Microsoft Windows Home Server - How to get started
Microsoft Windows Home Server was announced during CES 2007 just over one year ago. Windows Home Server is designed as a home user server operating system supporting file sharing, back automation and remote access. It is dervied from Windows Server 2003 SP2 and requires a dedicated server PC. It offers good security and functionality for advanced home network users.
This six page article, along with the links below offer good advice on how to get started:
Microsoft Windows Home Server - How to get started
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204805989
QUOTE: The question for you is, do you have a home network that connects several PCs, but no backups of all the important data on those PCs? The odds are you do. If so, Windows Home Server may be just the solution you need. This extremely smart server application will back up all those PCs as safely as you want, provide easy access to the files you want to share on your network (like music and media files), and even give you remote access to your files and computers across the Internet.
That may all sound too good to be true, but believe it. Windows Home Server is a great application. It does have what you might consider a downside: you have to dedicate a PC to running it. But while you might think of laying out for another computer as a problem, to Microsoft that's an opportunity. In fact, Microsoft thinks there are perhaps as many as 40 million people just like you out there, which is its estimate of the market for its Window Home Server product.
MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
(it's always good to try to double these if possible)
The following minimum specs are needed:
-- 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor
-- 512 MB RAM
-- 80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
-- 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet
-- Bootable DVD drive
-- Display
-- Keyboard and mouse
SOME KEY DESIGN AND USAGE POINTS FROM THE ARTICLE
1. Determine your needs in home networking multiple PCs together and devote a PC for the Windows Home Server environment
2. Determine backup and access usages for all computers and devices (e.g., printers) accessing this environment
3. Because Home Server has to make a wired connection to your router, the physical installation must be nearby and may be an issue if there is limited space.
4. Home Server works automatically only with Windows PCs that you can install the client software on. Linux boxes and Macs can access and save files to the server's shared folders, but Home Server won't automatically back them up.
5. The more intensively you use Home Server, the more you'll find that your network's speed can be a bottleneck. Basic 802.11b/g wireless is OK for doing backups of a couple of PCs, but if you get into using Home Server as a media server, or even backing up significant volumes of frequently changing data
6. Home Server by itself isn't a complete backup strategy. Getting your data backed up to a different computer onsite is good. Better would be to back it up offsite.
Additional resources can be found here:
Microsoft's Windows Home Server - Home Page
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx
Microsoft's Windows Home Server - Key Features
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/features.mspx
Windows Home Server - Technet Blog Home Page
http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/
What's Hot from WinHEC - Windows Home Server
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/05/whats_hot_from.html
Microsoft Windows Home Server - Wikipedia information and links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server