Microsoft Windows Home Server Beta 2

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
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Apr. 26, 2007

Specifications

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Upgrading to CTP

Right as I'm about to post my review of WHS Beta 2, Microsoft releases an update. Go figure. The build number is updated from 1301 to 1371, and there are changes abound.

Since the data on my server was easily replaceable I chose to format my drive and do a destructive installation. I was offered the choice to do an upgrade in place; this would wipe out the 10GB OS partition and leave the data intact (hopefully). Once the final version is released, one would hope that upgrades would be seamless and everything from user accounts, backups and other settings would be maintained however that isn't the case for the CTP.

The first change I noticed is the new configuration wizard, and the stricter password settings. There isn't a whole lot to go through at the end of the installation, just set the password, and then yes/no questions for things like Automatic Updates, Send Errors to Microsoft, etc. Microsoft added a few more questions compared to Beta 2, but they are still Yes/No questions and they give a sufficient explanation for each one and provide a "recommended" setting so I give them credit there.

The Home Server Console has had a few tweaks to the user interface, but the principle tasks still remain at the top.

There is a revamped settings menu which is basically a mini-control panel for accessing system properties and policies remotely. The general task has things like date and time, automatic Windows Update, customer improvement program and Windows error reporting. Next was the backup which allowed me to specify a backup window, in which the PCs would cycle through backups one by one, along with how long to keep backed up data (the monthly backups are kept up to three months).

One thing I found I didn't like immediately was that if I wanted to give a user remote access privileges I was required to use what Microsoft calls a "strong password" which my usual password doesn't qualify for. And there was no way to get around this - it was required. On the upside you can force everyone in the house to have medium strength (5 characters or more) or strong (7 characters or more, with complexity required) passwords.

Media Sharing is also managed through the settings menu, and you can turn off media sharing for photos, music and movies. Another task is the area to install Add-Ins developed using the new Windows Home Server SDK. You can install the package remotely from the WHS console, as opposed to having to remote desktop and install it from there.

There is a remote access task that manages all the settings needed for getting back into Windows Home Server from the Internet. This is covered in the next session.

Finally, many of the bugs and annoyances I found in the first beta are still around - the backup process is still bogging down my computer and there is still no way to automatically hibernate or shut off the PC after the backup process is done. On the plus side, I did not experience the replication problem this time when I copied over my music.

Upgrading to CTP - Remote Access

The CTP includes a completely revamped Remote Access task. From here, you can turn on the external web server as well as register for a Windows Live Custom Domain. You get your own domain name (.livenode.com) and that is how you can contact your WHS server while you're outside of your network without having to know what IP it currently has. Not only does WHS register that subdomain for you, it can also talk to your router and, using UPnP, configure the necessary port forwarding entries so you can get inside your home network from the Internet. Pretty slick if I do say so myself.

So once everything is configured and you have provisioned a user account with remote access privileges you can, from any computer on the internet, access your data stored in your shared folders, as well as have the opportunity to remote desktop into PCs on your home network assuming they are turned on.

Logging into WHS remotely had one bug and that involved using an HTTPS server. The certificate issued by the server is not signed by a trusted authority (Verisign) so you get an error message saying that the certificate is not trusted. But you can just click Yes past that and click on the log in button and proceed to log into the WHS server with your username and password.

Once you log in, you're given the choice to access your computers or shared folders. The computers tab will allow you to remote desktop into the server as well as any computer on the network that is registered and turned on. I was going to try this but I figured it would be bad to try and remote to the same computer I'm typing from.

The shared folders tab will list all the shared folders you have access to, and you can browse the contents, download, upload, rename and delete files located on the server, just like you can from Windows Explorer. The only thing that is missing is the ability to stream music and movies.

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Page 1: Introduction & Hardware Configuration
Page 2: Setup - Installing Server and Client Software
Page 3: Testing - Client Console & Restore CD
Page 4: Testing - File Sharing and Backup & Windows Media Connect
Page 5: Testing - Remote Access & Running Other Applications
Page 6: Upgrading to CTP & Upgraded Remote Access
Page 7: Conclusion

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