Windows Home Server - More Thoughts

eMeS

I've been running my Windows Home Server for about a week now.

Original thread here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35899

I have been very impressed with the stability of it. It booted once during the last week to install updates, and I booted it once to add hardware.

Adding a Disk

I added a third 1TB WD Green Power disk, bringing my total storage up to 2.96TB. This was a very easy to complete task. I shut down, installed the disk. The WHS Console recognized the new disk and provides the option of adding it, format was fast and painless.

Power Consumption

During this time I also measured my power consumption, using one of these: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5ga7ln

I've found that my configuration (under varying loads) uses .06 kWh per hour. Where I live the price per kWh is .1421. This translates to an annual cost of $74.69.

As point of comparison, my wife's computer is a Core 2 Duo 4400 with one 250GB HD. Factoring out the power usage of her monitor, the annual cost is almost exactly the same.

Although not at all scientific, I would estimate that the power usage reducing effects of the 3 WD Green Power Drives and the Antec EarthWatts power supply are somewhat minimal.

The only way to really tell would be to install standard (non-green) drives and a power supply in my WHS and compare the difference. I don't have time for that.

The case that I chose has red led lights built into it. When I figure out a way to disable those lights I can probably reduce the annual cost slightly.

Streaming

I'm using an Add-in called "Tversity" which seems to work best with the PS3. Photos and music stream with no issue, but video can be choppy at times. I attribute this to the crappy wireless connection on the PS3.

My next step to improve this is to purchase a 2nd WRVS4400N router and connect it directly to the PS3 ethernet port. With the right configuration this will give me Wireless-N to Wireless-N speed.

Print Server

I'm using this as a print server. Connecting to Windows machines is a snap. Making a connection from my Mac to this printer was a bit tougher, but eventually it worked.

Running this thing as a print server allowed me to free up one port on my router, which is a good thing because all of my ports were full.

Next Steps

As mentioned, the 2nd router on the PS3.

I have an older USB backup device that I plan to attach in order to have another mode of backing up the files on the WHS.

I will also add install DynDNS and open this up to the family members that are clamoring for baby pictures and baby movies. (I started out of the box with something like this, but disabled it until I figured out more about WHS and what options would be best).


Overall I am very pleased. My biggest dilemma now is to figure out what format would be best to store DVD video in. Any thoughts there would be appreciated.

MS

dynamik

What is the size/quality of the files you are trying to stream? I don't have any problems with G speeds, but I'm not doing HD.

Here's a guide for ripping your DVDs: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/12/26/how-to-rip-a-dvd-a-tutorial/

Here's another (I'm not familiar with this software though): http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/60/59/

eMeS

dynamik wrote:

What is the size/quality of the files you are trying to stream? I don't have any problems with G speeds, but I'm not doing HD.

Depends. I've tried a couple of different methods. The problem appears to be the wireless on the PS3 side. Lots of others on the web have indicated the same problems, with the culprit being the crappy wireless adapter installed on the PS3

dynamik wrote:

Here's a guide for ripping your DVDs: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/12/26/how-to-rip-a-dvd-a-tutorial/

The problem is more strategic, along the lines of selecting the right format that will enable me to play video on:

1. the largest range of devices that I currently own (pcs, PS3, iPod Touch)
2. while allowing as many options as possible for the future
3. while not wasting disk space with multiple file formats.

MS

darkerosxx

I will also add install DynDNS and open this up to the family members that are clamoring for baby pictures and baby movies. (I started out of the box with something like this, but disabled it until I figured out more about WHS and what options would be best).

If you use the domain name you're able to get at XX.homeserver.com, you don't need dyndns. Just fyi...

I do have a question though....how will you hook up your second router wirelessly?

KGhaleon

eMeS wrote:

As point of comparison, my wife's computer is a Core 2 Duo 4400 with one 250GB HD. Factoring out the power usage of her monitor, the annual cost is almost exactly the same.

SAY WHAT!?

You're not a women?
Or maybe you're...

dynamik

KG, if you think everyone on the internet with a female avatar is an actual woman, I think you're going to be in for a world of hurt

MS, PS3 now supports divx/xvid and you can install those codecs on any PC. You're probably going to want to have a separate ipod version instead of going for a single solution. Why load up your ipod with 700mb+ files when something half the size will look just as good?

700mb divx/xvid seems to be the best mix of quality and storage space. You can always tweak the settings if you want better quality.

tiersten

I've heard some potentially bad things about the WD green drives. The power management on them is too aggressive apparently and spins down the disk way too much. More wear on the mechanism so it may fail earlier than expected. There is a DOS boot disk which will let you adjust this somewhere on the site.

eMeS

darkerosxx wrote:

If you use the domain name you're able to get at XX.homeserver.com, you don't need dyndns. Just fyi...

Used this initially, decided that I would rather use one of my own domain names.

darkerosxx wrote:

I do have a question though....how will you hook up your second router wirelessly?

My understanding is that this router can be configured as a bridge. I've read in a couple of places online where people have successfully setup this very configuration with 2 of these routers, a WHS, and a PS3 in order to achieve wireless-n to wireless-n (within the internal network).

If you know otherwise...please save me the time and effort.

I will report back on whether this actually works or not...

MS

eMeS

KGhaleon wrote:

SAY WHAT!?
You're not a women?
Or maybe you're...

I'm a dude.

<

---

She is Nora Salinas, an actress. Search "estefania" on YouTube or "Carita de Angel".

Although my wife is both young and hot, I'd be leaving her without much thought for a shot at Nora...

This is kidding of course....

MS

eMeS

tiersten wrote:

I've heard some potentially bad things about the WD green drives. The power management on them is too aggressive apparently and spins down the disk way too much. More wear on the mechanism so it may fail earlier than expected. There is a DOS boot disk which will let you adjust this somewhere on the site.

Nice...thanks for that.

I did read a lot mixed reviews on Newegg before purchasing. I decided to take a chance because the two that I purchased were at such a low price that it was hard to pass up. The third one was free because of my bad experience with another WD product.

MS

dynamik

Which routers/access points do you plan on using? It's definitely possible, but you should check the documentation to make sure they provide that functionality.

eMeS

dynamik wrote:

KG, if you think everyone on the internet with a female avatar is an actual woman, I think you're going to be in for a world of hurt

MS, PS3 now supports divx/xvid and you can install those codecs on any PC. You're probably going to want to have a separate ipod version instead of going for a single solution. Why load up your ipod with 700mb+ files when something half the size will look just as good?

700mb divx/xvid seems to be the best mix of quality and storage space. You can always tweak the settings if you want better quality.

I think what you're saying is exactly the route that I'm going to take. I had hoped to avoid having multiple copies of movies in different formats, but the chances of that seem to be somewhere between slim and none, and "slim" just left.

BTW, Handbrake is a great tool....

MS

eMeS

dynamik wrote:

Which routers/access points do you plan on using? It's definitely possible, but you should check the documentation to make sure they provide that functionality.

Currently I have one WRVS4400N. The doc is a little less than inspiring. I'm basing my plan on what I've read that others have been successful at doing.

Worst case I end up with a router (or 2) that I have to sell on eBay.

MS

dynamik

This looks kind of cool (and costs less than half of another WRVS4400N): http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175239647577&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

darkerosxx

eMeS wrote:

dynamik wrote:

Which routers/access points do you plan on using? It's definitely possible, but you should check the documentation to make sure they provide that functionality.

Currently I have one WRVS4400N. The doc is a little less than inspiring. I'm basing my plan on what I've read that others have been successful at doing.

Worst case I end up with a router (or 2) that I have to sell on eBay.

MS

What I was asking is if your route to the internet-providing router was going to be using wireless? I've never heard of being able to wirelessly connect a router to another router, at least with linksys products. I'm guessing you're going to be using a wired connection for your second router, though. I may have just gotten confused.

Sorry to de-rail your post a bit btw.

eMeS

darkerosxx wrote:

eMeS wrote:

dynamik wrote:

Which routers/access points do you plan on using? It's definitely possible, but you should check the documentation to make sure they provide that functionality.

Currently I have one WRVS4400N. The doc is a little less than inspiring. I'm basing my plan on what I've read that others have been successful at doing.

Worst case I end up with a router (or 2) that I have to sell on eBay.

MS

What I was asking is if your route to the internet-providing router was going to be using wireless? I've never heard of being able to wirelessly connect a router to another router, at least with linksys products. I'm guessing you're going to be using a wired connection for your second router, though. I may have just gotten confused.

Sorry to de-rail your post a bit btw.

I don't think you derailed it at all...it's exactly the kind of insight I'm looking for.

My understanding is that a wireless to wireless bridge is possible, so long as the routers support it. I'm going to give it a try, or at least something like it.

MS

eMeS

dynamik wrote:

This looks kind of cool (and costs less than half of another WRVS4400N): http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175239647577&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

I think we have a winner!

I found one for $70 on eBay. Not only is this less expensive, it's a simpler solution.

Thanks,

MS

dynamik

darkerosxx wrote:

What I was asking is if your route to the internet-providing router was going to be using wireless? I've never heard of being able to wirelessly connect a router to another router, at least with linksys products. I'm guessing you're going to be using a wired connection for your second router, though. I may have just gotten confused.

You can think of the RF transmissions as any other physical-layer medium, such as Ethernet. They're just sending bits back and forth, so it's entirely possible (and does exist). Like you said, it's just a question of whether that functionality exists in consumer/soho equipment. Unless you actually needed to route traffic with the second device, you'd typically get an access point instead of another router. You configure some routers to simply act as access points, but why pay for functionality you're not going to use? That device I linked to is just an access point branded as a gaming device. Unless it intentionally limits connectivity to a single IP address, you could probably connect it to a switch and provide connectivity to all your game consoles, HTPC, etc. You should test this out and report back, MS.

darkerosxx

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The linksys products don't offer wireless connections between routers to my knowledge. You need an add-on access point like what you linked. I'm very interested to see what the quality is like, though! I've been looking at wiring my house with cat5e to support streaming movies to my xbox(media center extender) from my WHS. Using that access point will be much cheaper.

JDMurray

eMeS wrote:

I have an older USB backup device that I plan to attach in order to have another mode of backing up the files on the WHS.

Paul Thurrott at SuperSite for Windows is a big fanboy of WHS. He has a lot of articles and links about it on his site, and has also talked about it on several of his Windows Weekly podcasts. As a backup solution, he uses Jungle Disk to backup his WHS to Amazon's S3 Storage Service.

tiersten

darkerosxx wrote:

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The linksys products don't offer wireless connections between routers to my knowledge. You need an add-on access point like what you linked. I'm very interested to see what the quality is like, though! I've been looking at wiring my house with cat5e to support streaming movies to my xbox(media center extender) from my WHS. Using that access point will be much cheaper.

The 802.11g Linksys boxes supported WDS for bridging multiple APs together. It not do that for the newer ones?