Hi All,
I recently bought an HP MediaSmart EX490 for next to nothing and promptly installed Server 2012 Essentials to see if it'll do the job of replacing my EX470 running WHSv1. I would normally just stay with WHSv1 but I want to use WD RED drives in this new server and have the option for 3TB drives as well as not worrying about AF.
As nice as Essentials is, it just doesn't seem to fit my needs and I'm wondering if I just configured it incorrectly or if I should go with WHS2011 or Windows 8 for my server needs.
First my setup/use:
My current EX470 is used to stream movies and TV shows to 2 Boxee Boxes as well as serving as a centralized store of my and my wife's music library. The server also has a copy of our digital photographs which automatically get uploaded to CrashPlan. I often use the server to RDP from work or to get files via FTP (running a Filezilla server instance). I am also running SubSonic on the server to stream audio to my cell phone or laptop when I am away from the house.
Installing and running CrashPlan, Filezilla, Subsonic and getting RDP to work was simple. The only thing I can't get to work right is getting SMB shares to show up for the Boxee Boxes. The server shows up in the list of SMB servers but I can't seem to authenticate in (I enabled the Guest account in Essentials).
Should I just forget the Essentials install and try WHS2011 with the StableBit drive pool software? Or should I try Windows 8 for Storage Spaces but with (hopefully) easier and less restrictive file sharing?
I don't use my server for automated backup of client PCs so that functionality doesn't really matter to me.