WHS: PowerPack 1 Public Release Candidate Out

[ViRGE]

For those of you chomping at the bit to get PP1, Microsoft has released the public release candidate (RC4) for it on to MS Connect. I already had a Connect account, but apparently anyone with an account can download it, you don't need to be a member of any program. Microsoft doesn't recommend installing it on a production server, but then who has a testing server just for WHS? It sounds like this will be the only public RC release, and MS swears if everything goes well the final version will still be out this month. For boxes that do have the RC installed, they'll need to uninstall it before installing the final PP1.

As far as the changes go, We Got Served has a good writeup of what exactly has been changed. Besides the long overdue Connector for Vista x64 and fixing the data corruption bug, Drive Extender looks to have been beaten in to submission since it practically had to be rewritten, balancing is toned down and file transfer speeds should be higher. The Connector has also been fixed so that it no longer turns the taskbar in to a jack in the box when auto-hide is on.

 

[loup garou]

I am setting up a VM to test the evaluation iso right now, but am anxious to install on my "production" box. It sounds like it brings a lot to the party in addition to the DE bugfix.

 

[loup garou]

lol, is it a good thing that my PP1 VM seems faster in just about every regard than my non-PP1 install on real hardware?

The new ActiveX remote file upload is nice.
Console seems much faster.
Don't have much data on it yet and it's yet to back up any machines...don't really have much disk space to play with, created a couple 80gb vmdks for DE to swap stuff around between. Will try some of the addins I've been using tonight.

 

[RebateMonger]

Yeah, I got an email from MS today. I'm anxious to try it, but I don't have any disk space either, so I need to toss in another drive first. I'd also hate to lose my current backup images.

This MS document explains how to back up the Backup Database on WHS.

 

[ViRGE]

Lose your current backup images? Installing PP1 doesn't cause you to lose any backups.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Lose your current backup images? Installing PP1 doesn't cause you to lose any backups.

I know it's not supposed to. I just don't want to take any chances of losing those client PC backups. The ONLY time that I have hard drive failures on PCs or servers is when my backups aren't working properly. It's a rule, I think.

 

[Dari]

Why is the Power Pack over 1GB?

 

[stash]

That's probably the full install ISO. There's an upgrade package that's under 30MB.

 

[ViRGE]

Yeah, you don't want the ISO. You can't uninstall PP1 from the ISO to install the final version.

 

[WT]

Stupid question of the day: How do I install the upgrade patch ?? I downloaded the 30mb patch and tried to run it from the WHS Software folder connected via RDC to the WHS, but it informed me that the file was unreadable or corrupt. There is a beta patch and an RC available, but I appear to have missed something obvious here.

 

[ViRGE]

The installer is only 23MB, if it's bigger than that you must have the wrong thing. Otherwise it's the same as running any other MS patcher, you just run the executable and it does its thing.

 

[stash]

Originally posted by: WT
Stupid question of the day: How do I install the upgrade patch ?? I downloaded the 30mb patch and tried to run it from the WHS Software folder connected via RDC to the WHS, but it informed me that the file was unreadable or corrupt. There is a beta patch and an RC available, but I appear to have missed something obvious here.

Did you hit the "unblock" button when you go to the properties of the file? That was buried in the release notes I think, so it's easy to miss.

 

[WT]

DOH !! Thank you, stash !!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: stash
Did you hit the "unblock" button when you go to the properties of the file? That was buried in the release notes I think, so it's easy to miss.

What in the world does that do? I've never seen the ("unblock") before.

 

[BD2003]

So, what are your experiences so far? The last time I used WHS was RC2, and I had issues with the DC bug as well as a general dislike of how damn often it balanced and chkdsked. Does it still insist on a full chkdsk every 6 hours?

 

[WT]

My take on WHS:
I had a hard time justifying $600 for a backup solution (even an elegant, simplistic one), especially since I'm a gamer who could have used that $ to buy a quad CPU or 9800GTX, but now thats its in place and has done exactly what I expected of it, and then some, I sleep better at night knowing I am safe for the first time inover 20 years of owning a PC. I lost all of my docs and pics 2+ years ago (ones of my daughter from the age of 15 minutes to 2 years) and I swore it would never happen again, so WHS has my back covered. Regardless of the negative press from the corruption bug, I am safe in my one drive setup (I have a second 500gb ready to go in pending the patch and PP1 release).
If you are worried about the load balancing and whatnot, you must be using it harder than I am, asit sits under the workbench and does its thing, and only two time in 4 months have I had to fiddle with it to deal with a 'network health at risk' warning. both times took less than 5 minutes to resolve as well.

 

[stash]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: stash
Did you hit the "unblock" button when you go to the properties of the file? That was buried in the release notes I think, so it's easy to miss.

What in the world does that do? I've never seen the ("unblock") before.

It's the attachment manager that was introduced back with XP SP2: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883260

I believe what happens is with IE7 installed on WHS and IE enhanced security enabled (default), the internet zone is set to high. In IE7, high in the internet zone sets the "launching of applications and unsafe files" setting to disabled (used to be prompt on IE6).

What also happens, is if you copy a file locally, the zone information gets copied as well, which is where the unblock button comes in.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: stash
It's the attachment manager that was introduced back with XP SP2: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883260

Thanks, stash.

 

[Dari]

Since the Powerpack puts the x64 software in the software folder on the server itself, how do I grab it? Do I just use a USB device or is there another way?

EDIT: Nevermind, I was able to figure that one out. However, I am curious as to why it only backs up one computer at a time? Seems odd. And why does the Home Server only allow one log-in at a time as well?