With the failure of my installation of Windows Home Server 2011 to the old Intel motherboard I had on hand (see part 2 of this series), I've ordered a Supermicro atom board. However, while I'm waiting for that delivery I decided to try to install WHS 2011 to one of the MSI Wind Nettop barebones that I have on hand.

I'll let you know the results of this experiment as soon as I get finished. It is looking as though installation might take a while...

Interesting that Microsoft chose to put the point where you have to enter your software key about half way through the installation (at least it is about half way by their own estimation.) I just entered the key and now the installation is updating itself etc - and it says it should take about a half an hour.

Given that it took about 30 minutes to get to that point, we shall see if it is truly half way. Odd that the key isn't needed at the beginning or the end so that you don't have to attend to input at the mid point of installation.

...Ok, installation took about an hour and a half. I am sure that the lowly Atom processor had something to do with that. I will provide test results in another post.

This is part 2 of a series I began about Windows Home Server 2011. Part one of the series is here.

Ok, so I ran into my first glitch. I intended to put the Windows Home Server 2011 software on a motherboard/cpu RAM combo that I have had for a few years but have not used recently:

RAM: 1 GB sticks Gskill F2-8500CL5D DDR-2 1066 CL 5-5-5-15

Motherboard: Intel DG33TL

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33Ghz

Installation seemed to go smoothly with no problems at all until I did the first reboot after the software was completely installed. At that point, the boot would seem to start loading Windows and then would reboot. I think I have had this problem with this hardware when trying other hardware (should keep better records!) but I am not sure.

I didn't really want to use that motherboard/CPU anyway since I am looking for lower power consumption and I want to test WHS 2011 on an Atom processor.

So, I gave up on that and have ordered a Supermicro Atom motherboard (SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SPE-HF-D525-O Proprietary Intel Atom D525 Server Motherboard) with some crucial RAM (Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BC1339). from Newegg. Next install try will be with that.

At the end of March 2011, Microsoft released their new home server software solution, Windows Home Server 2011. Formerly codenamed "Vail", this version of Windows Home Server follows on their earlier effort that was called just Windows Home Server.

Here at NAS-Pro, we've bought and built a lot of network attached storage devices over the years. Even though our current primary setup includes two Synology 1010+ NAS' s with two Synology DX510 disc expanders attached, and our current recommendation given all the tradeoffs between price and performance is a similar configuration of the successor to the 1010+, the 1511+ (along with the 5 bay DX 510 if you need more than 5 drives), my curiousity about the performance and features of Windows Home Server 2011, and the need to backup several windows computers we have is driving me to build a new server and test Windows Home Server 2011.

The overall plan is to buy a copy of Windows Home Server 2011 (already done)  and install it using an old dual core pentium motherboard/CPU combo that I have in a full tower Lian Li case I also have. Since the software is 64 bit, I intend to put at least 4 or 8 gigabytes of RAM in the box since it can use as much RAM as I can throw at it.

Later, I want to use this same box to install a Supermicro Atom motherboard to compare the difference in performance and power usage.

So this is the first in a series of posts that will describe the build I will do. I'll post soon about the process and results.