Windows home server

[Pelle1948]

We have 4 PCs in our home and sometimes all of us (2 old and 2 young) want to use internet via an ADSL. If I buy a Windows home server for 5 PCs what will I get?
Can it run all you can run on XP Home? Certainly we need the right GPU for games so all PCs will not run all of the new games.

 

[cprince]

Why don't you just buy a wireless router to share out your ADSL connection to the other four computers?

 

[stash]

+1

WHS is not a router. It a box that backs up all the computers in your home and serves as a central place to store files.

 

[cprince]

Originally posted by: stash
+1

WHS is not a router. It a box that backs up all the computers in your home and serves as a central place to store files.

But, from what I understood, he just wanted to share his ADSL connection to the four computers. A wireless router will do this for cheap.

 

[stash]

Originally posted by: cprince

Originally posted by: stash
+1

WHS is not a router. It a box that backs up all the computers in your home and serves as a central place to store files.

But, from what I understood, he just wanted to share his ADSL connection to the four computers. A wireless router will do this for cheap.

I'm agreeing with you

 

[Pelle1948]

Originally posted by: stash

Originally posted by: cprince

Originally posted by: stash
+1

WHS is not a router. It a box that backs up all the computers in your home and serves as a central place to store files.

But, from what I understood, he just wanted to share his ADSL connection to the four computers. A wireless router will do this for cheap.

I'm agreeing with you

Ok It a was misstake. The only way to get XP Home or XP Pro on all 4 is to buy it?
4 times the cost for one? Visa is cheap now but it is not very backward compatible so most of our old programs will not run.

 

[cprince]

Originally posted by: Pelle1948
Ok It a was misstake. The only way to get XP Home or XP Pro on all 4 is to buy it?
4 times the cost for one?

What do you mean? Are you trying to get all four computers connected to the Internet through one ADSL connection, right? If your answer is yes, then buy one wireless router. Connect the ADSL modem to the router, configure the router properly and you are done(I'm assuming the PCs have wireless network card). If you don't want to do wireless, you can connect the PCs to the router by ethernet cables; but you have to run cables all over your house.

 

[stash]

The only way to get XP Home or XP Pro on all 4 is to buy it?

Yes, but your original post seemed to be saying that you already have an OS on all four computers. What are these computers running now?

 

[jhu]

i think he might be referring to 5 client access.

 

[cprince]

Oh. Sorry. I see what you mean now. Like stash said on the third post, Windows Home Server is for backing up and storing your files on a central location. It's like a file server. The client PCs will connect to it and store files to or reprieve files from the home server. It's not a terminal server where each "dumb" terminal logs in and use the server as a processing unit. In fact, each computer accessing the Home server will need to have a valid license of XP home/pro or Vista. It has limited support for MAC and linux. Windows home server does not even need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse after the initial setup. You configure it through the web interface from another PC.

 

[Pelle1948]

OK I understand I need a wireless router. But I believed the server was a complete OS not only a backup solution. If I need XP Home or XP Pro on all four PC it will not help. The original I have is 1 XP Home and 1 NT 4 so it will not be cheap. And if I buy any new PC I will allways get Vista.....not running our programs

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Pelle1948
And if I buy any new PC I will allways get Vista.....not running our programs

Dell Business has lots of new PCs that you can buy with XP pre-installed. I expect other PC makers offer the same.

Server 2003 (which is what WHS is based on) comes with many game-friendly graphics and audio features turned off or missing. It's not designed for gaming. Also, you may find that some hardware is missing certified Server 2003 drivers.

How to convert your Windows Server 2003 to a workstation.

 

[cprince]

Originally posted by: Pelle1948
But I believed the server was a complete OS not only a backup solution.

Right. Windows Home Server is a complete OS. However, it is even more strip down than Windows Server 2003. After the initial installation, there is no keyboard, mouse, or monitor support. You have to configure everything through the web interface. You can read more about it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windo...omeserver/default.mspx

 

[stash]

After the initial installation, there is no keyboard, mouse, or monitor support

That's not true at all. Yes, if you buy a home server from someone like HP, it doesn't come with keyboard mouse and video ports, but you can build you own home server and those things will work fine. Home server is intended to run headless, but it isn't a requirement.

The version of Server 2003 that WHS uses isn't really stripped down at all. You can do basically anything you can do with a Standard 2003 install. However, some things are prohibited by the license (like making it a domain controller).

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: stash

After the initial installation, there is no keyboard, mouse, or monitor support

That's not true at all. Yes, if you buy a home server from someone like HP, it doesn't come with keyboard mouse and video ports, but you can build you own home server and those things will work fine. Home server is intended to run headless, but it isn't a requirement.

The version of Server 2003 that WHS uses isn't really stripped down at all. You can do basically anything you can do with a Standard 2003 install. However, some things are prohibited by the license (like making it a domain controller).

you cannot make it a DC but can you join a domain as a member server?

 

[stash]

you cannot make it a DC but can you join a domain as a member server?

No, but it works perfectly fine with domain joined machines. I have a domain in my house with all my machines on it. My WHS is in a workgroup, but all users in the domain can access files on WHS with no issue and WHS backs up clients on the domain with no problem. WHS also functionality that will prompt you to change your domain account password if the corresponding WHS user account password is different.

 

[rasczak]

thanks for the response stash. sounds like a nice solution. i'm gonna look into it.