WHS Update

Further to my (la/fir)st posting yesterday, I now have Windows Home server installed on the old PC, but it looks like it may fail on one of my main aims - a centralised Windows Media Center base unit. I should probably list what are (currently) my main goals:

1. Backup of the various Windows machines I have running at home, especially things like Photos, etc. I currently use SyncToy, which is very good, but I’ve never managed to automate it satisfactorily.
2. A centralised back-up store of media files, with...
3. The ability to stream music from home over the internets, as was being provided by Jinzora on my old Ubuntu machine.
4. Stream media to the XBox 360... going forward possibly multiple Media Center Extender devices...
5. …which means it needs to run media center for extenders to connect to, along with other PCs, possibly with support for TV tuners (see comment on Windows Media Connect, below).
6. Still be able to host my own website... well if the hardware is on it's a waste not to.
7. Run a torrent client, although since this is mainly really being used to download Linux type stuff now, that's not so important.
8. Cut down on my enormous electricity bill.

So far, what I've looked at with Windows Home Server seems to be pretty impressive, although a few hours over one weekend is not quite enough time to part with serious cash yet.

I should add the caveat that I also haven’t actually run any backups yet, what with the box only running with 320Gb of total storage, spaced over two drives. I set up the laptop to backup, which to be honest was a pain in the arse – but to be fair this was only because, with such limited storage on the server, I had to go in excluding most of the hard disc (for example the “Program Files” directory).

I also like the fact you can do “Wake On Lan” to start the PCs when it’s time to backup, although I’m not sure if this is only available via wired connections, or I just need to set it in the BIOS, I suspect the former. There are also a range of functional add-ins, one of which allows you to shut down PCs, which I actually think could be remarkably useful.

WHS offers remote access, which will be nice, and remote desktop, so if I can manage to get a Cat6 cable through my wall, will allow me to stow it away in the garage, just like I used to do via HomePlug (anybody want to buy 4 200Mbs Homeplug devices off me?). Of course the network card in the machine is only 100Mbs, but it will save trouble on future upgrades.

So the only sticking point, so far, is the fact that WHS doesn’t run Media Center.

Then, this morning, I had a thought: How about running Vista or Windows 7 as a Virtual machine on within WHS as the host? Looking on the VMWare site a couple of people had tried and failed to do this, but I also see one guy had pretty much achieved it albeit with a few issues.

The thing is, to really get going I’ll need to get at least one new 1Tb hard drive (although frankly I think WHS should run on at least 2 drives to take advantage of duplication), then there’s the cost of the OS itself (66), and the fact the hardware is an old shuttle mini box, so limited expansion potential and I’ve not yet measured power consumption. Plus to get VMWare player running I’d need more than 1Gb of memory, and I’ll need to use one of my Windows 7 licenses to run in the VM. Plus the USB TV Tuners.

So I’m now wondering if it’s all going to be worth it. For most of the time the functionality provided by Windows Media Connect, which WHS does support will probably be fine, and those occasions I do want MCE functionality I can turn on the desktop machine upstairs. It’s not like I’ve got a stack of cash to throw around anymore.

The strange thing is, I’m now warming to the idea of getting an HP Homeserver machine and throwing another 1Tb HDD in there… but that would need to wait.

I may be uninstalling my 30 day Windows Home server trial and replacing it with a 120 day trial while I save up the cash for the HP box and do further testing, as I don’t think a month is going to be long enough.

As for Ubuntu… the chances are I’ll mount the drives on my desktop machine to copy off the contents, then put them back into the test WHS box (as it has a 500Gb and 250Gb drive) and see if I can squeeze an extra SATA drive in there too by removing the dead DVD drive and using my USB DVD drive instead. Then, if I can squeeze in some super cheap extra memory from eBay, I may just install Ubuntu as a Virtual Machine. We’ll see.

Now, I wonder what those power draw figures will be.