[WHS] Codename Vail

[Singh400]

So anyone lucky enough to be in the beta?

Mary-Jo has the lowdown. And Zack has got some screenshots/videos up.

 

[Deleted member 30535]

Sounds a bit too early for me! Nearly tempted to give it a go if I could get my hands on a copy.

I'm now keen to set up 2 x WHS on the same home network and see what issues there are to overcome to do this and still retain all the usual WHS features from web access etc.

 

[Singh400]

I could grab a copy, but I don't have a spare server setup lying around

Can't wait till this comes out, WHS is pretty awesome as it is

 

[Deleted member 30535]

I've got access to an old Dell Dimension 2.4 GHz with 1GB memory and 2 x 250GB drives. It's completely devoid of any OS software. Should be good enough to run another WHS for testing purposes.

 

[AMCross]

same here got a spare server but these torrent download sites make me

 

[Singh400]

I've got access to an old Dell Dimension 2.4 GHz with 1GB memory and 2 x 250GB drives. It's completely devoid of any OS software. Should be good enough to run another WHS for testing purposes.

Not a bad idea...I've got a spare Dell Dimension kicking about...

 

[RBJTech]

As long as it's an x64 bit CPU then you're good to go. I'm trying this out myself at the weekend ... I just want WMC running on it and I'll be a happy chappie ....

 

[Singh400]

As long as it's an x64 bit CPU then you're good to go. I'm trying this out myself at the weekend ... I just want WMC running on it and I'll be a happy chappie ....

Ahhh noooesss. It is an ancient x86-32 CPU.

Good to hear WHSII will be x86-64 only though.

 

[Deleted member 30535]

In the end I found that Incrediboy had installed W7 on it. So installed VirtualBox and installed WHS in a VM. Considering the PC was only 1G memory, it ran reasonable well, and backed up a VM I have on my main desktop!

 

[Singh400]

Rafael has found some interesting stuff in the latest leaked build.

 

[RBJTech]

Found some time to install this yesterday - must confess I'm very disappointed. Didn't spend too long investigating, but it just looked like the same functinality with a Windows 7/Server 2008 front end on it ... Early Beta I know but I was expecting some more functions to have a play with especially around media ...

 

[AMCross]

early beta i know

but with win server 2008 behind it it appears to instal much easier than previously with built in drivers etc

now for a real test drive

Built mine around the following

Intel q6600 cpu
Gigabyte EP45 Ds 5 mb
crucial 4 gb ddr2 1066 ram
6 x western digital 200gb drives i had lying around

Seems fine so far

cannot wait to get all the functions

 

[AMCross]

love the way that you can change the name of the hard drives and it gives you the serial number and tells you to label accordingly


great idea to find that faulty drive especially if you have 10 with the exact same model and version number

 

[AMCross]

hard drive layout picture

 

[AMCross]

any one had difficulty getting the launchpad to work

where is it stored

//server:50000 seems to not work now

based on a new instal server today with core 2 cpu

 

[AMCross]

found it

//server/connect


Muppet

 

[New Start Neil]

Windows Home Server is part of a long-term vision by Microsoft to create a new platform for the home. Windows Home Server helps families and home-based businesses with multiple computers to organize, share, and automatically back up photos, videos, music, and other important documents. With over 130,000 registered Microsoft Connect users, there is a stong and vibrant community of enthusiasts helping to improve Windows Home Server software.

Windows Home Server code name "Vail" is the version 2 release of Windows Home Server, now based on Windows Server ® 2008 R2.

There are some exciting new features that you can try out if you choose to join the Windows Home Server Connect program such as:

* Extending media streaming outside the home or office
* Improvements in multi-PC backup and restore
* Simplified setup and user experience
* Significantly expanded development and customization tools for partners
* Much, much more!

WINDOWS HOME SERVER | Microsoft Connect

WHS Vail Preview | We Got Served

 

[booyaka]

Just installed on a spare 200gb drive I had here.

Looks good, easy to install, pretty quick to setup and simple to use.

Got a couple of 1.5tb drives arriving next week and will go for it fully then with the "Vail"

 

[Singh400]

Just installed on a spare 200gb drive I had here.

Looks good, easy to install, pretty quick to setup and simple to use.

Got a couple of 1.5tb drives arriving next week and will go for it fully then with the "Vail"

Careful, last thing you want is the old data has been formatted bug.

 

[booyaka]

Careful, last thing you want is the old data has been formatted bug.

??

 

[Singh400]

??

The first WHS during the beta stages, had a huge show stopper bug where the all your data would be randomly formatted

 

[booyaka]

The first WHS during the beta stages, had a huge show stopper bug where the all your data would be randomly formatted

been put to bed a while ago with power pack 1 etc.

Thanks for the info

I've got everything backed up before trying this on my server so no major problems!! (hopefully!)

 

[cmclean]

Really disappointed they've not added Media Center in some way to WHS this has to be amongst the most requested update

I for one won't be paying to upgrade my WHS v1 to Vail as from the feature list currently posted there's not their compelling enough to make me want to upgrade

 

[graham.myers]

WHS vail threads merged

 

[booyaka]

Single biggest issue for me so far is that if because files larger than 1gb (i.e most media/film files) are potentially spread across more than 1 single drive, it could mean that is a drive fails and you don;t have duplication switched on, then almost all of your data could be goosed.

Also you can not take a hard drive from Vail and plug it into an existing windows system and recover the data. It's not written based on NTFS file system, it can only be read by a "vail" system.

It's very slick and nice, don't get me wrong but I can't really see what huge advantages (yes it has some like adding all the disks together for storage) it has compared to a bog standard xp install on a server.