Upgrade server or stand pat?

[Grasshopper]

Hi folks,

I'm currently running the evaluation version of Windows Home Server, though I've bought a license for it. Frustratingly, it's not simply a matter of entering a license key, and I must reinstall the whole operating system (and drivers, and Sage). Given this, I wonder whether this might be a smart time to upgrade the hardware in my server; thus, I'm seeking advice from those who have walked this path before I.

Right now the server is a Sempron 3100+ on an nforce3 board. It's got two SD capture cards in it. It serves two client devices -- one client PC and an MVP. I figure we'll probably go HD within maybe a year, and at that point perhaps add an HD extender.

Should I get a new motherboard and CPU for the server? Is my current hardware enough for my anticipated HD needs? Or should I wait and upgrade when I'm ready to go HD? Seeking wisdom or experience.

[othy]

Capturing HD is going to be handled by whatever capture device you go with, so no concerns there. And if you get an HD extender, you won't need to transcode anything you're watching on that device.

I think the main concern is watching HD content on your MVP--it would have to be transcoded, and that's where the processor power is needed. If the MVP will be replaced by an HD extender, I think you should be fine with your current setup. If you plan to keep the MVP, I'll leave it to people who know better than me to recommend processors.

Incidentally, I put the 120-day eval of WHS on a server last week. I ordered the full version, so I'm waiting until I have that installed before I move Sage to the WHS server. I understand your frustration about upgrading to the reatil version. Seems like we should be able to pop in the new product key and be all set.

Other than that, I take it you're pleased with WHS?

Tim

[Djc208]

If you have the money I'd vote to do it now. DDR2 is cheap, and regardless of if you go AMD or Intel you'll get a second core even if it doesn't end up being faster than your Sempron (which it probably will be).

An E4xxxx series C2D or older X2 Athlon should easily outrun the Athlon setup and the second core will prevent any one process from causing the computer to bog down. Any more the MB is the expensive part since the ones with lots of expansion slots and SATA ports tend to cost a bit more, you can easily pay more for the MB than the CPU.

[inlvnv]

MB and CPU replacement down the line will require reinstallation, but clean install is recommended. So it would be better to do it now than later.

[Slipshod]

If you'll be using the other features of WHS you should probably just go ahead and do it so you know you have enough CPU, RAM, etc... Plus, once this is your TV upgrading it later is problematic since you have to find a window where nothing is recording and get it all done in that time slot.

I've been really happy with WHS. I'm a couple of weeks into the eval, and have the full version on the way. I ended up doing the "unsupported" thing and putting the boot disk on a RAID5 array. Not planning on using drive-extender at all, I prefer RAID. I've got Sage recording onto a dedicated drive as well.

The reinstall doesn't look like it will be TOO bad. I'll backup the sage directory, reinstall WHS and Sage, then restore the directory back. Should be pretty smooth. I've avoided doing much with the rest of WHS since I'll definitely lose all of that data in the reinstall.

Cheers,
Slipshod

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by Slipshod

If you'll be using the other features of WHS you should probably just go ahead and do it so you know you have enough CPU, RAM, etc... Plus, once this is your TV upgrading it later is problematic since you have to find a window where nothing is recording and get it all done in that time slot.

I've been really happy with WHS. I'm a couple of weeks into the eval, and have the full version on the way. I ended up doing the "unsupported" thing and putting the boot disk on a RAID5 array. Not planning on using drive-extender at all, I prefer RAID. I've got Sage recording onto a dedicated drive as well.

The reinstall doesn't look like it will be TOO bad. I'll backup the sage directory, reinstall WHS and Sage, then restore the directory back. Should be pretty smooth. I've avoided doing much with the rest of WHS since I'll definitely lose all of that data in the reinstall.

Cheers,
Slipshod

Actually, if you choose Server Reinstallation when installing the OS, it keeps all of your data. I did this when I went from the beta to the evaluation version, and it worked great. Sort of freaked me out when it spent several hours with "20 minutes to go" on the display, but that was the OS restoring all of the data on the server.

Incidentally, I haven't encountered the data corruption bug, and I've been using WHS since the first betas, with the drive extender.

[Slipshod]

Should have been more clear about what I meant regarding losing data. All the plugins, user accounts, and other configuration info gets wiped on reinstall. The actual data on the data drives remains intact, but you lose all of your security permissions on it. That's why I haven't been using it for much. Don't want to spend a bunch of time customizing the server and then lose it all.

While the chances of a data corruption are very, very small, I'm not willing to gamble with important data like my digital photo library (7 years+ of family photos). The main reason I went with RAID on the boot drive was to protect it from drive failure. It seems silly to me that the normal WHS install doesn't have a way of protecting your OS disk. I don't want this thing to go down for any length of time if I can avoid it. I also want fast writes, which is a problem with drive-extender.

Having said that, I have 9+ years of IT net/sysdamin experience, so I'm very comfortable managing RAID. Once the corruption issue is worked out the Drive Extender function will be brilliant for the normal home user.

Cheers,
Slipshod