We Got Served Forums - New Posts

Htpc As A Whs?

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:31:06 +0000

I've been using a Tranquil WHS v1 for some years now and it's fine as it goes. Only two features I really use are the client backups and disk pooling.

Whilst being called a server, it never really delivered in the ability to stream multi-media content to my family elsewhere in the UK and overseas without using 3rd party software or add-ins and even these lack the pazzaz that say WMP, or even Windows Photo Gallery can deliver.

I now also have a need to replace my aging Topfield PVR's and could do with getting rid of my PS3 which only acts as a bridge to display stuff from my WHS onto the TV. So the HTPC will come with a Black Gold card for Freeview and Freesat and in the first instance use Windows Media Centre (certainly with Windows7, not sure if it's included in Windows8?). Plus support for 7.1 audio.

So I was thinking of approaching my needs from another angle, HTPC first, WHS like features second.

Would this work...

HTPC running Windows 7 (or 8 by the time I get to do this).

So would this OS allow me to have user accounts like WHS does for Photo's, Movies & Music (see below for really wanting to have folders that deal with topics rather than media file content)?
Does Windows 7/8 allow streaming of mixed media content (eg WMP12) in the same folders unlike WHS v1 that splits my media by Photo's, Video and Music?
Assumes I can load Drive Bender to provide drive pooling (currently approx 4tb but will move to 6tb) and keep the OS drive seperated?
Does Windows 7/8 backup clients on the network? Or can I buy backup software that will?
Does Windows 7/8 support RDP access or provide something better I can use without insisting it be IE with ActiveX like WHS v1 does? So any browser, desktop or Android.
Does Windows 7/8 allow use of Dynamic IP suppliers to provide the same feature as mydomain.homeserver.com?

Thanks in advance for any advice/pointers.

Help Needed With A Failing To Boot Whs V1

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:23 +0000

Hello all,

Running a home built WHS V1 server for the last 18 months or so pretty solidly. It's not been working for the last month. Looking for some help and/or advice.

On April 11th something happened to crash it, it was on but screen wouldn't turn on, no hard drive activity light etc. Had to hard power it off.

When I went to reboot it it would start to load, sometimes reaching the log on screen, but then it would crash out again with the blank screen/unresponsiveness.

I tried to boot in safe mode, same results. Then I tried safe mode with command prompt, got it, called for a chkdsk.

After chkdsk still wouldn't boot up, then just randomly one time it made it and booted up and ran for about a day until I believe it rebooted itself with windows updates. Then we were back to the same issue where probably 1 out of 8 attempts it would boot completely.

I set it aside until Friday night when I messed with it again. After about the fifth try I got it to fully boot up, every time it makes it all the way it says WHS has recovered from a serious error and then pops up a MS website about blue screen crash caused by driver or hardware failure.

Nothing shows up in the hardware manager, no chkdsk errors, no WHS console errors other than overdue backups. No hardware changes were made. It's an AMD64 3200+, 2gb ram, 300gb IDE boot drive, 500GB IDE, 1TB SATA and 2 2TB sata HD's in the storage pool. It has an old video card, 2 sata cards.

It's been up since Friday night, I turned automatic updates off and tried to do backups. One machine completed backup but none of the others will, WHS backup service crashes about half way through.

The drive pool is up and running, I have been syncing files up to another backup drive with no issues.

I am looking for any thoughts anyone had about how to return this thing to stability, I have 6 machine backups on there that I would lose if I wipe it or replace it, all files on the storage pool are mirrored on other machines.

What suggestions do you all have?

I have been considering reinstalling over the top, but worry will I lose my backups.

Does WHS have the system file checker?

Worse comes to worse I guess I can wipe, I might even build it with new hardware.

Here are some links to my log files if anyone has the time/interest to look at them.

Thanks in advance!

https://www.dropbox....40/eventlog.evt
https://www.dropbox....x3cr/system.evt
https://www.dropbox....vx/security.evt
https://www.dropbox..../homeserver.evt

Nothing Showing In Media Library

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:39:14 +0000

I have done everything and this why I'm posting, for some reason files keep desappearing (movies, pictures music)or I get "An error occured on the server. Please try again latter. If the eroor continues, view Support information". In the dashboard I have turned off/on media server, reboot server and nothing, I still can't see any of my videos, pictures or music! the remote access shows sometime all files but, most of the time I have 0 files. sometime during remote access they are there and sometime they are not! I have port 443 and 4125, I also turned on UpnP on router. I really don't know what alse to do!
Thanks

Disk Configuration Advice

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:14:25 +0000

The HD controller in my EX485 died, so I'm moving to WHS 2011 on an HP Proliant Microserver. My primary uses of my WHS are to backup the 5 other PCs in the household and stage a subset of the data for backup to the cloud. So the server is not the single point of storage for anything and redundancy on the server is not a requirement.... except for the fact that when I had system disk fail on my EX485 a few years ago, it was a big inconvenience to have to rebuild the system, install addins, etc. (I recognize that if I loose the data storage, I loose the backup history, and if I lost the data storage and one of the backed-up machines simultaneously, I would have a complete loss, but I'm willing to take that risk. The really important stuff is in the cloud anyhow.)

So... I think what I want to do is create a 2-disk Raid 1 array for the operating system (2x250GB), and then use the remaining two bays for data storage managed by DrivePool. Here are the questions that occur to me, but would appreciate answers to questions I am to ignorant to ask.
1) Will the HP raid support allow me to create the Raid 1 array for the system disk while leaving the other 2 disks to be managed by DrivePool?
2) I've set the firmware to Raid mode. Should I install the second member of the 2 disk array before installing the OS, or install the OS and then Raid?
3) Is there a better solution to having a fault-tolerant OS disk while maximizing the storage capacity of the non-fault-tolerant storage?

H340 System Restore

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:44:11 +0000

I modified the instructions as previously they did not indicate how long you should hold in the reset button and when to release it

Run the Server recovery CD on a PC and follow the instructions with regards to removing software (IGNORE THE REST FOR NOW)
Turn off the Acer, hold power button for 4 seconds
Using a paper-clip, or similar, push in the recovery button on the back of the unit and KEEP it pressed in WHILST you turn on the unit AND keep it pressed in until step 6
If you have done this correctly the i will flash RED on the front of the unit
WAIT patiently until you see the network icon, on the front of the unit, flash BLUE (this can take several minutes - yes minutes!!)
Once the network icon flashes BLUE then, and only then, can you stop pressing the reset button with the paperclip
Now you can press the NEXT button on the Server Recovery Software and it WILL find the server very quickly
Follow the instructions now from the Server Recovery Software. It DOES take a long time to recover (best part of 1 hour on a Gigabit network). Shame they didn’t put the 3Gb image on the 1Tb drive to save time!!!

Hope this is clearer and helps

Xxxx.homeserver.com Setup Problem

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:27:05 +0000

Originally asked for help on this on Twitter and was advised to post here.

WHS2011 on HP Proliant

The issue for me is that I can not set up xxxx.homeserver.com (see attached image for error message)
I have tried with 2 live accounts and 3 different xxxx. names, this has been going on for weeks now with the exact same error message.

I can access my server (remote desktop, media and file share, dashboard) using a sub-domain from a site I have hosted however if my IP changes that's going to break. I have searched the internet over this and see it is quite common but have not found a single workable solution as yet.

Attached thumbnail(s)

Does Whs2011 Automatically Partition Primary Hd?

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:59:26 +0000

Hi folks

A little puzzled, but please excuse my novice question! I've just installed WHS2011 on a new HP Proliant Turian box. The install seemed to go smoothly enough (though it seems that sadly my router, a Netgear N600, doesn't allow remote server access - DOH) but a couple of things are puzzling me. I've installed 1x250gb drive (intended as primary) and 2x 1TB drives (intended to be run separately as a backup drive and a file serving drive). However my primary drive seems to have been partitioned into 3 parts. Also I can only see one of my 1TB drives showing (though both show in the device manager and appear enabled and functioning in that view). Both 1tb drives show in the BIOS console.

Any suggestions? Should I be worried about the partitioning of the primary drive? I only intend to use that for WHS2011 and any applications i'll run on the server.

Any suggestions as to why my second drive might not be showing? I did, probably incorrectly, wonder if the multiple partitioning of the primary HD was an error, and whether WHS2011 can only handle 5 drives (thereby ignoring the final one).

Any info hugely appreciated - all very new to me.

Boog

Hp Proliant - Slow Uploads, Reasonable (?) Downloads

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:01:56 +0000

Hi,

yesterday I purchased an hp proliant microserver. I installed whs 2011 on it without issue. Then I installed 3 * 2tb drives and set them up as raid 5. Finally I used the "move folders" tool on the dashboard to move all the serverfolders from D (the data partition on the primary hard drive) to F which is my raid 5 array.

Finally, I mapped some folders on my win7 machine to the server folders.

If I try to copy files to the whs box I am only getting upload speeds of 6Mbps which is painfully slow. It's saying it will take over 24hrs to just copy my photos. With downloads from the whs to win7 I am getting 20Mbps, which still seems a bit slow.

My win7 machine has a gigabit realtek network chip, and my router is a virgin superhub, which is also gigabit.

Could anyone make any suggestions as to what the issue could be? In resource monitor I am only seeing 5% network utilisation.

Any advice appreciated.

One thing I tried was to put one of the server folders back on to D, then I get 70Mbps uploads which is much more like I was expecting! Is raid 5 really this slow?

Cheers

FR

Best Way To Virtualize Win7 (To Allow Wmc7 To Run On Whs2011)?

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:59:12 +0000

Looks like the definitive answer to running WMC7 on WHS2011 is NO.

However, some folks have suggested virtualizing a Win7 install on top of WHS2011 and then using that to run WMC7.

I've never virtualized before. The box should have the horse power though - i5 2500K @ 4.4ghz, 8gb RAM (16gb total though), installed to a SSD, with 32TB of hard drives.

Let me know.

What Is Good Network Performance?

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:51:53 +0000

I recently built my WHS2011 box (i5 2500K, 8gb RAM, 32TB storage) connected via an onboard Broadcom controller. I'm curious what is good network performance.

I used a tool LanSpeed test writing/reading a 1gb file from my HTPC to my WHS2011 box.

I got 80Mbs Write/52Mbs Read.

If this isn't good, what would you suggest to improve it? (I believe everything is connected via Cat5E/Cat6 through my Asus Router.)

Server Backup To 2 External Hdd's - Always Error Messages

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:07:44 +0000

Hello
I have attached 2 external HDDs to my WHS. I want to backup my server manually to these 2 HDD's. I backup first to HDD1, afterwards to HDD2.
This actually works, but I always get error messages that one of my HDD's is not connected. It's always claiming the missing (offline) HDD.
If I switch on both HDDs at the same time, I cannot choose to which of them the backup works, so I have to switch off the one which is actually not used.

Is there any easier solution, perhaps with an add-on? Does anyone have the same experience?

H340 Motherboard Swap

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:14:30 +0000

Hi, im new to the forum

i currently own a H340 which i have quickly outgrown, therefore i have decided to remove the motherboard and put in a new one.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500044&cm_re=itx_775-_-13-500-044-_-Product

i have done alot of research on it, it will work perfect so i ordered the board and it will be here in a few days and i will document the process.

the lights on the hard drives will function but will not report a bad disk anymore, the power supply is sufficient and power the board and cpu as is. I will use a E6750 in it and will do some modifications for cooling.

over all it should be a straightforward install.

Hp Mediasmart Server / Media Vault G1 Style Cases?

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:04:30 +0000

Hi all,

First thread here, been lurking this site for awhile. Seem like a really great place to me
I asked this already on another forum but decided to give it a try here as well. So here goes:

I'm currently building a DIY NAS and I got most of the components ready, except Mobo. Before this I was going through different NASes and my eye got caught on the HP Mediasmart Server and Media Vault G1 systems. Mostly cause I really like the style of their cases. For example the Mediasmart would be a great case for DIY NAS but unfortunately you can't fit even a mini-itx board there.

Now the Media Vault G1 would seem to accept a mini-itx board (according to this http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/05/17/hp-media-vault-generation-1-new-life-for-an-old-friend/).

So, to the main question... are there cases that resemble these or are very close to them (small, quite clean, nice, functional)? I know NAS server cases are not meant to be looked at, but since I gotta cram my system in living room, I pretty much have to

Some examples:

Few more:

this one would be excellent in mini-itx size:

Removing Hdd Causes Server Problems?

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:42:27 +0000

I have WHS2011 installed on a hdd of 500gb. Next to that I have 6 hdd's in a pool, using Stablebit Drivepool. I am happy with this setup and it functions great.

Recently I have been moving files off my server, so that I need less storage. I went into Drivepool, emptied the drives and disconnected them. And thats when the trouble began.

My users were gone, launchpads on the connected client would not connect and backups did not start. In services, on the server, I could see that the required services did not start. Manually starting them resulted in stopping them in seconds automatically. Very strange behaviour.

I just connected the two drives again, named pool5 and pool6, like they were named before. I have not not put them in my Drivepool and everything worked again like it should. Because I did not re-enter them in Drivepool, I am ruling out that Drivepool causes the problem.

But what does?

Backup Database Problems

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:04:07 +0000

I am having problems with my HP mediasmart home server v1. It is showing that I have errors in my backup database. I have tried to rebuild it, but when the process starts to run, I get disconnected. It looks like from what I read I can delete the database and have it rebuilt. I keep seeing that I need to go to a FAQ in a WIKI. I can't locate that on this server, can someone post a link for me?

Whs2011 - Can't Access Python Apps Remotely

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:07:24 +0000

I'm about to lose my damn mind - for some reason, I can't get WHS2011 to allow me to remote access any of the python programs (SabNZBD, Sickbeard, etc.) that I have setup on my WHSv1 with no problem. I get an IE cannot display the webpage error in IE and Unable to connect error in Firefox.

The completely mind-baffling part is that I can connect to the server web page fine (i.e., just the IP) and I can connect to uTorrent on the server also. It's ONLY python apps.

And...even MORE baffling - I turned off the firewall on the server and still can't connect.

...even better...localhost connections on the server work fine and bring up the webpages for the python-based programs.

I've tried leaving the firewall on, adding python.exe to the exceptions, and completely turning the WHS2011 firewall off...nothing helps. Keep getting those errors.

Any ideas? About to lose my mind.

Hd Tv As Whs Monitor Via Hdmi

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:57:59 +0000

This seems like such a basic question but I haven't found a simple answer. Most often the search terms "tv" and "whs" bring up far more complex discussions about TV tuners, DVRs, etc.

When I connected my server (WHS v.1) to the TV via HDMI, there was no input signal picked up. I then rebooted the server and was happy to see the BIOS info appear on the TV screen, followed by a few seconds of the Windows logo loading ... then the screen went blue and stayed blue. The server was running fine (I checked via remote access).

I just thought it would be simple enough to access the internet from the couch using my WHS. Is it not possible? And if it's not, then how DO I do it? Is building/buying an HTPC the only other option?

Upgrade Client Boot Drive To Ssd

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:32:50 +0000

That's strange... I did a search for "ssd" on the forum and it didn't return any results. Anyway, I am considering to upgrade my main workstation's system drive from HDD to SSD. Can I do this by just replacing the drive and performing a client restore or is there more involved in migrating to SSD?

Which Mb Should I Use With A Xeon E3 1235 Cpu?

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:23:17 +0000

I'm building my first WHS 2011. I've never built a server before or used Xeon Processors so I need a little help. I'd like to use the Xeon E3 1235 processors due to what I've read about it and the integrated GPU. Since it's going to be a headless server I don't want to have to install a graphics card unless I have to. I was looking at the Supermicro microATX MB's but all of them state it's not recommended to be used with Xeon CPU's that have integrated GPU's. What might my other options be?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Migrating From Whsv1

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:19:43 +0000

I presently have an Asus Aspire EasyStore H340, with Windows Home Server v1, which recently failed to boot (consistently fails). Having no way to attach keyboard, mouse and monitor to troubleshoot, and having read quite a bit about Windows Home Server 2011, I decided to upgrade. However, I have a lot of backups on the two 2TB drives and would like to find a way to transfer them to the new Home Server 2011 box.

Do you know of a way to do that? Or can the Windows Home Server 2011 software be used to upgrade the v1 system drives in the new hardware? (The new hardware supports keyboard, mouse and monitor.)

Also, I have read through the postings and saw mention of a Migration Assistant, but have been unable to locate it.

John Paterson
Kemah, Texas USA

Servers Security Certificate Is Revoked

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:52:07 +0000

I retired my old TZO free domain (because its no longer free) and registered for the Windows Live service. It seems to be working at the momment. I can access my domain through http but not through https. If I try to access through https the servers security certificate is revoked.

I see that many are having problems with Windows Live, but I'm not sure what is wrong. I've run Windows Update but still no same problem.

Also I'm getting error messages in the whs console regarding the fact that my TZO domain has expired, even thought I've released it.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Whs 2011 Uses Wrong Ssl Certificate

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:06:26 +0000

I have set up my whs 2011 server with remote access enabled, and have purchased my own .com domain, and SSL certificate from Godaddy.com. However, it seems that the server is using its own self-signed SSL instead of the Godaddy one when you try to visit the .com address from outside the home network.

Tried to install the certificate according to the guide at godaddy.com, installed it in IIS 7.5, and set the bindings for the default web server to this certificate. Later on, I installed it into certificates - trusted root something, and remote access. Still it uses the self-signed one.

The domain wizard cannot complete the setup itself, but doesn't tell exactly what is wrong, just tells you to go to godaddy and upgrade/fix something.

Should I just remove the self-signed certificate, or will that break something on the whs 2011 home network ?

And great ideas would be great, have tried to google this at my very best effort, but haven't succeeded in finding a recipe that works for me.

Have a nice day you all, best regards from northern Norway. =D (Yes, we still have enough snow here)

Need New Motherboard

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:02:53 +0000

I have a home-built server running WHS v1. I have an Intel DG41Ty with an E7500 2.93GHz Core2 Duo proccessor. It currently has 10 WD Green 1.0TB SATA hard drives. The MB only have 4 SATA ports, so to get 10 drives connected I added HighPoint RocketRaid 2310 4 Ports (running non-raid mode) and a SIIG SATA Controller (2 ports).

I have looked at Intels MBs and did not find anything with 10 SATA ports. I would like to replace the MB with something that has more ports so I can eliminate one or both additional SATA controllers. I would also like to NOT have problems find drivers for the MB for WHS 2011. I would prefer to stick with an Intel MB but would go with another. But I definitely want to stick with an Intel processor.

Reading some of the things on the forum I see others have as many drives (some more). How do you handle that many drives? What MBs are you using? What additional SATA controllers are you using? Sure would appreciate any suggestions you might have. Thank you.

Computers Tab Showing Status Unknown- Any Hacks For This?

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:37:17 +0000

I am connecting to my WHS site and navigating to the Computers tab, it says status is unknown for my Vista Business machine.
When I try to connect now, it tells me "Cannot connect to your home computer. Check your network connection and make sure your home computer is not blocked by a firewall. If your home computer has recently restarted , try again in a few minutes."

It has been a while since I last tried to connect, but I was able to previously connect from my office network. I have nit changed or added a firewall since I was lat able to connect. I am running the freebie MS firewall/ spyware/ etc. software. Are there any settings I can check/ tweak to bypass this?

I am running WHS v1, am on Verizon Fios with their Wireless G router/ modem combo unit.... Any thoughts/ recommendations/ links are greatly appreciated...

Thanks,

Dave Z

Whs2011 Sleep?

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:08:09 +0000

OK I know what is happening but I want to figure out why.
For the last 2 days (prior to this it was not doing this) my Proliant WHS2011 after aproximately 5 hours of non request to it has become unlocatable on my network. The server then appears to be turned off as its network light is not blinking. I then have noticed the power light is a amber color which makes me think it is just in sleep mode. I would love to figure out why it is going to sleep with no apparent way to wake it up.
I do not think I have made any adjustments to the settings that would affect its sleeping.
Why would a server have a sleep mode without a obvious way to wake it up?
I am using CrashPlan as on line backup which has been backing up files now for several weeks. I have setup CrashPlan to only backup during 03:00-18:00
Today I last served a movie from my server at approximately 02:00

Then today I noticed it was not on my network list, then after restarting the server I see these two logs before it went to sleep.

Log 5/14/2012 7:01:39 AM-----------------------------
The system time has changed to ‎2012‎-‎05‎-‎14T14:01:39.313000000Z from ‎2012‎-‎05‎-‎14T14:01:39.313602300Z.

- XML

-

1

0

4

0

0

0x8000000000000010

18039

System

MILLER-SERVER

-

2012-05-14T14:01:39.313000000Z

2012-05-14T14:01:39.313602300Z

Log 5/14/2012 7:01:40 AM------------------------------
The system is entering sleep.

Sleep Reason: System Idle

XML

-

-

42

2

4

64

0

0x8000000000000004

18040

System

MILLER-SERVER

-

5

5

7

0

Then no logs until I woke it today.

It appears the server is adjusting the time very slightly and then going to sleep??????
WTH??
Please has anyone else seen this? How can I fix this?
BTW, the setting for sleep is 360 minutes which is just over 5 hours which fits. The problem is that this is a default sleep setting and it had not ever done this before 2 days ago.
Is this a new setting set from a microsoft update?
Thanks for any help.
Jamr