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Microsoft Windows Home Server Beta 2
Introduction
To much fanfare at CES, Microsoft announced their new product, Windows Home Server. Initially our expectations were very high. Microsoft offers us a product that provides us with a centralized, redundant storage system, along with backup and restore capabilities, user management (though not quite Active Directory), Windows Connect functionality for plug and play access to photos, music and movies, and finally remote access to music and media. The biggest letdown was later that night while attending a CES showcase, we spoke with the Microsoft representative who informed us that it would be an OEM solution. You would buy the box and the OS together, and there wouldn't be copies available for the enthusiast community. Once this news hit the enthusiast community, it wasn't received very well. However the tide looks like it's beginning to change. The beta process for Windows Home Server was open to allow the public to get involved. Luckily, I happened to be one of those selected. Even more interesting is the lack of any non-disclosure agreements, so not only do I get to use it for a few months, but I get to write this article and tell you all about it. So what benefits does Windows Home Server offer over a NAS-style device? How well does the software work now, and what is it expected to do when it is released? And what you're all wondering! would it be worth your money? Hardware Configuration Authors Note: I first need to thank my generous sponsors for this review, Seagate for sending me two 750GB HDs and to Mushkin for sending me two 512MB sticks of DDR2-800 RAM. One of the first things to note with WHS was that it required a separate computer to run, and is not designed to be used as a regular OS. The minimum requirements furnished by Microsoft are as follows: 1Ghz Pentium 3, 512MB of RAM, 100Mb/s or faster Ethernet port, and finally at least one 80GB HD for the primary partition, plus at least one additional hard drive for increased capacity and redundancy (so you don't lose anything if that hard drive fails). The computer I configured was analyzed from both a performance standpoint as well as an energy efficiency standpoint. I selected a 1.73Ghz Pentium-M CPU, in a Shuttle XPC SD11G5 barebones case and motherboard. As noted above the hard drives were furnished by Seagate, two 750GB 7200RPM drives. The RAM was provided by Mushkin, two 512MB DDR2-800 sticks for a total of 1GB. I installed a DVD drive and was on my way. The energy efficiency aspect was important to me because this PC will be on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That means that my electricity bill will be going up thanks to this new PC. But by how much? To answer that question, I used a Kill-a-Watt energy meter to measure how many watts the unit was drawing during system startup as well as a backup (one of the most intensive tasks the server will perform). The server peaked at 90W during the POST process, presumably when the hard drives were spinning up. This quickly subsided and the average power remained between 55-60W, even while backing up my PC. To put this in economical terms, 60W for 24 hours a day will cost about $50/yr (60W x 24hrs x 365 days x 10c/kWh = $52) or $4.38/month. So it's not a whole lot, especially if you consider how much time you could save if you accidentally delete a file and then recover it thanks to a backup on your Windows Home Server.
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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