Albal's Blog

This is an overview of how to setup DVBLink on Windows Home Server allowing one to serve live TV to other devices on your network including UPNP Players, Windows Media Centre and Windows Media Player.

Setting up your hardware

Open device manager and see if your hardware has been detected.  In most cases you should see your hardware present but no drivers may be found for it.  You’ll have to locate the drivers either on CD with the tuner device or download them from the manufacturer’s website. I previously downloaded the drivers for my TechnoTrend USB 3600 from their site and pointed the installer to the files on my USB stick.  Simply follow the hardware installation wizard   Now that we have hardware with working drivers in Device Manager we are ready to start with the Installation of DVBLink.

I’m pleased to say some way has been made on getting a beta version of my Anti-Virus Add-In for Windows Home Server based on ClamWin. Go check on the SourceForge site at http://whsclamav.sourceforge.net/  to Download WHSClamAV and leave feedback or suggestions.

First get the download for your Windows Home Server – You will most likely need the x86 installation:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=440ec902-3260-4cdc-b11a-6a9070a2aaab&displaylang=en

Run the installer:

Hit next and accept the agreement after reading it.

Click on Finish once the installation is complete. The the configuration wizard will run:

I run my development and test Windows Home Server in a Virtual Machine so I’m happy to install the remote debugger component to run as a service whenever the VM is on.  If you want this to happen too then tick the checkbox and then enter the Administrator username and password:

If you are running a headless Windows Home Server such as the HP MediaSmart Servers you best option is to use the Windows Home Server Console from a Windows or Mac Computer.  However, it is possible to use Remote Desktop (RDP) to connect to your server and there are many clients out there for a number of devices like mobile phones, PDAs or the iTouch.  TSMobiles is one such client available from RDMPlus  (http://www.rdmplus.com/tsm/java/download.html).  The configuration within this review is the Java client running on a Nokia N97.  Clients from RDMPlus also include the BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm and Window Mobile.  They all have the same functionality and, apart from slight User Interface differences, behave the same.

With the default installation of Windows Home Server there already exists a tab called “Server Storage” in the Windows Home Server Console but this gives you only basic information about the hard disks attached to your system.  If you want an add-in that provides you with some more information and a graphical representation of your home server storage configuration then the WHS Disk Management Add-in is made for you.

WHS Disk Management provides exactly the same functionality and information that the standard “Server Storage” gives but it adds some key information for your server:

• Real-time temperature monitoring
• Individual disk capacity usage
• Real-time disk access metering
• Access to detailed disk information
• Wireframe view of disk locations and status

Getting the Add-in

To get the add-in visit http://www.tentaclesoftware.com/whsdiskmanagement/ and select Download.  At the same time you might want to take a look at the wireframe views of servers and download one that matches your system.  If one doesn’t match you can download one that it similar and customise it or tailor your own design to meet your needs.

What is Time Traveler?

Time Traveler for Windows Home Server when installed allows you to revert to any version of a file stored on your Windows Home Server.  For example you might realise that the section of a report you deleted a few revisions ago actually is now needed.  Time Traveler will enable you to go through previous versions of the file and you can then copy out the text that is needed.  While Time Traveler is installed you can be safe in the knowledge that your files are protected from being overwritten.  This is especially useful in server environment where many users may have access to the same files.