Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Windows Home Server had gone RTM and would be available to OEM's and through System Builder channels in a few short weeks. This comes after extensive testing, where thousands of volunteers provided feedback, bug reports, etc., to the Product Development team.

So what is WHS? Basically, it is a platform designed for consumer home networks to provide Automatic backup of Windows XP and Windows Vista PCs on the network, a centralized storage of data and media files along with Remote access to files and folders from the Internet, also allowing for future expansion of disk drive capacity.

WHS is designed to run "headless", i.e., once the initial setup is complete all functionality, configuration, etc., is done through a "Connector" that is installed on the client machine.


Through this utility, the administrator can modify a variety of settings including Backup Management, User Account Password policies (forcing use of complex passwords), Media Library Sharing, Remote Access, etc.


Experienced server admins will be happy to know they can also remote into the Server itself. Since it is built on Server 2003 technology, many of the administrative tools are still available.


Installation of the connector is very simple. Upon completion of the install, the connector searches the network for a WHS device and when found, offers the client the opportunity to set his\her machine up for backup. After the administrator has set up a user account, then the client can also access any shared folders that they have access to. The connector is not needed to explore these shares, it can all be done from Windows Explorer. In fact, a Shared Folders shortcut will be placed on the client Desktop for quick access.


Backup is done using the Volume Shadow Copy services in XP and Vista. Even in the event of a catastrophic disk failure on the client, the backup created on the server can be used to restore a machine to the last backup; this is done utilizing a bootable Restore CD provided as part of WHS.

In conjunction with the release of WHS, Microsoft has also sponsored a Code2Fame challenge to developers for creation of useful Add-Ins to the Server. This tester has installed and used a few of the add-ons that have been made available and found them to be extremely useful.

For me, the best feature is Remote Access. An easy-to-use Wizard allows an Administrator to create a mini Web Site on WHS that provides connectivity to the Server when you are away from home. Users with assigned priveges can also remotely access client workstations on their network. I find this to be incredibly powerful, yet easy to deploy. There is a concern on use of UPnP at the router level to allow Server access but as an alternative, savvy administrators can configure port forwarding directly at their router.

Finally, for many years I have wanted an easy way to provide friends and family access to my extensive collection of music, photos and video. With WHS, I have been able to create user accounts for them so they can easily connect to the server and download from my shares. Now, if I could only find an Add-On for them to preview it before downloading...

My opinion? I think Microsoft has hit a Home Run with this product and believe WHS will be the next revolution in home networking. Stay tuned, only time will tell.