We Got Served

Up Front

The Boxster’s front panel is very simple indeed – a single, flat face with small light blue LEDs denoting power, disk activity and home server health status.A small hole for placing the home server into recovery state (as found in the EX models) and then all you’re left with is branding elements. I guess that’s all you need, isn’t it?

Around the Back

The rear of the unit is a similarly basic affair – you do get four USB 2.0 ports for your money (with just one internal disk, external storage options are vital) along with a gigabit Ethernet socket. But eSATA support is not for debate as there’s no port (not even one that doesn’t work, like the EX48x!). You’ll also find a nice big power button and punched rear plate for additional ventilation.

Meet the HP MediaSmart Server Family

So, now we have three generations of HP MediaSmart Server hardware, and when you put them together, you can see that the LX195 is certainly the little brother in the family, with a far smaller footprint than the previous models.

Under the Hood

The hardware junkies out there will be eager to see what the LX195 looks like under the hood. The great news is that accessing the system’s internals is so much easier than earlier HP MediaSmart Servers, so boosting the included 1Gb of memory is not a problem.

To open up the LX195, you simply remove two rear screws from the backplate and slide off the side panel.

The angled chassis hides what is actually a very simple metal box which holds the LX195’s componentry – it’s this simplicity of design which brings down the build cost and hence the price.

You can access the system’s motherboard via a hinged metal access panel, which lifts up and is held into place by a small (very flimsy, so be careful you don’t break it) plastic clip. The access panel itself holds the server’s fan, as well as the unit’s 640Gb Western Digital Caviar Blue hard drive (WD6400AAKS). The Caviar is WD’s standard desktop drive – no low power green drives here, bud.

A small form factor motherboard is revealed below, with an embedded Intel Atom processor and 1Gb of RAM. The RAM is easily removable, so you can upgrade the unit to 2Gb should you wish (if you’re going to use a lot of add-ins, or media streaming it’s worth making this simple mod).

Here you can see the Boxster’s internals, with confirmation of that codename printed on the motherboard!

Under the Hood

Let’s take a look at the LX195’s full hardware specification, compared to the other MediaSmart Models:

The LX195 utilises Intel’s Atom processor – a chip we’re now seeing in increasing numbers in home servers from a range of manufacturers, including Tranquil PC and Acer. In fact, it’s exactly the same 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor that Acer have selected for their easyStore Home Server, and should provide sufficient power for all but the most hardcore of multiple high definition media streaming challenges. Power consumption is reduced from other MediaSmart Server models, thanks to the low-power Atom (and of course only a single hard drive on board). With 4 USB ports, there’s plenty of scope for external storage expansion – bear in mind that single drive systems do not have the option of Windows Home Server’s Folder Duplication feature, which mirrors the data on the home server’s shared folders on a second hard drive, so if you want to protect the data stored on the home server, you’ll need top invest in USB storage quite quickly. As mentioned above, you can give the Boxster a lot more grunt by swapping out the 1Gb memory for a 2Gb slab.

Starting It Up

Power up the LX195 and it’ll spend a little bit of time initialising before slowly flashing it’s blue LEDs at you. At this point, you can insert the Software Installation CD on one of your home computers to install the HP and Windows Home Server connector software.

As you can see, a break from tradition with the LX195 christened as HPSERVERLX rather than the usual “HPSERVER” which makes life easier for those of you with multiple HP MediaSmart Servers on your home or office network. One big change with this new model is that the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) has been augmented with additional help and installation advice from HP. Whilst the install progresses, a webpage pops up with installation help and a strong recommendation to read before progressing with the install.

The installation guide provides comprehensive help on setting up the Boxster hardware on the network, along with detailed, step by step guidance on configuring a wide range of anti-virus and firewall software (including AVG, McAfee, Windows Vista & XP Firewalls, Norton, Symantec, Trend Micro and Zone Alarm) all with walkthroughs and screenshots. Also included are instructions on installing the HP/Windows Home Server Connector software.

I’ve never had the need to go in and change these settings with the various home server hardware I’ve tested, but clearly some users have had these problems with previous models or else HP wouldn’t be including these guidelines. It’s another step on the way to ensuring that the MediaSmart Server can be successfully set up and configured by a more average user, which of course is the target customer for the Boxster. Great move.

The setup continues, allowing you to rename the home server, should you wish, along with setting up the administrator password and other configuration options. Here’s a screenshot walkthrough for those who may be new to how it works:

On your first login into the home server, HP Update will run to check for any updates to HP’s software enhancements to Windows Home Server.

Nothing found here (unsurprisingly as this is initial release hardware) so let’s take a look at the Windows Home Server Console and see what add-ins HP have included.

Continue:  Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3