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If you’ve not tried it, Windows Media Center (WMC) is an incredible one-stop media hang-out for watching and recording television, listening to music, perusing pictures and videos and watching movies.
Combining Windows Media Center with Windows Home Server showcases one of the major strengths of Microsoft’s server platform, which is centralized storage and distribution of media files throughout the connected home.
LDisk adds iSCSI Target Storage capability to your Server. Using LDisk, you can create a single appliance to provide all your storage and backup needs.
According to Microsoft, “SkyDrive for Windows is the easiest way to access your SkyDrive”. With SkyDrive installed on your home server you will be able to add, change or delete files in one location and have your files automatically sync in all the locations you employ the SkyDrive application.
Using Windows Home Server 2011 to protect your data is a great first step in the quest for peace of mind, but it is only a first step. You can back up your data from your PCs to the server, great, but what happens if the server itself fails? Or is stolen? With regard to server failure, that can be mitigated in part by the ability to backup the server itself (which we’ll cover separately later). Otherwise, keeping a backup off-site, at a family member, friend’s house or even the office is a great idea. As ever, WHS 2011 makes it easy.
So far, we’ve discussed the features built-in to Windows Home Server 2011, and there are a lot of them to cover. But Microsoft cleverly designed the software to be extendable – so developers can create applications (called add-ins in the WHS world) which literally add new features to the platform. Over the four years of Windows Home Server v1’s life, community developers released well over one hundred add-ins for the platform, and we’re well on the way to seeing a great selection of apps for WHS 2011 too.
An essential hardware purchase for all Windows Home Server owners is an Uninterruptible Power Supply – these battery back-up units supply power to your server in the event of a power outage. Whether you live in an area that suffers from frequent outages, or you simply want to protect your data and hardware from the dreaded, accidental PSU kick then you should take a look at one.
The Windows Home Server 2011 Dashboard Server Folders and Hard Drives tab contains the tools needed to configure and manage your storage. It is, by far, the most important area of the Dashboard – if you have no storage capacity, you have no server. So, let us take a look at what you can (and need to) do with the tools on offer.
If I think back a few years to the reasons Windows Home Server attracted me, the ability to create and manage secure user accounts on the network was certainly up there. A shared resource like a server adds a lot of value to the digital home, but it’s important to organise and manage the use of the server to ensure both data and users are secure and protected at all times. Fortunately, Windows Home Server 2011 is equipped with fantastic user account creation and management tools which ensures you can achieve just that.
If you’ve been juggling with multiple media server apps to stream your music and video to the growing number of digital media receivers around the home (Connected TV, set top box, games consoles, AV receivers etc) then help is at hand. Plex, my personal media server du choix, has just announced beta support for the DLNA protocol, enabling easy streaming to Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and WDTV Live.
WebDAV for WHS enables the necessary server roles on Windows Home Server 2011 to permit WebDAV connections from network devices.
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How To Install Microsoft SkyDrive on Windows Home Server 2011
86% of Windows Home Server 2011 Owners Use Additional Storage Management & Protection
Add-in Update: Drive Bender v1.3.0.0
Add-in Update: Drive Bender v1.3.1.0
TP-LINK Announces “Flagship” AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adaptors
Windows Home Server 2011 Step by Step – Part 18: Managing TV Recordings With Windows Media Center
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Iomega’s StorCenter ix2 Arrives in the UK
Windows Home Server 2011 Step by Step – Part 17: Windows Home Server and Apple Macs
JazJon: Looks like he's got a new updated Windows Home Se...
Don: I enjoy the series and manage to get my Lion Ser...
Gravitywell: if you have a ATX MB with side facing sata ports...
lazergeek: I have been using this since Beta on my media cent...
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