Going forward with the Home Server...

As mentioned several times before, I upgraded from Windows Home Server Version 1 to WHS 2011 some time ago. Since then I have experienced absolutely no critical problems, and generally it runs solidly for months on end. It's fair to say that the server doesn't come under much load, but even so I'm very happy with it.

The biggest issue I have had is with the server backup drive (the drive to which the server itself backs up to) filling up. This seems to be a bit of an oversight as the clean-up process seemed flaky, but even this has settled down now I've tweaked a few settings, although it's anyones guess if I now have a below par server back-up running, but I think it's fine for my use case.

Overall WHS2011 works well for me, and since the latest roll-up pack appears to have addressed compatibility with the forthcoming Windows 8 machines, I have no urgent requirement to upgrade to the WHS2011 replacements for the moment, but it's always worth keeping one ear to the ground.

Recently Paul Thurrott has comment on the transition to the next wave of servers on his A Tale Of Two Home Office Servers post, and his thinking is similar to mine, although he does come from a slightly different perspective.

Essentially the choice appears to be purchasing Windows Server 2012 Essentials at around $450, or running a Windows 8 client.

The current price of Windows Server 2012 Essentials removes this from my choices for the moment, at least until it drops to $150, possibly less. WHS2011 dropped to a very good price, but then this was a more specialised product. Windows Server 2012 Essentials is a higher end product, so I don't expect a similar price drop will happen.

Similarly using Windows 8 Pro, whilst it could offer advantages such as providing that always on media center so many of us had been hoping would be in WHS2011, will fall down on the vital area of remote access and automated PC Backups (the killer WHS feature for me) as far as I am aware. This will make it a step back in ways that are important to me.

Since I splashed out for the marvelous DrivePool, I'm not overly concerned about Storage Spaces at the moment so that's not a driver to an update either.

So I guess it's going to be a case of sitting tight and waiting to see what happens. As long as Windows 8 machines work with the current system I'm in no particular hurry. I guess it's going to be a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I guess my backup server is a rare case where I don't actually feel the need to have the latest shiny...

Still, I know what I'm like, so that will probably change soon.