Philip Churchill's Home Server News and Views
A MediaSmart Home Blog By
Philip Churchill
Microsoft MVP Philip Churchill's MS Windows Home Server Blog is one of the leading sources of breaking news and information, insightful opinion, and great tutorials regarding Windows Home Server. If you're an HP MediaSmart Server owner, this is a can't miss!
by Philip Churchill
September 3, 2010 03:11 AM

Episode 104 of "The Home Server Show" podcast is up with the latest new add-ins for Vail and WHS Version 1 discussed. That of course is sprinkled with the rest of the weeks Home Server news and views from Dave and the gang.
You can catch episode 104 from here.


by Philip Churchill
September 2, 2010 02:16 PM
HP have released a support document for StorageWorks Data Vault X510 owners.
The support document answers the question why the x510 can not play or stream DRM content? This is due to the PC which originally downloaded the content having the only license to enable it to be played/streamed. HP have listed a workaround which uses Windows Media Player to play all of the protected content for which that PC has a license for, which you can read about here.




by Philip Churchill
September 1, 2010 03:13 PM
The Windows Home Server Backup Database-Backup add-in or BDBB as it is also known has had an update.

Version 1.0.3.3 includes the following changes:
- Redesigned user interface, tabs now provide room for new features
- More documentation within the interface to explain the features of the Add-In, including a warning message that the backup service will be stopped during backup and restore
- Increased details about each possible network target, including free and total storage space, volume name and drive letter if known
- Added ability to configure individual Health Notification thresholds for each client computer
- Added feature to delete the current WHS Backup Database in case of a corrupted DB that Repair is not able to correct
- Elapsed time is now reported in the user interface after a backup or restore completes
- Don?t display connected drives with filesystem of type CDFS, such as CD/DVD and some external hard drives that have special read-only partitions such as the
by Philip Churchill
August 31, 2010 03:21 PM
An update to the add-in WakeOnLan has been released which integrates it into the Launchpad which now makes it possible to wake up your computers from the Lauchpad on every connected computer.

More details on WakeOnLan are available from here.




by Philip Churchill
August 31, 2010 09:03 AM

The Home Server Show podcast have an extra episode available.
This extra episode has John and Jim talking about Vail builds, mControl, XenServer from Citrix and some tuner card chat, which you can find here.




by Philip Churchill
August 30, 2010 04:02 PM

Robert Stinnett one of our contributors here at mswhs.com has a bunch of Windows Home Server pens and some blue heavy-silicone round stickers to give away – enough for 20 people. So if you live in the States and are prepared to send Robert a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) then the first 20 people to leave their name and email address below will be eligible. Once selected we will be in contact to provide you with the mailing address to send your SASE too.




by Philip Churchill
August 28, 2010 06:02 AM
Website ?Using Windows Home Server? have got 10 two year subscriptions to HomeServerSync to give away.

The add-in enables you to backup your Home Server online, synchronize your Home Server and PCs and join both together in their own private and secure VPN network, plus there’s lots more it can do too.
The first 2 subs can be won by telling fellow MVP Andrew Edney what you would like to see in a WHS Vail book which he is in the process of writing. So head on over here for your chance to nab a copy, but hurry as the first 2 copies are only available up until Sunday (29th August 2010).




by Philip Churchill
August 28, 2010 02:50 AM
Tentacle Software have a new add-in called Blackbox for Windows Home Server.
The add-in provides in-depth real-time monitoring from your motherboard, disk, UPS, and graphics card hardware sensors and allows administrators to define alerting rules to take actions when a sensor exceeds a specified threshold.

Key Features include:
- Real-time monitoring of supported hardware sensors
- Administrator-defined rules to perform actions based on sensor states, including:
- Log the alert to a file
- Log the alert to the Event Log
- Create a Windows Home Server health notification (that appears in the server health status window)
- Set a fan speed
- Change the system power state (shut down, suspend, hibernate, or restart)
- PWM fan control

Blackbox for Windows Home Server is currently in beta but if you would like to help contribute by helping to beta test then email Tentacle Software including the specs of your server.




by Philip Churchill
August 27, 2010 01:49 PM

High-tech news site eWeek.com have concerns over the positioning and options for customer growth for Aurora.
Their 2 page article is worth a read as it asks the question what will Aurora customers have down the road as their company grows beyond Aurora?s preset licensing limitations and user cap.
You can read it here.




by Philip Churchill
August 27, 2010 01:36 PM
Many Windows Home Server users used Live Mesh with their servers, until it was renamed Windows Live Sync that was. Today its been announced that Windows Live Sync will be called Windows Live Mesh when released this fall and as well as resorting to its previous name the service will also include 5GB for online storage which was cut to just 2GB in the Windows Live Sync incarnation.
Windows Live Mesh, when it is released to the Web, will enable users to detect missing files and see file names and when/where they were last modified, the Softies said today. And users also will have the ability to sync hidden files and folders.
More details from Mary Jo Foley on ZDNet.



