By on November 09th, 2013

HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer Reviews

HP-Proliant-MicroServer-Gen8-Door-Taken-Off

For those of you wishing to know more about the HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer then we have a couple of reviews for you.

The first is from Neowin which takes a look at the units setup and configuration, its management features, as well as storage features, noise and power:

“The HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 looks like it would make a great server in a small or medium business (SMB) market. It would also make a great machine for a lab setup in your home or as the central hub for your media.”

microserver-boot

The second review is from Absolutely Windows who tested the Gen8 at an endocrinologist’s clinic , a bookkeeper’s office and a contract dressmaker in downtown Los Angeles:

“The HP Proliant MicroServer Gen8 is the best performing, and without a doubt. the best value, entry-level server you can buy.”

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By on November 08th, 2013

Add-In: StableBit Scanner v2.5.0.2968 BETA

The beta release of StableBit Scanner for WHS2011, WS2012 Essentials and WS2012 R2 Essentials has been updated.

StableBit Scanner – Notifications

Version 2.5.0.2968 BETA has the following change log:

  • Added "Notification Templates" directory under the service Program Files directory
  • Added an option to automatically propagate a site name to all copies of the StableBit Scanner running on the LAN, which don’t already have a site name specified.
  • Added an option to specify a site name for all notifications (e.g. Home, Office, etc…). If specified, site names will show up in the notification text.
  • Rewrote the notifications UI as a separate dialog window.
      – Input is now validated for Email addresses and SMS phone numbers.
      – Added test buttons and test dialogs for each notification provider.
      – You can now easily enter multiple email addresses and SMS numbers.
      – Twitter authorization is handled from the Twitter notification tab.
      – For speech notifications you can now select the voice (Windows 8) and rate of speech.
  • Added additional notification providers and revamped existing ones.
    – All notification providers now have a "Test" function.
    – New SMS provider for receiving notifications on your cell phone.
        – SMS messages will be sent out for every discreet notification generated.
        – SMS messages > 160 characters will be automatically split up into multiple messages.
        – SMS receivers will get instructions on how to permanently block StableBit.com SMS notifications from going to their cell phone, the first time a SMS is sent to any number. (reply with STOP to block or START to unblock)
    – New Twitter provider for tweeting your notifications out or direct messaging them to yourself or another twitter user.
        – Tweets will be sent out for every discreet notification generated.
        – Tweets > 140 characters will be automatically split up into multiple tweets.
    – New Pushover provider for sending notifications to iOS and Android.
    – New Pushalot provider for sending notifications to Windows Phone and Windows 8 (Modern UI).
    – New Notify My Android provider for sending notifications to Android.
    – Updated the Speech notification provider with options to select different voices (Windows 8) and to control the rate of speech.
    – Updated the Email notification provider to include the disk serial number.
  • Completely rewrote the back-end of the notification system.
    – Notifications will now remember their last state, even when the service is shut down and restarted.
        – This means that repeated notifications will not be resent on every reboot.
    – Notification now have the choice of reissuing a notification if another disk has an issue in the same notification category (e.g. One disk overheats and then some time later another disk overheats).
        – It is up to the notification provider to decide whether to reissue the notification in this case. (Email, SMS and Twitter will reissue, the Windows tray notification will not)
    – Heat notifications now have an optional cool down threshold. This prevents redundant notifications from being sent when a disk’s temperature is hovering close to the overheating limit.
        -  If set, when a disk enters an overheating state, it will not leave the overheating state (at least as far as notification are concerned) until the temperature drops some N degrees below the overheating limit.
    – It now supports a greater variety of notification providers:
        – Providers that need to raise an overall alert for a problem (e.g. tray notifications).
        – Providers that need to send a unique notification per issue detected (e.g. SMS or Twitter).
        – Providers that need to send a unique notification per issue, while at the same time aggregating all existing problems in a category (e.g. Email).
  • Changed how we process arriving and departing disks in order to prevent a potential lockup.
  • Changed the WMI locking model slightly to prevent potential lockup.
  • Fixed the sector map getting cut off on the right in the row details presenter.

More information on these changes can be found on the company’s blog here, whilst this beta release can be downloaded from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server • WS2012e
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By on November 07th, 2013

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 241

home_server_show_small

Episode 241 of the Home Server Show is up, and this week:

“We start out with 6TB hard drives and end up with a Essentials R2 DNS fix.  In between is news and follow up.”

Great content as usual, which you can find here.

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By on November 07th, 2013

Services Integration in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

The Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server Blog has a 2 part article giving an overview of services integration in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

Enabling Services Integration from the Dashboard in WS2012e R2

Part 1 takes a look at Windows Azure Active Directory integration, as well as the major day-to-day management tasks associated with it, whilst part 2 looks at SharePoint Online library management and Exchange ActiveSync integration, a part of the Office 365 integration feature.

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By on November 06th, 2013

Video: Installing a HDD in the HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer

John Stutsman explains to us in this 6 minute video how to install a hard disk in a Gen8 MicroServer that was taken from a HP N40L MicroServer.

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By on November 05th, 2013

Add-In: Advanced Admin Console 2011 v1.5.3

The Advanced Admin Console 2011 Add-in  has had an update which fixes 1 issue and adds support for WS2012e R2.

Advanced Admin Console 2011 Box Shot

Maintenance release version 1.5.3 has the following change log:

  • FIXED: The Dashboard crashed when the Explorer tab home location was set to a folder that no longer existed.
  • ADDED: Compatibility with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

You can find this release here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server • WS2012e
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By on November 04th, 2013

WS2012 Essentials DNS Fix after UR3 is Installed

After installing Update Rollup 3 (UR3) for WS2012 Essentials you may have to clean up DNS on your remote machines. Thankfully Microsoft have issued a fix and Paul Braren from TinkerTryIT explains the procedure:

After installing UR3…If you have to reboot or take down your Window Server 2012 Essentials system, your remote systems will be stuck, with no way to surf the web. That’s not good. This article is all about breaking that dependency, giving back your independency!

KB2883201-is-installed-already

Paul then explains a server-side and client-side registry fix and a TCP/IP reconfiguration which will solve this problem.

UPDATE: Paul has now uploaded a 7 minute video which also explains the process:

Tutorial • WS2012e
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By on November 03rd, 2013

Video: What’s New in 2012 R2

Kevin Remde from the TechNet blog "Full of I.T." had the opportunity of interviewing Brad Anderson, Sr. VP responsible for Windows Server at Microsoft.

Three videos are available in the series:

  • Part 1 What’s New in 2012 R2 – Empowering People-Centric IT (31 mins)
  • Part 2 What’s New in 2012 R2 – Transforming the Datacenter (47 mins)
  • Part 3 What’s New in 2012 R2: Enabling Modern Business Applications (26 mins)

What’s New in 2012 R2 Video

Interesting viewing they are too.

You can find Kev’s page linking to the series and the videos here.

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By on October 31st, 2013

The Home Server Show Episode 240

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After a week of no news for Windows Home Server users, the Home Server Show is back with episode 240, and this week it’s about Antivirus on WHS:

We are talking antivirus AGAIN for Windows Home Server.  There is a nasty virus called CryptoLocker and I’ll tell you the details and how to stay away from it.  Also, the streaming pack is out for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

You can catch this episode here.

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By on October 26th, 2013

Video: WD Talk Red NAS Hard Drives

newegg TV have WD explaining about their Red NAS Hard Drives:

If you’re into mass storage, and particularly if you’re interested in NAS or server storage, WD has a lineup of drives made just for you. The WD Red series is designed for reliability and data integrity within a Network Attached Storage system, and WD has recently expanded the lineup with the addition of 4TB capacity drives.
We sit down with Jason Coe, WD Product Marketing Manager, to get the low down on these massive new drives.

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