Gnet Solutions

1. Choosing  your Components - A list of efficient, stable components for building a Windows Home Server.

2. Assembling your Components - Steps on assembling your components.

3. Installation, Bios Tweaks and Software Additions - Installation of WHS, Bios tweaks and software additions.

4. Final Thoughts, Recommendations - After thoughts on the process of setting up Windows Home Server. 

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Windows Home Server Forum or search in the KnowledgeBase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Windows Home Server.

Final Thoughts

So far I’m loving my WHS. I don’t have to worry about manually backing up my PC’s. WHS will backup my PC’s during a predetermined schedule and if the PC is sleeping or in hibernation mode it will wake them up.

The temp has been averaging around 23.C. and benchmark test conclude that it’s respectable to other similar systems. (will post tests soon)

Hardware additions

Since the putting the system together, I added two additional hard drives. One internal SATA drive to add to the storage pool and one External ESATA drive for backing up my WHS. I choose ESATA because the transfer rates are much faster than USB 2.0, up to 3Gpbs W/ eSATA.

Resources:

Learn more about Windows Home Server

• Windows Home Server Getting Started Guide 
• Windows Home Server Release Documentation 
• User Accounts and Shared Folders (new) 
• Home Computer Backup 
• Drive Extender 
• Media Sharing 
• Home Networking 
• Windows Home Server [Troubleshooting] Connector Installation
   

Next… Part 4: Table of Contents
Index: all posts in this series

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Windows Home Server Forum or search in the Knowledgebase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Windows Home Server.

WHS Installation

The installation of WHS went as planned with no major hiccups. After WHS was installed I added the second hard drive and turned on the duplication feature so the files in my shared folders where duplicated in case one of my hard drives failed I would still have a backup copy. Now that I had WHS up and running  I added the connection software to my home PC’s.

 REMARK: Install the Home Server Connector Software from the server location  \\Server\Software\Home Server Connector this will guarantee that you have the latest version. When windows update kicks off on your server it will place the latest update in this location. The one that comes with the DVD is out of date.

Windows Server Console is the heart of Windows Home Server and where you will be doing all your administration and configuring.

Bios Setup 

There where a couple Bios tweaks that needed adjusting to maximize the health of my Server.

1. On the PC Health Status > Smart Fan Option screen change the CPU Smart Fan to 4 Pin (depending on how many pins your CPU fan has) and then press enter on the Smart Fan Calibration option to calibrate the fan.

2. On the PC Health Status screen set the Shutdown Temperature. I choose 60C (the minimum).

Software Additions

Hardware Monitor

This tool is useful for monitoring the speed of your CPU and System fan.

AMD Power Monitor Version and AMD Processor Driver

The AMD processer that I bought comes with AMD Cool’ n’ Quiet technology that helps the processer run more efficiently by running processer at a reduced clock speed and voltage, when not being used heavily. In order to enable this this technology and test that it is working you will need to install AMD Power Monitor Version 1.2.3 and AMD Processor Driver 1.3.2.0053 from AMD. You can download the utilities here.

After you install the utilities go into WHS Control Panel > Power Settings and change the Power scheme to “Server Balanced Processor Power and Performance”.

Add-Ins

Antivirus

Even though I have Antivirus on each of my home PC’s, I still wouldn’t want this Server to be without protection. If a virus slips past one of my other PC’s it’s nice to know my WHS is protected as well. I chose Avast Antivirus  mainly because it’s the only WHS antivirus solution I could find at a reasonable cost.

Windows Home Server Disk Management Add-In

This Add-in is useful because it gives you more detail about your WHS Hard Drives. You can learn more about it here.

Next… Part 4: Final Thoughts and Recommendations
Index: all posts in this series

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Windows Home Server Forum or search in the Knowledgebase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Windows Home Server.

Power Supply and Case Fan

 
I recommend the fist step be to  install the Power supply. Apparently size is a factor here in that the power supply must not exceed 140mm, do to case limitations. Unless you can determine the size of your power supply it’s trial and error as to which one will fit. I choose Seasonic because I read that it would fit the case. I also replaced the stock case fan with fan by Antec because it’s reputed to be quieter.

Motherboard, CPU, Ram

IMPORTANT If you’re not familiar with Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) then before you do anything else read up on it here. Taking the necessary steps to prevent static build up is essential if you don’t want to fry your components.

Given the tight constraints of the case I choose to assemble the components on the motherboard outside the case. Install the CPU fist and follow the supplied guide that comes with your CPU.  The CPU heat sink is a personal choice, you can use the stock one that comes with the CPU however there are much better solutions out there that are quieter and will better cool your CPU. When installing the Arctic Cooling heat sink you must remove the black attachment that is attached to the fan, see here for directions to install the cooler. Installing the Ram was next and is fairly straightforward.

Next attach the spacers that came with the case securely to case at locations marked with the letter A. Attach I/O Shield that came with motherboard to case and make sure it aligns with motherboard layout.( I always align the I/O Shield to the motherboard before I put the motherboard into case to make sure the ports align perfectly. With such confined space you don’t want to have to pull the motherboard in and out of the case. Once everything is attached to the motherboard, very carefully align motherboard onto spacers and tighten screws. The next step is to attach all the cables to your motherboard, see the documentation that is specific to your motherboard.

DVD-Player

I installed the DVD player only to facilitate the installation of WHS. Reportedly you can install it off of a USB thumb drive but to save time I opted for the sure fire way and installed a DVD player.

Hard Drive

Attach hard drive to drive bay. Their wasn’t a whole lot of room to attach the cables to the back of the hard drive, I would of liked to have L shaped SATA cables. I choose just install one hard drive to get WHS up and running. I had 3 more SATA ports to install 3 more internal SATA drives if I wanted to.

  REMARK: In order to attach more then two internal SATA hard drives to this system you will need to purchase two 3.5 brackets so the hard drives will fit into the 5.25 drive bays.

To test to see if everything was functional, I powered the PC up. Everything looked like it worked so I proceeded to close up the case and install WHS.

Next… Part 3: WHS Installation, Bios Tweaks and Software Additions
Index: all posts in this series

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Windows Home Server Forum or search in the KnowledgeBase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Windows Home Server.

Introduction

With the saturation of PC’s in the market place, it’s becoming more common to have more than one PC in the home. With multiple PC’s in the home, the question arises how to go about backing up all the data on so many different PC’s?

We won’t go into detail about all the available options for backing up your PC’s, that’s another topic and you can read some possible solutions here.

Another option that I recently implemented at home for myself is Windows Home Server which in addition to backing up all your PC’s at home to a central location, has the ability to stream  your media files across your home network and provide access to these files from a remote location.

You can purchase a complete PC with WHS from a vendor or you can build yourself one from scratch like I did. Building from scratch gives you the option of choosing your own components best suited to your needs.

Albeit this is not the first article on this subject, everybody has their own unique experience to share in building a WHS. My hope is someone will become inspired by my article to build their own WHS and learn something in the process.

Choosing your components

The requirements for WHS are fairly low on the scale, see here for Microsoft requirements. Their is no reason to go out and buy the fastest and greatest components. WHS is considered a headless Operating System which means there is no need to have a permanent Monitor, Keyboard or Mouse attached to the device. You will be doing all your administration and configuring remotely from one of your other PC’s in your home. The only time you will need a Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse is during installation of WHS.

 

My requirment recommendations

CPU: 2GHz
RAM: 1GB
Hard Drives: One 500GB hard drive for Windows Home Server and at least two 300GB drives (or larger) for the storage.
DVD drive that is bootable
Monitor for the installation
Keyboard and mouse. For installation only.
Network Interface Card (NIC) 1Gbps Ethernet preferably

 

A WHS machine is meant to be left on so I wasn’t too concerned with performance as much as stability and energy efficiency. So with that in mind, the components here are reputed to be stable and efficient on the green scale.

• AeroCool M40 MicroATX Cube Case $74.99
• BIOSTAR MCP6P-M2 AM2 GF6150 AMD motherboard $44.99
• AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor  $64.99
• Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel - $30.49
• 1 x 1.TB Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM  $129.99
• 1 x 640 GB Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - OEM $74.99
• Seasonic SS-330GB 330W power supply $48.99
• ARCTIC COOLING ALPINE 7 92mm CPU Cooler   $13.99
• Antec 761345-75024-0 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - $14.99
• 2 x I-Star 3.5? bracket for 5.25? bay $2.98
• Microsoft Windows Home Server OEM $149.99

 

        Total   $651.38

Next… Part 2: assembling components
Index: all posts in this series

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Windows Home Server Forum or search in the KnowledgeBase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Windows Home Server.

If your in IT and haven’t read Mark Russinovich’s technical blog then you’re missing out. This guy knows his stuff and in this particular article “The Case of the Slooooow System” he takes you through high level troubleshooting techniques using Process Explorer.

If you have any questions regarding this topic you can post them at the Applications Forum or search in the KnowledgeBase section for any troubleshooting articles related to Process Explorer.