Keen photographer Sean Daniel has been using KeepVault as an online backup for his Windows Home Server 2011.
Sean takes us through the setup process and also takes a look at the add-ins local backup feature and how the recovery of files is accomplished by an easy one click restore.
It’s a great comprehensive read which you can find here.
Have a question or problem?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!
Tom Asks:
Is there a way to wake one of the computers from hibernation from the Windows Home Server webpage or remote console?
When I travel the only system I keep active is my Windows Home Server, and then when I need to access one of the Windows Home Server clients it is inevitably offline, right when I need to access it… figures. Are there any add-ons to fix this issue?
Tom you are in luck, there is an excellent addin for Windows Home Server called Lights-Out, all you need to do is install the addin, then install the application on each machine, and then enable Wake-on-LAN on your network card and/or in the BIOS. If that sounds like a bit too much, don’t worry there is an excellent instruction guide that comes with it. Best of all, this addin can be used free of charge, although donations are gratefully accepted.
Once all setup you will be able to login to the WHS console from the WHS webpage, go to the addin, select which machine on your network you would like to wake, once the machine has booted you will then see it available to access.
You can find Lights-Out here.
Jim Asks:
I am getting:
Source: Si3114r5
TimeGenerated: 2/25/2011 5:03:50 PM
InstanceId: 3221487625
Catagory: (0)
CatagoryNumber: 0
EntryType: Error
Message: The device, \Device\Scsi\Si3114r52, did not respond within the timeout period.
—Does this point me to a specific drive on a specific controller? There are 12 drives in my system on different controllers.
Jim this doesn’t seem to be a problem with a particular drive this is being caused by the RAID card you have installed, the drives that you have connected to that card are possibly at risk of losing data. This is a known problem with this controller and it does seem to like working with Windows Home Server, my guess is that if you are getting the error above you will most likely be getting the error below:
NTFS
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NTFS
Event Category: Disk
The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume X.
(X is sometimes DATA, sometimes individual drive letters longer. The longer the system is up, the more errors and drives are reported)
I would also hazard a guess that you are getting file conflicts, NTFS corruption and maybe some hanging. I can’t give you a complete resolution as many people have tried different drivers but to no avail, most people’s resolution was unfortunately to replace the RAID card.
Hope this has helped to understand the error.
Renny Asks:
My WHS is pretty old based mostly on components which are 6YO. I would like to migrate to a newer MB/CPU set up that I have spare.
Can I literally just unplug the 5 HDDs I have in my server and DAS and stick them in the new box and expect it to work, or do I need to do a full reinstall to migrate???
Renny, this is something that is extremely annoying for me on a daily basis. The simple answer is no, you can’t just unplug the drive and put them in to a new machine, I can only hope for the day when that is possible. Unfortunately you have to completely re-install Windows Home Server on your new server and then painstakingly copy the data from the old server to the new one.
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
WHS Trigger is a Windows Home Server add-in which integrates the Task Scheduler into the WHS Console to administrate and monitor scheduled tasks.
The add-in allows you to schedule your own tasks such as to automate WHS Backup tasks or cleanup/housekeeping jobs like the Disk Defragmenter to run at the time that is most convenient for you. The tasks can be run daily, weekly, monthly, or at certain times (such as system startup). The notification engine gives users notifications of running tasks or failed tasks by analyzing the task return code.
WHS Trigger Features:
If you are a more experienced WHS user then you can find out more on this beta release at HomeServerLand.
A beta of the SageTV software for Windows Home Server users is available for download.
Version 7.1.5 beta includes the following core Updates:
More details on this beta release including the download link are available from here.
Version 1.2.7 of WHS Phone for Android is up at the Android Market with updated translations and some minor bug fixes.
Changelog:
The trial version for Android owners is available from here, whilst the full version at $4.99 can be downloaded from here.
This weeks edition of “The Home Server Show” podcast has an announcement of a brand new add-in for WHS v1 plus the weeks news and good conversation.
Episode 127 can be found here.
As we informed you about earlier this week, the add-in Remote Alert version 1.5 is now available for download.
Remote Alert provides remote access notification, additional security layers and remote access activity logging.
Features:
You can download version 1.5 from here.
The developers behind Drive Bender have stated that the 2nd beta release of their DE replacement will be available on the 21st of this month – We can’t wait!
“The intention here is to release a solid and near feature complete beta version.”
The Drive Bender website.
With Drive Extender not being in WHS2011, many enthusiasts will be using a RAID configuration to help protect their data. Now one of the best software RAID solutions is from Intel, and a motherboard with an Intel ICH chipset is the way to go as Intel supply the excellent Matrix Storage Manager technology software for use with their software RAID solution.
ServeTheHome has an excellent tutorial on setting up a RAID 1 array on an Intel ICH Chipset motherboard using the Matrix Storage Manager, which with this simple guide will help you through the configuration necessary to get your RAID 1 array up and running for data redundancy for WHS2011.
You can find their guide here.
"Chenley" loves to test new software in a virtual environment by using Hyper-V, and installed WHS2011 in a Hyper-V environment.
Want to see how he did it?
If your answer is yes then you are in luck as "chenley" takes us step by step through the process with lots of screen shots to help you too, which you can find here.
