In today s information technology culture, the term server is thrown around

Transcription

1 Itroducig Widows Home Server I today s iformatio techology culture, the term server is throw aroud quite a bit. Web servers, prit servers, proxy servers, file servers all of these refer to various computer systems ad applicatios that provide a service for others to use. Defiig a Server The term server ca refer to several differet thigs. First of all, it ca refer to the computer hardware used to ru server applicatios. Ulike desktop ad laptop computers that most of us see every day, servers traditioally sit i a data ceter somewhere with oly other servers ad the occasioal techicia to otice them. They quietly offer their applicatios to users over a etwork whether o a corporate, local, or wide area etwork, or the Iteret. Applicatios typically ru o a server machie dedicated to that task. Computers that coect to the server are kow as cliets. A server ca also refer to a server operatig system. A server OS usually differs from desktop operatig systems i focus, if ot i mai fuctioality. While a desktop OS is cocered with providig a rich user iterface, graphical abilities, ad desktop applicatios, a server operatig system teds to leave all of that stuff out to focus o performace, storage, ad tools to make it easier to ru server applicatios. Widows 2000 ad 2003, Liux, ad Uix are all typically used as server operatig systems. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Fially, server ca refer to a server applicatio that accepts coectios from other applicatios. A few commo server applicatios (ot to metio oes that are provided by Widows Home Server) are IN THIS CHAPTER Uderstadig servers Havig a server i the home Itroducig Widows Home Server Buildig or buyig 3

2 Part I Gettig Started File server: May times, people eed to be able to share access to the same files, ad although it is possible to coect directly to aother computer i a peer-to-peer fashio, it is more coveiet to share files i a cetral locatio that is ot depedet o the cliet computer beig costatly available. The term NAS (Network Addressable Storage) has bee adopted i recet years to refer to a device used for file server purposes. Web server: At the other ed of the coectio your browser makes to a Web site is a applicatio that serves pages. Web servers have become quite complex i recet years, with sophisticated applicatio frameworks geeratig pages dyamically beig the orm. Prit server: Although persoal computer meas that everyoe eeds oe to themselves, the same is ot usually true about priters. Prit servers serve as a access poit for computers to coect to i order to prit. Some priters today are etwork eabled; i essece they have a prit server built i. Backup server: Performig regular backups of importat files has bee a recommedatio sice the begiig of the computer era, ad ufortuately it is oe that is ofte igored. A backup server ca access files o a cliet computer ad store them locally or o a archival storage medium such as tape. It ca be used to schedule ad check the status of backups of all cliet computers i oe locatio. Media server: A media server is a specialized file server that ca stream video, music, ad photos to cliet devices. The advatages, of course, are that multiple users ca make use of a sigle copy of these files, which ca be large, without havig to tie up space o their local hard drives. Remote access server: I our icreasigly mobile world, it s ofte ecessary to access files ad systems remotely. A remote access server, sometimes called a commuicatio server, provides the meas for users to coect to the etwork remotely while also securig the etwork from uwated itrusio. Brigig Home a Server It was t log ago that havig eve oe computer i the home was a rare thig. It s easy to see why persoal computers oce cost a great deal more ad did a lot less tha the machies of today. I additio, prior to the Iteret ad the World Wide Web becomig household terms, there simply was t as much of a pressig eed for a computer, ad especially ot for more tha oe. Of course, home computers were still useful: they could be used to play games, write letters, do the taxes, ad coect via dialup modem to olie services ad bulleti board systems. Still, they were limited. 4

3 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 Gradually, all of this has chaged. As the iformatio techology revolutio chaged the way offices worked, people became much more comfortable with computers, ad i fact, ofte eeded to take their work home with them. The World Wide Web became so ubiquitous that it is ow a virtual ecessity to have access at home. Parets use the Web for ews, shoppig, ad followig the stock markets. They coect to the office usig VPNs. Kids do research for homework, play games, ad dowload music. Ad everyoe, it seems, likes to gather o Iteret forums ad social etworkig sites, such as MySpace ad YouTube. The rather dizzyig drop i prices for computer techology i recet years has meat that it has become practical for may families to ow more tha oe computer. The fial piece of the puzzle was affordable broadbad coectivity. Now, ot oly ca you get o the Iteret without tyig up your phoe lie, but everyoe i the house ca do it at the same time at speeds that make dialup seem lethargic. It s ot just persoal computers, either. I recet years, other etwork-eabled devices have ivaded our homes. Persoal video recorders have ot oly chaged the way we watch TV, but they ca be cotrolled over the etwork ad i some cases ca eve share videos with other devices i the home. Video game cosoles have evolved from the sigle-fuctio devices of yesterday ito multipurpose set-top computers. Now they ca play icredible games as well as coect to the Iteret to dowload movies, surf the Web, ad play multi-player games with others aroud the world. They ca also be used to play video, music, ad view photo slide shows. Alog with this explosio of etwork coectivity has come some fresh chaos. Sharig files ca be paiful, because coectig directly to aother computer ca be problematic, especially if the computers are usig differet operatig systems or security. Music is dowloaded or ripped from CDs, but the every device i the house that plays that music eds up with a copy of each sog, wastig valuable storage space. Sharig files or a priter that is hooked up to oe computer depeds o that computer beig coected to the etwork at the time. This is becomig a greater problem as people replace their bulky desktop computers with portable otebooks, eablig them to leave the local etwork behid ad work far afield. Backups are rarely if ever doe, leavig data vulerable to hardware failures. Clearly, the time has come for our homes to be as orgaized as our offices. Whe families have two, three, or more persoal computers, video game cosoles, a priter, PDAs, ad other devices coected to the etwork, creatig a cetral hub that all of these devices ca share makes a lot of sese. Although almost ay PC ruig Widows or Liux could act as a server, Microsoft evisioed goig oe step further by leveragig their expertise i corporate server operatig systems to create a easy-to-use product for the home. The result is the ewest member of the Widows operatig system family, Widows Home Server. This is the Widows operatig system that is desiged to brig everythig together (see Figure 1.1). 5

4 1 Q * A 2 W / S $ Z 5:14 PM 3 E + D ( X NUM 4 - R ) F C MESSAGES 5 6 T Y = G? V H : B! SYMBOL SPACE U7 N J ', I 8 K ". M CAP O9 DEL P 0 Part I Gettig Started FIGURE 1.1 A typical Widows Home Server etwork The Iteret Cable or DSL Modem Laptop Computer Router/Hub Priter Widows Home Server Wireless Access Poit PDA Wi-Fi eabled Smart Phoe Home Computer Home Computer Explorig the Widows Home Server The first editio of Widows Home Server is based o Widows Server 2003, i particular Widows Server 2003 Stadard SP2 (service pack 2). It icludes features to make buildig a server for the home simple ad easy. The ext sectio describes what this ew breed of server OS ca do. As the secod Widows Operatig System release i 2007, the approach take with Widows Home Server could hardy be more diverget from that of its cousi, Widows Vista. Vista was focused o improvig the desktop experiece with ehaced avigatio, ew GUI features (Aero), ad utilities (the Sidebar). Like its corporate server OS brethre, however, Widows Home Server has bee streamlied to provide the fuctios ecessary to act i the role of a file, Web, ad applicatio server, while strippig away the fluff of a desktop operatig system. 3D graphics, soud, ad desktop gadgets have bee removed or hidde away so as to ot distract from the purpose of actig as a cetral coectivity hub for all of the computers ad other devices i the home. Solitaire is owhere to be foud. 6

5 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 Figurig out the Widows family tree Widows Home Server is based o the Widows Server lie of operatig systems. Those ot familiar with this lie may be iterested i learig how these operatig systems relate to the desktoporieted versios of Widows. Figure 1.2 shows the lieage of the major editios of Widows. FIGURE 1.2 The Widows OS family tree Widows 16- bit Core Widows 3.0, 3.1 Widows NT 32-bit Core Widows NT 3.1 Widows 95, 98, Me Shared GUI Widows NT 4.0 Widows 2000 Widows XP Widows Server 2003 Widows Vista Widows Home Server Widows started alog two differet braches: the 16-bit ad 32-bit cores. Startig with XP, the 16-bit core was officially retired ad two ew product lies were created the desktop ad server lies, both ow with 32-bit ad 64-bit versios. Widows desktop operatig systems The 32-bit (ad 64-bit) Widows desktop operatig systems iclude products that are familiar to both office ad home users: Widows XP: XP was desiged to replace both Widows 2000 Professioal ad Widows 98, the log-awaited covergece of the home ad busiess product lies. The 32-bit NT core was fially utilized for the home market, replacig the previous 16-bit 7

6 Part I Gettig Started Widows core oce ad for all. XP Professioal, o the other had, replaced Widows 2000 Professioal to become the busiess desktop OS of choice. A Graphical User Iterface refresh ruled the day with this release, with the ew Lua theme takig over from the look itroduced way back with Widows 95. Widows XP Media Ceter Editio is a versio of XP icludig features to allow it to fuctio as a etertaimet system hub, with special software called Media Ceter for TV recordig ad playback, DVD playback, ad photo, video, ad music playback i a etertaimet ceter. Widows Vista: Widows Vista adds a completely ew user iterface (called Aero), small desktop applicatios called gadgets, ad ew coectivity ad media ceter fuctioality. The Premium ad Ultimate versios of Vista iclude the Media Ceter fuctioality from XP Media Ceter Editio. Widows server operatig systems I additio to the desktop operatig systems, Microsoft has created server-specific versios of Widows with the power ad features ecessary to act as servers for everyoe from large data ceters to small busiesses. The most commo Widows servers i use are Widows 2000 Server: A hugely successful release, with may ew server fuctios, icludig Active Directory (providig security ad domai server capabilities), ad more advaced multimedia ad game capabilities, allowig it to make iroads ito the home market for advaced users. Widows 2000 was offered i four differet server cofiguratios to meet the eeds of a wide variety of busiess eeds. Widows 2000 server products are still i wide use i data ceters. Widows Server 2003: Because the ew GUI features of XP were t ecessary for servers, the Widows 2000 Server product lie was advaced alog a diverget path. The classic GUI was retaied ad features such as themes ad audio that are oessetial for a server OS were either elimiated or disabled. The miimalist philosophy Rather tha add yet aother ew user iterface look, Widows Home Server does t eve icorporate the XP Lua theme (although it is available see Chapter 5 for a advaced tip o eablig the XP theme if you really miss it). Istead, Home Server makes do with the classic Widows look it borrows from 2003 Server. The idea is that you wo t really miss it. Widows 2003 is desiged to be cofigured ad maitaied almost exclusively through a ew Cosole applicatio accessible from cliet PCs. I fact, some users may ever see the desktop. Purchasers of prebuilt Widows Home Server boxes are expected to be able to literally plug ad play plug it ito the etwork, power it o, ad it ll automatically cofigure itself to allow cliet PCs to coect to it. I may cases, these server boxes may ever eed to be coected to a moitor or eve a keyboard! 8

7 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 However, eve though at first glace Widows Home Server may seem simple, do t be fooled. Uder the hood is the power of the Widows Server 2003 OS, ad that power ca be leveraged to exted fuctioality beyod what ca be attaied just by usig the Cosole. Tourig the Features Although Widows Home Server is desiged to be easy to use, it is still quite capable out of the box, with a lot of complexity behid it. Later chapters go ito more detail, but for ow here is a look at the major features ad capabilities provided by Widows Home Server. Uderstadig the Widows Home Server Cosole The Cosole is a uique applicatio amog the Widows Server products, ad is the defiig characteristic of Widows Home Server. All of the stadard cofiguratio ad maagemet tasks that ca be accomplished with Widows Home Server ca be doe through this portal. The major maagemet tasks cofigurig computers, maitaiig users, settig up shared folders, ad moitorig server storage ad etwork health are accessed with the tabs at the top of the Cosole. I additio, a butto o the right side allows access to the server settigs dialog box, where server settigs ca be cofigured. The Cosole ca be accessed from the desktop of the Widows Home Server computer itself. It ca also be accessed remotely from ay Widows XP or Vista cliet that you istall the Coector software o, presumig the user kows the admiistratio password for the server. The Cosole is discussed i more detail startig i Chapter 7. Istallatio of the Coector is described i Chapter 10. Fidig out about Shared folders Oe of the mai fuctios for ay home server operatig system is to act as a file server, ad Widows Home Server is o exceptio. The Shared Folders tab o the cosole, show i Figure 1.3, is used to view, cofigure, ad maage folders that are beig shared. Shared folders ca be set to be duplicated. What this meas is that if you have more tha oe physical hard drive i your server, your duplicated folders are copied to aother drive automatically, providig protectio from the failure of ay sigle drive. The followig shared folders are available by default: Music: A folder for sharig music. Photos: A place to share family photos ad dowloaded pictures. Videos: Store home movies, dowloaded video, ad other such media here. 9

8 Part I Gettig Started Software: This folder cotais a copy of the Coector ad Restore CD software just i case you do t have the CDs hady. It is also the locatio to copy add-i istallatio files so that they may be istalled o the server. The Coector ad Restore CDs should be icluded with Widows Home Server. For iformatio o the Coector, see Chapter 6. For iformatio o usig the Restore CD, see Chapter 22. Public: All users have access to the Public folder by default. This is a coveiet place to share documets ad other files with other members of your household. Persoal folders: Each user accout has a folder created for it automatically. By default, that user is the oly oe who ca access it aside from the server admiistrator accout. You are ot limited to these default shared folders by ay meas. Additioal shared folders ca be added ad maitaied o this tab as well. The Shared Folder tab i the cosole is discussed i more detail i Chapter 7. File sharig is discussed i detail i Chapter 12 ad Chapter 13. FIGURE 1.3 Viewig shared folders i the cosole 10

9 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 Makig backups Widows Home Server fially allows home users the ability to easily ad quickly back up their computers, providig a simple way to address this ofte eglected task. The cosole s Computers & Backup tab, show i Figure 1.4, is the place where you ca choose which folders o each Widows XP ad Vista computer you wat to back up. You ca also see the status of each backup, eable ad disable backups, ad view backup history, all from the coveiece of the cosole. You ca also use Widows Home Server to back up other operatig systems, as log as they ca map to a shared folder. Simply poit the backup software of your Liux, Macitosh, or other computer capable of accessig Widows shared folders. You ca lear about Widows Home Server backups i Part V, startig with Chapter 20. FIGURE 1.4 The Computers & Backup tab lets you see at a glace the status of all computer backups. 11

10 Part I Gettig Started Media library sharig Now we are gettig to the fu stuff. The ext feature of Widows Home Server is the ability to stream media to coected computers or other devices such as capable game cosoles usig Widows Media Coect. Streamig media allows you to keep oe copy of your photos, video, ad music o the server, ad play them from ay supported digital media reader (DMR) device. Although the Shared Folders tab is used to maage the file-level access for all of the photos, music, ad video folders, you ca also eable streamig for each of those types of media separately, as show i Figure 1.5. Media library sharig is covered i detail startig i Chapter 25. FIGURE 1.5 You ca specify the media folders to share i the Widows Home Server Settigs dialog box. Remote access With Widows Home Server, you are ot limited to accessig your shared files or your home computers from iside your home. You ca use the remote access feature to gai access to your shared files ad computers from aywhere over the Iteret. All you eed to do is cofigure your server with a dyamic domai ame (show i Figure 1.6) ad you ca access your server s Web site, shared files, ad eve the desktop of some of the computers o your etwork. Widows Home Server ca eve automatically cofigure your router to direct all Web site access to it. 12

11 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 Remote Access is the subject of Part IV, startig with Chapter 17. FIGURE 1.6 The Widows Home Server Settigs dialog box allows remote access to be cofigured. Add-is Do you wat your home server to do eve more? Fortuately, you are ot limited to the fuctioality provided by Widows Home Server itself. Microsoft has icluded a add-i facility, as show i Figure 1.7, which allows you to istall third-party extesios that are specifically desiged to work with Widows Home Server. Add-is ca be istalled ad uistalled directly from the Cosole. The add-is themselves are maaged from the cosole: a add-i that requires user cofiguratio adds a tab to the cofiguratio utility. Eve though Widows Home Server is a ew operatig system, it seems to have already ispired a wave of creativity amog users, ad ew add-is are beig created ad released all the time. Some popular add-is are discussed i detail i Chapter 32. If you are a programmer, you may wat to develop your ow add-is. See Chapter 36 for a example. 13

12 Part I Gettig Started FIGURE 1.7 Add-is are maaged from the cosole. Automatig storage maiteace It s easy to expad your server whe you add ew devices that eed to be backed up. Whe you add a ew hard drive to the server, either iterally or exterally through a esata or USB port, Widows Home Server recogizes it whe you reboot ad allows you to format it automatically ad add it to the total pool of storage. There is o eed to worry about drive letter assigmet. See Chapter 3 for iformatio o addig storage to your server. The Server Storage tab o the cosole, show i Figure 1.8, is where you ca see at a glace how much of your server s storage is allocated ad for what purpose. From here you ca also add, remove, ad repair hard drives. 14

13 Itroducig Widows Home Server 1 FIGURE 1.8 The cosole shows you at a glace how storage is allocated o the server. Buyig or Buildig By ow you may be woderig how you ca take advatage of Widows Home Server yourself. There are essetially two ways to go about it. Oe is to purchase a complete ready-to-go server with the OS preistalled ad cofigured, ad the other is to build a computer or repurpose a existig computer for the job. The complete solutio I keepig with the desire to make Widows Home Server the server operatig system for everyoe, Microsoft is teamig up with a umber of ISVs (itegrated software vedors) ad OEM parters to build server systems with Widows Home Server preistalled ad cofigured. At the time of this writig the list of OEMS iclude such compaies as HP, Gateway, Lacie, Medio, Fujitsu- Siemes, ad Iomega. 15

14 Part I Gettig Started The expectatio is that i most cases you will be able to plug oe of these devices ito your etwork, ad the simply istall the Coector software oto each cliet o the etwork. The coector will automatically fid the server o the etwork ad allow it to be maaged through the cosole. It may be a cliché, but quite literally a plug ad play experiece. See Chapter 2 for iformatio o features of turkey Widows Home Server systems. The DIY optio If you have a older computer or laptop lyig aroud gatherig dust, you may have the ability to ru Widows Home Server already. The hardware requiremets are ot very striget. Likewise, if you have built a computer from parts before, you already have the skills ecessary to build a machie to act as a server. To satisfy the do-it-yourselfer, Widows Home Server is available i a System Builder editio which will be available through may olie retailers, geerally the same oes that supply OEM system builder versios of Widows ow. Chapter 3 goes ito detail o what you eed to do i order to build your ow Widows Home Server machie. Summary Widows Home Server is a brad-ew operatig system from Microsoft that ca simplify ad improve your digital lifestyle. With may households havig more tha oe computer or other device capable of accessig shared files, streamig media ad the Web, the time is right for a solutio to address the icreasig eeds of a coected home i the same way that offices have doe for several years. Although there are other ways to achieve the server fuctioality that Widows Home Server provides, the plug ad play ature of the system alog with the power of Widows Server behid it is a pretty potet solutio that should ot oly be able to meet the curret eeds of the majority of home users, but also grow with them i the future. 16