a Dashboard Add-in; Manual installation of add-in and testing and Creating an installation package

Microsoft are also set to release a third module shortly which will cover the provider model to integrate cloud based services into SBS 2011 Essentials and extend the admin functionality of the dashboard.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 05th, 2011

Free AVA Media CD Ripping Add-In

From today Tranquil PC are offering the AVA Media CD ripping Add In for free with all orders for a Leo HS4 Performance Home Server.

AVA Media CD ripping Add In

And if you already own a Leo HS4 you will not miss out as Tranquil will be offering the free Add In, or options to UPGRADE to the CD/DVD version etc. at a reduced price.

More details are available here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 05th, 2011

WSSX Add-In Package Project for Visual Studio 2010

Add-In Package Project for Visual Studio 2010

Add-in Developer Sam Wood has put together a custom Visual Studio 2010 project type that allows you to manage your *.wssx build process:

Adds support to Visual Studio 2010 for *.wssx cabinet files required to distribute Windows Server Solutions SDK Add-Ins for Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

  • Complete Visual Studio 2010 project type that fully automates creating *.wssx files
  • Full makecab automation
  • Full MSBuild support and integration points
  • Automatic packaging of project reference outputs and content items
  • Post-package signing support
  • Includes templates for required Add-In metadata files

By using Sam’s project, you don’t have to mess around with building your own DDF files or running MAKECAB as part of your post-build process as this is handled automatically for you. Add the files and project outputs to the WSSX project that you want to be included in the cabinet and the rest is taken care of.

Sam’s Windows Server Solutions Add-In Package Project (*.wssx) for Visual Studio 2010 can be found here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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By on July 05th, 2011

OS X Lion Breaks Mac Backup

Mac OS X Lion

Those beta testing Apples new operating system update OS X Lion have found that once they have updated to this major update that their HP MediaSmart Server can no longer back up the Mac.

Once you’ve updated your Mac to the new release, you’ll find the HP MediaSmart Server client can still detect the home server on the network, but is unable to remount the drive – leaving you to work through the same manual workarounds as other Windows Home Server v1 owners.

Since the MediaSmart Server range is discontinued, now perhaps is a good time to upgrade these units to Windows Home Server 2011 since this is going to support Mac backups via a yet unreleased third party add-in.

Story courtesy of WeGotServed.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on July 04th, 2011

Add-In: Drive Bender 1.1.5.6

Drive Bender Logo

Build 1.1.5.6 (2011-07-04) of Drive Bender has just been made available and here are the release notes:

  • Bug fix: Unable to add a drive to a new pool.
  • Bug fix: A file could fail to open if the file was marked as read only.
  • Bug fix: Unhandled exceptions could sometimes occur while reading and writing to a file.
  • Update: Enhanced the CRC32 validation of files moved as a result of balancing. We have also made this operation more verbose if logging is set to "Medium" or "Debug".
  • Update: If the CRC32 validation setting is enabled, files copied as a result of enabling validation on a folder, will also be validated using CRC32.

As always more details are available from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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