Windows Home Server

29 entries have been tagged with Windows Home Server.

Most Valuable Professional for 2012

This morning I woke up to some New Year’s cheer. Microsoft has named me a Most Valuable Professional in the Windows Home Server category for 2012.

Dear Tom Ziegmann,
Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2012 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Windows Home Server technical communities during the past year.

I’d like to say thank you to the Home and Small Business Server team for this award, as well as the MVP team for everything they do, as well as congratulate my fellow returning MVPs and welcome any newbies.

Posted on January 1, 2012 at 3:48 pm 1 Comment

This post is filed under Home Server, Microsoft, MVP Program, Windows and tagged , , , .

Updates for SharePoint Foundation 2010

If you are running SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows Home Server, this post is for you.

Microsoft has released some updates for SharePoint that you may or may not have seen through Windows Update. If you have not updated, then I would advise that you do, as the base version of SharePoint Foundation can be woefully out of date.

The updates that you will want to install (as of October 26, 2011):

- SharePoint Foundation Service Pack 1 – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0F56EBFB-183F-4F4D-9D41-DF1E5ACEB893

- June 2011 Cumulative Update (must be installed after Service Pack 1 and after installation reboot before installing next update) – Click here

- August 2011 Cumulative Update – Click here

NOTE: After each update, you must re-run the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard to apply the update to your installation. This means you must run wizard three times before your installation is fully patched.

Posted on October 26, 2011 at 9:51 pm Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Home Server, Microsoft, Windows and tagged , , , , .

Update to Installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows Home Server

Tonight, I have released an update to the how-to guide, Installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows Home Server.

The guide can be found here. Please note even though the post says first draft, the PDF link and the Scribd document have been updated.

The following updates have been included:

- Grammatical errors have been addressed

- Corrected directions to prevent users from seeing an error message similar to the one below. When asked for credentials during the SharePoint database creation process, they must be entered in the form of servername\username.

clip_image002

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows,Office,Windows Home Server,Windows Home Server 2011,SharePoint

Posted on October 25, 2011 at 9:47 pm Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Home Server, Microsoft, Windows and tagged , , , , , .

A server for the home or small business

After having used such servers as the HP MediaSmart Server, the HP Proliant MicroServer, and various Dell servers, I decided to set out to see if I could build my own server for a reasonable cost with features I desired.

The intent of this build is to showcase a server that can be used in the home with Windows Home Server 2011 (yes, this build is somewhat overkill), and in home based / small businesses, with Small Business Server 2011 Essentials or Small Business Server 2011 Standard.

My requirements were as follows:

· Total cost could not exceed $1500. (Ideally, I wanted to stay at or below $1000.)

· All parts used must be server grade. By that I mean, must have 3-5 year warranty depending on part, and similar to parts used by the major server manufacturers.

· Must support future expandability. Must support large amounts of memory and case used must support addition of multiple hard drives.

· With Windows 8 and Windows 8 Server on the horizon, processor support for Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) and hardware virtualization were key to this build.

So what parts did I use?

· Antec VSK-2450 Mid Tower Case

· Intel Server Board S1200BTS

· Intel Xeon Processor E3-1230 (3.2GHz, 8MB Cache)

· Kingston 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 ECC RAM

· Western Digital RE4 Enterprise 1.0TB Hard Drive

Specs as configured:

· Intel Server Board S1200BTS

· 16GB ECC DDR3 RAM

· (1) 1.0TB Western Digital RE4 Enterprise Hard Drive

· Intel Xeon E3-1230 Processor

How does this build stack up to my requirements?

· Total cost: $1050+tax. I bought all the parts I needed from a local vendor instead of online and was willing to pay a bit more because of it. It is entirely possible to find these parts for cheaper online, but if you can, support your local businesses.

· Warranties on all parts are at least three years. Western Digital’s warranty is five years on enterprise hard drives, and on memory Kingston has a lifetime warranty.

· From an expandability standpoint, the case allows for up to 6 hard drives, the motherboard allows for 6 SATA connections, and the motherboard supports a maximum of 32GB of RAM.

· The processor used in this build supports hardware virtualization and SLAT, or as Intel calls it, Extended Page Tables. When looking for an Intel-based processor to be used for virtualization I suggest ensuring that it supports Intel-VT and Extended Page Tables. The Intel ARK tool, http://ark.intel.com, is a great resource for that type of information.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be showcasing more about what this server can do.

Posted on October 23, 2011 at 11:02 am Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Hardware, Home Server, Microsoft, Small Business Server, Windows, Windows Server and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

DataCore DriveHarmony now available in Beta

Today, DataCore has released a beta of their DriveHarmony software for Windows Home Server 2011.

This beta release will expire after 30 days, and is NOT meant for production use. DO NOT use production data with this release.

I’m downloading right now and will have more later. If you want to download the beta, click the link below.

Posted on June 1, 2011 at 3:11 pm Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Hardware, Home Server, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

Pro tip–The one where cfg.ini would not be recognized

Figured I’d post this in case anyone else runs into this issue. I was performing an unattended install of Windows Home Server 2011 and the setup failed. I tried to use the same cfg.ini file again, however, setup didn’t like the file the second time around. Knowing that I hadn’t changed anything, I opened the file and noticed something strange. There was an additional line that Setup adds to the file once its used it.

The line added is located in the [WinPE] section and is called Processed=true.

In my testing, removing this line will allow the cfg.ini file to be used again.

image     image

                          Before setup runs                                       After setup runs

This tip applies to:

  • Windows Home Server 2011
  • Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
  • Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials

Posted on May 26, 2011 at 10:16 pm 3 Comments

This post is filed under Aurora, Home Server, Microsoft, Small Business Server, Storage Server Essentials, Windows, Windows Server and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

Online help resources for WHS 2011 / SBSe 2011 / Storage Server R2 Essentials

This one’s a short post. Here are the direct links to the online help sites for Windows Home Server 2011, Small Business Server 2011, and Storage Server R2 Essentials.

Windows Home Server 2011 – http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/windowshomeserver2011

Small Business Server 2011 Essentials – http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/sbs2011essentials/

Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials – http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/storageserver2008r2/

Posted on May 25, 2011 at 7:39 pm Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Aurora, Breckenridge, Home Server, Microsoft, Small Business Server, Storage Server, Windows, Windows Server and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Hands-On Labs for Windows Home Server 2011, Small Business Server 2011 Standard, and Small Business Server 2011

Today Microsoft is announcing the availability of hands-on virtual labs for Windows Home Server 2011, Small Business Server 2011 Standard, and Small Business Server 2011. These labs are intended to help end users and business decision makers alike evaluate the new products coming out of Microsoft’s Windows Server Solutions group. Available labs are listed below.

Windows Home Server 2011 Evaluation

This evaluation provides a hands on ability to experience the product including the following areas:

  • Adding a user
  • Using the client Launchpad
  • Managing PCs to ensure its health and security
  • Protecting the server and PC’s data
  • Adding server storage capacity
  • Using Remote Web Access

http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/whs/

SBS 2011 Standard Technical Training

This 6 part Hands On Lab series explores SBS 2011 Standard in-depth including installation, configuration, server and user management and using the SBS 2011 Premium Add-on.

  • Planning and Preparation for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
  • Installing Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
  • Managing Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
  • Using Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
  • Messaging and Collaboration in Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
  • Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On

http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/standard/

SBS 2011 Standard End-to-End Walkthrough

This hands-on lab provides an end-to-end demonstration of Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Standard which includes the following areas:

  • Adding a user account
  • Connecting the user’s PC to the SBS environment
  • Managing the user’s PC to ensure its health and security
  • Protecting the server and PC’s data
  • Adding server storage capacity
  • Using Remote Web Access

http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/stndemo/

SBS 2011 Essentials Technical Training

This 6 part Hands On Lab series explores SBS 2011 Essentials in-depth including installation, configuration, server and user management, client backup and health monitoring and using add-ins.

  • Preparing for Deployment
  • Server Configuration
  • Server Management and Monitoring
  • User and Client Computer Management
  • Client Experience
  • Cloud Services and Add-ins

http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/essentials/

SBS 2011 Essentials End-to-End Walkthrough

This hands-on lab provides an end-to-end demonstration of Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Essentials which includes the following areas:

  • Adding a user account
  • Connecting the user’s PC to the SBS environment
  • Managing the user’s PC to ensure its health and security
  • Protecting the server and PC’s data
  • Adding server storage capacity
  • Using Remote Web Access

http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/essdemo/

Posted on May 10, 2011 at 11:06 am Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Apple, Microsoft, XBox and tagged , , , , , , , , .

How-to: Remove the Windows Server Solutions Mac Connector

If you’re like me and have multiple servers that all use the same type of connector software and are testing things out or just want to remove your Mac from being connected to your Windows Home Server 2011, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, or Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials server, then these are the steps for you.

  1. Go to the Applications folder and drag the Launchpad application to the trash
  2. Go to your user folder (typically /Users/<yourusername>) and browse to Library –> Application Support –> Microsoft, and drag the Launchpad folder to the trash
  3. Go to the root of your hard drive, and browse to Library –> Application Support –> Microsoft, and drag the Launchpad folder to the trash
  4. Go to the root of your hard drive, and browse to Library –> Preferences, and drag ‘com.microsoft.launchpad.plist’ to the trash
  5. Empty the Trash and reboot

That’s it. The connector has now been removed.

Posted on May 9, 2011 at 11:44 pm 1 Comment

This post is filed under Apple, Microsoft, XBox and tagged , , , , , , .

Technote: Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Router Setup

Quick note for those of you that may be setting up Small Business Server 2011 Essentials servers and are using the online documentation, there is a slight error. Currently the documentation for router configuration links to the wiki article for Small Business Server Standard and the ports required for proper operation of SBS Standard.

The only ports that need to be forwarded for Small Business Server 2011 Essentials are ports 80 and 443. Although, to be honest, you don’t even need port 80. Just train users to use https:// instead of http:// to access the Remote Access website.

P.S. If you use Windows Home Server 2011 or Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, the same port(s) need to be forwarded as well.

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 7:53 pm Leave a Comment

This post is filed under Home Server, Microsoft, Small Business Server, Windows and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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