The German Homeserver Blog has posted 2 English language videos which feature the Scaleo HomeServer alongside other products from Fujitsu-Siemens.
The first Video is 14 minutes long followed by another at 18 minutes in length.
We have an exclusive for you. An update package is available for Windows Home Server that address a massive 7 issues, a few of which are/were major ones. The security certificate error in a web browser has finally gone. Data files which contain alternate data streams (ADS) which can potentially become corrupted when copied to shared folders on WHS has also been resolved and Microsoft Money backup files can now be stored on Home Server without an issue.
The full list of fixes included in the one update package include:
Trusted certificate availability
Remote Access configuration
Home computer backup technologies
Shared folders and server storage
We expect this to be available as an automatic download for Windows Home Server from the Windows Update site from some time next week.
Some Windows Home Server users have been experiencing data corruption issues in scenarios where data files that contain alternate NTFS data streams can potentially become corrupted when copied to shared folders on WHS.
This is a major issue that Microsoft are currently testing and have said that it will be fixed as part of one of their next updates. However until that update is available, they advise not to store data files with ADS on the shared folders or not to use applications that use data files that contain alternate data streams when those data files reside in a shared folder on a Windows Home Server-based computer.
Basically ADS (alternate data streams) is a “hidden” data that gets attached to a file residing on an NTFS partition that is not normally accessible by the user. The most frequent uses of ADS for home users are when IE6/7 downloads a file, it will attach an ADS that “tags” it as downloaded content so when you try to open the file, it shows you a security warning. Windows Photo Gallery can use them to append metadata to AVI files.
So, what can we do. Well first we need to find out if any of the files contain ADS. In their KB Article Microsoft recommend using a command line utility called Streams, some have also recommended the Windows based ADSTools but this only scans one folder at a time where as, the alternative tool ADS Spy gives you the option of viewing the contents of the ADS and removing them, all within a GUI interface, which in my opinion is the best tool for the job.
Using the latest version of ADS Spy we do a full scan which scans every hard drive for ADS streams and making sure that the option to “Ignore safe system info data streams” is unchecked.
The favorites folder on my computer contained lots of ADS information about favicon, which are safe to remove but I left mine as I was not moving my favorites folder over to Windows Home Server. Some .jpg photos and Microsoft Word .doc documents had ADS data, BUT only the ones that were emailed to me. These were displayed as Zone.Indentifier files as were some .pdf documents and a lot of my .exe files and compressed .rar and .zip archives.
Thumbnail database files (thumbs.db) also had a alternate data stream and were displayed as encryptable. Outlook Express data was displayed as OECustomProperty but again I was not moving Outlook Express data, so I left these as they were. Finally Mozy.RDADS was against hundreds of files, so a quick email to Mozy (online backup solution) and you informed me that Mozy no longer uses ADS to track backed up files and the ADS could be deleted.
From all this we can tell you that it’s safe to remove the favicon stream, the encryptable stream the zone.identifier stream and the Mozy.RDADS stream if you ever had Mozy installed. Those are simple identifiers, and if removed nothing is harmed. But you should be careful about other alternate data streams. Some programs use them for things other than the simple identification that you’ve seen so far. Removing a stream from a data file used by one of those programs could corrupt the file it was on – You have been warned!
Windows Home Server should not be rebooted unless absolutely necessary. Necessary re-boots would be required at least once a month for critical/security updates from Microsoft and for other software that requires a reboot. Other reasons would include the addition of new hardware that requires the system to be off and planned shutdowns for other reasons etc.
It has been known that an unexpected or ill timed reboot can result in a “database inconsistency” error which can be impossible to recover from without losing all your backups.
So before shutting down or re-booting the server log in to the server machine via remote desktop and check that the “Balancing Storage” message is not displayed on the console (middle,bottom). Instead it should say “Storage Balanced”.
It has also been said that WHS does lots of housekeeping on Sunday so DON’T pick that day either.
I’d also recommend a good UPS to overcome the “database inconsistency” error, including one for your network’s router and switch(e’s) which I would class as essential. At the very least get some form of filtering / spike / surge suppression.
Windows Home Server For Dummies is finally available as from today from Amazon.com. Woody Leonhard’s 384 page book should be on all our book shelves, dummies or not. And well done to those of you that left ideas here for Woody to include in the book because he has included most of them. Here’s what the blurb states:
If you work in an office, you probably don’t lose much sleep worrying about whether your files are safe if your PC melts down. Company IT departments handle those things for business networks. But how about all those precious photos, address lists, the family genealogy, and everything else that lives on your home network? Windows Home Server can save the day if one of your personal PCs hiccups, and “Windows Home Server For Dummies” serves up all the stuff you need to know to put it to work. Forget everything you’ve heard about previous versions of Windows Server; this all-new variation has been designed for people who don’t wear white lab coats or pocket protectors. Woody Leonhard has tested it and it passed with flying colors.If you have a home or small business network, this book shows you how Windows Home Server helps you:
“Windows Home Server For Dummies” provides sage advice on choosing a version of Windows Home Server, installing it, setting up users and passwords, using remote access, scheduling automatic scans and backups, and having fun with multimedia. Trust Woody and you’ll sleep better.
Amazon in the UK should be shipping the book from December, 3rd 2007 and have no stock at present. In the meantime the following samples are available for download. Chapter 1, Bringing Windows Home Server to Life as well as the Table of Contents and the Index.
The data sheet for the Fujitsu Siemens SCALEO Home Server is now available for viewing/download. The SCALEO Home Server will be available as 2 models, the 1900 will come preinstalled with 2x 500GB Sata II hard drives whilst the SCALEO Home Server 1500 model comes with the one 500GB Sata II hard drive.
Both units will feature the following:
Fujitsu Siemens SCALEO Home Server Data Sheet.
Here is a summary of everything we have posted here on MS Windows Home Server for the last 7 days, just in case you missed something that we posted throughout the week. The Week in Review – Sunday’s Summary:
Here we have an error message during Windows Home Server installation that caused us to laugh. Many thanks to digWin and Antonio for the pic.
There is a new Knowledge Base article from Microsoft. Article ID 944993 is entitled “Information about the automatic router configuration feature in Windows Home Server”. The article contains information about automatic router configuration in Windows Home Server and also describes the steps that you can take if Windows Home Server cannot automatically configure the router.
View the article here.
The reviews for Windows Home Server are a plenty. Here we have 5 more for you.
“I am really happy with this new operating system. It has become an integral part of my home network. Even if it just did backups I would be happy…Home server wraps up all of this into a nice and very easy to manage package that I think is excellent.”
Microsoft has released a new white paper, “The Windows Home Server Technical Brief for Home Networking”. This PDF document provides an in-depth look at home networking and how it applies to WHS. Within it’s contents we are shown a recommended home network configuration, are taken through a list of home networking acronyms and most importantly there is a WHS port reference which list the ports used by the Connector Software as well as the ports used for Media Sharing on Your Home Network and Remote Access.
The 14 page PDF file can be downloaded from here.
