Earlier this year, I decided to try running Windows Home Server to organize my personal network. Between my wife and me, we have six machines: four laptops, a Media Center, and one desktop. Keeping them backed up was always a concern and I had trouble finding files strewn about multiple disks. Centralized backup (with single instance store) and data striping enticed me to try it out, so I provisioned my spare desktop as a budget server and took the plunge. I’ve been running WHS for about six months now and, despite a few nitpicks, I’ve become a big fan.
Under the hood, Windows Home Server runs on a modified version of the Windows Server 2003 SP2 codebase, so the performance and functionality are both strong. There are basic limitations, such as the inability to host or join a domain, but the feature-cost compromise is very reasonable considering the target demographic. Bar none, Windows Home Server combined with WSS is the easiest and most affordable way to try out SharePoint. [As of this writing, WHS is available for less than both Windows XP and Windows Vista.]
To me, the most attractive aspect of WHS is its ability to run enterprise Microsoft products targeted at the server platform; in this case: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Going into this exercise, I initially wanted to deploy SharePoint at home as a development sandbox, but I soon decided to explore WSS as a family organizer / collaboration tool. I’m glad I did.
The purpose of this post is to point out some caveats when installing WSS (or MOSS – although that would be like putting rockets on a Yugo):
- Make sure to specify a "Standalone" installation and specify an installation directory on a non-system drive. WSS’s installer defaults to putting everything on C:, but system drive space is a limited commodity on Windows Home Server. Out of the box, WHS creates a 20 GB system partition and uses the remaining space in a special storage partition. It’s much better to install to the correct drive now than deal with migration later.
- Likewise, run the database server on a non-system drive. In my case, I already had SQL Server Express running on another drive, so installation was straightforward. However, WSS will try to install the integrated database to C: by default. If you’ve already installed WSS on your system drive, uninstall and then make sure to separately uninstall the included instance of SQL Server Express (since it isn’t as part of the process).
- Be aware that WHS natively uses ports 80 and 443. If you’re looking to run WSS on one IP with the default HTTP and HTTPS ports, you’ll need to change Windows Home Server’s listening settings. Fortunately, Philip Churchill has posted a thorough tutorial. Once you’ve created your home network’s SharePoint sites, configure Alternate Access Mappings as usual. In my case, I use a dynamic DNS service (No-IP), and needed to add the mapping. For internet access, carefully configure your firewall to open only the ports you absolutely need. Under no conditions should you open up DMZ to your Windows Home Server.
- Configure Windows Home Server to back itself up. As of Power Pack 1, WHS can now back itself up automatically to a an external drive. Don’t forget to add all appropriate SharePoint directories to its list of locations.
Those are the major considerations I’ve come across. To me, WSS installation on Windows Home Server is otherwise indistinguishable from Server 2003 or Server 2008 setup. Now that our server’s in place, my wife and I use SharePoint to organize everything.
