By Joseph Moran<\/b><\/p>\n
Last week<\/a>\u00a0we showed how to repurpose an unused PC as an alternative to buying a $500-or-more Windows Home Server storage appliance. Now we\u2019ll show you how to put your homemade WHS system to use by joining your Windows PCs to it, setting up user accounts and shared folders, and adding and configuring storage.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve verified your WHS is up and running properly you can log off, as any further server configuration or monitoring can be done over the network. If space is tight, you don’t have to keep the monitor, keyboard, and mouse connected to the system. (After all, store-bought WHS devices don\u2019t even include these peripherals.) You’ll probably still want to keep I\/O devices handy in case your WHS loses network connectivity and you need to troubleshoot, and a few systems may not boot without I\/O devices connected. (Some may require\u00a0BIOS<\/a>\u00a0adjustments to allow it.)<\/p>\n The next step is to install the WHS connector software onto each of your Windows systems. The software is compatible with any 32- or 64-bit version of XP or Vista (or the Windows 7 Beta, for that matter) and you can install it on up to 10 systems. The simplest way to install the connector is to pointing a system\u2019s Web browser to\u00a0http:\/\/SERVERNAME:55000<\/tt>\u00a0(where SERVERNAME is the name you gave your WHS system). If you downloaded your copy of WHS, the connector software can also be found on your disc; go to the WHS folder and run\u00a0setup.exe<\/tt>. (If you got WHS from Microsoft by mail, the connector software comes on its own disc.)<\/p>\n The first thing the connector setup wizard will do is locate your server on the network and spend a few minutes retrieving the latest version of the software. Eventually the wizard will prompt you to enter the password you created when you first set up the server and ask whether you want updates to the connector software to be automatically downloaded and installed and whether the system should be roused from sleep or hibernate mode in order to do a backup.<\/p>\n Once the connector software is successfully installed on a PC, you’ll see a new WHS icon in the Windows tray. To configure or get status on your WHS, double-click the tray icon on any system and enter the server password to enter the WHS Console. The console can only be open on one system at a time; you can still access it if it\u2019s already running on another system, but it will close there before opening on the new system.<\/p>\n Upon logging into the WHS console you’ll be in the Computers & Backup section and greeted by a list of connected computers, with each entry showing the computer\u2019s backup status. By default WHS automatically makes nightly full backups (initial backups will take a while but subsequent ones will go much quicker since they only deal with new or changed files) of all connected systems between Midnight and 6:00 AM.<\/p>\n If you want to change that time window or any other backup options, click Settings, then Backup. To modify backup settings for a particular system, right-click it and choose Configure Backup. (Note: Microsoft says there\u2019s a bug in WHS that may prevent some connected to UPS systems from automatically backing up. For the moment, the only solution is to back up such systems manually\u2014right click and choose Backup Now.)<\/p>\nInstall the WHS Connector<\/h4>\n
System Backups<\/h4>\n