Is there any downside to using WHS for Sage?

[wayner]

I am just in the process of converting to Sage from XP MCE. I am currently not running Sage on my HTPC box - I am running it on my office PC. I have had a WHS machine for about 1.5 years, since WHS was in beta, and I am thinking about upgrading the WHS box and using it as my Sage server. I would then just use the HTPC box as a client and also use the office PC as a client. Or I could repurpose the HTPC and get an extender if/when they become available.

Is there any downside to running Sage on a WHS box rather than a regular (i.e. Vista or XP) OS? I would put in a separate hard drive that is not in the storage pool to use for recordings.

If I do this then what processor should I get assuming that I will be using comskip and it would be nice to be able to transcode H.264 files in the future if that becomes possible? I was thinking of using an Intel 45 nm CPU - I have a E8400 in my office PC and that seems quite good - low power/heat and pretty fast but I wonder if it is fast enough for transcoding H.264 files? Or should I go with a more modest CPU for now and potentially upgrade in the future?

[DOS64K]

I've been using Sage for WHS for awhile now and love it. I only use extenders, so I haven't had some of the playback issues that others sometimes encounter (see sig). I run ShowAnalyzer, and firewire channel changing with an STB with no problem with only an X2 proc. Again, the extenders do all of the heavy lifting so the WHS box doesn't have to be running a quad or other power hungry proc.
I rip my DVDs to the WHS pool and they work fine, thus circumventing the only drawback to the extenders - lack of a optical drive.
Commercial detection and processing for H.264 is still pretty rough and I have no problem waiting for it to mature - I just set my skip time to my liking and press away when needed.
Good luck on whatever path you choose - but I think you'll like the WHS approach.

[dravenone]

I love using the WHS version of Sage. I use 2 Hauppauge 1600's and will install my HD PVR when I can get the extender. I have an E5200 on my server and transcoding of HD via Placeshifter uses about 50% of each cpu. I am going to move to a Q9450 since I read comskip for H.264 requires some heavy lifting. I also plan to do some Silver Light encoding on my WHS.

Some thoughts on upgrading. I had to reinstall my WHS when I moved from a P4 to the E5200 Dual Core, I tried changing out my HAL with no luck. I don't expect to have the same problem when installing the quad (same mobo) just something for your consideration. If you think you may run more add ins or placeshift, then buy as much cpu as you can afford. Also the Core i7 talk is starting and Core 2 prices are dropping, so if you find a good deal it never hurts to have extra muscle.

Good Luck!!

[rlvogel322]

I have a similar setup to DOS64K and it's been working great. I remote into the WHS box to do all of the SageTV setup and the extenders do their thing.

My plan is to introduce the HDPVR when it becomes more stable. I also will be looking at installing a 45nm Quad into it. I run Comskip and video compression on it today with the E6600 and it would definitely benefit from having two more cores.

[othy]

Count me as another fan of SageTV on WHS. I don't want to speak for everyone but I don't recall seeing a lot of posts from people who don't like the setup.

I don't recommend WHS to people who don't want the WHS features, but if you already have it and you like what it can do, I see no reason not to run Sage on it.

Tim

[AtariJeff]

I tried this setup in the past and as far as Sage functionality goes, it worked fine. However, whenever the server rebalanced storage playback would stutter so bad you couldn't watch a show. The WAF took a huge hit so I had to move back to a separate box. My setup has about 8 500GB drives so maybe that explains the excessive amount of disk activity. FWIW I love WHS for file storage, backups, remote access, etc.

[lotusvball]

Did you put the sage recording drives in the storage aray the WHS monitors. I do not have them in it and I don't have this issue. And the sage program is on a separate partition.

[AtariJeff]

The Sage install was on the main drive with the OS. The Sage recording drive was a separate unmanaged drive (formatted properly). I guess it could have been a resource issue with the hard drives on the same controller. I've maxed out the number of drives the mobo supports with 4 IDE and 4 SATA's. If I find the time (ha!) perhaps I'll see if I can add a dedicated controller just for Sage recordings...

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by AtariJeff

I tried this setup in the past and as far as Sage functionality goes, it worked fine. However, whenever the server rebalanced storage playback would stutter so bad you couldn't watch a show. The WAF took a huge hit so I had to move back to a separate box. My setup has about 8 500GB drives so maybe that explains the excessive amount of disk activity. FWIW I love WHS for file storage, backups, remote access, etc.

This definately sounds like an issue with Sage in the managed pool. That or your processor is underpowered. To run Sage properly on WHS you MUST make sure it's not in the managed drive pool.

-PGPfan

[wayner]

For those of using using WHS for Sage - do you do anything to back up the system drive of the WHS machine which I assume also contains all of the Sage folders? I know that this was a shortcoming with ther original version of WHS that was somewhat addressed in PP1 but does it allow you to do automated backups of the system drive and therefore all of your Sage config (i.e. sage.properties, wiz.bin, logos, etc)? Or is all of that stuff stored somewhere else that is backed up?

[rlvogel322]

I scheduled a task to copy my wiz.bin and properties files to a shared folder that is backed up. That shared folder is also backed up with Keepvault.

HTH

[Skirge01]

For those of using using WHS for Sage - do you do anything to back up the system drive of the WHS machine which I assume also contains all of the Sage folders? I know that this was a shortcoming with ther original version of WHS that was somewhat addressed in PP1 but does it allow you to do automated backups of the system drive and therefore all of your Sage config (i.e. sage.properties, wiz.bin, logos, etc)? Or is all of that stuff stored somewhere else that is backed up?

Everything I've read says the same thing. This thread was the best explanation I could find for backing up and restoring a WHS system drive. If anyone has more recent news/add-ons, feel free to chime in, as I'd be interested as well.

As far as Sage's data goes, I completely agree with rlvogel322 and would just copy the entire Sage directory to a backup drive. Personally, I'd do a couple of copies, copying the backup to a third (or greater) folder, then the original Sage folder to the backup folder, etc. This way you've always got multiple versions to go back to. Additionally, always make an additional backup prior to making changes or upgrading.

[othy]

As I understand it, PP1 allows backup of the shared drives, which is good for the occasional external backup.

For my Sage stuff, I use SyncBack (the free edition) with a job set up for each day to backup the contents to a folder (in my shared pool) named the same. So at any given time, I can go to my "Monday" folder and have my sage backup from the most recent Monday, and likewise for any other day of the week. This method is described (by MeInMaui I believe) in old posts if you search for "SyncBack". (I think I actually only backup the entire Sage fold twice a week and backup wiz.bin daily, but you get the idea).

Takes about 15 minutes to set up and then is a great backup sytem. It has worked flawlessly for me in WHS and since it's on a shared folder, the backups are duplicated as an added safety measure.

Tim

[AJ Bertelson]

so what happens with whs if one of the shared drives fails? How easy is to recover the data and repair/replace the drive?

[wayner]

If you have duplication turned on then you have no problems. There is a repair that WHS tries to run first. If that doesn't work then shut down the system, remove the old drive, put in a new drive, it doesn't have to be the same as the old, reboot and you are golden. The migrator will remigrate data onto the new drive restoring the duplication.