Recently, I announced a new WHS add-in, AdminiMe. When Nick Asseloos asked for some volunteers to beta test a new add-in a few months ago, I thought sure, why not? It really was not that much of a test, as the add-in was closer to RC quality then CTP quality to start out with.
So, now we have a new add-in from the author of AutoExit. What does it do? Like in my release announcement, Nick can say it better than I:
What does it do, who is it for,…
As the Home Server is a headless machine that is running non stop for long periods of times, and mostly hidden away in some closet/basement/small room; people don’t look at its ‘health’ to often.
To avoid this, you can use AdminiMe, it will monitor your server in the background without you having to do anything.
And in case something goes wrong, it will notify you via mail.
Added to this monitoring, it contains a console where you can watch all kinds of parameters in real-time.
Things like CPU, memory, network, disks and all kinds of statistics like uptime, longest uptime, # of starts,…
But it doesn’t stop there, it also has shortcuts to the most relevant tools:
Event Viewer, Task Manager, Performance Monitor, Remote Desktop.
You also have the option to add your own shortcuts to applications!
And next to that, there is a ‘Run-box’ which has the same functionality as the Windows Run Dialog. (use it with caution!) There is also a screen where you can view, which users have open files to the server shares.
All events are kept in a log that can be consulted later on.
So as you can read, a lot of functionality packed into 1 add-in!
Installation
Installing the add-in is as simple as any other add-in. Copy the msi installer to your D:SoftwareAdd-ins folder, open the WHS Setting Window in the console and install the software from the Add-ins tab, as shown below.
Reopen the WHS console, locate and click on the AdminiMe tab. You will be greeted with the following information window.
AdminiME requires one to purchase the program to unlock all of the programs functionality. This class of software I would call shareware, but that is a term that is not often used anymore. Still, shareware is the best description of this program. It is certainly not commercial software and you may use it forever with the following limitations:
- You get the nag screen shown above when accessing the add-in
- The emails that get sent in case of problems don’t contain any details. If you want the details, you need to go to the WHS Console itself.
30. January 2010 at 5:40 pm
Not sure why, but when I had this installed is slowed my access to the server. All my movies / recorded tv was unwatchable. It seemed to cause stutter in the streaming. Not sure if this was from the addin monitoring hard drive activity or network traffic. Other then that I would love to have used / purchased this addin.
31. January 2010 at 1:32 am
I was beta testing this a while ago. I also had the same issue but never seemed to get is resolved. If I rmember correctly, I think Nick said that it had something to do with WMI on my server. It also doesn't appeat to happen to everyone either. It's to bad because I like the add-in but the server was almost unresponsive.
1. February 2010 at 2:47 pm
I have to say that I was a bad beta tester in this respect. It did slow down my system and I never bothered reporting it. Do you have more info on the WMI problem?
2. February 2010 at 7:34 pm
I wish I did. I think there might be some in the private forum that was created during beta testing. Since I don't have the password anymore, I can't confirm that. I would think that you can ask Nick about it.
30. January 2010 at 5:41 pm
Super job on the review, Jim.
30. January 2010 at 6:09 pm
VERY NICE piece of Software.
Thats the kind for information an advanced user / Admin needs to have available.
GREAT to see this ALL available in an add-in.
It is also perfectly OK to ask for a price for the FULL functionality.
This was NOT developed over night there was a lot of work put into this from the looks of it.
30. January 2010 at 6:50 pm
I have this add-in and paid for the licensed version. Really like it as I can quickly assess the performance of my WHS, important to me as my hardware is quite low powered with a custom made setup using a Via Nano 1GHz processor and 2GB of memory. Get alerts is a nice feature as well.
30. January 2010 at 10:32 pm
Certainly a nice add-in. Jim Clark can you tell me what program /add-in your using to show the email?
30. January 2010 at 10:34 pm
The would be the Outlook 2010 beta. Anyone should be able to download and try that one!
31. January 2010 at 6:20 am
Very happy, worth the 6 buck hands down love the graphics(GUI)