Thanks guys for the Alt-F4 shortcut! I don't use shortcuts very much, but this one is very helpful.
Experiment 4: Emulating WSE2012 (well kind of!)I didn't have time to report on my experiments lately. So I'll be brief (well kind of!)
The whole objective of these experiments was to emulate a WSE2012 server without the cost. The idea is to install a WHS2011 virtually over Windows 8. I can tell you it worked, and very well, but there is a cost in terms of money, time and performance.
Minimum specs is:
- X64 processor
- 4 GB RAM
- Windows 8 installed
- VMWare Player, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V
- WHS2011
If you have none of these (EX47x with Sempron processor and 512MB of RAM), you're probably better of with a DIY machine. But if you already own most, then it's worth a try. In fact, this system would be a StableBit or DriveBender or sorts, kind of competitor, but with some added possibilities.
1. Install Win 8We've covered that, and lots of guides on the web. I installed it on my system: EX47x, BE2350 (X64) 2.1GHz processor, 4GB memory. You can buy Win 8 for cheap from Microsoft now (before January 31st) and install it later.
2. Install your virtualization product of choiceThe choice will depend on your system.
If you have a recent processor, then you can use Hyper-V already built in Windows 8 (Pro or Enterprise versions). This virtualization system is more sturdy but apparently more challenging to configure.
Virtualbox or VMWare Player are quite easy to install. It seems that Virtualbox has an advantage over VMPlayer, it can create 3TB+ disks, while VMPlayer is limited to 2TB. But I could not install WHS2011 on VBox it would always BSOD. Maybe my system has someting, mabe I oversaw some configuration wiz, but I couldn't but know others were able to.
So I have VMPlayer on my system (and VBox is there also, if I can find a way eventually to install WHS2011 on it). My older processor doesn't support Hyper-V (you can search on Microsoft's pages, there is a utility to verify if your processor supports it).
3. Install a virtual WHS2011This guide will help you install WHS2011 (codename Vail) on the VirtualBox. VMPlayer will use the same settings, but presented differently (even more easy, in my opinion).
But as mentioned before, on VBox, the installation went right up to the point of configuration (just after a brief preview of the WHS2011 desktop). It BSODs sometimes after this (tried it several times). So I reverted to VMPlayer and it went like a breeze. So WHS got installed over Win8.
4. Create the virtual machine disksThis is also quite easy. But you have several choices.
- Dynamic (it will take less space at start, can grow, but less performant) or Fixed disk (it will take a long time to setup, but more performant)
- Virtual (it will install a folder of the virtual disk on the physical disk, you can access the disk with the underlying Windows 8 ) or Physical disk (it will take the whole physical disk or a partition on it, it won't be accessible by the underlying windows 8 )
The interesting point here is that a StorageSpace is considered a physical disk by VMPlayer. So if you have configured your SS adequately, then you can have a WHS2011 with Storage Spaces.
5. Configure and test the machineMost of the useful stuff for home serving that Windows Server Essentials 2012 has is taken from WHS2011 (and Sever 2008 it is based on). Computers back-up, Server back-up, Media streaming, Dashboard, etc. There are many configurations you can make:
- Use WHS2011 as a home server without bodering with the underlying Windows 8
- Use a combination of WHS2011 and Windows 8 functions (streaming media with Windows 8, doing back-ups with WHS2011), depending on your memory capacity, you may have to shut down the virtual machine in order for Windows 8 to recall its resources (if you have only 4GB RAM, you have in fact only around 3.5GB usable - 2GB for WHS2011 and the rest for Windows 8; but with 8GB you would have no problem; same for the processor, if you have two cores, you have split them between the 2 operating systems, if you have 4 or more cores, you're in business).
I don't have much time to verify performance of the system, so I decided to only test the media streaming (the backups being done during the night, it is not that much an issue).
I have 2 PS3s one wired and one over my WiFi network. I have a test movie (Hugo) which I converted into PS3 compatible format. And I decided to test it over my WiFi. Well, with Windows 8 (virtual machine being off) it was streaming like a breeze. No cuts, no stutter. With WHS2011 as a virtual machine, it was almost the same experience no stutter and only one cut (not a skip, but a fraction of a second cut) during the first 3 minutes.
So that is good performance in my opinion. I'm not an expert in movie streaming, but I was satisfied. This is about it, it performs mostly like my other server which is a HP N40L (1.5Ghz and 8GB RAM). So the possibilities are there. It will be others' experiences that can confirm or infirm my tests. Hope some will jump in.
My personal setupIn conclusion, since I have two servers, the preceding setup won't probably be my personal choice. I will continue with this configuration for a while, and then I will keep my N40L with WHS2011 (for general management and backups) and my EX47x with Windows 8 for streaming purposes (with 3 x 3TB drives in parity mode, plus the system disk), this only because the BE-2350 processor (2.1GHz) is superior to the N40L processor (1.5GHz).
VJ