Windows Home Server – Sneak Preview Part 1
I finally had the time to install the Windows Home Server (WHS), two months after gotten invited into the beta program. Since the CTP version is already out, there is no point for me to try out the beta anymore. So, here comes the CTP.
As mentioned in my earlier post Servers aren’t for enterprise environment only, WHS offers a centralize backup center for you home computers as well as a file server.
System Requirements – Minimun
- 1 GHz Pentium 3 or equivalent
- 512MB RAM
- 40GB of empty harddisk space
- 100Mbps Ethernet network interface card
System Requirements – Recomended
- Pentium 4 or equivalent
- 512MB RAM
- 300GB of empty harddisk space
- 100Mbps or higher Ethernet network interface card
As WHS is going to do backups of your computers and act as a file server, I would recommend a Gigabit Ethernet connections between the WHS and the computers if possible.
Supported Operating Systems for Home Computers
The following operating systems for home computers are supported to work with Windows Home Server:
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home N (European Union only)
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Business N (European Union only)
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows XP Home with SP2
- Windows XP Professional with SP2
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with SP2 and Rollup 2
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with SP2
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 with SP2
- Windows XP Tablet Edition with SP2
Installation
Installation of WHS is very simple, the procedure has been simplified til the user will only be prompted for some installation parameters and the rest will be automated. However, it is important to note that there must be at least 40Gb of empty hard disk space on the computer, else WHS will simply refuse to be installed. This doesn’t imply that WHS installation will occupy 40GB, but rather it is to ensure the WHS will have enough space to store backup files and such. Furthur note that WHS is actually a scaled down Windows Server 2003.
The familiar Windows Server 2003 setup screen.
Selecting as New Installation.
After installation, you will be greeted by the Vista styled Welcome screen.
You will then be prompted to provide the Administrator password.
WHS desktop. At the bottom right corner, note that WHS is actually a scaled version of Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server.
The loading screen for WHS. Furthur proof that WHS is actually from Windows Server 2003. As the WHS CTP is not the final version, there are still alot of minor details that had yet to be changed. On the production version, unlikely you will see this Windows Server 2003 loading screen.
Managing and Configuration
Since WHS is actually a scaled down version of Windows Server 2003, naturally you will not expect to see Active Directory. This goes the same for WSUS. WHS is tailored for a home consumer, thus most of the functions for WHS is controlled from the Windows Home Server Console.
From the WHS Console, the administrator has full control over the computers connected to the WHS, the User Accounts, Shared Drives, the storage as well as the general configurations and settings for WHS.
Computers & Backup
Before any computer can be connected to WHS, you need to install the Windows Home Server Connector to each of the computers. The Connector will configure and manage the connection between your computer and WHS. The Connector enables the WHS to ‘talk’ to your computer to perform backups and allows you to perform remote access from your computer to WHS. After installing the Connector on your computer, you will be able to see your computer under the WHS console.
User Accounts
Next you will need to setup the user accounts for each user in your house. It is advisable for you to use the logon username and password that match the existing user accounts on your home computer. This is to make it easier for users to access contents on the WHS.
Shared Folders
The preconfigured shared folders allows all users (who has an account on the WHS) to access. On top of that, each user will have their personal share folder which they can configure access to specific users.
Server Storage
This is one interesting are of WHS. Traditionally, adding a new hard disk to a computer is not exactly simple. It requires the user to physically attach the hard disk, partition and format it. Sometimes such procedures can be quite confusing for an average user, especially with the more advance settings such as cluster size, file system and the drive letter. In WHS, all the user need to do is to physically install the new hard disk to the WHS computer, then at the WHS console, select the new hard disk and click on the ‘Add’ option that will be presented to him. WHS will then automatically partition the hard disk and format it with the suitable settings. Another point to note is that in WHS, all the hard disks are represented by a single drive letter. They are configured to look as one large hard disk instead of multiple seperated hard disk with a drive letter each.
Themocracy
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