MS Windows Home Server

Home Center from Iomega Delayed due to Market Conditions

After our post yesterday regarding an article in Personal Computer World, George Melissargos from Iomega who was interviewed for the piece contacted us. 

Iomega’s Windows Home Server product called the Home Center has been placed on hold for now due to market conditions and was not delayed due to the data corruption bug. Iomega offers NAS products based on Linux and Windows and have a good working relationship with Microsoft. George told us that Home Center should hopefully be available in the future as and when market conditions allow it

The article in PCW has since been pulled by the author due to some misunderstanding from both sides and will be replaced shortly.

Power Pack 1 could be available end of April

As announced previously Todd Headrick the Product Manager of the Windows Home Server Team  posted a question over on the WHS forums asking if you would like Power Pack 1 released prior to June 2008, the date when the Data Corruption fix is due.

More than 220 replies later and with Windows home Server MVP Ken Warren doing the maths there are (so far) 152 votes to ship Power Pack 1 as soon as reasonably possible and 11 votes to hold it for now. Everyone who weighed in on the side of “Hold” expressed a preference to devote all available resources to the KB946676 fix.

Of the “Ship” votes, not everyone expressed a reason (and some expressed more than one), but the reasons that were expressed were as follows:

Wants the Vista x64 connector: 71
Server backup to alleviate the KB946676 bug: 25
Server backup, other reasons: 12
Remote access improvements: 2
“Wake from sleep”: 1
Pending HP updates: 1

As we can see from these sums it’s pretty clear that the community is overwhelmingly in favor of getting PP1 out the door before KB946676 if it’s basically ready to go now.

Some users requested that only some components from PP1 were released, Todd replied with the following:

The various features and components of the Power Pack 1 release cannot be separated. A few things require other things to be updated so they work.  For example, the Windows Home Server Connector for Windows Vista x64 requires updates to the Windows Home Server Console.  And the package is tested as a whole, breaking out components would require a restart of a complete test pass.

Others requested the WHS Connector software for Windows XP x64 edition but which has always been the case the Windows Home Server Connector software will not work on home computers running Windows XP x64 edition.  It is not tested and will not be supported.

Todd also mentioned that when Power Pack 1 is released, that it would go out via Windows Update during the end of the month.  The earliest this could happen would be April as the check-in for March has long since passed. There are a tremendous number of steps/sign-offs that have to be got through as part of the release management process. The next step is for the feedback to be taken to the team and see what can happen and by when.  There are many people that need to be consulted about the idea of releasing Power Pack 1 prior to the data corruption fix, but thanks to the feedback from the community Todd added I have data to support a potential new proposal.

General Manager Charlie Kindel talks Windows Home Server

General Manager of Windows Home Server Charlie Kindel talks about what’s in Home Server for IT Pros on Microsoft’s Edge site. Charlie runs 5 servers at home, and had no problem integrating Home Server and its functionality. He talks about two guys, Jeff and Oliver, that don’t really exist, but that his team had in mind when they developed the product.  In this 29 minute video he talks about the current Home Server hardware offerings available and chats a little about the pros and cons of buying a Home Server off the shelf or building your own.

Home Server with Charlie Kindel – a real server, just smaller.

Windows Home Server Presentation – New York

The Mid-Hudson Computer User Group is holding a presentation on Windows Home Server this Thursday 13th March at Poughkeepsie in New York.
John Bickford you tell you all you need to know about Home Server with a Q & A session beginning at 6:30 p.m., followed at 7:00 p.m. by business announcements. The feature presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m.

More details and directions are available from here.

Windows Home Server Bible – Sample's

The new book by Greg Kettell and Jennifer Ackerman Kettell is about to be published by publishers Wiley. The Windows Home server Bible is a 600 page comprehensive guide that covers all the techniques and step-by-step instruction you need to succeed with Windows Home Server.

• Choose the out-of-the-box WHS solution or repurpose a spare PC
• Go wired or wireless, run Ethernet cable, and configure a router
• Walk through installation and get up to speed on the WHS Console
• Establish user accounts, set up shared folders, and create a print server
• Schedule backups for PCs or Macs and recover from crashes
• Build a media hub and stream to computers, Xboxes, and PlayStations
• Monitor your home remotely with a webcam

Wiley have 3 PDF extracts from the book available for download. First is the Contents, then there is Chapter 1 available which introduces Windows Home Server and finally the index.