Home server hardware ideas

Hello all,
I am currently looking into building a home server to serve various needs. I want it to be able to do the following,
1 - store backups from my main computer
2 - store and stream media like music and videos
3 - have a virtualized router (most likely PFsense under virtual box)
4 - be able to handle RAID 1 (in software or hardware)
5 - remote manage the server via SSH
So I appreciate any hardware recommendations that will have low power drain, but still be able to keep up with these requirements. Also I'd like to be a bit mindful of some kind of budget.
I know that I will need two network cards for the virtual router.
I currently have a 500 watt ATX factor PSU sitting around from a desktop upgrade and some DDR2 Ram that I'd like to be able to use but that is not mandatory.
As an alternative to buying new hardware for this server, I am considering upgrading to the new AMD FX 8150, with a new mobo, when the second generation comes in a few months, and using my desktop CPU and Mobo for the server. Would my current cpu, an AMD Phenom II x4 get too hot without additional cooling beyond the included cooler?
Thank you in advance for any feedback.

Anders H wrote:@fukawi2: I'm leaning this direction; you mention KVM and Zen, how do they compare to virtual box in terms of usability. I like Virtual box because I can set it up quickly, Does KVM and/or Zen have good documentation that will help me get it up and running?
Virtual Box is certainly more user friendly, but it's worth the learning curve IMHO. KVM-QEMU is fairly easy to use with VirtManager.
Xen is the least user-friendly, but the most powerful IMHO. (My preferred option for server virtualization)

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Modifying retired server hardware for home use

So due to the death of Server 2003 I had to retire quite a few servers in the last year for the company I work for. I decided to adopt all this otherwise discarded hardware and take it home with the goal of creating one sweet media server (and who knows what else down the road).Most of the servers were late Dell PowerEdge 2900/2950 systems but one was a PowerEdge R710.My goal is to make two servers essentially. One will befor a different purpose which will be straight forward and based on one of the PowerEdge 2900s.The other will be media/whatever home server running on the R710.So I have a huge pile of 600GB 15k RPM SAS drives which are awesome drives. However the R710 only has six 3.5 bays. I have A LOT more data than that, and a lot more hard drives than that available here.I don't want to go out and spend a ton of money on...
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Instead of buying those modules, save yourself a ton of money and buy the twinax. It has the SFP's and the cable together as one piece.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/modules/ps5455/data_sheet_c78-455693.html
You can purchase a 10gb card for your server, just make sure the server supports the host interface of the card (eg PCI-Express x8).
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/prodbrief/321634.pdf

ITunes and the Windows Home Server (on Acer h 340 hardware)

Hi,
I am going to install a Windows Home Server on an Acer H 340 server. I would like to route iTunes library to that server to free disc space on my laptop.
Will I still be able to use the clients (my Dell) iTunes to manage my ipod with the library on the WHS ?
How do I route iTunes to the WHS and is there something I need to take care of or avoid whilst teaming up the two ?
I will keep on using Windows Media Player 11 for streaming my music around the house, though... so it is iTunes really only for the managing of my ipod...
Unfortunately, Acer does not ship the WHS with any add-on software liek HP does with its home server, that eases working with iTunes through a special iTunes server application on top of the WHS OS... Any recommendations for that ?
Thanks a lot,
D

What you need to do is map a network drive on your PC to your WHS Music shared folder (make it M: for Music, if you like). Then move/copy your entire iTunes library to your new M-drive. Then when you start iTunes hold down the shift key and locate your library on your M-drive. You'll have to make sure that you are letting iTunes manage your music so that it will copy your music to the M-drive when you add it to iTunes.
Make sure that you enable duplication for your Music folder if you have more than one hard drive.
I am not an expert by any means but I am running iTunes this way on my WHS.
I think the add-on software that you are referring to is Firefly Media server. It is easily added to any WHS. When installed you can direct it to a folder and it will find all playlists and music files and present them to iTunes clients on your network. It is very slick.
Hope this helps,
-C
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Home Server 2011 Stopped Working

Hey there. I work with a windows Home Server 2011 and recently it wasn't accessing a certain report that I need. I restarted it to see if that would fix it. When it restarted, it went through the Windows loading screen, then went to a black screen. I could
not get it to boot into safe mode. After about 10 minutes of nothing, I hard reboot it. I did this process 2 or 3 more times to no avail. Now the server will not even power on. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to troubleshoot this?

Hi amazingbass,
As you mentioned the server not even power on, it mostly is some hardware may have issue, please contect your hardware vendor for the first step troubleshooting. Bas on my experience and from your description the server went black screen and can not complete
startup it some times caused by the disk corrupt, you can focuse this issue first.
Best regards.
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Synchronizing Address Book against a home server

I have a Bubba Two home server setup with Debian Etch, and a Mac Mini.
I want to synchronize Address Book’s contacts against this home server. What is the protocol or method of doing this? I want to synchronize the Address Book on two Macs through this server (and thus have three copies/backups too).
PS: Don’t mention MobileMe. I know what the service does, but I want to use my own hardware.

I have no idea what a Bubba Two or a Debian Etch are, but I created a unix bash script that uses the rsync -vvSauWEe ssh --delete --progress --stats command, and also made a launchd plist file to control when the script fires (you could use cron to automate the launch time, too -- it's deprecated but it still works).
I am running this across the internet at large to sync Address Book and iCal between distant machines. If you plan to operate similarly, then note the -e ssh switch. You will need to set up ssh on all affected machines to use passwordless public/private key authentication. If you search the Unix forum here using the search term ssh-keygen I suspect you will find plenty of info on how to do that, if you don't know about that already. And, of course, if you are running across the internet at large, don't forget about port forwarding in your router.
man launchd.plist and man rsync are some of the better man pages that I have seen. The rsync man page gives pretty good down-to-earth examples of how to use it, in my opinion.

How do I add my phone's Wi-Fi Mac address to my home server so that I can use my home Wi-Fi with my phone?

Hello. I am using an Android cell phone and, though the phone sees my home server name and accepts my password, it won't connect. I understand that I may have to add my phone's Wi-Fi Mac address to my home server in order for it to allow my phone access, but I have no idea how I might do that. Could someone help me with this? Thank you.

Tdalso wrote:
How do I add a phone number so I can use either my US or Canadian number (depending on where I am) with iMessage and Facetime on both my iPhones?
You need to log out of iMessage and Facetime, make sure your number is correct in Settings/General/About, then log back in again to send a new activation request.

Home Sharing in Itunes 9 on Windows Home Server

I have installed iTunes 9 and have started using Home Sharing. I want to be able to use Home Sharing with my WHS (Windows Home Server) as our music is stored there and we have iTunes on all computers, plus 2 iphones and iPods.
This would need a Home Sharing server (service) to run on the WHS. Has Apple produced such a piece of software or can I install the Home Sharing component of iTunes 9 on my server? I am advised (by Microsoft) that installing iTunes 9 is not a good idea on WHS as WHS is designed to run services not user apps.
Any suggestions or has Apple someting in plan?
It seems that sharing between PCs is a bit behind the times when many people have moved over to Home Servers or NAS drives.

I too would like to would like to know how to implement iTunes on Windows Home Server (WHS) so my Music library can be stored on a redundant source that is always available to be accessed from any PC in the house. Does Apple have a way to do this or plans to create a product for WHS?
I understand Firefly can be used to stream music content on a WHS, but think this should be a complete iTunes solution with a common library and allow playlist storage from iTune clients that connect to it.

Windows Home Server and iTunes

Hi, I have the following setup (all machines on GBit LAN):
- a Windows Home Server machine with all my music on it (currently stored raw on the filesystem)
- 3 Windows XP machines
- 2 iPods
I would like an authoritative answer on how to setup iTunes on my network so that:
- I can maintain a central, organised store of my music on the Windows Home Server
- I can access all my music and podcasts on the PCs without having to copy it locally
- I can sync my iPods normally
I would like to avoid 3rd party software such as Firefly if at all possible. The WHS machine runs headless (as is normal practice) so any solution should avoid the use of desktop apps like iTunes on the server.
As WHS is gaining widespread acceptance as a home file and media server, if Apple do not have a suggested setup for iTunes/WHS I would suggest it would be a good idea to develop one.
Please note, with respect, I would like to avoid speculation. If you haven't actually done the above and proven the solution, please refrain from speculating to avoid people (myself included) going down potential dead ends.
Thank you

Has anyone found a way around this?
Message was edited by: postrooms

Can I install windows home server 2011 on a mac mini?

Hey guys and girls...
Can I install windows home server 2011 on a mac mini? If so how?

WHS is 64-bit. Genius are really not versed in Boot Camp or Windows, let alone anything not on the "approved" list of Windows versions.
Most of the problems are with burning ISO, or the SuperDrive. It should have seen the NTFS partition. Disk Utility is known to be trouble, burning it on your Mac Mine but iwth Windows 7....?
Seeing you have Windows 7, format the partition to NTFS 160GB you want and then exit and boot WHS installer.
Or run the install from Windows 7.
In past, WHS supported TimeMachine, streaming video, supported iTunes (that was broken/disabled it seems by Apple with 10.0), as well as even SuperDuper backups.
Main idea is to have some network attached drives.
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I have both a ISO and Burned it to a dvd useing windows 7 built in ISO burning software, Its a 64 bit copy (got from microsoft download website from my dads microsoft account).
It is enouth for the OS but it runs slowish on the mac mini (latest core 2 duo 2.4ghz model) The Idea was to have it backup my pc and laptop to a usb drive and act as a media centre pc (connected to av receaver and tv and on a gigabit network with a 2TB nas)
Since it looks like this may not work, whats the best way to make it into a media centure? mac osx? windows 7? plex? whats best and good?
I'd avoid USB like the plague. Why not use your PC instead? If I was going to use a Mini for WHS, I'd just use the Mini solely for Windows and not have OS X (you can boot OS X off an external drive anyway).

Setting up Windows Home server 2011 on Microserver

This is the first time I have played with a server although lots of experience of setting up desktops. I have a HP proliant microserver and have added a couple of extra 500gb drives. I have just installed Windows Home Server 2011 and can't see the extra drives in windows explorer. I assume that I need to change something in the BIOS or am I missing something? My aim is to set the extra drives up as some form of RAID or mirroring. Any help welcome.
Thanks

You should use HP smart start DVD to install the Windows Home Server. If you are booting directly from the Windows DVD it would some times not detect the drivers because of the hardware compatibility issue. You should contact the the vendor and seek help
from him.
http://www.arabitpro.com

Nstalling Windows Home Server 2011 on a ProLiant ML350e Gen 8 Server (Nothing appearing in Operating System Selection During Install)

We just purchased Windows Home Server software that required a new server to be purchased. We went with the ProLiant350e Gen8 Server. IUpon starting up the new ProLiant server I booted from CD-Rom and got to the Windows Install program. I clicked "Install
A New Server" However, as soon as this page loads it gives me an error that says "Load Driver" "A required CD/DVD Drive Device Driver is Missing. If you have a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now." It gives
me the option to browse or click okay. Browse only brings up the (x:) Boot drive and VID. It doesn't find the driver in VID Than if I click okay it gives me a message that says "No Device Drivers were found. Make sure that the Installation media contains
the correct drivers and then click ok" I have tried to use smart provisioning but this fails as it cannot recognise the media from the DVD drive.
Thanks in advance,

You should use HP smart start DVD to install the Windows Home Server. If you are booting directly from the Windows DVD it would some times not detect the drivers because of the hardware compatibility issue. You should contact the the vendor and seek help
from him.
http://www.arabitpro.com

TS130 and Windows Home Server 2011

Hello,
Just got a New TS130 1105B2U and am curious if anyone has used Windows Home Server 2011. I did not see it on the list.
Also, I notice there is a 4TB cap on the drive support. Is that only for the hardware RAID support? Is it possible to install an additional drive controller in conjunction with the motherboard or is the cap based on the BIOS?
I looked around the forum but could not find an answer.
Thanks,
Paul

Hi Paul,
Lenovo never announced support for Windows Home Server 2011. As it was a consumer-oriented OS, it was not in-line with our strategy for those systems. WHS2011 runs on core of Windows Server 2008 R2 and is the close cousin of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, both of which are fully qualified for use on ThinkServer TS130. You should be able to find compatible drivers at support.lenovo.com using either of those as your match to get your server functional.
Support note: Lenovo would be unable to provide any level of support for the OS. This does not impact your hardware support. I'm going to guess you are familiar with these types of restictions since WHS2011 is only sold as an OEM licence.
As to your question about drive capacity, that must be an old revision of the manual. Lenovo has since annouced 3TB drives, making 6TB the maximum capacity by the system given Lenovo ThinkServer-branded options in a 2-bay system.
Below are the drives available for ThinkServer TS130:
0A89470
ThinkServer 500GB 3.5" 7.2K Enterprise SATA 6Gbps Cabled Hard Drive
0A89471
ThinkServer 1TB 3.5" 7.2K Enterprise SATA 6Gbps Cabled Hard Drive
0A89472
ThinkServer 2TB 3.5" 7.2K Enterprise SATA 6Gbps Cabled Hard Drive
0A89478
ThinkServer 3TB 3.5" 7.2K Enterprise SATA 6Gbps Cabled Hard Drive
Cheers!
Regards,
Nathan Miller
Enterprise S&P Product Manager
Enterprise Systems Group
Lenovo
ThinkServer is now on Twitter. We want to hear from you.
https://twitter.com/lenovoserver

Windows Home Server 2011, uPnP and HH2

Hi. Just connected a new Windows Home Server 2011 based server to my network. When trying to setup the server for remote access, the server, after attempying to setup the HH2 reports that the router "doesn't support uPnP". Any ideas?

I am sure that it does. Look under "game and application sharing", on the hub menu, there should be an option to enable uPnP.
Alternatively you will have to map ports manually.
There are some useful help pages here, for BT Broadband customers only, on my personal website.
BT Broadband customers - help with broadband, WiFi, networking, e-mail and phones.

Windows Home Server & WRT54G Problem - WHS

I am trying to set up my new Windows home server to work on my (otherwise working fine)home network. WHS is supposed to be super easy. Yes, and the MS tooth fairy...
Anyway, my WHS will not connect to the network or apparently even the WRT54G router. WHS has not yet connected to the internet either thru my broadband router. When I open up the Server Console on the server (other networked PC's can't see the server yet), go to settings to trouble shoot, I am getting a message that the router is not configured & no router IP address is found. I have my router set up for auto DHCP & pretty much everything else on default. Double checked the cables, they are fine. Somehow WHS will not connect to my WRT54G (V. 6, w/latest firmware update 1.025!)
Server console page gives error message at "Verifying that your router supports UPnP standards", "Verifying that your router is accepting web site connections" and Verifying that your router is accepting Remote Access connections". Yet, when I log into router at 192.168.1.1/Manage.htm it says UPnP is enabled. The rest of the networked computers work just fine. But apparently I have trouble between WHS and WRT54G. Is this a UPnP issue? If so, how resolve? MS's web site is really weak on WHS troubleshooting.
ANY ADVISE?????

I think I know your problem: on your WHS machine, go start>right click "My computer">properties>hardware>device manager... I'm guessing you have a yellow question mark sign over your ethernet controller, and no listing for "Network adapters". If this is the case, then basically the WHS install didn't recognise you LAN, so it can't communicate with your network and hence isn't being assigned an IP by your DHCP router. To solve, open you computer, and read off the motherboard product id and manufacturer. Go to their website, find the downloads section, find your motherboard id (i'm assuming you're using the onboard LAN) and download the LAN driver. Move the files over to the desktop of your WHS with a USB key or something, extract and run the installer. Restart, and if we're onto the right thing, then voila! I hope this is it... -Dave

Mac mini server: Hardware test error on Hard Drive

Mac mini server: Hardware test error on Hard Drive
'checking for slow read failures': ERROR - Target device access failure - Test failed.
CAN I ACCESS HD (which is our data server) EVER AGAIN? IF SO, HOW?
Meanwhile we wonder if this is really a hardware error. It all happened during writing a time machine backup.
Probably while writing it, some data was relocated by accident, but we can not 100%-sure remember the sequence of actions :/
This is our trauma history:
- time machine got increasingly slower in writing a backup
- we quit the backup
- we switched off the mac mini (on power button)
- we switched on the mac mini
- we stopped time machine to the rules
- we shut down mac mini via command
- we booted the mac mini in save mode
- we see a loading bar
- no progress after 10th of loading bar
- switched off (power button)
- when we now switch on the loading bar below the apple-logo is all we see + the little wheel
- we started with cmd+alt+p+r pressed
- mac mini restarted but showed the loading bar scenario without progress again
- we started with 'd' pressed and did the hardware test (see above)
- we started with 'alt' pressed but it does not give us the recoverydrive to run the last backup
ANY IDEAS?
IS IT A SOFTWARE- OR HARDWARE ERROR?
THX IN ADVANCE!

BDAqua wrote:
I thnk Intenal 2.5" Drives for servers is silly, & Ithink the Minis & iMacs re poorly cooled.
I'd get Temprature Monitor & see what temps they're running.
Is Temperature Monitor an app or a device? If it's a temperature problem then that is essentially a design problem. Two drive failures in the same Mac mini server in four months combined with the fact that they're not really user serviceable already has me 90% on the way back to more pragmatically designed Linux servers. I think it would be foolish to waste any more money on these minis for my business hosting.

Home server hardware ideas

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