Windows Home Server grows as your needs grow, not only through expanded storage, but also with extended capabilities brought to you with Windows Home Server add-ins. There are over 100 add-ins currently available for download which will allow you to customize and use Windows Home Server in new and exciting ways. In a previous Add-In blog post, I told you about Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist. Today, I will tell you about 3 other add-ins: AutoExit, Diskmgt, and the new D-Link D-ViewCam add-in.

D-link D-ViewCam

The D-Link D-ViewCam is a software add-in for Windows Home Server that provides instant access to your live camera feeds and all the surveillance video already saved to your server. Compatible with the D-Link Network Cameras models DCS-920, DCS-1100, DCS-1130 and DCS-2121, this add-in allows users to easily manage their recording, streaming, and camera settings – all within the Windows Home Server administrative Console. Manage and access up to 4 live camera feeds from home or even remotely via the web.

*Screen shot of the D-link D-ViewCam in action around the house.

As mentioned in the We Got Served blog, Chief technology officer, AJ Wang from D-link states: “We’re working on developing more D-Link devices that are Microsoft Windows Home Server compatible so our customers can quickly and easily derive more benefits from some of our most popular products… I believe our customers will appreciate how simple it is for network devices to be recognized and installed on the server and will value the remote access that it provides.”

You can learn more about D-Link on their product Web site.

AutoExit

ASoft’s AutoExit for Windows Home Server is a console add-in for Windows Home Server. It can be used to shut down and reboot machines in your home network from within the console. You can also put the machine into hibernation, sleep, log-off the user, or lock the machine. If you prefer not to use the console, you will have the option to do any of the above actions from the toolbar and either to an individual computer, or for all of the PCs on the network.

Wake On Lan is supported which enables you to easily boot up your PC remotely when you are out of the home or office. There is even support for opening a Remote Desktop session to the remote machines and to the server!

So that you are always informed of what actions have been used in AutoExit, Statistics are kept so that a detailed trace can be viewed on when certain actions were executed.

*Screen shot of AutoExit addition in the Windows Home Server console

Some of the new features in AutoExit 2009 for Windows Home Server include:

• · Multilingual UI (supports German, French, Japanese).
• · Setup has been made smaller and packaged as a zip file instead of 1 installer.
• · Send a message to all connected clients.
• · Warn users when the server is going down.
• · Support for Windows 7.
• · Mac-address of the server is retrieved when opening the diagnostic dialog and the Mac field being empty.
• · Multiple fixes and some minor adjustments.

Diskmgt

Windows Home Server Disk Management is another Windows Home Server add-in. This add-in is designed for users who would like to see more detail about their server's storage status than what the standard Windows Home Server Storage interface provides.

It acts as an extension of the server storage interface, making it easier to identify the hard drives via a visual display. Seeing which drive is the system drive and the amount of data being used on each drive has now become easier.

If you are interested in expanding your Windows Home Server’s capabilities, take a look at our top Window Home Server Add-Ins.

-Nicole

If you look back at posts from several weeks ago, I wrote about the Top 10 Reasons to use Windows Home Server. Since then, I have been explaining each bullet in more detail including backup and restore , installing your home server , and connecting to friends and family through Windows Home Server’s Remote Access. Today, I will tell you a little more about item number 5 on the list - Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender and how it can provide an unlimited amount of space for your large collection of recorded Family Guy episodes or the thousands or pictures that are sitting unprotected on your PC.

With Windows Home Server, storage space grows as your needs and digital possessions grow. Thanks to Windows Home Server Drive Extender , you are able to add internal or external hard drives of any size so which will create an unlimited amount of storage space for your HD movies, pictures, or huge collection of Family Guy episodes. Users will no longer have worry about disk drive letters (C:, D:, E:, etc. etc.) as they add more hard drives to their home server, since Windows Home Server treats the disk space as a large pool of available space. Windows Home Server also monitors the health of each hard drive that is added. The lights on the outside of the server will turn Red if a drive is failing, Purple if there's a drive but it's not configured and Blue if it's configured and healthy.

*Screen shot of a Windows Home Server with over 3TB of space

In a recent satisfaction survey completed by Windows Home Server users, we found that 54% of people using the English version of Windows Home Server have 4 or more hard drives connected to their server! Some more fun facts about how people today are getting the most out of their Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender include:

• The largest number of hard drives currently attached to a home server is 30, there are lots and lots of people with more than 10 hard drives attached to their home servers
• The largest amount of available disk space that we have seen (so far) is: 36.603516 terabytes
• The largest amount of used disk space that we have seen (so far) is: 24.093750 terabytes

 

*Fans in a home-built Windows Home Server that are being used to cool 13 hard drives.

Windows Home Server Drive Extender provides the reliability benefits of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) without the complexity. Windows Home Server supports reliability by duplicating designated shared folders – so important data (e.g. your Photos, Music, etc.) will be stored on separate hard drives helping to provide protection against hard drive failure.  Folder Duplication is configurable on a per shared folder basis, so a given shared folder can have multiple copies, with each one being stored on a separate hard drive.

How is it different from RAID solutions?

• Any hard drive, any time. You are not restricted to simply adding more hard drives of the same type and size. When you want to grow your home server storage, you just buy whatever hard drive you like and add it.
• Internal and external hard drives can be used to grow your storage. No space in your home server case? No problem, plug in one or more USB 2.0 or FireWire hard drives.
• Hard drive removal, as explained above. With time, it will be important to remove the older smaller hard drives and put in new larger hard drives so you can store more stuff.

To see how easy it is to add and remove a hard drive first hand, take a look at the screen cast below:

 

-Nicole

Many of the products that you use everyday are faceless and may be hard to identify with. We thought it would be interesting to put a face behind Windows Home Server and give you a chance meet some of the people that work on Windows Home Server day in and day out. I will be introducing you to different areas of the team, but we will start with our Community Program Manager, Jonas Svensson.

Jonas is someone that you may have already met. As our Community Program Manager, he participates in multiple events event throughout the year that you have possibly attended including SMB Nation and PDC. In this interview, you will find out how he contributes to the team and how Windows Home Server is a part of his daily life. Enjoy!

Windows Home Server was designed to “grow with you”. That may be obvious when it comes to adding additional hard drives but also includes the option to install extra software features to help customize your Home Server. The development community has created “add-ins” for Windows Home Server that extends its capabilities in fun, exciting, and useful ways. There are currently over 100 add-ins available for download.

Three widely popular add-ins that are being used today include: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist.

Lights-Out

This power management add-in is used to put your Windows Home Server in a hibernated mode when you are not using it. This is a great way to cut down on energy bills and make your home or office a little “greener”.

*Windows Home Server console screen shot of Lights-Out add-in

This add-in allows your Home Server to go into hibernation mode when users are not using it, based on your calendar of events, or a combination of both. You will also have the option to set a defined time in which the Home Server will fully turn back on. Windows Home Server will never remain asleep if you have a backup scheduled. Therefore, all of your important data will remain safe and still be automatically backed up.

WebGuide

WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs while you are away from home. It will also enable you to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Windows XP Media Center edition or Windows Vista Premium, or Windows Vista Ultimate PC.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

*Screen shot of streaming videos through Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

WebGuide provides you with mobile access to your music and videos from your Windows Mobile devices. This means you can have access to all of your pictures and movies while you are on the road.

Whiist

Whiist is a Windows Home Server add-in that allows you to create and manage web content on your Windows Home Server. Once downloaded, Whiist can be used through your Windows Home Server console. This tab makes it so that you can easily create and manage new websites, photo albums, and homepage links.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server console with the Whiist add-in

Some of the key features that are found in Whiist include:

• Quickly create new websites on your home server.
• Create new photo albums to share with family and friends in a few simple steps.
• Share photos with family and friends through online photo sharing.
• Create public content, or restrict access to users of your Windows Home Server.
• Easily customize your public and private Windows Home Server Homepage links.
• Fully integrates with the Windows Home Server management console.
• Customize your Windows Home Server homepage

You have now seen three out of many Windows Home Server add-ins. If you are interested in learning about all of the other available add-ins to download, you can visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/add-ins.mspx.

-Nicole

Based on customer feedback, we found that it was a goal to be able to access important information no matter where you are. This includes local networks, or in places as far away as Antarctica.

With Windows Home Server, you have the ability to share all of your digital content (pictures, videos, etc) with everyone, no matter the distance. When you are out of the home or office and on the road, Windows Home Server has Remote Access capabilities that make it possible for you to view, find files, and even use applications. By using an automatically assigned web address, you can log into your home network or home computers easily and securely. From this site, you will have the ability to upload all of your digital content (pictures, videos, etc), and have access to all of your Shared Folders on your Home Server back home.

*Screen shot of uploading pictures while using Remote Access

We receive a lot of customer feedback and stories about their experiences with Windows Home Server. One that stood out with regard to Remote Access was a user that was stationed in Antarctica. This man's story talks about how his Windows Home Server’s Remote Access capabilities allowed him to stay in contact with his Wife and Children back home while he was deployed to Antarctica.

Brain Irvin used this feature while deployed in Antarctica. In order to make the separation easier on his kids and wife, he started making short video clips of his time out on the ice. The only way he could share them was making them into compressed files so that they were small enough to send through email. Once his videos became larger, he realized that his wife back home could buy Windows Home Server and use Remote Access so he could upload and share his videos much easier. Irvin started uploading to the “Videos” folder on the Home Server and from there, his wife back home was able to watch them and share with their children. Irvin says that “They had a children’s book about penguins in the store, so I bought it and recorded me reading it.  I just uploaded it.  Tomorrow night I will get to read my kids a bedtime story despite being on the other side of the planet.” He states that this was the best thing he has used his Home Server for.

Some other great responses that I have seen about Windows Home Server’s Remote Access capabilities include:

• “I use Windows Home Server as a "hub" for pictures to/from my in-laws in China and my daughter serving in the Navy in Japan. It has worked flawlessly since day 1. They all like sharing pictures pretty much in real time”
• “I travel a lot and this week while I was on the road, one of my eBay auctions ended.  I was able to log into my home desktop machine, confirm payment through office email, print a USPS shipping label to my office printer and have my wife ship the box.  Showed a couple of my colleagues and they were mighty impressed.”
• “I also have used the add-in ‘Whiist’ to set up a shared photo album for all of the relatives to view.  Everyone loves the ability to view or upload their own photos, especially since we are spread all over the US.”

To see Remote Access in action, you can watch to following screen cast on this topic:

*Remote Access screen cast (for best viewing, watch in HD)

To learn more about Windows Home Server and Remote Access, you can visit Windows Home Server’s web page at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

Today, we’re featuring a ‘guest blog post’ from a representative at Hewlett-Packard, one of our key Windows Home Server OEMs, who is making an important announcement today.  Bill Johnson, Marketing Manager in the HP Storage Works Division, shares with us…

HP is really excited to be able to offer a comprehensive data protection and file sharing system to our small business customers, the HP StorageWorks X500 Data Vault series.

*HP StorageWorks X500 Data Vault

Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server operating system, the HP Data Vault provides an easy to install and easy to manage solution for our small and emerging business customers who do not have - nor need - a sophisticated IT infrastructure.  The HP Data Vault allows our small business customers to automatically backup their client PC's, protect their data by making copies and remotely access data away from the office.  We feel the combination of the Microsoft Home Server operating system and the HP Data Vault will help our customers better protect their most important business asset - their data!  The HP StorageWorks X500 Data Vault - Store It, Secure It, Share It.

- Posted on behalf of Bill Johnson, Hewlett-Packard