By on November 03rd, 2010

TwonkyServer 6.0.28

Version 6.0.28 of TwonkyServer for XP/Vista/Windows 7 and of course WHS users is now available.

This latest version includes the following fixes:

  • TMS-Rescan set to specific number of minutes is not working properly
  • Add custom DLNA profile for MKV to improve interop with certain clients
  • CDS contains duplicate resource entries with same resolution in one item
  • Clear logs options does not produce desired results
  • BMP and GIF files are not getting displayed on PS3(Unsupported data error is coming)
  • Some Configuration Page Options Not Translated for Nederlands Language
  • Error messages when viewing large JPG files on a Sony PS3
  • Username and the selected checkbox is not saved for PhotoBucket
  • Media feeds are not visible on MAC.
  • Duplicates listed in HTML Media Browser
  • sleep mode not working on DNS-323 for 6.0
  • Aggregation/Mirroring issues with TwonkyServer 6.0 on Linux
  • 64 bit server issues
  • strange behaviour in FLASH GUI when showing photos
  • Language resource file not read on big endian devices
  • XBOX only list first 329 songs while more than that are shared on TMS
  • Auto-rescan does not work properly
  • proxy resolves YouTube URL up to 15 times when streaming one video
  • TMS fails to launch when its executed from directory path containing Japanese or other unicode strings
  • DSM 323: Twonky gets killed right after start
  • Javascript error in html template
  • FLAC Transcoding on Linux in 6.0/6.0.1
  • Server enters sleep mode when scanning for more than 15 minutes

The download plus documentation are available from here.

Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on November 03rd, 2010

Add-In: Home Server SMART 1.1.36.6

The add-in Home Server SMART was updated to version 1.1.36.6 on 2nd November 2010.

Home Server SMART enables you to monitor the health of your hard disks attached to WHS, by examining the SMART. data exposed by your disks.

Home Server SMART Main Window

The following bugs are addressed in this version:

  • The dreaded "WMI worker process has encountered an exception: not supported" is no more. The code and try/catch block that encountered this has been adjusted so if the error condition arises, it doesn’t prevent the disk list from being populated. I also checked for this condition and if it occurs, a more useful message is displayed.
  • Fixed the NullReferenceException that occurred when clicking on some disks.  Home Server SMART wrongly assumed all disks exposed every attribute (i.e. model, interface, partition count, etc.) and if a disk didn’t expose the attribute, then an error was displayed and any remaining data was not displayed.  The code now checks the validity of each item, and only invalid items are skipped.
  • Fixed the Capacity column sorting – if you click on the Capacity column, the disks sort in correct numeric order now!

More information on Home Server SMART are available from Dojo North Software.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on November 02nd, 2010

Aurora Becomes Small Business Server 2011 Essentials

Microsoft announced today "Aurora" will be released in the first half of 2011 and will be officially known as Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.

Marketed as an ideal first server for a small business, SBS 2011 Essentials can be used by up to 25 users and requires no CALs for user access.  The software will be available through all current Microsoft server licensing, with pricing to be released closer to RTM.

SBS2011 Essentials Datasheet

More details from The Official SBS Blog.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 02nd, 2010

Breckenridge?

It seems like their is another server product in the works according to ZDNet blogger Mary-Jo Foley.

Mary Jo Foley

Code named Breckenridge, Mary states that it is a derivative of Windows Home Server Vail that is optimized to function as a storage server.

Although no specifics are available as yet, Mary Jo Foley’s All About Microsoft blog has some additional information.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 02nd, 2010

Mailbag 2nd November 2010

– Windows Home Server Custom Build
– Windows Home Server  – This organization’s certificate has been revoked
– Recovering Files from a Failed Windows Home Server
– Adding new drive to Windows Home Server needs partitioning

Another week with many emails flooding my inbox, there always seems to be a trend to the emails. Last week the trend was failing hard drives and this week I have received a lot of emails with revoked SSL certificates, with people unable to access their remote site. It’s nice to see questions starting to come in about Solid State Drives although I not so sure they are value for money when it comes to Windows Home Server.

Do you have a question?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Windows Home Server Custom Build
Andy Asks:

I’m looking to build a small windows home server and had planned on a 3 drive system: 1x small SSD for the OS and 2x Large HDDs in a RAID 1 configuration for everything else.

However, I noticed WHS needs a minimum of 64Gb and ideally 300Gb for its primary drive? Would I be able to get away with a 64Gb SSD (or ideally smaller) for the primary drive or is WHS really that awkward?

Solid State Drives are coming down massively in price and they are really starting to come in to their own in the domestic market. Although they are coming down in price and well worth a purchase, they are still relatively expensive in terms of £ per gigabyte, compared to their mechanical counter parts.

SSD’s main benefit is additional speed and battery life, which makes them ideal for both laptops and desktops. Windows Home Server is all about lots of storage, so I really can’t see any real reason for using one in a WHS build.

However, Windows Home Server does require 64Gb of available space to be able install the operating system, so you would have to go for a larger SSD to be able to play out the scenario above, although I can only see the SSD space to be your only stumbling block.

Windows Home Server  – This organization’s certificate has been revoked

Anonymous Asks:

Whenever I go to my home server’s domain, and attempt to log onto the secure site, I receive the error:

There is a problem with this website’s security certificate.

This organization’s certificate has been revoked.

Recently I upgraded both the RAM and processor of my server and I kept receiving an error on my computers saying that I needed to update my domain name because I had upgraded the server. The error notice said to go to ”Remote Access”, click the ’configure’ button for the domain name and follow the prompts to refresh the domain name.

After ignoring the error notice for quite some time, I finally decided to attempt to do this. I released the domain name and then re-selected the domain name and everything seemed to work just fine.

This has been a known issue for some time now; it seems to have originated around when Power Pack 3 was released. The fix is actually quite a simple one just open the WHS console and go to settings and then remote, you now need to reconfigure your domain name by clicking “configure”, when you are prompted, you should select the same domain name as you was previously was using, this should resolve the problem as it will re-issue the verified SSL certificate to your Windows Home Server.

Recovering Files from a Failed Windows Home Server

Fritz Asks:

I had a home-built WHS and saved my music and pictures to it (not duplicated). The motherboard failed and I pulled the hard drive out. I’ve since bought a HP Media Smart Home Server. I want to recover the files from that drive by installing it into a Windows Vista machine, thinking I can just copy them off, but get a ”0×80070780 the file cannot be accessed by the system” error.

The folder that they are in is called ”shares” and there are a few hundred gigs of data there. If I choose the ”skip” option it actually creates the empty folders in the destination drive, odd I thought.

I’ve opened the security to ”everyone”, shared it and even tried to take ownership of the drive, that went ok but still no luck. There seems to be very little info on this subject using Google so I really hope you can help.

This is quite a tricky situation because most of the time the process of putting the drive into a different PC just won’t work with Windows Home Server drives. There is an excellent guide of how to get your data recovered from your data drive @ servethehome.com here, although I want to point out that this is very much hit and miss, but I certainly hope it bears fruits for you.

Adding new drive to Windows Home Server needs partitioning

Anonymous Asks:

I’ve fitted a second hard drive and would like to use it to back up the data on the primary drive. Since fitting the new drive the corresponding LED has been flashing blue?

I have then gone to ’add a drive’ on the console and after following options I get the error message ’the new drive needs to be partitioned’ but I don’t know how or why I need to do that?

Try going through the following:

Remote in to the server by going to Start >> Run >> type “mstsc /v YOUR-SERVER-NAME” using your server name instead of “YOUR-SERVER-NAME” click ok, type the login information with the username “administrator” and then your WHS console password.

Once in you can right click “My Computer” select “Manage” go to “Storage” and then “Disk Management”, you should be able to see the new hard disk you have added, try right clicking the drive and deleting, now try re-adding to your WHS console, this should do the trick for you.

Do you have a question?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Written by
Matthew Glover
www.matthewglover.co.uk

www.lpower.co.uk | Quality Laptop Batteries, 30 Day Money Back Guarantee, 12 Month Warranty.

Featured • Mailbag • Windows Home Server
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By on November 01st, 2010

Turning your HP MSS EX49x into a Virtual Server – Part 2

Introduction

This article will cover installing VMWare Virtual Server 2.0 on Windows Home Server and setting up guest operating systems.  Part 1 covered the steps in upgrading the hardware in an HP MediaSmart Server EX490 to deal with virtualization.

You will need a copy of VMWare Server 2.0.2, a License Key (given for free after a no-fee registration with VMWare.com) and Remote Desktop Access to you Windows Home Server.

Got VMWare?

In the last paragraphs of the previous article on turning your HP MSS EX49x into a Virtual Server I said it was a good idea to get hold of VMWare Server 2.0.  You can download it by following this link and going through the download steps or by navigating the huge menus at VMWare.com.  You will have to register with VMWare but you get the option to opt out of emails if you won’t be interested in the odd email about Virtualization and Cloud Computing.  The download is 507MB and I advise you go through VMWare’s Download Manager.  The version you need to get is VMWare Server 2.0.2 (10/26/2009) – it’s the first version under the Binaries heading, be careful not to download the Linux version or the API instead.  On this same page is the only time you will be given the licensing information for VMWare Server.  I suggest saving this page or making a copy of the License Key somewhere safe – keys are provided for both Linux and Windows versions.  As always I recommend you use a Client PC to do the actual download and move the file to your Windows Home Server Software Share once you have virus scanned the executable.

Unleash The Beast

Make no mistake, running VMWare and Virtual Hosts can be very demanding on your system.  That’s why I went with 4GB of memory and a Quad Core CPU in my EX490 to handle the demand.  If you are expecting to get increased computing power through software then this is not the way do it – if you find out how drop me a line and we can patent it together!

First open the downloaded installer for VMWare Server 2.0.2 and select run:

image

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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By on November 01st, 2010

NEW Test

Gr 7 Up-One of the best-loved and most famous characters in southern literature springs to larger-than-life size thanks to Thomas Becker’s inspired delivery. The antics and adventures of Tom and his friends, Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn, provide hours of solid listening pleasure in this skillfully done fully-voiced narration. Based on a comic exaggeration of Mark Twain’s own childhood experiences and replete with both humor and nostalgia, this recording is an ideal way to introduce a new generation to what many literary critics recognize as a seminal work of American literature. Well-known scenes like whitewashing the fence, bible school competition, rafting the river, and being lost in cave while stalked by the infamous “Injun Joe” all provide listeners with a glimpse into life on the Mississippi in the 1800s a time when river traffic dictated the pace of life in many rural southern communities.-Cindy Lombardo, Orrville Public Library, OH 

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By on October 30th, 2010

DVBLogic 3.2 Beta 2

DVBLogic have released an update to their TVSource and Server Network Pack components for their tuner card/s in WHS solution.

Version 3.2 beta 2 includes the following changes from beta 1:

General
– Fixed: DVBLink MCE launcher not hidden sometimes
– Added: Channel numbers are taken from xmltv during EPG channel mapping
– Fixed: autopopulating program categories in Guide

DVBLink TVSource
– Added: custom script to run after each successful EPG data acquisition (postprocess.bat in DVBLink\EPG folder)
– Fixed: unreliable TeVii diseqc switch
– Corrected usage of "movie" attribute in EIT scanner. This caused absence of "Record series" button in MCE for a lot of programs.

DVBLink Server Network Pack
– Added: IPad streaming
– Fixed: language selection for IPhone/IPad streaming
– Added: language selection to UPnP server
– Added: possibility to disable web server authentication (it is disabled when user name is empty)
– Fixed: BSE EPG information not appearing via the web server
– Added: support for Samsung DLNA TVs
– Fixed: server hang-up when attempted to stream HD channels to IPhone/IPad. Server is not hanging anymore although streaming itself does not work. It will probably be not fixed also in the release version.

The download plus important installation/upgrade information is available from here.

Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on October 29th, 2010

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 110

home_server_show_small

Episode 110 of The Home Server Show podcast is now available with the weeks WHS news and views plus this week a look at hard drives, including Solid State ones.

You can catch it here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on October 28th, 2010

Turning your HP MSS EX49x into a Virtual Server – Part 1

Introduction

This article is based around upgrading the hardware in an HP MediaSmart Server EX490.  Later articles will cover installing VMWare Virtual Server 2.0 and guest operating systems.

Say What?

There are a lot of articles and posts on the internet showing you how to run Windows Home Server in a virtual environment.  I did consider turning my EX490 into a Virtual Server using VMWare ESXi (the enterprise Virtualization solution) but because I would severely lose out on important storage characteristics with regard to the ability of hot swapping and expanding the virtual disk datastore I decided against it.  Long before ESX (and ESXi) though was Virtual Server from VMWare supporting a more traditional approach of an application layer on top of the operating system – as opposed to installing a Hypervisor on top of bare metal (the machine itself with no underlying operating system).  Anyway this is not a lesson of which is best or why use virtualization, I assume if you are reading this then you are familiar with Wikipedia for definitions and are interested in taking advantage of your ‘always on’ home server.

Let’s get onto the same page here.  I’m a growing software developer and a keen home computer enthusiast coupled with the fact that my job encompasses technology running on diverse platforms including the utilization of virtualization and cloud computing.  I want to have a slice of that at home too which will help with my software development in terms of proving my applications on a number of platforms (read as different Windows Versions) but also allow me to run a Linux server.  I’m Red Hat certified so don’t be surprised at my choice of Linux Distribution when we get to that part in the later articles.

Virtualization brings with it a number of advantages, the one for me that we will be dealing with today is that of consolidation.  That is migrating existing servers/computers to a virtual environment reducing cost overheads, physical presence and maintenance effort.  It definitively doesn’t have the same impact in the home as it may do in your workplace but there is one more issue that is worthwhile when considering the OEM and Home Built Windows Home Servers.  Microsoft decided against providing a mechanism to backup Windows Home Server (I’m ignoring Vail for now as it’s not a released product line).  The idea is that the operating system itself is expendable – in other words the loss of a system drive given that other important user data had been protected with duplication could be simply resolved by performing a server recovery.  Ignoring the ‘recovery’ issue of installing many updates, potential lost backups (see WHS BDBB for the solution)  and recreating users accounts there is the chance that you have installed ’extras’ outside of the Windows Home Server environment.  That is media servers, applications and utilities that don’t work with Windows Home Server directly but are Windows XP/2003 compatible and there is the fact that you would like to get back to that setup after a system drive loss.  What if all those extras were wrapped up inside a Virtual Machine or more and given the protection of a Windows Home Server backup – now you see that the earlier plug of WHS BDBB is actually quite meaningful.  My guide will have you installing the virtual datastore on the system drive of your server and if that drive is lost or damaged then it would mean the loss of your Virtual Hosts utilizing the Virtual Drives in that datastore.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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