Microsoft Home Sever

[Lord ZOG]

I think Microsoft has a winner here.

I downloaded the BETA this Sunday, and have been experimenting with it. Despite my trewpidation, I must say it's well done.

The Home Server promises;

1. Centralized storage on a simplified RAID array.
2. Automated "nuts and bolts" backups. You can restore your enitre computer to a blank hard drive in less than 1/2 an hour! I tried this on a few test units, and even though the restore wasn't silky smooth (mostly trying to find appropriate .INF-based NIC drivers) I was able to successfully rstore two 40GB partitions using nothing but a bootable CD generated from the Home Server.
3. Remote Access -If you have XP Pro you can access your Home Server via a public domain (under the BETA I used mycopmpanyname.livenode.com) to access both my shared folders (which allows uploads to authenticated users) and remote access to any machine connected to the Home Server.

The software is based on Windows 2003 Server (if you log on locally you'll immediately recognize all the features of Windows 2003 Server), but all the complicated services and utilities are hidden with explicit warnings about Home Server being damaged by too much tinkering. I'm assuming they mean the DHCP, DNS and Routing and Remote Access services.

The Home Servers are expected to be released as "Appliances" from major vendors, meaning pre-built machines with specially designed storage cages and no display (no video cards in fact), no keyboards or mice (only accessible through a network console).

They will allow limited releases for hobbyists to build their own servers. The mimimum system requirements are well below Vista standards (I have my test unit running on a 1.4GHz Pentium 4 with 512MB RAMBUS).

HP has a nice looking unit coming out soon starting at $500.00.

The real beauty is the simplified disk management. You get the benfits of a real RAID array with the simplicity of just slapping a drive in the appliance and having Home Server automatically mount, format and add it to its existing array.

There's even mention of streaming movies from a shared folder to your TV, or even a remotely connected laptop (I haven't tested these claims yet).

The potential downfalls? No Mac support (yet!). Only Windows XP Home SP2 or greater is supported by the "Connector Software", which sets up the automated backups.

Even in its BETA form, I'm impressed.

[Chacal]

The "RAID" array is interesting.
Now let's see what the hackers say about this.

[Lord ZOG]

Well, there are a lot of questions surrounding this.

I'm gearing up to really push this on my home ujsers, who think backup is only what they do when they drive out of their garages. I've been using Network Storage for most of my home users, but they're not perfect and they're not capable of restoring to a blank disk (they require OS and app installs, then backup restores).

The RAID isn't truly RAID, at least in the RAID 5 sense. There's no dedicated controller. It's apparently only "mirrored" in some sense, although I haven't seen any specific answers to this question.

It's meant for home users, but I'm sure there will be a need for someone technical to set it up and monitor it. I see the Geek Squad (shameless hacks) jumping on this like stink of shit.

Just like any security, it all boils down to complex passwords. WHS seems to force complex passwords for things like remote access, but I'm sure some dopey end-user will try their best to change that (I can't even get some home users to use simple passwords!).

I'm excited by this, but I've got a lot of research to do on every possible use and potential issue.

[Darknut]

Lord Zog, how much would you pay me to work for you?

[Lord ZOG]

Do you like eggs?

[Darknut]

Do you like eggs?

Yes. How much money will you pay me?

[gowhitesox99]

sounds like a cool piece of software

[Lord ZOG]

It's got promise, and although the major features seem to work (the automatic full-backups are great) it does have some clunkiness to it.

If the system drive fails, you don't lose data but your only option is a "Sever Repair Install" which rebuilds the OS, but loses all your user accounts. That might not be the end of the world, since it only supports up to 10 users. The worst might be that true appliances from HP, Gateway and the like will not even have video cards installed.

Wireless backups can be tedious, but if you connect with a wired connection first, manually backup, the subsequent backups happen quickly.

Hacking seemes to be a concern for me, especially considering end-user's propensity for not having a fucking clue and wanting to share their photos of their future iPod destroying, virii downloading, text-messaging-while-driving hell spawn with the rest of the world.

Small business users can use this too, although it cannot connect to a domain, domain-connected workstations can use the Home Server connector to utilize the automatic backup feature.

We'll see what happens. I'm liking what I see, even in it's semi-infant form.

[Darknut]

It's got promise, and although the major features seem to work (the automatic full-backups are great) it does have some clunkiness to it.

If the system drive fails, you don't lose data but your only option is a "Sever Repair Install" which rebuilds the OS, but loses all your user accounts. That might not be the end of the world, since it only supports up to 10 users. The worst might be that true appliances from HP, Gateway and the like will not even have video cards installed.

Wireless backups can be tedious, but if you connect with a wired connection first, manually backup, the subsequent backups happen quickly.

Hacking seemes to be a concern for me, especially considering end-user's propensity for not having a fucking clue and wanting to share their photos of their future iPod destroying, virii downloading, text-messaging-while-driving hell spawn with the rest of the world.

Small business users can use this too, although it cannot connect to a domain, domain-connected workstations can use the Home Server connector to utilize the automatic backup feature.

We'll see what happens. I'm liking what I see, even in it's semi-infant form.

What happens when you are troubleshooting your server's connectivity problems if you can only access through a network? What if the NIC fails?

[Lord ZOG]

That's what I'm thinking, too. The boxes that hobbyists build will obviously have video cards and keyboards\mice...but the appliances that the major vendors build might not.

I'm sure they'll have some method of restoring the device...but knowing HP's propensity for providing wipe and restore CDs I'm curious how they'll handle this.

And as far as what I'd pay you, Dark...it depends on how much money you made me and how self-sufficient you'd be.