Dugie’s Pensieve

Coming to you live from the Windows Home Server Session presented by Todd Headrick and Joel Burt.  The guys have got 4 different servers here from different vendors.  There are pictures below, with an Aussie $20 note for perspective.

UPDATE:  No the speakers, didn’t put the $20 note there.  I did, it’s an Australian thing.

I’m not going to cover what home server is, so for the full review see Paul Thurott’s review.  I will to a write up on the features I use at a later day.  But I have to finish building my arcade cabinet first.

Here is some assorted snippets from all the questions asked during the session today:

• Home server does not use raid, but can duplicate the data to multiple drives.
• Home server installs from a DVD media
• Largest home server storage to date (that he knows of) is 25 drives with 12 Tb of storage
• 35 Software applications are available to run on top of Home Server to do different stuff.
• The inbuilt backup is for Windows XP and Windows Vista machines
• Apple Macs can use the home server as a file server
• Writing the really cool code is the easier part of the product — testing the result takes the most time
• The guys are thinking about writing a backup for Mac, nothing to report yet.
• …but there are a few members of the Home Server Team that have Macs at home.
• But yes you can run Vista in VM under Parallels, and back it up!
• If your machine is asleep during the backup, Home server can wake it up, back it up, and put it back to sleep.  They don’t use WOL, it’s done using a hidden scheduled task on each of the home PCs
• There is some smarts to make sure than all the PCs don’t try to backup at the same time.
• There will a minor release (as a free download) be 1st Half of 2008 that has the Vista 64 connector.
• You can sync passwords from between workstation and your home server shared folders
• The Home server is not a Domain controller, because households have machine running XP home and Vista Home that cannot be domain joined.
• You can store all the data from your Media Centre on your Home Server
• And you can use the Xbox 360 to play “stuff” from your Home Server.
• You can have up to 10 users and 10 computers
• The guys are working on something cool, to get rid of that certificate error when you log in.
• Home server doesn’t act as a proxy.
• …yes when you ground your children, you can remove their access from TV and Music
• Yes Home Server is the Server 2003 Code (with assorted bits from XP, Vista, and Longhorn).   Yes this means you can do some unnatural stuff - just respect the EULA.
• Yes you can have more than one Home Server in the same house.  So you can have one for home, and one for your home business.  We think the limit is 5
• At the moment it is not supported to use one home server to back up another home server.   …yet.
• Someone tried to install Sharepoint Server on Home server - it broke it, they had to reinstall.
• It runs IIS, some people have had success installing SQL Express and adding extra websites.  (sounds a bit too geeky for me)
• If you are in a pinch and need more space, plugging in a external USB drive is a good short term solution, until you can swap in a larger internal drive.
• Home Server is a separate SKU of Windows — it originally started life on Longhorn, but they had to retrofit to 2003, because Home Server would RTM before Longhorn.
• When the next Home Server is released, they’ll probably update the underlying OS.
• The team will do what ever is right to meet the needs of the Market.
• The monthly windows update will be the vehicle to get fixes and new features out to the field.
• 2010 is too far away for the next major version of Home Server, so the team is looking at 2009
• …In the mean time they’re working hard to get the next minor release out the door for early next year (it’ll be free to existing home server owners)
• Stay tuned at CES to find out more about the next minor update.
• yes the guys tested the product in a VM, but no they don’t support it :)
• Yes they have run up Home Server in Parallels on Mac, under VMware and as a VHD — just because they can.
• They guy’s are thinking and considering all the ways that Virtualization could be integrated into the product in the future - but it’s not going to happen in this release.  Who knows where Home Server will be in 20 years
• There are some guys who have installed a home server in their office, just to backup the 8 machines in their office
• Over a 100,000 beta testers

So I’ve bought my copy of home server whilst I’m here.  Can’t wait to get home and finishing building my cabinet and start installing!