Last week Vail had its first Add-In called AWIECO WakeOnLAN released and John Zajdler and I had a chance to install and review the Add-In. After dozens of email with the developer Andreas, early morning screenshots and event logs, the Add-In is working great and version 0.1.4 is now available for release. Check out our video where John and I cover the Add-In installation and the changes required to enable WOL on your client PCs.
Why do you want this Vail Add-In?
As a Windows Home Server owner you pride yourself on being able to remotely go where no one has gone before. With this new Add-In from Awieco you can now start your PCs from your Vail website. How cool is that?
Would you use this Add-In? Yes!
I just got to work and I realized that I forgot an important file on my HTPC from last night. As usual I turned off that PC before I went to bed but I forgot to copy the file before I shutdown. I am at work and to go home and back is an hour round trip. Flippers. I am running Ultimate on that machine so if it was running I could just remotely move or copy the file. It is turned off so I am SOL. This PC is connected to the Vail server. What’s a boy to do?
With the new WakeOnLAN Add-In I can now remotely turn on my PC.
And once it has started I can then connect to that WOL enabled PC. Sweet!
AWIECO WakeOnLAN Add-In Features
- Quick Installation
- Standard Add-in Functionality
- Internet Access and Availability
- Easy Dashboard Access
- Simple Interface
The web interface is clean and easy to use.
AWIECO – The Company
AWIECO – home server solution develops software for the Windows Home Server and offers these to private users as well as to companies. Their main goal is to develop add-ins for the WHSv2, which will expand the functionalities and make it more attractive to private users and small business. Further projects are already in the planning and developing phase.
http://www.awieco.com/Home/WakeOnLan
Directly from their website:
AWIECO “WakeOnLAN”
The AWIECO WakeOnLAN add-in for Windows Home Server “Vail” is a free and useful add-in, which has the ability to turn on a computer remotely. It enables the Home Server to start up every computer attached to your network. The gadget on the WHS web-interface shows a list of all available and connected computers within your network and provides the possibility to start them up from any location inside your network or via internet, by just one mouse click. The add-in automatically recognises, if a computer is already turned on or if it is booting up.
When the remote network adapter receives a “Magic Packet“ created for it‘s unique MAC address, the network adapter alerts the computer to power on, which is comparable with the manual pressing oft the power button. When the computer is shut down, its network adapter is still receiving power, and waiting to receive a “Magic Packet“ within the network. A requirement for this function is the wake on LAN support of your network adapter and the enabled wake on LAN option in the computer’s BIOS settings.
You can download the Add-In at:
Add-In Download
Important Facts Before You Start
Not all PCs support Wake On LAN (See your PC documentation to verify).
You will probably need to change the Wake On LAN setting in your BIOS.
The PC must have power to the network card (See your PC documentation to verify).
You must turn on each PC after installing the Add-In so it can get the MAC address.
To use remote access you must be running Windows 7 Professional or higher.
Add-In Installation Video
I apologize for the low sound in advance. I just got a professional grade microphone so lets hope this is the last video with crap sound!
Conclusion
The AWIECO WakeOnLAN Add-In performs as advertised and would make a great first addition to your Windows Server code name Vail. I will also say that if you have Windows 7 PCs that support remote access then this Add-In is a must!
I want to extend a special thank you to John Zajdler for the video collaboration and to Andreas at AWIECO for letting us be a part of the development of this great Add-In! We look forward to future releases from AWIECO.
Timothy Daleo
thanks Tim – installing it now 🙂