By on July 03rd, 2013

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v2.0.0.312 BETA

Stablebit_drivepool_M4_logo

StableBit DrivePool has had another update for users of WS2012 Essentials, which includes a Windows 8 fix and a network I/O boost fix.

Here is the change log for version 2.0.0.312 BETA:

  • Implemented a workaround for a bug in .NET’s ReaderWriterLockSlim. Bug observed on Windows 8.
    Even though there are no lock holders and many waiters, the waiters are not signaled.
    This was causing the service to lock up once in a while for no reason. Typically you would see "Calculating…" in the pool organization bar, and it would never stop. If your service is in such a state then you must terminate the "DrivePool.Service.exe" process prior to upgrading or just reboot the machine. Pool I/O was not affected by this because all pool I/O is handled in the kernel.
  • Corrected the tool tip text, Network I/O Boost does not boost write requests by default.(can be enabled in .config)
  • [D] Network I/O boost was not detecting network activity consistently.

You can download this release from here.

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By on July 03rd, 2013

DVBLink v4.6.0

DVBLogic have updated their DVBLink product suite to version 4.6.0.

dvblink Mobile Logo

This new version is a major step forward in terms of ease of use and has a more intuitive installation and configuration procedures.
DVBLink now has support for source groups, which should significantly speed up configuration of multiple sources having the same channels, and the DVBLink TVSource configuration interface has been re-written making it more intuitive and easier to understand even for non-expert users.

Here is the change log for v4.6.0:

General
(all) Added: source groups for easy configuration of the identical sources
(iomega) Fixed: Incorrect DVBLink package installation on NAS firmware 4.x

DVBLink TVSource:
(all) Added: New TVSource configuration interface with tuner type specific channel search
(all) Added: Possibility to scan only FTA channels
(all) Fixed: DigitalDevices Octopus.NET SAT>IP receiver is not detected
(all) Added: DVB-C scan support for DigitalDevices Octopus.NET SAT>IP receiver
(all) Fixed: NULL packets are not filtered when using HDHomeRun tuner
(nas) Fixed: Incorrect module loading order for Hauppauge 950Q tuner
(nas) Fixed: TBS5680 cannot tune low transponder frequencies

DVBLink Connect! Server / DVBLink Server for NAS platform:
(nas) Fixed: DLNA/recording settings cannot be saved
(all) Fixed: Use of uninitialized pointer in DLNA stack, which may lead to crash on start-up
(all) Fixed: Series recording of episodes having (episode number) in their names

EpgData.com loader:
(all) Added: support for episode number

Product information on DVBLink can be found here.

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By on July 03rd, 2013

What’s New in R2 Essentials from ZDNet

WS2012 R2 Dashboard

A quick recap of what’s new in WS2012 R2 Essentials from ZDNet which takes a look at cloud service integration and remote management.

You can find the article here.

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By on July 02nd, 2013

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v2.0.0.310 BETA

Version 2.0.0.310 BETA of StableBit DrivePool for WS2012 Essentials users has been released with file system refinements.

StableBit DrivePool 2.0.0.310 BETA

Here is the full change log:

  • Fixed UI lock up due to a deadlock in the service.
  • [D] Completely reengineered how file performance is measured. We no longer parse ETW events in real-time, this is slow and unreliable. CoveFS now maintains file performance data, but only when we are actively querying for it. There is virtually no overhead on the file system when performance data is not needed.
  • [D] Fixed crash in skip list insertion / removal. Observed on x86.
  • [D] Increased skip list depth limit on directory listings to support up to 1 million efficient lookups.
  • Added an error message that is shown when trying to remote control DrivePool which has plug-ins installed that we don’t have.
  • Renamed "File Performance" to "Disk Performance", since it really shows performance on individual disks.
  • [D] Fixed for the performance UI’s file performance not capturing all I/O.
  • [D] File renames that have the same destination as the source should always succeed.
  • [D] Added file-level TRIM support for SSDs that may be part of the pool. (Windows 8+)
  • [D] Offloaded memory / cache manager interaction to NTFS.

The guys have also published a comprehensive article on their blog on this latest release which covers all the refinements of the file system component of DrivePool, which you can find here.

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By on July 02nd, 2013

WS2012 R2 Essentials Preview and WS Essentials Experience Server Role

The Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server Blog has posted a article on the new WS2012 R2 Essentials explaining the new server role as well as other goodies.

WS2012 R2 Dashboard

Virtualization, running R2 in the cloud, Azure Active Directory and the modernized Remote Web Access are just some of the topics covered, which you can read more about here.

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By on July 01st, 2013

The BYOB Podcast Episode 126

BYOB Podcast Logo

Episode 126 of the BYOB podcast this week is about Server Essentials 2012e R2, Server 2012 R2, Windows 8.1, and the final words on Mike’s Haswell builds.

Good stuff, which you can find here.

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By on June 29th, 2013

The Home Tech Podcast Episode 124

Home Tech Podcast

Episode 124 of the Home Tech podcast takes a first look at the Windows 8.1 Preview and Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Preview with Hyper-V.

You can find the audio here, or watch the video below:

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By on June 27th, 2013

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 228

home_server_show_small

Its that time again for another episode of “The Home Server Show” podcast:

“On this episode of the Home Server Show we are going to install (or try) Windows Server 2012 Essentials R2 on my HP N54L. During the install we will be looking at Jim Collison’s install screens and going over what’s new, Virtual Machines, and a whole lot more.”

You can listen to the audio here or watch the video below:

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By on June 27th, 2013

Add-In: My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution v2.14 PR2

My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution

The pre-release version of "My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution" for WHS2011 and WS2012 Essentials has been updated to version 2.14 PR2.

Here’s the change log for this version:

  • Added: Title merge functionality, to better handle copying of discs.
  • Fix: There was a problem with the added functionality of ensuring correct the path to be stored on the correct disc when copying.

You can download "My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution" from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server • WS2012e
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By on June 26th, 2013

Install WSUS 3.0 SP2 on Windows Server 2012 Essentials

In wS2012e you cannot install WSUS because the “Windows Server Update Services” role is missing in Server Manager.

But now a hotfix has been made available which brings the WSUS role back to Windows Server 2012 Essentials and "The Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server Blog" have a great article/tutorial on how to get this set up, which takes you through the necessary steps.

Add WSUS to WS2012e

The hotfix can be downloaded from here, whilst the tutorial can be found here.

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