Windows Home Server Gets to Work in Small Business

By on July 7, 2008 in Windows Home Server

Whilst Windows Home Server, by its very name, suggests a clear positioning away from the worksplace, a lot of units are being sold by Small Business IT consultants into home based and other small businesses as perfect backup and remote access machines, working in conjunction with Windows Small Business Server.

Smallbiztechnology.com today interviews WHS Senior Product Manager, Joel Sider about Windows Home Server’s use in the workplace.

Do you use Windows Home Server in your small business? Let us know how well it works.

More Info: smallbiztechnology.com


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • Matthew Miller

    This was an inevitable application for WHS. I understand why Microsoft has been specific in its message about product application and market segmentation for WHS and Joel does a nice job of sticking to that message in this interview. It will be difficult enough to convince the average home user that they need a “server” in their home without highlighting the use of WHS in a business environment, but there is no reason why Microsoft could not cultivate a silent market for home businesses, tiny businesses, and specialized deployments by making WHS available to Technet and then ignoring its presence there

  • http://www.djinx.be Xavier

    I agree that WHS can be used in small businesses. I am successfully implementing WHS in small business (<10 employees) for more then 6 months now. Many of them had either no file/print server or where using a complete overkill of SBS. I am not saying SBS is bad, I am even a fan of it. But I stumbled on 2 companies with 3 employees and 3 laptops running SBS in a domain. This was overkill. WHS offers them more what they needed, especially the full backup of their laptops. As they where traveling outside their business a lot the SBS folder redirection was not always the best solution. Instead WHS in a workgroup, DHCP on their broadband router, some port forwardings, central Avast AnitiVirus and offcourse file/print sharing is the perfect match for them. Economical and little to no after support needed for them, whereas with SBS they needed too much IT expertise for a comnpany their size. And the big question … what about their e-mail, calendars, webmail etc? I know the web is filled with questions arounbd it, and yes it is perfectly possbile to install an exchange alternative on WHS offering all (or most) Exchange Feature. It just catches their POP3 mailboxes on an external datcenter with 99.8 uptime, anti-spam and anti-virus.. The WHS installed mailserver retrieves their mail and deploys it indide their office. Works brilliant, also offline (laptops), same calendar sharing, webmail etc. All this for a pice that better suits them. There is a market for small operations. It gives them more budget room to invest in other things that hopefully grow their business and isn’t that what we all want/need?

  • Andrew

    Forgive me, but isn’t SBS 2008 basically an updated version of WHS?

  • http://www.djinx.be Xavier

    No not at all. SBS is aimed at companies and offer Active Directory, Exchange, IIS, and much more. WHS is more aimed at prosumers and does not offer Active Directory neitehr a mail solution. There is also a licencing, pricing and user limit difference.

  • Nick

    We have setup WHS at a small client running SBS 2003 as a backup device for key notebook and desktop systems. Work really great and no conflict with SBS 2003. Several other Consultants that are part of the Chicago SBS User Group have done the same.

  • Manolis Krestas

    we use 2 home servers… 20 pc that must have dayly backup in the corp

  • Raoul

    Since April, I have implemented 2 WHS’s at 2 local small companies with great success, a 3rd WHS implementation in a local business is currently in the pipeline. One of main reasons for the companies (<10 employees) to choose WHS instead of SBS 2003 is money. Small Businesses do not normally have the budget to invest in Hardware, SBS 2003 and client licenses needed. Also as Xavier mentioned SBS 2003 is an overkill for these small companies. WHS is a perfect solution as it provides most important ingredients for them for a low price. Client Backup, File/Print sharing, database sharing (Contact Management e.g. Sage ACT) and a relative low Hardware spec requirement. The only cosmetic downsides of using WHS in a business environment are:
    - The name Windows HOME Server.
    - The in-ability to remove the fixed shares like Music, Photos and Videos.

    But sofar that has not stopped small businesses from using WHS.

  • http://www.christiannews.co.nz CN

    I have installed one of these in a school. Only really problem is the limit of 10 PCs. We have 13, so 3 cannot do autobackup :-(

  • Rory

    I am using WHS in a business setting. I have less than 10 PC’s which need to be backed up, and employees work out of the office a lot so the easy remote access has been awesome.

    It has also allowed me to create better relationships with our business partners as I have installed the filezilla server and we are better able to transfer files between our network of companies.

  • T Flynn

    I am a lawyer in solo practice. my practice management and billing program work unbelievably well with WHS. I moved the databases for each to a shared folder mapped the drive and bingo (1)no more data corruption from peer to peer (2) quick access for my secretary and myself. Unreal. The thing has been flawless. My computers are backed up. I back up the sever to an external hard drive that I take home.

    Bottom line, if you are a small business with less than 10 employees and are using a peer to peer network, you are a fool if you do not buy or build a WHS server.

  • Pat

    Originally Posted By RaoulSince April, I have implemented 2 WHS’s at 2 local small companies with great success, a 3rd WHS implementation in a local business is currently in the pipeline. One of main reasons for the companies (<10 employees) to choose WHS instead of SBS 2003 is money. Small Businesses do not normally have the budget to invest in Hardware, SBS 2003 and client licenses needed. Also as Xavier mentioned SBS 2003 is an overkill for these small companies. WHS is a perfect solution as it provides most important ingredients for them for a low price. Client Backup, File/Print sharing, database sharing (Contact Management e.g. Sage ACT) and a relative low Hardware spec requirement. The only cosmetic downsides of using WHS in a business environment are:
    - The name Windows HOME Server.
    - The in-ability to remove the fixed shares like Music, Photos and Videos.

    But sofar that has not stopped small businesses from using WHS.

    How did you get ACT! to work on WHS? I want to do this on my HP EX487

    Thanks

    • Duby

      Just posted this question in the forums section. Anybody figure out how to share Sage ACT! using WHS yet? Care to share?