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WHS replacement options

D

DisgruntledVirus

Lifer
While I love WHS, there have been a few issues that we all know about. My largest concern is the lack of Adv Format drive and >2TB drive support which v2 would have fixed but you lose the DE (as of now, hope they fix that), but regardless of your reasoning as of now we all will have to move from WHS v1 and v2 isn't an option without DE.

I want to create a thread where we can consolidate information for people who want to replace WHS v1 with a different OS. The primary ones to replace it that I know of:

FreeNAS
UnRAID
FlexRAID
Nexentastor
Server 2008 R2

Would love input from people on these options and how they compare to WHS.
 
You listed the major options. IMO it comes down to a few things -

- what's more important, backup or free space consolidation (drive extender)
- will you be using software RAID?
- running standalone or in a VM (like HyperV)
- familiarity with Linux

e.g. if the server is powerful, you could run unRAID, FlexRaid or even WHSv1 inside Server 2008 R2 and gain compatibility for 4k sector drives as well as easier management, at the cost of disk speed.

If all the clients are Windows, then using Libraries + Homegroup one could easily duplicate a lot of what drive extender does. You just have to be careful to copy content to a drive with free space, and then include it in the library.
 
There's also a Linux NAS distro called Amahi that uses greyhold which does the same thing as DE. I've never used it because I prefer to just use a normal Debian install and use LVM/Linux software RAID.
 
MrCrispy said:
...or even WHSv1 inside Server 2008 R2 and gain compatibility for 4k sector drives as well as easier management, at the cost of disk speed.
Click to expand...
Although I run WHSv1 inside a Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machine, I have to admit I'd never really thought about that one. It's certainly an intriguing idea. MS has the totally free Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 that, along with the User-supplied GUI add-in, should allow the use of "2 GB+" physical disks with the current WHS product.

WHS can also make use of iSCSI disks, so you could use one of the free iSCSI targets (either virtualized or physical) to provide WHS access to disks that it can't handle natively.

Edit: One factor I forgot is that WHS' folder redundancy won't be of much use when "big" disks are used. A single physical 4 TB disk would, presumably, be hosting two 2 TB virtual disks. With WHS' folder redundancy, if a single physical disk fails, it'd include two virtual disks. So you might lose two WHS "disks" at once. That could mean shared data loss even if folder redundancy was enabled. Not a big deal to me, since I prefer backups over redundancy. But it'd be important if you wanted redundancy enabled.
 
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Given that WHS network backup feature works so well, I am not sure what it could be replaced with. It is so nice to be able to drop in a cd and restore a pc without any problems.
 
I will probably start testing Amahi again now that they've added drive pooling support.

WHS V2 + FlexRAID also seems like an option at some point.
 
MrCrispy said:
IMO Amahi and Greyhole are far from ready for primetime. Their procedure for adding a hard disk to the server is -

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Adding_a_second_hard_drive_to_your_HDA

Its only suitable for Linux experts and still doesn't inspire confidence. Greyhole is also written in php! I would not trust my data to it.
Click to expand...

Yea, it sucks that the process is manual right now but I'm sure that'll go away in the near future. And PHP has it's issues, just like every language, but I don't think any of them apply to just using greyhole.
 
Well, I haven't used FreeNAS since some of the earlier version (.68 or something), but IIRC, that solution doesn't have a drive extender either. Not sure about the other options.

I, too, wanted Vail for the 4k sector and 2+TB capability. Waited for release by the end of the year, never came, so built a WHS box for my father with 2x1TB drives instead and put WHS v1 on it.

If Vail comes out and doesn't have DE, it still might be a viable alternative to FreeNAS unless freenas handles 4k sector drives just on that alone.

Of course, if FreeNAS supportks 4k 2TB drives and does it for free, I see no reason to use vail once I can't hang on to WHS1 anymore, but for now, thats what I'm doing.
 
I'm seriously considering going flex raid, but I don't know enough about it, been trying to read up, anyone have any experience with it?
 
I'm an unRAID user that was considering switching to WHS, but awaiting Vail's release before doing so. My reasons for switching are simple, I don't know squat about Linux! When I have a problem it takes so long to fix it and frankly I don't have the time to spend doing all the research on what I need to do. I was hoping that going to a MS product (of which I am much more familiar) would help alleviate that. But with the uncertainty of what will actually be included I don't know where to turn now either.

I am also not too happy about the performance aspect of my unRAID server. I'm using the free version for now, but having transfer speeds of about 11MB/s seems really slow. While this is adequate for streaming HD movies and viewing documents it made my Lightroom library for photos extremely slow. I moved my photos back to a local drive as a result. I believe that using a different version could allow a cache drive to help with performance, but I still have Linux to worry about.

Something to consider I guess, not sure if my rambling really helps anyone.
 
I'd say that WHS v1 still has plenty of life in it, provided you don't need 2tb+ drives. You can slot a solid 8tb of data in one with 4 2tb discs, and thats going to be more than enough for the vast majority of people for a long time.

No ones really being forced to upgrade, and until something else comes out the with equivalent features (DE, de-duplicated simple backup), or it doesn't work with the new version of windows, I'm sticking with v1.
 
BD2003 said:
I'd say that WHS v1 still has plenty of life in it, provided you don't need 2tb+ drives. You can slot a solid 8tb of data in one with 4 2tb discs, and thats going to be more than enough for the vast majority of people for a long time.
Click to expand...
I think so, too. We're still a year out from "affordable" 2 TB+ disks and, yeah, the majority of homeowners and small businesses can survive on 8 TB just fine for now. An HP WHS box, for instance, with 7 TB or 8 TB of disk space will likely remain valuable for a while.
 
BD2003 said:
I'd say that WHS v1 still has plenty of life in it, provided you don't need 2tb+ drives. You can slot a solid 8tb of data in one with 4 2tb discs, and thats going to be more than enough for the vast majority of people for a long time.

No ones really being forced to upgrade, and until something else comes out the with equivalent features (DE, de-duplicated simple backup), or it doesn't work with the new version of windows, I'm sticking with v1.
Click to expand...

+1

==========
While in many cases upgrade is a good thing, it became a "social decease" with its own life among enthusiasts.

Beside, it is really "silly" to put so much energy on a make believe arguments.

Vail is still work in process, and the rumor machine is working over time (yet another contemporary social decease).



😎
 
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JackMDS said:
+1

==========
While in many cases upgrade is a good thing, it became a "social decease" with its own life among enthusiasts.

Beside, it is really "silly" to put so much energy on a make believe arguments.

Vail is still work in process, and the rumor machine is working over time (yet another contemporary social decease).



😎
Click to expand...

Well, I still certainly recognize the need for WHS to be modernized. But the main part of it that needed to be modernized was DE itself. I don't care what else they have in store for it, if vail doesn't have DE it's DOA. And call it a rumor mill if you want, but HP didnt drop the mediasmart based on rumors...DE is dead, and therefore so is WHS as we know it.

I think something along the same lines will come to fill in the gaps before WHS v1 loses it's viability. It honestly doesnt seem like vail can possibly be it at this point. WHS was and is a really solid idea, but I don't think Microsoft really had it's heart in it from the start. Someone else will capitalize on the idea they gave up on, but in order for it to be mass market it has to be REALLY windows and os x friendly, and I just don't see that coming from the Linux open source community. You might be able to hack together a near equivalent using tools from that community, but I can't see it being as simple and easy to use.
 
monkey333 said:
I'm trying to read up on it, but what about Windows Storage Server 2008 R2?
Click to expand...
http://blogs.technet.com/b/storages...-storage-server-2008-r2-is-now-available.aspx

There are currently three versions of Windows Storage Server (WSS) 2008 R2:
Workgroup
Standard
Enterprise

All can be iSCSI targets as well as conventional file servers and include file de-duplication.

The unreleased "Essentials" version appears to be a 25-user small business version that's related more to WHS than to the higher-end versions of WSS 2008 R2. It's basically Windows Home Server V2 with 25-user capability and Active Directory capability.

Sean Daniels explains Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials (Breckinridge):
http://sbs.seandaniel.com/2010/11/announcing-windows-storage-server-2008.html

Nothinman said:
I've never looked at what makes it a "storage server" besides the label MS slapped on it, but I know it's not DE.
Click to expand...
Apparently Storage Server 2008 ESSENTIALS was to have Drive Extender V2 in it:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/

"As SBS 2011 Essentials also shares the Drive Extender feature with both Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, we are working with OEM partners to also provide similar data protection solutions for all members of this product family. Target product availability is still H1 2011, and we expect to deliver a new beta without drive extender for both Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” early in the New Year."
 
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RebateMonger said:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/storages...-storage-server-2008-r2-is-now-available.aspx

There are currently three versions of Windows Storage Server (WSS) 2008 R2:
Workgroup
Standard
Enterprise

All can be iSCSI targets as well as conventional file servers and include file de-duplication.

The unreleased "Essentials" version appears to be a 25-user small business version that's related more to WHS than to the higher-end versions of WSS 2008 R2. It's basically Windows Home Server V2 with 25-user capability and Active Directory capability.

Sean Daniels explains Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials (Breckinridge):
http://sbs.seandaniel.com/2010/11/announcing-windows-storage-server-2008.html


Apparently Storage Server 2008 ESSENTIALS was to have Drive Extender V2 in it:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/

"As SBS 2011 Essentials also shares the Drive Extender feature with both Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, we are working with OEM partners to also provide similar data protection solutions for all members of this product family. Target product availability is still H1 2011, and we expect to deliver a new beta without drive extender for both Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” early in the New Year."
Click to expand...

How is the dedup handled? It's obviously not a part of NTFS, right? Other than that, being an iSCSI target isn't anything special, it's just a small piece of software. Although I wouldn't put it past MS to take those 2 things and decide a whole other SKU is necessary...
 
This news of the loss of drive extender is tragic. I was planning on using my current hardware as my server when I upgraded my home pc and buying WHS 2008 to have a nice speedy media share and backup server. I dont understand why they would drop support of DE. It really was one of the greatest features. How can a company with the resources of Microsoft decide this was an appropriate decision?
 
I had some hardware issues with my whs and built a new system anticipating upgrading to v 2. Now I've decided to virtualize my whs and give my htpc the upgrade instead..
 
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