Archive

mControl for Windows Home Server Giveaway – Week 2 and a Surprise

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 31, 2009

A few weeks ago, Tim Daleo posted the first in a series of articles on using mControl for Windows Home Server to do all sorts of things within his house. This week, Tim posted the latest installed instalment on using Macros with mControl.

mControl is software for your Digital Home. mControl allows you to control all aspects of your home from your Media Center PC, locally or remotely via Internet Explorer browser or from your Windows Mobile device.

For more information on mControl and Embedded Automation, click here.

To coincide with these articles, our good friends at Embedded Automation have given us a number of licences for mControl that we can giveaway to our loyal readers.

So, to win this week’s licence, just send an email to giveaways @ usingwhs.com (remembering to remove the spaces) with the title mControl Giveway Week 2 and a suggestion for an article or review you would like to see. If you already submitted a suggestion in the Week 1 giveaway your name has automatically been entered into the hat 🙂

The closing date for this weeks giveaway is Sunday 7th Juine 2009. One lucky winner will be drawn completely at random. Good luck!

Oh and what’s the surprise you ask? Well, I’ve decided to give another licence away to those that entered the Week 1 competition, so without further ado, the lucky winner of the extra licence in Week 1 is………..

Paul Yantko – well done Paul!

Well done, your licence is on it’s way to you now.

How To Perform a Server Reinstallation of Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 31, 2009

39

Continuing our series of “How To….” guides, this one is all about how to perform a server reinstallation of the Windows Home Server software in the event of a problem, or just because you want to.

PREREQUISITES

Before you reinstall Windows Home Server, you should ensure you have the following available:

Your computer that was already running Windows Home Server.
A mouse, keyboard and monitor, all connected to the computer.
A working network connection connected to the computer.
The Windows Home Server installation DVD (or a USB stick with the WHS software on).
A Windows Home Server product key which you will need during the installation.

REINSTALLATION

Exactly the same as when you first installed Windows Home Server, your computer must support being able to boot from DVD or USB stick, otherwise the installation will not be able to take place. You may need to go into the BIOS of your computer in order to set the boot priority so that the DVD or USB stuck is first in the list. Consult the documentation that came with your computer if you are unsure how to do this. The other option is to choose the boot device when the computer starts up – again, check your documentation on doing this.

You should then see a screen displaying Windows is loading files…. (that means it working so far). If you don’t see this, then try again making sure you are booting from either the DVD or the USB stick.

Setup will then initialise – this may take a moment or two so be patient.

You should now be presented with the Welcome to Windows Home Server Setup screen. This step is simple – all you have to do is click Next to continue.

You will now need to select your Regional and Keyboard Settings and click Next to continue.

The next screen is called the Load Additional Storage Drivers screen. You need to ensure that all of your hard drives are listed on this page, for example mine shows a single 75GB ATA drive attached.

Vol 1 – this is the SYS volume and contains all the files and settings for your Windows Home Server. This is the volume that will be deleted and recreated during the server reinstallation process.

Vol 2 – this is the DATA volume and contains all of your shared folders and computer backups. This volume will remain untouched during the server reinstallation process.If all of your drives are shown just click Next to continue.

If for some reason one or more of your hard drives is not displayed here, then it might be because you need to load an additional driver. If this is the case, click on the Load drivers button and then locate the Device Driver File. Click once on the relevant Device Driver File and click Open to continue.

When you have loaded the additional Device Driver File or files your hard drives should all now appear in the list. If this is the case then just click Next to continue. If they are still not shown then check all the connections inside the computer (sometimes it is as simple as a loose cable) and see if there are any updated device drivers on the manufacturers website.

The next screen that is displayed is the Select an Installation Type screen. Ensure Server Reinstallation is selected (it should be automatically as the setup program should have detected that you already had Windows Home Server installed) and click Next to continue. Make sure that Server Reinstallation is selected otherwise you will lose all of your existing WHS data (including your Shared Folders and Computer Backups).

The next screen is the End-User License Agreement (sometimes referred to as the EULA). You should read through this carefully and then assuming you agree to it (and if you don’t then you won’t be able to install and then use Windows Home Server) click the I accept this agreement radio button and then click Next to continue.

You will then be asked to enter your Windows Home Server Product Key. The Windows Home Server Product Key should be located either inside the DVD case or on a sticker on the actual computer if you have purchased a Windows Home Server computer. Type in the Product Key carefully and then click Next to continue.

The next stage is to type in the name of your Windows Home Server. You must type in the same name as you used last time and click Next to continue.

Right, you are at the last stage now before the reinstallation actually begins. You should now see the Ready to Install Windows Home Server screen. All you have to do now is click on the Start button to begin the actual installation.

The installation will now commence – this could take a little while so again, be patient.

When the installation is complete, you will see the Windows Home Server Welcome Screen.

The next thing you need to do is configure Windows Home Server, so click here to go to that how to guide.

Now that the Windows Home Server reinstallation process has completed you will need to recreate all of your user accounts and perform all of your setting changes in order to get your Windows Home Server back into the working state you had it in before you needed to perform the reinstallation. You will also need to perform some updates for your Windows Home Server to fill in all the missing updates since the version of the software you used to perform the reinstall.

How To Install Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 31, 2009

21

Continuing our series of “How To….” guides, this one is all about how to install the Windows Home Server software.

PREREQUISITES

Before you install Windows Home Server, you should ensure you have the following available:

A computer capable of running Windows Home Server.
A mouse, keyboard and monitor, all connected to the computer.
A working network connection connected to the computer.
The Windows Home Server installation DVD (or a USB stick with the WHS software on).
A Windows Home Server product key which you will need during the installation.

INSTALLATION

Your computer must support being able to boot from DVD or USB stick, otherwise the installation will not be able to take place. You may need to go into the BIOS of your computer in order to set the boot priority so that the DVD or USB stuck is first in the list. Consult the documentation that came with your computer if you are unsure how to do this. The other option is to choose the boot device when the computer starts up – again, check your documentation on doing this.

You should then see a screen displaying Windows is loading files…. (that means it working so far). If you don’t see this, then try again making sure you are booting from either the DVD or the USB stick.

Setup will then initialise – this may take a moment or two so be patient.

You should now be presented with the Welcome to Windows Home Server Setup screen. This step is simple – all you have to do is click Next to continue.

You will now need to select your Regional and Keyboard Settings and click Next to continue.

The next screen is called the Load Additional Storage Drivers screen. You need to ensure that all of your hard drives are listed on this page, for example mines shows a single 75GB ATA drive attached. If all of your drives are shown just click Next to continue.

If for some reason one or more of your hard drives is not displayed here, then it might be because you need to load an additional driver. If this is the case, click on the Load drivers button and then locate the Device Driver File. Click once on the relevant Device Driver File and click Open to continue.

When you have loaded the additional Device Driver File or files your hard drives should all now appear in the list. If this is the case then just click Next to continue. If they are still not shown then check all the connections inside the computer (sometimes it is as simple as a loose cable) and see if there are any updated device drivers on the manufacturers website.

The next screen that is displayed is the Select an Installation Type screen. Ensure New Installation is and click Next to continue.

The next screen is the End-User License Agreement (sometimes referred to as the EULA). You should read through this carefully and then assuming you agree to it (and if you don’t then you won’t be able to install and then use Windows Home Server) click the I accept this agreement radio button and then click Next to continue.

You will then be asked to enter your Windows Home Server Product Key. The Windows Home Server Product Key should be located either inside the DVD case or on a sticker on the actual computer if you have purchased a Windows Home Server computer. Type in the Product Key carefully and then click Next to continue.

The next stage is to actually name your Windows Home Server. By default the Home Server name is SERVER and you could quite easily just leave it as that, although it would actually be better for you to name it something else so that it means more to you.

Type in a new, or leave it as SERVER and click Next to continue.

The next screen to be displayed is the Formatting Hard Drives screen. This screen will list all of the hard drives and volumes and remind you that all the data will be lost on those drives when the installation begins and the drives are formatted. In order to continue with the installation at this point you need to select the I acknowledge that all data on these drives will be lost box and then click on the Next button to continue.

You will be then asked once again to confirm that you are sure you want to continue and that all data on those hard drives will be deleted and lost, so click Yes.

Right, you are at the last stage now before the installation actually begins. You should now see the Ready to Install Windows Home Server screen. All you have to do now is click on the Start button to begin the actual installation.

The installation will now commence – this could take a little while so again, be patient.

When the installation is complete, you will see the Windows Home Server Welcome Screen.

The next thing you need to do is configure Windows Home Server, so click here to go to that how to guide.

mControl Macros with Windows Home Server on a Friday night

Timothy Daleo

-

May 30, 2009

9

The mControl application with Windows Home Server allows you to control your home from Internet Explorer or Windows Media Center. The system works by connecting your WHS to your electrical system and then transmitting signals through your home wiring to modules and switches that control lights and appliances. Through simple Macros you can control and monitor lights, HVAC, irrigation, music and even your cameras and surveillance. All this being said, what do you do once you have a light plugged into a module? Do I really need WHS to turn a light on and off for me? Well tonight I am going to walk you through adding some Macros to your mControl Windows Home Server while explaining some of the advantages of WHS with mControl.

Background

Before I left on vacation two weeks ago I wrote an article that explained how I installed the mControl Add-In to my WHS. I bought a few modules to connect lights in two of my bedrooms and could control these lights via Internet Explorer from any computer in the house. My thought was that even though we have a separate alarm and monitoring system I knew I would feel better with some lights going on and off during the evening. The alarm and police would keep someone from staying in the house, and drinking my beer, but would not keep them from trying to get in causing some damage. This is where WHS and mControl take over. I figured if I could program mControl to turn the lights on and off then it would always look like someone was home. I could have gone low-tech but those little cheapie light timers are not good if there is a power outage and even the dusk to dawn timers are predictable.

After the install I spent about 30 minutes playing with mControl Macros (while driving my wife nuts with lights going on and off) and let the program run while we were gone. While were in Florida WHS turned the lights on and off and simulated someone being home. I even connected to WHS from Florida and could see which lights were on and off. I liked it so much I bought more modules (sorry wife) this week and have future plans to expand control to other parts of the house and even outside. I want mControl to control the house when we are home too so future articles will explain how I do this easily and with very little money.

By the way, you can read the article I wrote showing the easy installation of mControl at:

https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2009/05/16/adding-mcontrol-to-windows-home-server-on-a-friday-night/

mControl Review

As a refresher, mControl is an Add-In that you install on your WHS that controls modules and other communications devices within your home. mControl is the software and not the control modules.

There are three components to a basic system:

The mControl software Add-In on your WHS
A USB device (PowerLinc modem #2412U) that sends your WHS mControl signal to your house electrical wiring
A module plugged in to the house electrical that controls a light or device (add as many or as few as you want, I got two to start)

These three parts are all that you need to begin. Before I started this project I thought it would be really complex but I was wrong!

The diagram below shows how you can connect to mControl via your PC, Internet Explorer, Mobile client, Extender or XBOX 360.

Equipment Needed

mControl on your WHS

Device Module

One Beer (optional as always)

mControl and Smarthome

As I mentioned earlier the Add-In and the device modules are from different places. I downloaded mControl from their web site at http://www.embeddedautomation.com/EAHAmControl.htm

I live in Southern California and there is a place that sells modules close to my home called Smarthome. I bought my modem and two modules from http://www.smarthome.com/_/INSTEON/_/23b/land.aspx. mControl is compatible with INSTEON devices so to keep it simple I just bought those types of products. mControl can work with other devices but I will not talk about those in this series. The basic INSTEON modules are easy to use and run about $30. Some of these modules switch on and off and can even have dimmer options. Smarthome also sells outlets, wall switches, bridges, keypads, touch screens, sensors, remotes, thermostats, sprinkler controls and even infrared controllers. Make sure you choose INSTEON type devices.

Why do this?

Imagine opening Windows Media Center (WMC) and playing a DVD which triggers the lights to dim and turns on your Surround speakers. Image being able to turn off your sprinkler system from work when a sudden rain blows in. Image the energy savings from exact control of your lights. These ideas just scratch the surface of what mControl and your WHS can do at home!

Mental note: A lot of “normal” automatic light controls do not support CFLs. INSTEON makes modules that support fluorescent lights!

Your options are limited only by your imagination and budget. Unfortunately I am limited in both so let me get back on topic.

Lets set this pig on fire!

What is a Macro?

According to the mControl manual (p. 165) there are three parts to mControl macros:

Actions – each macro has one or more actions. These are the set of commands executed by mControl for the macro once it becomes active. They are executed in order, as defined in the Macro List page.
Triggers – each macro has one or more triggers. Once anyone of these triggers becomes true, it will initiate the macro’s actions.
Conditions – each macro has one or more conditions. All conditions for a trigger must be true for the complete trigger to be true.

What does this mean to us? Well lets walk through a Macro together. I have deleted all of my existing Macros and I am going to start over.

Triggering a Macro using Time

Lets create a Macro that I used while I was on vacation. I want to turn on a light at 8:00 PM and have it turn off at 11:00 PM.

You can access mControl through Internet Explorer or through Windows Media Center. I will use IE8 in this article and WMC in the article for next week.

Mental note: I would not suggest using the WHS Console interface for mControl until you feel VERY comfortable with mControl. IE8 and WMC are nicer interfaces anyway!

Log in to your WHS via IE and click on the mControl for WHS link and open that beer.

Once you connect to your mControl you will see all of the Zones (rooms) that you created during the last article. You will also see the devices for each Zone. I have two devices (with more on the way) so we will use a Macro to control these two modules.

Navigate to the “Settings” page, select the “Automation” option and select the “Add Macro” option.

Enter the information required to create the macro, including:

Name – the name of the macro
Zone – the zone to assign the macro within
Display in Zone – to enable the display of the macro within the zone
Image – the image to associate with the macro
Press “Save” to save the macro

Select “Add Trigger” to add a trigger to this macro.

Enter the information required to create the trigger, including:

Name – the name of the macro
Press “Save” to save the trigger

From the Macro Details screen, select the “Trigger” tab and then select the trigger from the
list within which the condition will be added. Select “Add Condition” to add a condition to this trigger.

Select the Condition Type to be the “Time of Day” condition (use the plus and minus buttons), which is the condition which will be required to come true to enable the trigger:

Hour – the hour within the day when the condition is true
Minute – the minute within the day when the condition is true
Valid Days – the days in the week on which the condition is true
Command – randomness, in minutes, to apply to the condition (optional)
Press “Save” to save the condition

Once you click on Save you should see the following screen:

Click on “Back” and it will take you to the Macro Details screen. Click on “Actions”. We need to tell the macro what modules to operate.

From the Macro Details screen, select the “Actions” tab and “Add Actions” to the macro. Continue to add actions as required. I am going to add two actions, or light commands, for this macro. You create one Action for each module. Click on “Save” after each one and add additional Actions as needed.

I am now going to add my second Action. As you can see below, this module is a dimmer switch (the system already knew) and I can adjust the brightness of the light. I am using 50% for this value.

Here are what my Actions look like when I am finished.

Click on “Home” and you should now see your Macro in the Zone View as show below:

I repeated the same steps to turn the lights off at 11:00 PM and make sure the boxes are checked to enable the macro as shown below:

Once everything is complete you will see your macros in the Zone View as show below:

The mControl manual gives detailed data on all of these steps however I found the manual hard to understand. The company says that they will be revising the manual soon so keep checking back with them for the next release.

Conclusion

The screen shots make it look complex but the process actually goes quickly. It takes a little practice but once you get the hang of it you will be setting up all sorts of different macros. With the on and off switches you can control any appliance so you could find uses of this for outdoor fountains, lights, monitors, and fans.

Next week I will show you how to install the WMC Client on your PCs so you can use mControl from within WMC.

I would like to give a big thank you to Ted at Embedded Automation for the assistance and the approval for the graphics and text for these articles. I would also like to thank Andrew at Using Windows Home Server for helping me coordinate these articles and helping me publish each week.

See you next Friday night.

Timothy Daleo

Review of the VIA Artigo A2000 Bare Bones Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 30, 2009

4

Back in January 2009 at CES in Las Vegas, VIA announced that they were going to release three Windows Home Server machines onto the market.

One of those machines will be based on the Artigo A2000 bare bones server, and so until that is actually available the best we can do is take a look at the Artigo A2000 bare bones server and see what it’s all about.

SPECIFICATIONS

These are the specifications for the bare bones version, not necessarily what the Windows Home Server version will contain.

PROCESSOR: VIA C7-D 1.5Ghz NanoBGA2 Processor / 400Mhz FSB

CHIPSET: VIA VX800 Advanced All-in-one system processor

MEMORY: DDR2 667 Memory up to 2GB (SODIMM)

LAN: VIA VT6130 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller

AUDIO: VIA VT1708B High Definition Audio Codec

I/O: 2 x SATA II 3.5-inch HDD Expansion Bay

Bootable built-in CF socket

Audio ports (Line-Out and Mic/Line-In)

RJ-45 GigaLAN port

3 x USB 2.0 ports

VGA port

DC-in power jack (DC 12V)

802.11b/g WiFI (optional)

OPERATING TEMP: 0 ~ 40 C

DIMENSIONS: 260mm x 135mm x 115 mm

I would recommend putting in the full 2GB of memory, especially as memory is so cheap these days.

Certainly when the Windows Home Server version appears, the VGA will go, as the WHS logo hardware requirements require that there is no VGA port.

BOX CONTENTS

The box itself is very small and compact.

Opening it up, you have the bare bones server, a software CD, a setup poster and the power supply. Yes, it is an external power supply, but that is because the server itself is so small.

So looking around the server itself, it is a shiny black colour, although I have to say it is very easy, and I do mean VERY easy to mark and scratch it, so if you want it to be pristine, wear gloves and be careful 🙂

Taking the lid off let’s us look inside, and it is very compact. Slot the memory in and there is only space left for up to two hard drives.

So to try and show just how small the Artigo A200 really is, I thought I would take a few photos with my iPhone next to it. See, that is small!

Adding a hard drive or two is very simple. Just remove the 3 screws at the back of the unit, slide of the top casing, gently pull out the front unit (making sure to leave all the connectors in place).

Then slide the hard drive into one of the bays until it sits firmly in position.

Place two screws in each side to hold it in place and reduce vibration and noise.

And that is it – just click the front back into place and slide the top piece back on and fit the three screws again.

INSTALLING WINDOWS HOME SERVER

As the Artigo A2000 doesn’t come with a DVD drive, I decided to install Windows Home Server from a USB stick. You could of course use an external DVD drive if you have one available, otherwise the USB stick is the easiest.

Installing was simple once I remembered to remove the USB stick at the point in the installation that performs a reboot. The first time I wasn’t paying attention and so the installation process restarted!

CONCLUSION

I like the little Artigo A2000. It is really tiny, and because of the shape it can easily be slotted in somewhere and forgotten about.

The processing power was fine, I did the usual WHS tasks, installed a few add-ins, etc, and didn’t notice any performance hit. However, this processor is not 64 bit which means when the next version of Windows Home Server is released in 2010 you probably wont be able to run it without changing the processor and to be honest, I don’t think changing the processor on this model is really an option.

Even though there is only space for two internal hard drives, there are three USB ports which makes expansion possible and very easy.

Obviously you don’t have to just use the Artigo A2000 for Windows Home Server, you could just as easily install any other operating system on.

Overall this is a great little bit of kit, and considering it’s “bare bones” it only takes a few moments to get it ready to install an OS on. The instruction poster is very clean and shows lots of helpful pictures so even a novice system builder could handle it.

Price wise this retails in the US for around $299 and in the UK for around £249. Search around as there are some deals to be had, including packages with memory and hard drives.

My parting thoughts on this though is that given that you have buy the memory and the hard drives, as well as the bare bones server, and that the processor isn’t 64 bit and thus won’t support the next version of Windows Home Server, if you really want a home server that is going to last and be at least somewhat WHS “future proof” you might want to consider paying that little bit extra and opting for something like the Acer Aspire easyStore A340. However, if you have some spare components that you can use with the bare bones server, and you want to use WHS now, then you cant really go wrong.

How To Use a USB Stick to Install Windows Home Server or anything else for that matter

Andrew Edney

-

May 29, 2009

72

Continuing the “How To….” guides, this guide looks at using a USB key to install Windows Home Server, either on a machine that doesn’t have a DVD Drive or just because you can use a USB stick.

In fact, once you have configured the USB Stick, you could use it to install or run anything – Windows Home Server, the WHS Client Restore disc, Windows 7, anything!

All you need for this is a USB Stick with enough space for whatever you need (in the case of Windows Home Server you could get away with a 1GB stick) and a copy of Windows Home Server (or whatever it is you want to install or run).

There are three stages to the process – preparing the USB stick, copy the files to the USB stick and installing the software from the USB stick.

PREPARING THE USB STICK

Plug in the USB stick to your computer/

You need to open a command prompt, but you will need to be acting as an “administrator” to perform these functions. There are two ways of doing this.

The first is to click Start, click Accessories and hover over Command Prompt.

Press the right mouse button and click Run as administrator.

The other way is to click Start, type in CMD and hold down CTRL and SHIFT together and press Enter.

When you are at the Command Prompt, type diskpart.

This will start the built in Windows disk partitioning software.

The next thing you need to do is determine which disk is your USB Stick, so type list disk. In my case I used an 8GB USB Stick so it is showing as Disk 7.

You need to specify that disk, so type select disk 7 (or whatever number the USB Stick is for you).

You then need to clean the USB Stick, so type clean.

You need to create a primary partition so type create partition primary.

You then have to select this partition, and as it is on the only partition on the USB Stick it will be the 1st one, so type select partition 1.

You now need to make that partition active, so type active.

Nearly there – so it’s time to format the USB Stick, and for speed and compatibility reasons its best to go with FAT32 rather than NTFS, so type format fs=fat32.

Depending on the size of your USB Stick this may take a few minutes, so be patient.

The last thing you need to do is assign a drive letter to the USB Stick, so type assign.

Autoplay will also probably kick in at this point and tell you Windows has round a removable disk, in my case Drive M.

Just type exit to finish and then close the command prompt window.

COPYING THE FILES TO THE USB STICK

Put the DVD into your computer and then copy the files from the DVD to the USB Stick (in my case it is the M drive).

INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE FROM THE USB STICK

So now that you have your USB Stick with the relevant software on, it’s time to plug it into the machine you want to install Windows Home Server (or whatever) on. You will need to tell that computer when it power’s up to boot from the USB drive, so check the manual that came with the computer to see how to do that (it is often ESC, or F12, or something similar), you could also change the boot priority in the BIOS, but they you may need to set it back again afterwards so it is often easier just to select the drive at boot time.

And if all goes well you should now be starting the Windows Home Server installation. Just follow the onscreen steps to continue the installation. Good luck!

Windows Home Server Webcast Next Week

Andrew Edney

-

May 29, 2009

0

Back in March, I posted that my friend and fellow MVP Kevin Royalty would be doing a webcast on Friday 5th June entitled Windows Home Server – the Next Version.

Subsequently, Microsoft have updated the event title to 5W/50 Series – Business Opportunities with Windows Home Server – Updated with Power Pack 2 Content.

The description of the webcast is as follows:

Windows Small Business Server 2008 will not ship with any client backup software, so how will you make sure the top employees at each of your customers sites are backed up (Imaged) everyday? This webcast will cover what you can use Windows Home Server for in small businesses that may not be a good fit for Small Business Server, as well as businesses that may need to use Windows Home Server as a complement to Small Business Server. You will learn the key points you need to know to add this to your arsenal of solutions for your customers. A demo will explain all the details and give you the information you needed to get Home Server up and running at your customer site. This presentation is updated with Power Pack 2 content and more.

Spaces are limited for this so make sure if you are interested in attending that you register now as the webcast is next week.

You need to be registered as a Microsoft Partner to register for and attend the webcast event, but it only takes a few minutes to register if you are not one already, and can be done from the link below.

To register for the webcast (and also to become a Microsoft Partner), click here.

The Home Server Show Number 44 Out Now

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 29, 2009

0

Dave over at the HomeServerShow.com has released the latest edition of his podcast, The Home Server Show, number 44.

This weeks show is all about adding Google Analytics to your Windows Home Server, and is worth a listen – as usual.

You can get more information here, and download it from iTunes or your other favourite place.

Windows Home Server for the Gamer

Joseph Nell

-

May 28, 2009

7

Why would gamers find Windows Home Server a great solution? Let me identify a few cases that make it a great addition to your gaming “rig”.

1. Backup

As gamers, we tend to install add-on’s, accessories, and other utilities to tweak our systems for max performance and efficient gaming sessions. These tend to make a system unstable, often to the point of unusable. Windows Home Server’s ability to restore a system to a point in time allows us to undo changes that might have brought our gaming rig to it’s knees.

Beyond the nightly backup process, WHS also provides file shares for storing common utilities, installers, and other files necessary for a reinstall or the dreaded “rebuild”.

2. Media Storage

Often at a LAN party I see someone playing a game while watching a movie or even more often, listening to their music. Media storage on WHS provides essential functionality to the gamer in the form of offline/near line storage for the huge collection of video and music files we develop. While many gamers will recommend that this be stored on the gaming rig for immediate access, however there are a situations where storing the files on your WHS is a better solution, such as:

When combined with a gaming console (Xbox 360/PS3)
When disk space is at a premium on the gaming rig (always?!?)
When you’ve set up your WHS to stream your media

Each of these can be a help to the avid gamer, especially when they have lost everything to a worm at their buddie’s LAN party, or more likely, after power problems when someone decides to make another pot of coffee once everyone has plugged into that one convenient outlet.

3. Console Integration

How many times have you wanted to watch that movie on your big screen TV, only to have to dig for the disc? As indicated above, with WHS and your console, this is not a problem. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 support streaming music and movies from WHS. This experience would be improved with Media Center integrated into the WHS on the Xbox side, however this functionality is not required to access the media on our Windows Home Server. Both systems provide interfaces to connect to the WHS and access the media stored there. The catch, you need to encode your media in a format your console supports. Wikipedia has entries for both systems identifying the currently supported media formats. (The PS3 information is on a sub page found under the heading “Graphical user interface”, strangely enough.)

4. LAN Party Server

Many times I’ve hosted a LAN party or been at one only to find I needed to set up a file share on my rig, or find some other way to make sure everyone has the right maps and patches for their systems. With WHS, this file serving is already available, and turned on by default. Even more, if your system has enough horse power, it can be used to host dedicated servers on your network. Not every WHS system has the horsepower to host a game of Counter-Strike, or Day of Defeat, so you’ll need to check your specifications and figure out the requirements for the server you want to host. There are some other useful things you can host on WHS even with a low powered system, such as the open source voice server Murmur or a small Ventrilo server for you and your buddies.

5. Gaming Clan/Website

There are many companies that will host a clan website for you, however if you’re like me, you prefer to roll your own. If you’re the kind of person who has the interest and knowledge, this can be very rewarding. (warning: this approach is not for the meek!) Windows Home Server is essentially Windows Server 2003 with some business functionality removed. The most important part of the website (IIS) is already installed, and enabled by default. In fact, WHS will set up your router/gateway with port forwarding for you using UPnP (assuming your device supports it) so that you have a web presence even if you have no knowledge of web servers. In addition, WHS allows you to register a website at homeserver.com such as josephnell.homeserver.com allowing easy access to your home server when on the road.

These are just a few features that make Windows Home Server a great choice for gamers. There are even more once you start looking under the hood. If you’ve got a spare PC hanging around that meet the spec’s, why not try out WHS with the free trial available from Microsoft?

HP EX470/475 Amazon S3 & Apple Time Machine Downloads Now Available for Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 28, 2009

23

As previously announced, owners of the EX470/475 MediaSmart Servers can now download two new applications for their Servers. The online backup application allows customers to designate specific shared folders on their Server for secure upload to the Amazon S3 service. Doing so provides an additional layer of data protection for the most important photos, documents and other files on your Windows Home Server.

In addition, customers in mixed PC/Mac households can download an application allowing their EX470/475 MediaSmart Servers to backup their Macs running Time Machine.

The most reliable way to get one or both of these updates for EX470/475 owners is as follows:

1) Go to http://www.hp.com <http://www.hp.com>

2) On the hp.com home page go to the bottom right hand corner where it says “Software & Driver Downloads” and click the link

3) In the text box enter in either EX470 or EX475 and then press the “Enter” key on the keyboard

4) Choose “Server 2003” to locate both packages -customers have the option to download one or both applications

5) Installation instructions are available for both applications by clicking the “view directions” link

Please note that both of these applications are already included on the current generation MediaSmart Server products (LX195, EX485, EX487) and do not need to be downloaded.

To Install the Mac Backup Client Software

Note: 1.3 revision 1 must be installed on your HP MediaSmart Server. You can verify the version from a a Windows computer by double-clicking the Windows Home Server icon in the system tray and logging on. Click Settings in the upper right corner of the Console. Click HP MediaSmart Server in the left menu of the Settings dialog. Select the Support tab and verify the Software Version is 1.3.8.25155.

Note: You must have administrative privileges on your Mac computer to install the software. Click System Preferences, Accounts, and check Allow user to administer this computer.

1. Create a Mac share on the server. On a Windows computer, double-click the Windows Home Server icon in the system tray and log on. Click Shared Folders and add a share called “Mac”.
2. Download the MacBackupClient.exe package and place it on your Windows desktop.

3. Double-click the MacBackupClient.exe. The HP MSS Client.dmg file is extracted to the same location as the downloaded executable file.
4. Copy the HP MSS Client.dmg to your Mac.

5. Double-click HP MSS Client.dmg.

6. Double-click the Install HP MediaSmart Server Software.pkg and follow the instructions on your screen.

7. The Settings dialog opens after the installation is complete. Type the server name and the server’s administrator password so that the Mac software can access your Server.

8. Once your credentials have been authenticated, click Apply to save the server name and password.
9. Click BackUp to set your backup preferences or click Show All to go to the Control Center.

10. You will need to manually create a Mac shared folder on your Windows Home Server, from the WHS Console.

For more information on backing up your Mac with Time Machine, click here.

To Install the HP Online Backup Add-in

1. Download the HPOnlineBackupAddin.exe and place it on your desktop.

2. Double-click the HPOnlineBackupAddin.exe. The HP MediaSmart Server Online Backup.msi file is extracted to the same location as the downloaded executable file.
3. Save the HP MediaSmart Server Online Backup.msi add-in to the \\Server\Software\Add-Ins folder on your home server.
4. Double-click the Windows Home Server icon in the system tray and log on.
5. Click Settings in the upper right corner of the Console.
6. Click Add-ins in the left menu of the Settings dialog.
7. Click the Available tab.
8. Click Install to install the HP MediaSmart Server Online Backup add-in.

9. Click OK on the Installation succeeded dialog box to restart the console.

You will see a new tab called HP Online Backup.

Zune HD Coming Soon

Andrew Edney

-

May 27, 2009

0

Microsoft just announced the evolution of Zune, the company’s end-to-end music and entertainment service, to a new platform and new markets. Zune will extend its video service to Xbox LIVE internationally this fall. This marks an important development in the Zune strategy and brings the Zune brand to more than 17 million international Xbox LIVE subscribers. In addition, Microsoft confirmed the next generation of the Zune portable media player, Zune HD. Available in the U.S. this fall, Zune HD is the first portable media player that combines a built-in HD Radio receiver, high-definition (HD) video output capabilities, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Wi-Fi and an Internet browser.

Zune Service Expands to New Platform

Zune will be a premium partner in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, bringing an exciting catalog of TV and film to the platform. Zune will occupy the first slot within the Xbox user interface in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, exposing the Zune brand experience to millions of new consumers for the first time. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week, attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience.

Introducing Zune HD

Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.

Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favourite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.

The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480×272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.

The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.

Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.

Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.

Thoughts

Well this Zune certainly looks interesting. I have the current Zune and to be honest, while it’s ok, I’m not overly impressed with it, compared to my iPod or iPhone. I will say though that it is mainly because of the fact that the Zune is still not for sale outside of the US, even after all this time, where as I can go into my local supermarket and buy an iPod!

It is interesting to see what Microsoft will do with Xbox LIVE, but again, until they release the Zune outside of the US then I don’t see how Microsoft can even hope to compete with Apple!

And yes, I will probably get one, because it does look pretty cool!

Add-In Review – KeepVault v3.0 for Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 27, 2009

0

KeepVault from Proxure is an online backup solution add-in for your important files that your store on your Windows Home Server. The latest version, version 3 has just been released.

What features does version 3 contain?
• Backup to local drive for an extra layer of protection
• Status via SMS, Email, Twitter
• Faster File Uploads (up to 30% faster than version 2)
• Schedulable backups for any time of the day
• Maximum file size 20GB
• Real Time File Monitoring
• Compression for faster uploads
• Bandwidth limiter
• 128-bit encryption for your protection
• Backup any file, not just shares
• Manage online backups
• Single-file restore
• All-file restore
• Real time status indicators
• Local Event log for easy software diagnosis
• Free Support

INSTALLATION

What are the system requirements for KeepVault WHS?

Minimum:
– Windows Home Server Power Pack 2
– 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor
– 512 MB RAM
– 80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
– 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet

Recommended:
– Windows Home Server Power Pack 2
– 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor
– 1.0 GB RAM
– 80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
– 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet
– External USB/Firewire/eSata HDD for local protection

When you have downloaded the KeepVaultWHS.exe file to your desktop, double-click it and the EULA is displayed. Read through this and click Agree to continue.

You then need to specify the path of your WHS Add-Ins folder (don’t worry this should already be there for you), so just click Next.

Click the Launch Console button to complete the installation process.

You will also need to click on the Finish button.

Log in to the Windows Home Server Console as normal.

You will then need to install the add-in as normal – so click on Settings, Add-Ins, Available, and then click Install on the KeepVault for Windows Home Server entry.

The add-in will now be installed and your Windows Home Server Console will restart – this is normal.

CONFIGURING KEEPVAULT

When you log back into the Windows Home Server Console, you will notice a new tab called KeepVault Backup v3.0.

If you click on the new tab you will be asked to enter your e-mail address and serial number. If you don’t have one there is even a button to buy KeepVault at a special price (nice marketing move on the part of Proxure).

Enter your details and also choose whether or not you want to generate your own encryption key or use one that KeepVault will generate for you. KeepVault uses 128-bit AES encryption and encrypts your files before they leave your PC to ensure maximum protection. If you create your own encryption key just make sure you don’t forget it otherwise your files will be useless.

Click on the “I agree…” box and then click Login.

Decide which of the folders you want to protect, for example I really want to protect everything in my Photos share, so just right click the share and select Enable Protection (if you decide later to stop protecting it, just do the same thing only this time you just select Disable Protection).

KeepVault will now start uploading your files in order to keep them protected. It is important to note here that depending on how many and how big the files are, plus your available bandwidth and speed, this process may take a considerable amount of time, so you may want to start this off before going to bed if you have a lot to protect.

If bandwidth is an issue for you, you can choose to limit the amount of bandwidth that KeepVault will use by checking the Limit Bandwidth box and using the slider. This will result in the upload process taking longer, but it will mean that you can continue to use your bandwidth as you need.

You also have the option to switch off both encryption and compression, but to be honest I would leave these on! Yes it adds to the time, but it gives you greater protection and better use of your storage space.

You can watch the progress of the uploading as well.

You can stop the upload at any time by clicking Disable Protection. You can always go back it it later!

Once the upload is complete your files are protected and whenever you add files to the watched folders they will automatically be uploaded for you, so as long as KeepVault is watching the folder for you, your files are protected and you don’t have to do anything else. By default this protection is in real time (now why is the 24 tick toc going off in in my head 🙂 ) but you can change that to be between a specific time, such as over night when you bandwidth is not being used as much.

You can add and remove folders that you want to protect with a couple of clicks of the mouse.

You may ask why you would want to remove protection? Well, by default, all of your shared folders are listed, but as Not protected. Lets say for arguments sake I never wanted to protect my Recorded TV folder? After all, this folder might be many many gigabytes of data and do I really want that? So rather than leave it sitting in the list permanently saying Not protected I can click on it and click Remove. This keeps the things neat and tidy and I can easily see what I am protecting, although some people might find it equally as useful to know what they are not protecting.

USING KEEPVAULT

It is also very easy to delete something from the backup. Just click Manage Protected Files and click through the files you want to delete, check the relevant boxes and click Delete.

The files will now be deleted from your backup – remember they are still on your Windows Home Server though.

You can see a list of all of your protected files by clicking on View Protection History.

So lets say that the worst has happened and you have somehow lost your files. It is very easy to recover them from your KeepVault. Just click Recover files and choose which recovery option you want to use, for this example I am choosing Selective Recovery which gives me the option to choose which file I want and also to overwrite an existing file.

I have selected which file I want to recover and then I just click Recover.

Just remember, the amount of time this recovery takes is dependant on the same factors mentioned earlier – number of files, size of files and available bandwidth!

Another useful feature is the inclusion of an event log, so that you can get more information in case something goes wrong.

I decided to cancel my restore and I got a warning, so I clicked on View Event Log and got some more information.

There is also a tab called My Local Backup Job. What this is designed to do is enable you to backup your chosen files to an external drive in the same way as the Online backup worked.

I tried to get this to work several times, but every time I plugged in an external drive and tried to select it from the drop down list, the Windows Home Server Console crashed. This is not necessarily caused by KeepVault but I can add the same drive to WHS as a backup drive without problems.

There are also some specific settings that can be made from the Settings area of WHS. These settings are all to do with communication options, specifically you can have notifications emailed to your, or texted to your phone, or even sent to you via Twitter if you so wish.

CONCLUSION

KeepVault 3.0 is simple to set up and get running with. All you need to do is select which files you want to protect and ensure you have a decent Internet connection.

The price for KeepVault 3.0 varies depending on how much storage you want. It starts at $48 a year for 40GB ranging all the way up to $4460 a year for 5000GB, yes you read that right, 5000GB!

Remember these prices are per year and also come with a 30 day risk free money back offer.

So if you want ensure you are protected against the loss of your important data you need to consider an offsite backup solution, and this is certainly worth considering, and as Proxure state on their website, they are cheaper than Amazon S3.

My only problem with whilst doing the review was the WHS Console crashing every time I tried to select an external backup device, although I cannot be certain it was KeepVault that was at fault and I couldn’t find any mention of the problem on their support site, so I am going to assume it conflicting with something on either my PC or my WHS.

UPDATE: Proxure looked into the problem I was having with the crashing console and in less than 24 hours had provided me with a updated version of the add-in to try, and I can report that it works perfectly. This update will be included in later versions of their software for those small amount of users that had the problem.

For more information on Proxure and KeepVault 3.0 for Windows Home Server, click here.

Oh, and watch out next week for a KeepVault giveaway here on Using Windows Home Server.

New Windows Home Server Update

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 27, 2009

3

I noticed this morning that a new update for Windows Home Server sneaked out yesterday.

Don’t worry, its not a major bug fix and unfortunately it’s not any new functionality!

It is an update to resolve a WHS Console screen resolution problem.

The update number and KB article is KB963032.

SYMPTOMS

When you open the Windows Home Server Console on a home computer that has a screen resolution that is lower than 1024 × 768, the Windows Home Server console may be displayed incorrectly.

RESOLUTION

An update is available to resolve this issue. This update enables the Windows Home Server console to support low-resolution displays. The lowest resolution that is supported after you apply this update is 1024 x 600.

If you have automatic updates enable you will get it shortly, or you can force an update by going to Settings and clicking Update Now.

This update does require a reboot of your Windows Home Server.

mControl for Windows Home Server Giveaway – Week 1 – The Results

Windows Home Server

Andrew Edney

-

May 27, 2009

0

Recently, Tim Daleo posted the first in a series of articles on using mControl for Windows Home Server to do all sorts of things within his house.

mControl is software for your Digital Home. mControl allows you to control all aspects of your home from your Media Center PC, locally or remotely via Internet Explorer browser or from your Windows Mobile device.

For more information on mControl and Embedded Automation, click here.

And so, in true Using Windows Home Server style we had a giveaway. Well to be more precise, the first in a series of mControl licence giveaways.

So without further ado, this weeks winner of a full licence for mControl is……

Sam Pennington. Well done Sam, expect an email with your licence details soon.

Stay tuned to Using Windows Home Server for more giveaways, and keep an eye out for Tim’s next mControl article which will signify another mControl giveaway.