The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 96

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Episode 96 of "The Home Server Show" podcast has the weeks Home Server news and lots of chat about power issues, recent WHS builds and lots more besides.

You can find it here.

Add-In: AWIECO WakeOnLAN 0.1.1

The first add-in has been made available for Windows Home server codename Vail (or WHS v2).

WakeOnLan 0.1.1 Main

"Wake On Lan" by AWIECO gives you the ability to turn on a computer remotely. It enables the Home Server to start up every computer attached to your network. The gadget shows a list of all available and connected computers within your network and provides the possibility to start them up from any location inside your network or via internet, by just one mouse click. The gadget automatically recognizes, if a computer is already turned on or if it is booting up.

WakeOnLan 0.1.1 IP

WakeOnLan 0.1.1 Tab

You can grab the free "Wake On Lan" add-in for Vail from here.

Add-In: Lights-Out 1.0.3

There is a new service release of the add-in Lights-Out.

Version 1.0.3. released 22nd June 2010:

  • Added Italian translation
  • Fixed force option bug in calendar task introduced in 1.0.1
  • Fixed need for lowercase email in license activation
  • Fixed sporadic problems saving changes in calendar editor
  • Fixed sending settings twice for IP and WHS clients
  • Fixed bug in network scanner when VPN network is active during scan
  • Fixed problems with duplicate clients (after OS Upgrade)
  • Fixed missing wake-up and backup times in computer tab
  • Changed detection of controlled services.
  • Optimized timing for clients to get online and run a backup
  • Block automatic client standby after resume for a period of 4 minutes when running on AC power
  • Kick start WHS connector on client after resume and after server WOL to speed up reconnect
  • When client wake-up occurred by timer, client is suspended after backup
  • Improved handling of client side suspend by WHS Connector
  • Updated LoPa (Lights-Out Problem Analyzer)
  • Signed with renewed authenticode certificate

Please follow these steps to upgrade

•Uninstall your current version using WHS Console, Settings->Add-Ins

•Delete old msi file found in \\Server\Software\Add-Ins

•Download new version and store in \\Server\Software\Add-Ins

•Install new version using WHS Console, Settings->Add-Ins

Clients will be updated automatically within 5 minutes when you have a licensed version or during the trial period.
Otherwise execute the client installer \\Server\Software\LightsOut\LightsOutClientInstall.exe to update the clients.
You don’t have to uninstall the previous version on the client.

In case of problems please use Remote Desktop to connect to your server. Then zip the entire folder
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LightsOut and send the archive to me.

The add-in as an MSI file can be downloaded from here.

DVBLink Walkthrough Presentation

Gary [WMA] recently done a DVBLink presentation and has since kindly uploaded the screen capture with annotations (no audio) which will walk you through the the DVBLink setup process.

DVDLink Walkthrough Presentation

Its a great 46 minute presentation which you can either watch on Blip TV or download the 261MB WMV file.

Information courtesy of TheDigitalLifestyle.com

WHS as a VPN Server

If you would like to setup Windows Home Server to act as a VPN server, then we may have the guide for you courtesy of the "cw-kid".

And why would you want this? Well as the guide states:

If you are away from your home and you want full LAN access to your home network then VPN on WHS is ideal for this.

WHS VPN Access

This is a great comprehensive guide which you can follow here.

SDK Update Video

Larry Larsen from Microsoft’s Channel 9 video channel talks to Fabian Uhse, who is the SDK Program Manager for Windows Home Server.

Channel 9 Fabian Uhse

Fabian talks about what has changed in this latest update of the WHS SDK, in this 13 minute video, which you can view here.

How to Buy a NAS (inc. WHS)

PCMag.com have a great "How to Buy a NAS Device" guide.

PCMag Logo

The guide looks at various NAS devices including Home Server specific:

  • Acer Aspire easyStore H340
  • HP MediaSmart Server EX487
  • Lenovo IdeaCentre D400 Home Server

The Acer got 3 out of 5 stars whilst HP got 4.5 and the Lenovo 3.5. Each unit also gets a thorough review which looks at the design, setup, features and performance, which you can find here.

DVBLink for ATSC and QAM Version 1.0B1

As you are aware we are fans of DVBLink which will allow you to install tuner cards into Windows Home Server if you so wish and stream the content across your network. But up until now it only worked with European content, but as off yesterday those of you in North America can now use the software too, as it now works with ATSC and QAM tuners (like the Hauppauge HVR 1250) bringing the signal straight to the DVBLink tuner.

This is the first beta release version 1.0B1 and does have the following limitations:

  • The EIT packets (guide data sent over the air) are not yet forwarded to Media Center
  • You might get a No Tuner Created message when scanning. In this case, try scan a second time.
  • If you have DVBLink Server 2.X or 3.X installed, you can hit “Skip” when the installer asks you to update your DVBLink Server.

To try it out head on over to 1geek1tool.

Many thanks to Garry [WMA] for the update.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 95

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Episode 95 of "The Home Server Show" podcast has lots of Home Server news and views from Dave and the guys, and this weeks episode also has lots of home build info too.

You can catch episode 95 from here.

DVBLink TVSource 3.0.1

More updates from DVBLogic this week who have upgraded the DVBLink TVSource component to version 3.0.1 which is inline with their Network Pack.

DVBLink TVSource v3.0.1 is available!

Minor update to DVBLink TVSource that has the following fixes:
– Fixed TVSource not allowing standby
– Fixed some of the "No TV signal" errors
– Made extra functionality for correct handling of several USB tuner cards of the same type (needs testing!)

The released versions of DVBLink products can be downloaded from http://www.dvblogic.com/download.php.

For the installation instructions please refer to the release notes of v3.0 release:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=10397&start=60#p27554

This version does not fix "Program has stopped responding…" message in MediaCenter. If you experience it, please post here to help us solve it:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=10422