Windows Home Server: 6 months later

Back in 1998 to 2000 I ran Slackware Linux as my primary operating system on my home computer. This was my access to the internet, web development and just plain programming for 2 years. I did have the system configured to dual boot with Windows 98 for the occasions when I wanted to play games (WINE and all that other stuff was just [and still is] crap).

After 2000 I decided that I was don’t with the dual boot thing I and setup a full home network using Linux as my file and internet sever while using Windows 98, 2000, and XP for my workstations. For years I was one of the biggest complainers about Microsoft and their greed for money.

Working as a network administration and systems engineer for a school district I had the job of finding the best way to maintain and manage our network systems. Running a Novell shop with Windows workstations seemed like a great combination for year. But after researching my options and realizing that the choices between the slow decline in Novell’s quality and the painful maintenance of Linux systems I started to realize that the “Evil Microsoft” wasn’t so evil after all. With Windows 2003 server, Active Directory, and (my favorite) Tablet PC, I started to see that maybe Bill had a good idea after all. I mean I loved playing games and writing programs in DOS, so why was I so bigoted against Windows. Then one day in 2004 I had an epiphany…

Microsoft and Windows equals good…

This was a frightening thought; fore I was a long term believer that any possible action on my part of give money to Mr. Gates was a very bad thing. But this realization was came from looking at the total cost and return of Microsoft products. Was it bad to pay for software (even if it seemed too much) if it was easier to manage and maintain over time. What about the added benefit of not having to tweak drivers and kernels just because I bought the latest and greatest hardware. Was there a problem with every time a security update was released I would have to recompile every piece of software on my server. What about all those “Great” free program? I mean who can go wrong with OpenOffice and SS7.

Don’t get me wrong… I love Linux (especially Slackware) but when I can sit down and manage thousands of accounts and hundreds of computers without having to look at “make” or “gcc”; I just get this little happy feeling inside. Now still using Novell I didn’t see the major benefit of switching to Windows servers… I mean it was easy for me to manage… I can run any computer you set in front of me (yes I can use a Mac, but I personally don’t qualify them for much more than a very expensive and heavy toy) System V, AIX, Slackware, Redhat, Fedora, CentOS, DOS, Windows… I get around ;)

All the while I was still running my faithful Slackware server at home. I do have to admit that it was now running for 6 years and while it lost one hard drive (damn IBM) the only other times it was offline was during power outages. But it was also getting very behind on updates. I hate updating all of the security patches for Linux. The only true “clean” way is to update the Kernel (patch and recompile). Then update services: sendmail, apache, rsync, openssh, openssl, Washington imap, php, openvpn, svn… (patching and recompiling all of them!!!) It typically took less time to backup everything to CD (pain in the ass using command line) and just download and reinstall the latest copy of my favorite disto. But I never took the time, mainly because I knew that with the hours I work this would be a several week if not month process. I did notice something on Microsoft’s forums though.

While browsing the MSDN forums I started to see references to something I was kinda wishing to see for years “Windows Home Server”… What could it be? Maybe just a “service” for XP pro… No it was a full server based on the Windows 2003 server platform. I thought there is no way I can be this lucky. I noticed that there was a programming contest for this product so I figured I would sign-up and try it out. I honestly did have the intention of working on the contest but again due to my long hours I really only had time to setup the server and configure it for my basic uses.

It was wonderfully easy to install… Start setup, enter server name, and walk away for an hour… and viola! I looked at the interface and I realized… wow! It was so simple I would even be able to teach my mother and grandparents how to use it. Peaking under the covers I saw that it was a totally unlocked copy of Windows 2003 server with IIS6 and fully .Net capable. (It just keep getting better) After using it for two weeks I had decided that as soon as it went on sale I was going to get myself a copy, so in December 2007 (yeah it was a month after it went on sale… but you’ll get over it) I got my copy. I installed it on a very low end HP desktop I purchased 9 months prior and migrated all of my services from my Linux server over to it… Sendmail/IMAP/Fetchmail to hMailServer, Freepopsd (the Windows version doesn’t scale very well, but that seems to be a problem for most open source software), MySQL to SqlExpress 2005, Rsync to the WHS backup agent, Apache 2/PHP to IIS6 and .Net 2.0 (now 3.5), OpenVPN/OpenSSL CA to OpenVPN/Microsoft CA, svn to Visual Server SVN (that is a wonderful package) , OpenSSH to CygWin/OpenSSH and then I realized something. About four hours after I started the install of my OEM copy of Windows Home Server, I had all of my services from my Linux server replaced with versions for Windows that were considerable easier to manage, maintain… and just plain install. All I could think was it took me months of tweaking, researching, and just play messing with my Linux server to get it to the point where I was “Okay” with how it worked. And in four simple hours (that’s 1,2,3,4) I had replaced all of that with Windows. The only cost I was out was $389 for the hardware and $89 for an OEM copy of WHS. Less than $500 and another $100 to $200 for my time; compared to free software, free hardware, and HOURS upon HOURS (if not weeks and weeks) of my time (well if I managed the Linux system for 20 hours or less it would have been cheaper… but I know it was hundreds of hours over several years to get it just right)

From that point on I have decided that I am going to back Microsoft. Despite what people try to say about them… their stuff works… and it costs MUCH less over time. As well as it takes much less time and effort to do so much more.

-Matthew Whited

P.S. My Linux server was turned off new year’s weekend… I never looked back (I don’t even miss it)