By on June 01st, 2011

The Green Home Server

Fellow MVP Tim Barrett decided to give his Windows Home Server a green makeover.

With WHS 2011 installed and a Kill A Watt meter at hand Tim was busy calculating his cost savings, which currently equate to $46.75 per year – not bad at all!

Kill A Watt Meter

Tim also explains in his post the conversion and math involved, or if like me that sounds like to much work then he even links to a site which does all the math for you.

A great read which you can find here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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By on June 01st, 2011

WHS2011 Add-in Upgrades for Developers

Version 1 of the WHS extensibility framework had no upgrade capability for already-installed Add-Ins, meaning the end user had to uninstall the old version of an Add-In, and then install the new version. This could also lead to the situation where the user could have multiple instances of an Add-In installed.

The Windows Server Solutions SDK (which includes WHS2011) now support add-in upgrades correctly:

A user can now download a new version of your Add-In, install it from a client machine, and WHS and MSI will handle the upgrade process cleanly.

As a developer you will have to do some work to make this happen, but thanks to a great tutorial from Tentacle Software you should be able to get your developed add-in updating in no time at all.

WHS2011 Updating Add-In from SDK

You can find the tutorial here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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By on May 31st, 2011

AutoExit for WHS 2011 Beta 2

Beta 2 of AutoExit 2011 for WHS 2011 is available for download.

This version mostly fixes issues that were present in Beta-1 and it had been made fully compatible with the release version of WHS 2011 like the client installer that was a separate installer which has now been integrated.

AutoExit for WHS 2011 Beta 2

A new feature in this beta is that you now have the option to add non-WHS machines, those client machines which do not have the WHS Connector Software installed

You can download this beta release directly from here, whilst additional information is also available.

And please report any bugs directly to ASoft on their feedback page.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on May 31st, 2011

Pool and Data Consistency in StableBit DrivePool

The guys behind StableBit DrivePool have a couple of great articles about their Drive Extender replacement add-in.

Their first article looks at pool consistency, and states:

Managing a pool of disks that hold all of your data raises some interesting questions regarding pool consistency. Namely, what happens if one of the disks go missing? What happens if you need to re-install the OS? What happens to your data if one of the disks starts going bad, how does folder duplication protect your files in this case? These are all very good questions and I think the answers have to be very clear.

StableBit DrivePool Remove Missing Disc Wizard

The article looks at these scenarios, and how StableBit DrivePool works in these different situations.

The second article then looks at Data consistency:

We all know that hard disks and SSDs go bad, it’s just a matter of time. DrivePool BETA M2 has built in mechanisms to detect read errors / write errors and data duplication errors and offer a fix in the form of a wizard for each condition.

In addition to fault detection and resolution, DrivePool’s folder duplication engine is designed to keep files in duplicated folders safe from a single hard drive failure, in real-time. In many cases you can continue reading or writing to a file even in the face of drive failure.

StableBit DrivePool Read Error Wizard

Read errors, write errors and duplication errors are looked at and how StableBit DrivePool deals with all three of them.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on May 31st, 2011

SMB MVP Community Roadshow Starts Tomorrow

The SMB MVP Community Roadshow Sponsored by HP and Microsoft starts tomorrow and hosted by Paul Arthur and Kevin Royalty.

Although the products discussed at these events include SBS 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials we wanted to bring this to your attention since these two products are very similar (in certain ways) to WHS 2011.

Microsoft Products to be featured:

  • SBS 2011 Essentials
  • SBS 2011 Standard
  • SBS 2011 Premium
  • MultiPoint 2011 Server

Tangent Applications and Discussion:

  • On-Premesis Applications and Servers
  • Client Backup Solutions
  • Cloud based integrated alternatives
  • Windows Home Server

HP Products to be featured:

  • MicroServer
  • SMB Entry/Mid-Range Pedestal/Rack Servers

SBSmigration.com – Migrate Anything to Anywhere:

  • Swing Migration Platforms for SBS, Exchange, and Windows or Cloud-integrated deployments

Some of the MVPs presenting / attending:

  • Amy Babinchak
  • Jeff Middleton
  • Kevin Royalty
  • Tim Barrett

Date: Wednesday June 1, 2011
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Eastern
Venue: Cincinnati State – Evendale
Address: 10110 Reading Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45241
Cost: FREE and open to the public

Registration URL for Cincinnati: http://cinpa201106.eventbrite.com/

Date: Thursday June 2 2011
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Eastern
Venue: Sinclair Learning Center
Address: 1900 Founders Drive, Suite 100 Kettering, OH 45420
Cost: FREE and open to the public

Registration URL for Kettering: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1688762133

This meeting will include a two hour presentation of the latest hardware and software products available to the Small Business Server professional from these industry giants, followed by an hour long meet and greet with plenty of food and fun.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on May 31st, 2011

Ask Matt: your questions answered

Ask a Question

Mailbag 31st May 2011

Have a question or problem?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Aron Asks:

Well, so far, so good with my experience with WHSv1… but I’m having some serious add-in withdrawal! Mainly Jones-ing for Web Folders 4 WHS. What an excellent add-in that was. I can’t wait till a version for WHS 2011 is released.

As a road-warrior, of sorts, I always need to: a) work on files that are back at the office; b) keep my local files and the files back at the office sync’d.

Dropbox sort of works for this, but because everything has to be in the Dropbox folder, it is not realistic or practical in the real world where files in different projects are all over the place… which is where WF4WHS came in handy. It was easy to set up and use. Just a snap (un-like setting up a VPN!!!), and allowed me to use my sync/backup software to keep everything running smoothly via WebDAV.

So, finally, to my question; I am having a great deal of difficulty finding out how to setup/configure the native WebDAV in WHS 2011. Do you, or your readers, have any links to this bit of undocumented information?

I completely agree Web Folders 4 WHS really is a god send, and I myself can’t wait for the new version to arrive. However WebDAV is a very good utility if setup correctly and is extremely useful, unfortunately the only guide I have is the standard documentation, which I think is very technical for most users. I am going to through this one out to all our readers and see if they maybe have a better guide for install and configuration.

So if anyone does have any suggestions please let us know via the comments at the bottom or leave a message in the forum.

David Asks:

I recently installed the WHS 2011 Release Candidate. When I set it up, I gave it a temporary name. Now I would like to rename the server, but at the Sytem Properties | Computer Name dialog, the Change… button is greyed out. Under the Change… button there is the following:

Note: the identification of the computer cannot be changed because: – The Certification Authority Service is installed on this computer.

Is there a way to change the server name?

I would like to change the workgroup name as well, though I read that the server ignores workgroups (why leave it in, if it isn’t used?).

Unfortunately this is something that cannot be changed once set during the install of WHS 2011; I believe this should be highlighted more clearly during the install, I am sure that in time someone will come up with a way of making the change as in theory there is no real reason as to why it can’t be change other than certificate services will be affected, however that is something that could be easily overcome.

I know I haven’t been able to answer everyone’s questions, so those that haven’t been answered why not post them in the forum.

Have a question or problem?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Written by
Matthew Glover
www.matthewglover.co.uk

Follow glovario on Twitter

Mailbag • Windows Home Server
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By on May 30th, 2011

BYOB Podcast Episode 45

BYOB Logo

Episode 45 of the BYOB podcast is available and this weeks show has details about the 2TB limit in Windows Home Server 2011 and the guys chat about different backup strategies.

You can find episode 45 here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on May 30th, 2011

WHS2011 at Amazon and Newegg

The other day we informed you that WHS2011 was now appearing at some smaller online retailers, but now the big guys have it too.

Windows Home Server 2011

Amazon.com are now shipping it and although they are showing a list price of $149.99, they are selling it for $124.50. Newegg on the other hand have it available for $119.99.

On the other side of the pond Amazon UK have it for pre-order for £89.99 with a release date of June 26th.

Here are the links for you:

The SKU number for Windows Home Server 2011 is CCQ-00128.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on May 27th, 2011

Add-In: My Movies for WHS Updates

My Movies the media management add-in for Windows Home Server users has had an update.

MyMovies for WHS2011 Meta Data

For v1 users of Windows Home Server you have the choice of version 1.6.1.6 or version 2.00 Pre Release 1.

For 1.6.1.6 the change log is as follows:

  • Added: Option in advanced configuration to reboot server once AnyDVD is updated.
  • Added: Option to index titles on discs directly connected to the Dune over the network.
  • Update: Dune and TViX template for better fileinfo icons
  • Change: Update to Dune index to become auto-updating
  • Removed: Ejecting of incorrect disc types as it could cause problems.
  • Fix: Ensure storage of meta-data

For 2.00 Pre Release 1:

  • Added: TV Series monitoring
  • Change: Supports My Movies 4. Does not support My Movies 3.

Finally for WHS 2011 users, version 2.00 Pre Release 7 of My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 include the following fixes:

  • Fix: DvdInfoCache folder was incorrect.
  • Fix: mp3HD encoding did not work with latest version of encoder.
  • Fix: Different minor bugs in monitoring
  • Fix: Videos share was added to wrong registry location on Create DefaultSettings
  • Fix: Incorrect installer handling could lead to various issues when upgrading rather than uninstalling and reinstalling

For Windows Home Server users, My Movies can be downloaded from the following locations:

For V1 Users:

For WHS 2011 Users:

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on May 27th, 2011

Problems with an Unattended Install of WHS2011

Tom Tziegmann has a good tip for those of you performing an unattended install of Windows Home Server 2011.

If you try to use the unattended install cfg.ini file again, the install will fail since the install process places some additional code into this file. Removing this code will enable the install process to continue.

CFG INI File for WHS2011 Unattended Install

Toms has all the details here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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