Customer Reviews

Microsoft Windows Home Server System Builder with URP1 (OLD VERSION)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

At the time I'm writing this, Amazon has two versions of WHS listed: this one with a plain white graphic, and another more expensive one with a blue graphic. THIS is the more recent version, despite its lower price.

Microsoft hit a home run with Windows Home Server (WHS). It is one of the first times I've seen a sophisticated software product that is perfect for regular non-techie consumers. It is easy to use, but does not assume the user is a moron. It does this by placing just the right warnings at the right times. Obviously, it's been user-tested a LOT.

Under the covers is is built on Windows Server 2003 SP2. That is an excellent choice, because it is a very mature operating system, and is in use in millions of computer servers around the world. In fact, one of the things I was surprised about when first booting up the software is that you really do have access to the regular Windows desktop, including Start menu and many of the normal programs and features you would expect to see.

So for me, as someone who is very comfortable working with servers, I was very happy to see that although the product does not NEED any kind of tweaking, I had full access to be able to make subtle adjustments that I wanted. For example, I was able to adjust the encryption level on remote desktop sessions to "High" (from the default Normal) in the Administrative Tools > Terminal Services Configuration application. What a great thing that Microsoft did not "dumb down" the product and restrict access for those who know what they're doing.

One of the first things you should do with any new OS install is to run Windows Update, so that it gets patched with all the latest updates from Microsoft. This install is no different, and there were in fact many updates to install (53 or 54 in total). So before playing with your new server, first run Windows Update from the Start > All Programs menu, select the "Custom" option, and check all the boxes to install everything.

Then, after you install the updates (which includes the upgrade from IE6 to IE7) and the computer reboots, run Windows Update again. Typically, in an update that large there are updates that don't install because of some dependencies, and there will be additional updates to the updates you just installed. This is common. Every time Windows Update finishes, immediately run it again -- until you see "0" (zero) next to every category on the left. Also, don't use "Express", keep using "Custom" (contrary to the "recommended" tag next to Express).

Another thing you may want to do is get rid of the Logon Warning that appears every time you log in to the server's desktop (either remotely or on the computer itself). You can do that simply by deleting "Logon Warning" from the All Programs > Startup folder in the Start menu. It is a simple HTML file, so deleting it does not do any harm.

I am really happy with this home server product from Microsoft, and I highly recommend it for any household that has more than one computer.

Like most other reviewers, I agree that Windows Home Server (WHS) is a pretty good product, and I recommend it as a good solution for backup and file sharing in a home environment. Having said that, the product strikes me as a "first release" that was put together at relatively low cost by Microsoft and thus suffers from a few limitations.

Like many others these days, I have a small home network of computers owned by several family members who have typical needs such as:
- File sharing: have a central "library" for pictures, videos, downloads, etc. that can be shared by all users, and that is kept secure (protected from hard disk failure and from inadvertent damage by users).
- Backup: regularly and reliably back up the hard disks of each computer to a different hard drive.
- Print sharing: provide common access to several different printers.

To do this, I put together a low-cost, low-power "mini-server" that I built using Intel's Atom 330 processor on a mini-ITX board in a small form factor case with 2 WDC 1-TB "green" drives - a setup that is very quiet and draws less than 40 watts of power so it can be left on all the time. I have tried running Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu Linux on it to do the items listed above, but didn't find either to be completely satisfactory.

Then I discovered WHS, so downloaded and tried the free 120-day evaluation copy. My experience with that was worth the cost of purchasing WHS, so I did. However, WHS does have a few limitations and quirks that potential buyers should be aware of:

* Microsoft did a pretty good job of covering up the complications of the product's Windows Server 2003 underpinnings through the use of a remote WHS Console for connected machines, but this is incomplete and you still need to access the WHS machine directly via a directly-attached monitor/kbd/mouse or via RDP, even though you are presented with a screen in WHS that warns you against this. But for certain tasks such as applying fixes you still need to access the machine directly.

* It is specifically not intended by MS to be a print server - a very disappointing omission, because that is one the normal "shared" missions of a server. I suspect MS omitted this because installing printers is not something they could easily fit into the WHS Console. You can configure shared printers on WHS as you would in Windows Server 2003 - and I did - but one of my printers just wouldn't install for some reason. This whole area needs more work.

* As many others have pointed out, you can't easily upgrade from the eval version to the product version without doing a reinstall and re-registering users. Fortunately your data is preserved.

* I *strongly* recommend using multiple hard disks in your WHS machine to take advantage of the very nice "duplication" feature that MS has built in that replicates a copy of the precious data you have stored on WHS. Much easier than trying to do this via RAID.

* Another badly-needed missing feature is some type of mechanism that provides more control over what individual users can do to shared data. WHS only provides primitive controls such as granting read or write permissions, but this is not enough. For example, I want other family members to be able to add their photos to the shared photo library but not to be able to delete items, e.g. a "contribute" level of access to prevent a user from inadvertently destroying shared items. (I often use Microsoft's free SyncToy to do this.)

* The fact that there has only been one release of WHS (albeit updated with 3 service packs), that it still runs on a fairly old base system (Windows Server 2003), and that MS has not actively promoted the product does create some concern that it was only a trial balloon by MS that might not have a future and thus will leave users stranded. There have been rumors of a new version, but until we hear the facts this is still an area of concern.

Despite the above items, it's a great concept and it is a product that I really like because the parts that are there work very well. I just hope that MS sees fit to come out with a new version that addresses some of the obvious shortcomings of the initial version.

Easy to install, set up and maintain. This is a great product for any home user, or even small business, thinking of setting up a server for storage etc.
It was easy to set up an old unused Dell desktop, with the only problem being the network card was not supported. The solution was simple, just download the correct one from Dell.
Sadly these days printed documentation is a rarity, so I would suggest getting one of the many books available. I used Microsoft Windows Home Server Unleashed by Paul McFedries and so far it has covered everything I needed.

I now own two WHS servers (my dad is going to inherit my old HP EX475 pretty soon). Basically this software is a fully licensed with key windows home server software package. Now why would you want that? well here it comes:

The HP (and other brands of home servers) use THIS software along with their proprietary (and often very cheap) hardware to give you a limited (4 drive - 1 that comes with the software pre loaded) configuration. It usually lacks enough memory to do serious backups (such as video editing consoles that may have 4 TB of data on them) and they lack the processing power to get the job done in one day, so your video editor is constantly backing up. An entry level OEM system will be based on the lowest end AMD proc, a MB with one stick of 128 MB ram, and a fan + 4 sata connectors. The high end HP system uses a 1.6 Ghz intel Atom with, I believe (correct me if wrong) 1 GB ram, and the same 4 sata connectors. Both have an external SATA as well. You'll pay more for the high end HP system than making your own much improved system either from older motherboards, or parts you have laying around from old computers. Remember that this WHS computer must keep track of every sector on every drive on every (limit 10) computer you connect to it.

The solution to the madness? Build it yourself!

You take a potent 3GB (because this is limited to 32 bit processors) and a 3.3 Ghz processor, core 2 duo, then load it up with as many 2TB, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache drives, starting with drive 0, the system drive which in WHS is very important since it is the "landing" spot for incomming sectors of your system being backed up disc. From there WHS moves that sector to it's appropriate drive on the WHS machine (for instance, if you have a machine that is very important, you may want WHS to make a mirrored backup in case a drive in the WHS frame fails - This is done easily by setting up that client computer as a mirrored backup, in which case WHS makes 2 coppies of every incomming sector on the drive 0 disk. This is why you want your largest drive on drive 0 in configuring WHS, but nobody is selling pre-made WHS systems with 2TB drive 0 mechanisms yet.


Notice I used the word sectors in describing the backup process. This system does not backup files, it backs up an image of the disc sector by sector. Thus when you do a restore, you get an exact copy of the original - no need to relicense your software that has been moved around on the drive because a restored copy puts the programs right back where they were to begin with. In fact, it's a great way to clone disk drives, drive at a time, with all installed software ready to run.

Compare a 1Ghz AMD chip with 128 MB ram and a 3.33 Ghz core 2 duo with 3 GB of ram and it's a racehorse vs. a tortise. NO COMPARISON. Backups of my video server that took 6 hours+ to finish (if they finished) now take 30 minutes. AND, I'm not limited to 4 drive bays - I can add sata cards and more sata discs as needed for system expansion. The HP EX series of WHS boxes, while incredibly idiot proof (hey I started with one!) don't let you add discs beyond the 3 open drive slots. With my own chassis I can easily put 12 drives, 2TB ea into it, to hold 24 TB of storage (WHS runs a SQL database of 10 computers drive sectors and has a limit of around 150 TB if I recall from memory) It is, after all, a "home" server. WHS is very future proof in that if you want to remove a 2TB drive and install a 4 TB drive, you can login to the server from any client, ask it to relocate the data on the 2TB drive to other system drives (it will enforce duplication requirements) - and it will return in a couple of hours saying the drive is now empty and detached. You can hotswap it, put in the 4TB drive, and within seconds WHS will "see" the 4TB drive. You right click on "add", select "storage pool" and that 4TB is now part of the system's storage space (assuming you had room to relocate the original 2TB to other drives - it won't take a drive out of use if it can not safely relocate the storage on it). If you have a spare sata port then you can reverse the order and install the 4TB before removing the 2TB. It's pretty simple after a while. When the system is not backing up pc's at night using wake-on-lan and go to sleep commands, it does a load ballancing act during the day - this ensures that the data is evenly distributed across the available drives, and on sundays it deletes obsolte backups (per your definition of when a backup becomes obsolete).

Because it is built on windows server 2003, it can run DNS, IIS, mail, and other server functions while doing your backups. You can also have "shared" folders on the server with management permissions that can be setup to automatically mirror on two different discs should one fail, or to just store one copy of the data. Since this is setup in the server, multiple connectors can attach to the folders and read or write data to the common share, which ideally should be on your house network backbone made on 1GB/s connections. Naturally, the servers can also share usb printers, cd/DVD drives, etc.

Cutting my backup time down has been a substantial benefit of building my own WHS box, and a learning experience on how WHS works. When your system becomes too big to backup with an off the shelf WHS box from HP or other mfgrs, take that old computer and re-task it to be an awesome WHS machine (my box was designed with an asus motherboard to be a high end digital TV DVR when the switch to HDTV was comming - but lack of support for a good 32 bit processor DVR in windows media server killed the design, so the carcas got a new leash on life when the local store put 2TB hitachi (formerly IBM) drives on a one day sale for 109 ea. Stuffed with these units I now look at my report of 4TB of data stored, and 8TB of free space, along with empty space to double the drives if I need to.

Keep in mind the 32 bit limitation on WHS but choosing hardware accordingly you can build a much better WHS system than you can buy presently - the PC being backed up doesn't know the difference except how long it takes (it's computationally intensive work on the server to track each sector of every drive in every PC - limit 10 - that it backs up so a strong SQL system is a good choice)

There are two discussion groups out there that cover WHS - one is in the USA and one in the UK. I recommend joining both of them due to the fact that backups are normally scheduled to run late at night - this way someone will be awake on the foreign group if you run into problems. Just contact them and most users are happy to help out because someone has solved your issue already. My last tip re: WHS and PCs that it backs up - standardize on a drive type/size. I picked the 2TB Hitachi drives because they are the fastest on the market at a reasonable (hundred dollar ish) price. I usually buy 2 whenever they go on sale again - one goes to the backup server, and one goes into my video editing console as a drive for adobe to use in rendering HD digital video for blu ray burns.

I had been using the trial version of Windows Home Server for the last 4 months and really like it. I ordered the OEM version of Windows Home Server to upgrade to a permanent license. When I began the upgrade it did not give me the option to "re-install". Without this option I would not be able to keep all of my files and backups that were already stored on the trial system. I found a post on the Internet that said to disconnect all drives other than the system boot drive and begin the installation. This will then give the option to "re-install". When the system first shuts down to reboot after selecting "re-install", that is the time to turn off the system and re-connect all hard disks that have data stored on them. Then power up and let the re-install continue. This all went smoothly with many reboots at various points in the install process. When it was finished all of my files and previous backups were still there in the shares. The only other thing I had to do was re-create the user ID's and passwords, enable the network interface, and re-install the connector software on my other home computers.
WHS is really Windows Server 2003 small business with the Windows Home Server software running on top of it. It is a very powerful and stable operating system for use as a file server. It is not a game system and does not even need a display after the software is installed.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Microsoft will be releasing a new version of Windows Home Server in the 1st half of 2011. As of December 2010 the announcement is official that the newer version will completely eliminate (and by this I mean "break") the way hard drives are managed in the current version. What this means to you is that if you purchase this version of the Windows Home Server OS, you will be headed for a dead-end if your Windows Home Server hardware does not have its own RAID controller. There are other workarounds for the issue, but those that I have seen thus far are complicated. If you are looking at purchasing Windows Home Server, you might want to hold off until the new version comes out, or else commit yourself to staying with this version.

NOTE: This product has gone far beyond the item listed here and is, as of 12/2009, up to "Power Pack 3". If you cannot find a newer release of this product, make it a point immediately after installation to allow the Server to update itself before trying to properly set up the rest of your Windows Home Server. It will save you a lot of trouble if you do this because the updates resolve a lot of issues. Most importantly, Power Pack 3 adds compatibility with Windows 7 and fixes some serious problems with file indexing.

Windows Home Server (or "WHS") seems to serve two purposes:

1) to provide a very simple way of doing every useful "home network" type of task without having to know much about servers

2) to prevent anyone who is not a home user from trying to use the OS as any sort of formal Windows Server (such as for a business or as a web server)

This means that if you come from a background of managing servers and are used to managing things at the OS level, you really need to let that go. Things that seem like a can't-fail performance tweak or a standard "best practice" will actually destabilize Windows Home Server and eventually lead you off to rebuild-land, wondering how things went wrong. Remoting into a Windows Home Server using anything besides the Windows Home Server Console will corrupt the installation and cause problems (more on this in a moment), once again leading you to rebuild. This is a case where when Microsoft says, "We don't support you doing that," they mean it.

The good news is, if you want to have your own server at home and you want it to be hassle-free, Windows Home Server will fit your needs. 99% of the tasks you perform are all in one place: the Windows Home Server Console. This rich graphical interface drives everything you'll do in managing and configuring your server. It simplifies tasks and provides quick at-a-glance information on your server's status.

So what are some of those features?

Backup and mirroring: Windows Home Server will enable you to back up your home computers to it. These backups update themselves on a schedule that you set and can later be used to restore the machine if things go wrong. Instead of using RAID for disk redundancy, Windows Home Server uses a technology called "folder duplication." It seems bizarre to omit RAID from a server that's supposed to keep redundant copies, but here in Windows Home Server, it really is better suited to the OS' design. It is also closely customizeable, allowing you to specifically set which folders should be duplicated for data protection.

Disk management: it's easy to add or remove extra drives. WHS uses drive letter mapping to make all volumes the "D:\" drive. This drive letter is a logical mapping off the root physical volume, and your C:\ drive is deliberately limited to a much smaller volume in order to make restoring the server a snap on those hopefully-rare occasions when you have to. Storage is balanced across volumes automatically and while watching it happen on my MediaSmart Ex495 I rarely see it impact performance.

Media sharing and streaming: Using simple "Music, Photos, Videos" categories, you can control how to share media and also enable or disable streaming. You can also enable/disable integration with Windows Media Center. Windows Media Center on your PCs will easily pick up on the existence of the server and walk you through installation of the plug-in once you have enabled this feature. I found WMC integration to really be dirt-simple to set up and useful to have on all my machines, and I'm betting it integrates really well with an X-Box 360 as well. I've used it with my Playstation 3 and it's been very easy to access through the PS3's Media Bar (or "XMB"). There are also the Firefly Server (which I have not used closely) and TwonkyMedia, which provides an alternative way of managing and streaming your content. Last, there is iTunes functionality but I have not used this feature (there are many, MANY forums that can help you with this if you'd like to learn more).

The hard part of Windows Home Server is recognizing that it is best used on its own terms: use the Windows Home Server Console to access the server and its settings, use the Windows Home Server Toolkit to do deeper "expert" tasks (and try to avoid doing these unless you have to), and most importantly do not remote into the box. Windows Home Server carefully manages the installation and configuration of software, and accessing these programs from outside the console can cause problems. More importantly, Microsoft's Windows Update pushes updates based on the machine's server core. Windows Home Server uses Server 2003 as its core. In plain English this means that Windows Home Server appears to Microsoft Update as if it's a Server 2003 box. When the Console controls the updates, it is capable of filtering out the Server 2003 updates that are intended for WHS and those that aren't. Remoting into the box will cause Windows Update to call and answer with the full list and add updates to the queue that WHS really shouldn't have. Which is to say nothing of the default behavior of Remote Desktop Connection, which is to assume you want to share resources (such as printers, faxes, scanners on the network) with your remote session and try to install the drivers on the server while you're connected.

If you want a simple home media server, Windows Home Server will provide an easy-to-use, easy-to-manage, self-maintaining way to do it. However, you have to work within its rules and you need to be willing to let go of the lower-level things a typical Server administrator will do. If you want a robust and configurable server machine that allows you to customize to your heart's content, you may not be happy with the loss of control WHS requires. You might consider just installing your own server and being done with it.

I have been trying to set up a home server for over a year (you could also say: I had been playing around) . My main requirements were:
- Network storage
- Streaming audio files (for Logitech Squeezebox/Slimserver)
- An automated backup solution for my PCs

I had tried different Linux solutions (Ubuntu Server, Debian, etc.), which was fun (and I think I learned a lot), but those were quite uncomfortable to maintain and my installation never did everything it was supposed to.

So I finally set up an Asus eee Box as a quiet, energy efficient little Windows Home Server, which works perfectly for my requirements. Setup was easy, and administration is very comfortable.

So you may learn more and save a few bucks if you build your own system using Linux, but Windows Home Server just works and will save you a lot of time.

I believe that this OEM version is the cheapest way to get a WHS license, so I can recommend it.

I was wanting a Home "File Server" after seeing one in action at a local Attorneys office (I have been using macs for years until last year) and was pretty impressed on how well networking on domains/LAN, etc worked on Windows.

While googling "Home Server" expecting to have to setup a Linux server I found this little gem.

I downloaded the Eval Copy and installed it on an old P4 1.8 with 768 of memory, after install setup took 10 minutes.

I am completely impressed with this product, Microsoft put out such a killer product, I am amazed they don't advertise it more. My wife and I were swapping portable drives between the 2 laptops and her computer until now. I did not know or understand networking, all I knew was I liked how the network was setup at a friends business and wanted that, without having to buy expensive Server software, now all we did was take those external drives and put them in the new Home Server and loaded it will all of the pictures, music, documents, etc. Backing up my wife's computer is so much easier now, and I don't have to ask her if she did back it up, I know it happened.

This product is a must have if you have a computer (especially if you have a laptop) as you will never have to worry about where files are, if everyone can access them, and like me, you have no server experience.

Those little HP machines that are pre-configured with this software are a great deal to.
This is a must have.

I'm currently using Windows Home Server to handle one PC and one Macintosh.

Windows Home Server is incredibly easy to install and use.

I posted around 25 Windows Home Server videos on YouTube. The videos are incredibly popular.

I bought a barebones computer system for my Server PC. The barebones system sold out!

Windows Home Server makes a daily backup of my PC

Windows Home Server allows me to store one copy of my multimedia files, and access them from the Macintosh and PC clients.

Windows Home Server doesn't work with Apple's Time Machine backup feature... but that's ok.

I like the other features that Windows Home Server offers.

We are urged to make the Windows Home Server a "Headless" computer, and not access it directly.

Unfortunately, that is not a good idea.

Sometimes Windows Home Server gets an update, and needs to restart.

You need to know when that happens so you can enter your password, etc.

I have been using Windows Home Server (WHS) for about a year now. I originally bought it to be a file server that could be used to share the family's collection of photos, videos, music, etc. When I bought it, I didn't even know that it also provided regular, automated, full backups of all of the PCs that connect to it. The backup function alone is worth the price of the software, and, as many other reviewers have already noted, the OS can run on pretty light-weight hardware so that the cost of the actual server can be almost non-existent (e.g., re-purpose an older machine). However, be advised that once you start using WHS, you may find a growing desire to add disk space so it's a good idea to make sure that your original setup can handle additional disks without requiring that you head into the start-over zone.

I built mine in an old, large case with room for lots of external disks. I used a cheap Atom-based motherboard (that can handle two IDE PATA drives and two SATA drives) and I added an extra SATA controller card, so that the system can hold a total of six SATA drives. I installed the OS on a 300gig IDE PATA drive and I have been putting the data on SATA drives. At the moment, I've got five SATA drives in the case and I'll add the sixth one later tonight, to give me a total of six terabytes of data capacity. I need a lot of disk space because I'm backing up ten client machines and each of them has a fair amount of space.

The backup / restore function works really well - I've used it to completely replace a hard disk on one of my kid's computers after a total disk failure. The OS installs a "software" share on the server and that share includes a text file with advice on how to create a RESTORE CD. The short version is, go to a Microsoft server, download the latest version of the Restore CD as an ISO file, and burn it to a CD. (It's a good idea to do this BEFORE you have a system needing a full restore.)

When it's time to do a full restore, you power down the broken client, install a new hard drive, then boot the client using the RESTORE CD as boot media (This may require a BIOS adjustment to get the system to boot from the CD.) Next, you'll discover that you need to provide the necessary network drivers (preferably on a USB jump drive) to get the broken client to be able to "talk" to the server for the restore. At this point, you'll probably think, "Damn, where am I supposed to find the drivers?" but the answer is, on the Windows Home Server. The folks at MS clearly recognized this as a real problem so the client software automatically identifies all of the necessary drivers for each client system and then puts copies of them in a clearly labeled directory on the server, with one directory for each separate client machine. This is great!

With the drivers copied on to a jump drive (either directly from the server or via a different, non-broken client machine), you are completely ready to go. After you've used the RESTORE CD to boot the broken client (with its new hard drive) and given it the drivers it needs via the USB drive, you just follow the menu choices to connect to the server, pick which version of the collection of backups you want to use, and start the restore process. With a big disk, the restore can take a couple of hours, but when it is done, you just remove the RESTORE CD and reboot the client and, BINGO, it is fully restored - the OS, all of the applications, all of the data, everything is back to where it was.

The first back up of a client machine can take a while, but after that all backups are incremental and thus are done quickly. Knowing that you have multiple backups for all computers in your home can be very comforting. Knowing that the RESTORE function actually works can be even more comforting.

This is a good product.

One thing you should know: the WHS server has a limit of ten registered clients. If you need to provide backup and restore capabilities for more than that, you'll need to set up multiple WHS servers.