Windows Home Server - Server technology for the rest of us

Windows Home Server - Server technology for the rest of us

Over the past 20 years, technology use in the home has grown at exponential levels. The needs of the average home user rarely exceeded basic storage technologies or networking needs. We relied on what some referred to as “Sneakernet” for copying files, grab a floppy and walk to the other machine with the data you needed transferred. Obviously in today’s digital age, Sneakernet isn’t going to get you very far.

As time has passed our home computing needs have inevitably changed. We now store hundreds of files on our pc’s. Pictures, videos and music files overflow our hard drives and make it harder and harder to manage and backup those files we deem essential. Not unlike many corporations we have multiple users in our homes and no easy way to safeguard our digital lives.

Enter Windows Home Server (WHS)

(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx).

WHS is a new kid on the block when it comes to Microsoft’s Server Lineup but comes with a stellar pedigree. You see the little secret is that Windows Home Server is really nothing more than Windows Server 2003; however the difference really lies in the use of the Windows Home Server Console for administration. WHS has removed some of the unneeded complexity that the home user may have trouble with. This interface is delivered as a RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) application on workstations around the home.

What does this mean to the average user?

It means no lengthy training or studying is required to manage and maintain your server. A simple interface run from any computer on your network gives you the ability to add user accounts to the server on the fly, initiate backups or manage your storage pool.

Storage and Backup

Speaking of storage pools, one of the best features of WHS must be the Drive Extender. As your storage needs increase adding more space is as simple as plugging in an external hard drive and clicking a few buttons. Drive Extender is a file-based replication system that provides three key capabilities:

• Multi-disk redundancy so that if any given disk fails, data is not lost
• Arbitrary storage expansion by supporting any type of hard disk drive (Serial ATA, USB, FireWire etc.) in any mixture and capacity
• A single folder namespace (no drive letters)

What does this all mean? Easy maintenance of your stored files. Home Server administrators (meaning you) only have to deal with storage on two levels, Shared Folders and Disks. The caveat is that when it comes to disks the only relevant issues you’ll address is if a disk is added to the servers’ storage pool and if the disk is healthy. This is a stark contrast to the steps required to maintain a Raid System in Windows Native Logical Disk Manager, if none of this last sentence makes any sense to you, don’t worry, with WHS it doesn’t have to, that’s the beauty of the product. WHS Also introduces an easy way to manage file duplication. File duplication is the practice of storing multiple copies of the same data on multiple hard drives in your server. This protects your data from hard drive failure. Now in most RAID systems any storage you add to your server would be immediately halved as the system saves a copy to each hard drive. WHS gives you the ability to specify which files are duplicated. This allows you to make sure there are multiple copies of your vacation pictures and music investments but not waste space on those large movie files you downloaded from Netflix, and could download again if needed, saving you valuable storage space.

Now with all this glorious storage at hand, we have the ability, nay the responsibility to finally begin backing up our home computers. “No” you scream! You’ve been through this before, the endless stack of floppies and CD’s, printing labels and taking notes. But wait! We’re in a different environment now. Now we’re working with WHS. Open up your WHS Console and you’re presented with a list of the machines on your network and their current backup status. Want to start a whole new backup? Right click on the machine and “Backup Now”.