MS Windows Home Server

A Deeper Look at Aurora

InfoWorld.com is the place to head for a closer look at the next Microsoft Small Business Server, code named Aurora.

Enterprise man J. Peter Bruzzese dives deeper into Aurora’s code and takes a look at the software’s Dashboard plus much more

…even in this early code release, the installation and configuration of all key aspects of the server to be smooth, and the interface is a polished. I liked all the elements of the Connector and Launchpad client-side pieces, especially the ability to reach out and quickly remote connect to a computer directly through the Remote Web Access options.

It makes a lot of sense to take the more difficult aspects of SBS (like Exchange and SharePoint) and make those hosted solutions that tie in to your SBS under a cross-premise offering.

You can read the article here.

Big WHS Update on the Way

WeGotServed are reporting that an update for Windows Home Server (v1) will be released on August 24th (2010).

Microsoft’s Knowledge Base Article 979453 states that the update will fix 5 separate issues found since the release of Power Pack 3:

Issue 1

You cannot restore a client computer without manually creating partitions or mapping the source and destination volume.
After you install this update, you can restore a client computer without manually creating partitions or mapping the source and destination volume. However, to enable this functionality, the following conditions must be true:

• The backup must be stored on only one disk.
• The destination computer must have only one hard disk.
• The hard disk in the destination computer must be equal to or larger in size than the backup.
• The hard disk drive in the destination computer must be an internal hard disk drive. For example, IDE, SATA or e-SATA.

Issue 2

2048-bit certificates will soon replace 1024-bit certificates. This update enables Home Server users to use 2048-bit certificates before 2048-bit certificates become the industry standard.
After you install this update, you are asked to renew Website certificates if you have already registered the live domain for the websites. After you finish the renewal process, the website certificates are upgraded to 2048-bit.

Issue 3

You cannot change the backup settings if a volume that has backup-excluded folders is not available. In this situation, you must wait until the volume becomes available.
After you install this update, you can remove a missing volume that has backup-excluded folders from the backup process.

Issue 4

You cannot remove all users’ permissions from a shared folder. When you try to remove the permissions, the Windows Home Server console reports that the operation succeeds. However, the permissions are not removed.
After you install this update, you can successfully remove all users’ permissions from a shared folder. If you tried to perform this operation before you install this update, the permissions will be removed when you restart the computer after you install this update.

Issue 5

You may experience incompatibility issues when you use the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows Home Server. This is a precautionary update. Windows Home Server is currently not supported by the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials Beta or final release. This update will address some incompatibility issues.