I have build my sister a WHS2011 server and am about to ship it out to her. She has a Westell 7500 which appears to be a DSL Modem/Router Combination. I have downloaded the units manual which I will be reviewing.

What I am looking is possible issues with getting it setup with WHS2011. I understand certain ports could be blocked by her ISP which is Fairpoint Communications and that can be worked around. I am just looking for potential issues that I might be faced with before I send the server to my sister.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Obviously this is not specific to this model but as a heads-up, you might want to ensure that WHS is set for DHCP prior to sending the server to your sister. If you have set a speciic IP in your home network which is different than the subnet mask of the moder/router and the lease of its default addresses, WHS will never be able to connect to her home network. Other than that, you should be fine.

I breezed through the manual today and it appears her Moden/Router Westell 7500 uses the same basic Admin and IP Setup settings as a Linksys router so its a match for what I have here. I will setup a remote connection with my sisters computer just to examine her router settings to make sure the UPNP feature is turned on so that the server can configure the router automatically for her.

What I do not see as of yet is any IP Reservation features which I prefer over DHCP since it makes port forwarding easier and while I can set the IP for the server its less complicated doing it from the router side but I still have more to read in her manual.

What I do need for her to do is find out if her ISP is blocking any of the important ports used by WHS and if none are blocked then I think she will have a good experience but I want my other sisters there to us it too so I am hoping I can setup a VPN Connection so they all can backup their computers from their house rather than lugging things to where the server is this will be a hard one to explain since the only thing they know is how to turn a computer on and how to use Facebook and Office.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8