Windows Home Server FAQ

Old Hippie said:
I won't be buying the 64bit version.

After 1.5yrs I'm just getting the old version to work correctly. :D

Major factor to me is that the new version isn't NTFS and can't be read by any Windows machine.

I'll probably go with some other server OS rather than pay MS another 100 bucks for another 1/2 baked OS.

As you can tell I've had a less than steller experience with WHS. :)
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Can you expand on that a bit?

I'm so far satisfied with the WHS PP3 but the features in the upcoming release look very promising
 
According to what I have read, the current plan for VAIL is to use a new file system. In WHS v1, if you need to pull a drive and drop it into another windows box to retrieve data, no problem. In v2, this won't be possible. Other Microsoft operating systems won't be able to read the files from the disk... only other VAIL systems.
 
farscapesg1 said:
According to what I have read, the current plan for VAIL is to use a new file system. In WHS v1, if you need to pull a drive and drop it into another windows box to retrieve data, no problem. In v2, this won't be possible. Other Microsoft operating systems won't be able to read the files from the disk... only other VAIL systems.
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Hit the nail right on the head! :)

Some have run WHS from the get-go with no problems but I've had to do at least 4 complete installs and the same number of repair/reinstalls.

I just don't have enough confidence in WHS to use it without being able to read it's disks easily.

If I need to go with a different file system I'll probably go with something that doesn't require me to give MS more money.
 
Can someone recommend a decent backup utility (preferably free) that will allow me to span backups on drives? My 1TB and 2TB drives are getting full and WHS doesn't have the ability to span backups.
 
Old Hippie said:
Hit the nail right on the head! :)

Some have run WHS from the get-go with no problems but I've had to do at least 4 complete installs and the same number of repair/reinstalls.

I just don't have enough confidence in WHS to use it without being able to read it's disks easily.

If I need to go with a different file system I'll probably go with something that doesn't require me to give MS more money.
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I can relate. I don't think I've ever had the WHSv1 reinstaller correctly recognize an existing drive pool. I've always had to rebuild manually by copying. With WHSv2 you will be totally dependent on whatever tools MS makes available for file system recovery/reinstall. It *should* in theory be more robust, since the drive pools can be mounted and dismounted individually, so the drive pool isn't intimately coupled to the installer like with v1.
 
I don't think I've ever had the WHSv1 reinstaller correctly recognize an existing drive pool
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Definately a major problem.

I've also had the WHS disk offer a reinstall but if you hesitate (stop the install) it wouldn't ask again.

Sometimes when the MS install disc doesn't give a reinstall option, I'd switch to the X-Files version and it would offer to reinstall.

There were/are many times that information for an alert in the event viewer was nonexistent in the MS database.

I've had a nagging problem with the Indexing folder running out of space that I finally had to figure out myself.

The support forums are great but it just seems that MS didn't R&D to the extent they normally do.

All I really wanted was a simple NAS but when I saw MS had WHS I thought....."What could go wrong". :D
 
Hippie, I've had much the same experience as you. A reinstall from disk (or thumbdrive in my case) finally became available, but it didnt recognize my shares. I have spent the last several days copying over everything I could find. In the process, some things were lost, but luckily, nothing critical. All I really need is a NAS that can serve video to my PS3, and hold backups.


Actually, would running a regular W7 machine be able to accomplish this (or Vista, 98, whatever. I have TechNet) better than WHS?
 
Kil4Thril said:
Hippie, I've had much the same experience as you. A reinstall from disk (or thumbdrive in my case) finally became available, but it didnt recognize my shares. I have spent the last several days copying over everything I could find. In the process, some things were lost, but luckily, nothing critical. All I really need is a NAS that can serve video to my PS3, and hold backups.


Actually, would running a regular W7 machine be able to accomplish this (or Vista, 98, whatever. I have TechNet) better than WHS?
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I think Windows 7 would be fine as the server system but WHS offers two advantages that are hard to find in other versions of Windows =

) Drive Extender which duplicates your critical files across two hard drives. IMO this is very improtant for backup and I've yet to find a utility that does that on Windows 7

) Back up mechanism = WHS' backup system is efficient and fast when it comes to backing up the computers. Windows 7's built in utility is okay but it is slow and not as efficient in saving space during the backup process

If I could somehow replicate these two features on Windows 7, then I'd hold off till Veil comes out. Its hard to justify spending $100 on WHS when the next version is coming out soon
In fact Windows 7 would be much better as a basis for WHS because of offering DLNA (and not just Windows Media Connect) and Homegroups. The Good thing is Veil will include these features
 
AMD_RULES said:
Would you recommend WHS for a small business backup NAS?
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Definitely. Supports up to 10 computers for backup, multiple access options, data redundancy, and the list goes on. Small business can mean a couple of things though. Are we talking a small office/home office type setup or 10+ users with the need for some sort of e-mail back end?
 
Kenworth said:
Definitely. Supports up to 10 computers for backup, multiple access options, data redundancy, and the list goes on. Small business can mean a couple of things though. Are we talking a small office/home office type setup or 10+ users with the need for some sort of e-mail back end?
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No email... 5 users, three machines.
 
AMD_RULES said:
No email... 5 users, three machines.
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Then this should be a snap for WHS. The only thing I am not 100% is how it reacts to multiple users accessing the same file simultaneously if that is even a possibility for your usage setup. Any info from the other readers might help in that area or I may just try it when I get home to see what happens.

Other than that, it is as simple as installing the connector software on the machines, mapping the user folders to the machines you want, and going to work. The connector software will then backup the computers on a schedule you choose (default is early morning each day) and give you a little dashboard to monitor the servers storage, user accounts, etc. You can also just remote in to the server if you need anything else done inside the os itself. I recommend having a backup of the server on a schedule that would behoove your data's security. I have stepped it up to about once every 2 days using Sync Toy and an external drive but you can use several different programs that were probably already discussed here.
 
With all the talk lately on the next iteration of Windows Home Server in the form of Vail and it’s close relative Aurora you would quite understandably think that Microsoft have finished working on Windows Home Server V1. But, today Microsoft seems to have squashed that rumour by releasing an update as Update Rollup 1. This new naming convention replaces the previous ‘Power Pack’ standard that we have come to expect from Windows Home Server and according to Microsoft, has been done to standardise how they name collective updates across the Windows Home Server and Small Business Server product lines.

UR-1 fixes a few issues found since Power Pack 3 was released in November last year, and also introduces a couple of new features including 2048 bit certificates but nothing to the scale of features we have seen in previous Power Pack releases. However, nested amongst the updates is a ‘Precautionary Update’ resolving ‘incompatibility issues when you use the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows Home Server‘
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Full details of what is included in UR-1 is as follows, and also available under KB979453

Issue 1
You cannot restore a client computer without manually creating partitions or mapping the source and destination volume.

After you install this update, you can restore a client computer without manually creating partitions or mapping the source and destination volume. However, to enable this functionality, the following conditions must be true:

The backup must be stored on only one disk.
The destination computer must have only one hard disk.
The hard disk in the destination computer must be equal to or larger in size than the backup.
The hard disk drive in the destination computer must be an internal hard disk drive. For example, IDE, SATA or e-SATA.

Issue 2
2048-bit certificates will soon replace 1024-bit certificates. This update enables Home Server users to use 2048-bit certificates before 2048-bit certificates become the industry standard.

After you install this update, you are asked to renew Website certificates if you have already registered the live domain for the websites. After you finish the renewal process, the website certificates are upgraded to 2048-bit.

Issue 3
You cannot change the backup settings if a volume that has backup-excluded folders is not available. In this situation, you must wait until the volume becomes available.

After you install this update, you can remove a missing volume that has backup-excluded folders from the backup process.

Issue 4
You cannot remove all users’ permissions from a shared folder. When you try to remove the permissions, the Windows Home Server console reports that the operation succeeds. However, the permissions are not removed.

After you install this update, you can successfully remove all users’ permissions from a shared folder. If you tried to perform this operation before you install this update, the permissions will be removed when you restart the computer after you install this update.

Issue 5
You may experience incompatibility issues when you use the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows Home Server. This is a precautionary update. Windows Home Server is currently not supported by the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials Beta or final release. This update will address some incompatibility issues.
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The update is now available on Windows Update, and will require a reboot following the installation. Upon reboot, you will see your server has a critical alert advising you to reconfigure your domain name. This is due to the 2048 Certificate, and releasing your domain name and then choosing it again is simple enough to resolve the alert.
 
No im not running V1 any longer - just thought i would post it cause it wasnt very well advertised
Im running Vail (my data is duplicated on 2008R2 RAID6 as well)
 
Old Hippie said:
Did you install it?
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My WHS installed that update automatically I think about two nights ago counting backwards from tonight (it was turned on at the time).

Apart from the nightly reboot, which messed up uTorrent's torrent managing engine, as usually is the case every time I reboot (uT is not very fond of using SMB notation for shares), I haven't noticed any problems whatsoever.

Server certificate renewal might cause some headaches, though (I didn't have any red warnings, btw, contrary to the KB text), so I think it would be best to check this to get the rundown on how to do it right.
 
Thank you Gents.

I appreciate the info!

I'm gonna install it after I discuss it for awhile with my pal "Buddy Weiser".

Things can get a little more challenging after our discussions but it definately keeps it interesting. :)
 
I know it doesn't officially support raid, but I thought that was more of a "doesn't support software raid" thing than a "not supporting hardware raid".

Anyone had any luck getting a true hardware raid controller to work under WHS?
 
I love my WHS. My main conern with Vail is that the first BETA was extremely taxing on my Atom m-ITX....not sure if the 2nd BETA is any better.

There's also the problem of migrating all my data from WHS to Vail, should I do that. There's just doesn't seem to be an upgrade path, in which case, Haven't figured out how to move 3TB of data without having to buy another HD.
 
smokinAMD said:
I know it doesn't officially support raid, but I thought that was more of a "doesn't support software raid" thing than a "not supporting hardware raid".

Anyone had any luck getting a true hardware raid controller to work under WHS?
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The thing with "WHS doesn't support RAID" really only means that if you use RAID, have some kind of issue with the data and call M$'s support, they'll say "sorry, that is not a supported feature, as per the license agreement, so we can't help you with that problem".

WHS is still based off W2K3, which means RAID/AHCI is not available unless you F6-install. That's the first problem, and since it's supposed to be a "non-tech-geek-friendly" OS, officially supporting the feature would either mean restructuring the whole installer (and explaining non-geeks what a RAID card is - and RAID, for that matter -, along with the truckload of tech support calls that would bring) or adding complexity to the install procedure, and alienate a large chunk of potential buyers of the OS.

That being said, W2K3 still supports RAID, both hardware and software. What effects RAID (especially software-based) might have on DE are another matter altogether. They are simply unknown, but it should be noted that there are several users on this thread using RAID cards (and RAID, too, if memory serves me right).

One last thought. I've said this already, but I'll say it again: WHS is meant for a small user base, with sub-gigabit speed needs, and that want to use a KISS approach to data duplication. If you're considering RAID as a necessity for some reason, WHS is probably not the right OS for you.

Hope this helps.
 
Cliff Couser said:
I love my WHS. My main conern with Vail is that the first BETA was extremely taxing on my Atom m-ITX....not sure if the 2nd BETA is any better.

There's also the problem of migrating all my data from WHS to Vail, should I do that. There's just doesn't seem to be an upgrade path, in which case, Haven't figured out how to move 3TB of data without having to buy another HD.
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The days for your Atom on WHS are numbered I believe. There is limited chatter as to the results of the beta still being more power hungry than V1 or what the final spec is going to be on the requirements but there is no way around your Atom just having a very limited duty even when it was new. And you didn't mention which Atom you have so a Pinetrail Atom will have a little better luck with extending its life in this scenario and I also assume you have a 64bit Atom as well. No x64 then this conversation just became significantly shorter.

As for the data migration, the scenario right now would limit you to doing it all over because Vail will not recognize V1 WHS drives... As of right now...
 
I own a couple of WHS servers, they are not perfect, but they are good to fo for small buisnesses like email, autoresponders etc. If only it can support RAID, it would have been a delight to use it.
biggrin.gif
 
dev6 said:
I own a couple of WHS servers, they are not perfect, but they are good to fo for small buisnesses like email, autoresponders etc. If only it can support RAID, it would have been a delight to use it.
biggrin.gif
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RAID works just fine with WHS.....its just not a supported configuration.
 
Does anyone know when the original beta copy of WHS2 will expire? And what exactly will happen at that point, will I be able to get my data off?
 
Expiration has not yet been announced to my knowledge.
Yes you will be able to retrieve your data because Vail will recognize the storage pool.
 
Nitro, apart from the whole "Vail-to-Vail storage disk recognition" thing, isn't it true that you can just plug in a WHS storage disk to another PC and pull the data out? I mean, DE drives are still NTFS formatted, right?

Though, whatever the answer, it's a GREAT idea Vail accepts storage drives from other Vail installations. Reformatting the OS drive will no longer be a MAJOR pain of hoping everything goes OK with the Server Reinstallation routine, only to find out something DIDN'T go OK and you just lost... say, 100TB of data... lol (And yes, I know backups should be made. Just pointing out what a colossal pain something like that can cause).
 
__Miguel_ said:
Nitro, apart from the whole "Vail-to-Vail storage disk recognition" thing, isn't it true that you can just plug in a WHS storage disk to another PC and pull the data out? I mean, DE drives are still NTFS formatted, right?

Though, whatever the answer, it's a GREAT idea Vail accepts storage drives from other Vail installations. Reformatting the OS drive will no longer be a MAJOR pain of hoping everything goes OK with the Server Reinstallation routine, only to find out something DIDN'T go OK and you just lost... say, 100TB of data... lol (And yes, I know backups should be made. Just pointing out what a colossal pain something like that can cause).
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You can only read VAIL disk on VAIL systems. Its not like WHSv1 where you can pull a drive and read it on Win7.....at least not yet ;)
 
nitrobass24 said:
Expiration has not yet been announced to my knowledge.
Yes you will be able to retrieve your data because Vail will recognize the storage pool.
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I am running the original beta of vail, as I understand it the original DE drives are no longer compatible with the new version. Are you sure I will be able to simply plug them into either the new beta version or the retail release?
 
Original beta? I dont know which one that means. I am on my 5th build(beta) so depending on what you ha ve access to/downloaded who knows.

I know the the Beta Refresh (current beta build on MS Connect) will.
 
nitrobass24 said:
Original beta? I dont know which one that means. I am on my 5th build(beta) so depending on what you ha ve access to/downloaded who knows.

I know the the Beta Refresh (current beta build on MS Connect) will.
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it's the very first beta released on MS Connect when beta started.
 
nitrobass24 said:
You can only read VAIL disk on VAIL systems. Its not like WHSv1 where you can pull a drive and read it on Win7.....at least not yet ;)
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Oh, that's... messed up. One of the great things about WHS1 was that if something catastrophic happened to your WHS OS, you could at least recover your data on a standard PC.

I can understand why MS would want to limit this ability (DE is a weird beast, after all...), but at least you should give people the option to recover data without actually needing to build another Vail machine just to pull the data out. Hopefully a "Connector" will ship with with the final version (or DE/Windows 7 will be revamped to allow direct connection of Vail drives).

Thanks for the info, btw!
 
I will be putting together my WHS system in the very near future and just have a few final questions after reading this thread again:

1) Is there any issues using the 2Tb WD EARS drives with WHS? I read previously where there may have been a problem with the 4k sectors. Anything special to do..jumper, align etc?

2) At the moment I have two controller cards I will be using, a SM SAT2-MV8 and a 3Ware 9500S. These will be used just to pool all the drives, no RAID. Do I install WHS on the system WITHOUT the cards in the MB first, and then after it is working add in the cards one by one, install appropriate drivers, reboot etc?
Or can the cards by in the motherboard when I do the initial WHS install without creating any problems?

Thanks much everyone for all the information.
 
Nitrobass24 - Thanks for the link.
Seems that some have used the jumper approach without problems.
You wouldn't even recommend going this route?
 
No....What is the advantage?
Sure you can make it work. But what are you gaining? If the answer is nothing then why deal with any of this to "Get it working" only to hope that it does FUBAR something up later.

Risk> Reward
 
O and for your second question.

You can have the cards in to start, just make sure you have the right drivers.
If not you can add them after the fact without issue.
 
Greatly appreciate the information Nitrobass24, especially about the cards.
As for the drive, you are right. Why mess around with it. Only want to do this once. Will sell the EARS and pick up drives that will work properly.
Hopefully start to put this together this coming weekend.
Thanks again.
 
EARS drives are becoming the norm. Most deals are for 2TB drives that use advanced sector format.
 
MrCrispy said:
EARS drives are becoming the norm. Most deals are for 2TB drives that use advanced sector format.
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That doesnt make them work any better with WHS v1.

EDIT: Let me rephrase, Is saving $100 on 5 drives worth putting 10TB of data at risk?
 
just incase any one cares...

Windows Live Essentials 2011 was released recently (nonbeta) and live mesh actually works on WHS Vail.

I cannot confirm that it will work with WHS v1 but it installs and works great on Vail..... + 5gb of skydrive...

it is actually a good competitor to dropbox. I am currently using it to backup/sync pictures and documents to Skydrive... which is really nice with the docs.com connection. too bad google doesnt have free 5gb of storage that can be synced as google docs and gmail would be awesome to have in the WHS cloud backup ecosystem
 
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