Now from home

This week I’ve been doing some improvements in my business infrastructure. Basically I’ve been upgrading to Windows 7, moving to Gmail and trying to get rid of my old general purpose server.

I’m very happy with all the changes.

First of all Windows 7 rocks! It works like a charm.

Second, my move to Gmail has been painless. Now I can handle all my email from one just place and one account. I’m no longer using Outlook, so one app less to install and configure. Besides this I can access my email from anywhere and by the way, the offline feature is working great too. This move is going to pay off in my next trip to Germany on September.

Finally I had an old P4 running Windows 2003 server. It was used as a file server, print server, FTP server, subversion server and it run a couple of VM). I setup this machine years ago and it has serve me well. But now that I have a WHS is kind of redundant. Not to mention is always on and it makes a lot of noise.

So I’ve been moving away each of its responsibilities one for one.

The file server is now my WHS. Nothing to change here except some network mappings.

I connected the printer to the WHS and install the drivers. No problems.

My code repositories are now hosted on the WHS machine. This was a little trickier but I managed to install the SVNSERVE service directly.

When I need to enable FTP connections I’ll do it on my machine. And the VM runs on my Quad-proc machine nicely when needed, especially now that I have 8 GB of RAM.

Today I’ve discovered that HP has published a couple of add-ins for their HP SmartMedia EX470 and EX475 (I think newer models already have this feature preinstalled). One of them allows you to backup Mac machines and the other one allows you to backup shared folders to Amazon S3.

I’m interested only in the online backup as I don’t have a Mac. I already had a S3 account which I use for some client projects. I also had a bucket where I copy important files from time to time. Having this task automated not only means less work for me, it also means that it is done regularly.

If you have an EX470 or EX475 it’s a must have to complete your backup solution. Click this link and select your model. Download the appropriate file and install it in your WHS. Now your WHS console will have new top icon called HP Online Backup.

You’ll need to configure the adding providing your access and secret key, the name of the bucket and what shared folders you want to backup.

Recommended.

Since Windows Home Server saw the light back in 2007 I’ve been trying to justify the investment. Now that I’m totally on my own it’s time to rethink it again.

Computers at home

At the moment I have a total of 4 PCs with the following roles and operating systems:

• PC running Windows 2003 Server. Subversion repositories, file server, FTP Server , SQL Server… you name it.
• PC running Windows Vista. This is my development workstation
• Laptop running Windows 7 and Windows XP on a second partition. This laptop must be always up-to-date as it is my mobile development machine.
• Laptop running Windows Vista. This is my wife’s laptop.

There are several virtual machines that I’ve not included and that are not backed up.

How I backup all these machines

Short answer: I don’t. Well, that’s not completely true. The server is setup as a RAID 1. This RAID 1 holds most of my critical files: repositories and business documents (accounting, customer’s info…). These folders are automatically copied to another hard drive using SyncBack. This hard drive also contains other important files like family photos, music library, etc.

I have no image backups of my machines.

Also, when the moon aligns with Mars I back up parts of this hard drives to DVD’s.

In summary, my backup strategy SUCKS, and I’ll have to face a disaster sooner or later.

Windows Home Server to the rescue

Just in case you haven’t heard of Microsoft Windows Home Server, it’s an operating system which its main goal is to backup your PC’s. It doesn’t just backup your data, it backups your full PC so if your hard drive breaks (and it will break) you just need to put a new one and be up and running in minutes.  It can do a lot more like file sharing, remote access, etc. More info.

This operating system runs in small headless computers. You just connect the network cable and the power cord and you’re done. To manage the server simply navigate to the server’s web page.

Choosing the hardware

Not too many options. You can build your own server or buy it from HP or TranquilPC (it seems that there are other vendors like VIA and Fujitsu-Siemens but they’re not available yet).

I discarded the DIY option because I really don’t have time for it. So my options were HP MediaSmart EX470 and TranquilPC SH5-10.

I went directly to the HP website to find that the EX470/475 was no longer available (at least in Spain). I also read rumors that HP could discontinue the product in Europe. So I started looking for other vendors.

Then I found TranquilPC and their SH5-10 “Squash” Home Server. A really cool machine with 5 hard drive bays instead of 4 and with very good reviews. The only downside was the price: 620 € tax and shipping costs included, but the HP costs 650 € last time I saw it so…

When I was about to purchase the Squash, my wife asked me if I have called HP to be sure that the EX470 was indeed discontinued. So I called and… They still had EX470 in stock, although no EX475. Also there’s no estimated date to get the newer versions EX485/487. Anyway, after getting advantage of some discounts (thanks to my wife’s company)… I got a final price of 481 € shipped!

I really liked the TranquilPC, but the price difference is just too much.

So I expect to receive my shinny new home server this week.

UPDATE (25/02/09 09:00): It’s already here. HP has managed to deliver the product in less than 24 hours. Awesome!