Microsoft Announce Public Beta Of Windows Home Server v2

[Andy Dixon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowshomeserver/archive/2010/04/26/wanna-peek-at-the-next-version-of-windows-home-server-check-out-the-new-public-beta-for-windows-home-server-code-name-vail.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter' target='_blank'>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/wi..._medium=twitter</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Many of you may already know that Microsoft has been hard at work on the next version of Windows Home Server. We are excited to announce today that the beta of this next version (code name "Vail") is now available. We invite everyone to check it out by downloading the software from the Microsoft Connect site. (English language builds are available now). We are releasing this Vail beta with one express goal: to solicit your feedback!"</em></p><p><object width="600" height="360" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/FmnFoI8iqC8&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FmnFoI8iqC8&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" /></object></p><p>Finally Microsoft have announced the public beta of "Vail", then next version of Windows Home Server.&nbsp; This is a much anticipated version that has the potential to improve on the already successful first release.&nbsp; The new version is based on Microsoft Server 2008, has a new dashboard, new way of using addons, full DNLA compliant Media streaming, a complete overhaul of the remote access site which now allows real-time video transcoding and streaming of media, and many more improvements.&nbsp; Click to read the full announcement from Microsoft and also for more details of how to download the software and try it out for yourself.</p>

[Jason Dunn]

Could. They. Have. Picked. A. More. Boring. Narrator? :eek:

Yikes.

Looks slick, though I hope there's a decent upgrade path for us current WHS users - I don't fancy the idea of replacing my WHS every 24 months.

I wish he would have spend some time on the media streaming part - that's the most interesting thing to me. WHS does everything else pretty well except for that.

[drk]

Jason AFAIK there is no upgrade plan. I am myself faced with the challenge of moving 8TB of WHS v1 storage to WHS v2 without buying an additional 8TB of storage. Also if you put your data on v2 storage you can no longer just plug a v2 storage disk into a Windows PC to access your data.

I have been running VAIL for a couple of months and in the process of learning to code an add-in for it. What I really would like is get my hand on Windows Server Aurora, Aurora is the business version of WHS. I have filled out the request on Microsoft Connect but for some reason I did not get access.

http://www.homeserverland.com/p/windows-server-aurora.aspx

Is anyone running Aurora?

[Jason Dunn]

Jason AFAIK there is no upgrade plan. I am myself faced with the challenge of moving 8TB of WHS v1 storage to WHS v2 without buying an additional 8TB of storage. Also if you put your data on v2 storage you can no longer just plug a v2 storage disk into a Windows PC to access your data.

<sigh> That's incredibly short-sighted of Microsoft. Surely they must realize that when people have terabytes of data, some form of migration is a must-have part of the process? :rolleyes: I guess I'll be using my current WHS for a very long time then.

[drk]

Hi Jason<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I am looking into the possibility of coding some sort of addin or tool to help the community migrate/upgrade from v1 to v2. I am only talking about the shared folder structure and not the PC backups (users can create new client backups). I was thinking to have some sort of buffer allotment, for example 50GB which the tool would use to gradually move data from v1 to the buffer and then v2… I admit it sounds a little complicated; something does have to be done about it.
Any ideas?

[Jason Dunn]

I was thinking to have some sort of buffer allotment, for example 50GB which the tool would use to gradually move data from v1 to the buffer and then v2…

That's tricky. If the WHS is the sole location of the data (other than, say, an offsite backup) I don't know that I'd trust any migration tool. I'd be more likely to slowly pull all the data off the WHS and onto other drives...but as you pointed out, if you have TB's of storage, you need at least that much storage elsewhere. It's kind of a no-win situation. I think Microsoft probably expects people to buy entirely new WHS hardware and migrate live from one WHS to another.