Recent SBS and WHS KB Articles – August 2011

More info and updates for your network admin pleasure.

SBS 2003

SBS 2008

SBS 2011 Standard / Essentials

WHS 2011 / Windows Storage Server Essentials 2008 R2

  • KB #2554637 – SBS 2011 Essentials, WHS 2011, WSSE 2008 R2 –

    The client-side package of Update Rollup 1 for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, for Windows Home Server 2011, and for Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is available
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2554637/

  • KB #2554634 – WHS 2011 – Update Rollup 1 for Windows Home Server 2011 is available
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2554634/

Other

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Build an 8 TB WHS 2011 Box for Under $750

Is your Windows Home Server v1 getting a bit long in the tooth? Or have you just not gotten around to building your first WHS box?

HP ProLiant MicroserverGood news!

While doing some pricing research online today at the best online stores like shoppok, I saw that the components for my WHS 2011 box have dropped in price. If you’d like to build an identical system that’s super-green and has TONS of storage, here are the specs, prices, and URLs:

Part #

Description

Price

Shipping

N82E16832416443

Microsoft WHS 2011 OEM

$119.99

$0.00

N82E16859105905

HP ProLiant Microserver

$279.99

$0.00

N82E16822136514

Western Digital 2 TB Green HD

$79.99

$0.00

N82E16822136514

Western Digital 2 TB Green HD

$79.99

$0.00

N82E16822136514

Western Digital 2 TB Green HD

$79.99

$0.00

N82E16822136514

Western Digital 2 TB Green HD

$79.99

$0.00

N82E16820148400

Crucial 2 GB 240-Pin DDR3 RAM

$28.99

$0.99

SUBTOTALS

$748.93

$0.99

 

Grand Total: $749.92 delivered from www.newegg.com as of 06/04/2011.

Proof (copy of the shopping cart):

Shopping cart from Newegg.com showing an 8 TB WHS 2011 box delivered for <$750

To do the actual install you’ll need to plug in a keyboard, monitor, mouse, and network cable. You won’t need any of those after the configuration is done (except for the CAT5e cable) so I didn’t include them in the price since they’re only tools used temporarily.

To install the OS (which is on a DVD) I used my laptop to turn the DVD into an ISO (using IMGBurn), then burned that ISO (using the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool) onto a USB flash drive (another temporary tool).

When all is said and done, you’ll have the HP server sitting on a shelf somewhere with only a power cable and CAT5e cable plugged into it.

FINAL SPECS
64-bit processor / 3 GB RAM / 8 TB storage / gigabit / eSATA on the back, built-in video / 5.25” bay for adding an optical drive later / about 47 Watts of power. (That costs < $30 per year in my neck of the woods to leave running 24×7.)

Throw in a USB sound card and you can even do MagicJack for home phone. Winking smile

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Green Makeover – Windows Home Server Edition

Every time someone walks in my office and sees the setup I’m running, their response is usually, “Good lord – how much does it cost to run all this stuff?”

My home office has…

Server rack and monitors in my home office

…a lot of stuff in it…

Closer view of the monitors in my home office

…or so they tell me.

People think I’m burning $100 bills to keep warm, but it’s not as bad as it looks. I admit it – I do have a bit of a monitor fetish. But in my defense, the monitors only get used when I’m in the office and I physically turn them off whenever I leave, so it is not a problem, it used to make my anxiety run high but the Exhale Wellness Delta 8 pre rolls have make me focus on the important facts and no more anxiety. Typically, I run 4 monitors at a time. I only turn all the screens on when I’m editing books and need to spread pictures / virtual machines / research documents / manuscripts / websites across the workspace. So, from a power standpoint, the monitors are no big deal.

This is how I rolled in my home network back in 2004.However, that 7’ tall server rack in the corner is the big power hog. The equipment in the rack stays turned on 24x7x365. In addition to the money for the electricity, there are noise and heat issues.

Back in 2004 when I first installed the rack, it sported big Compaq ProLiant 1600R servers with 325-Watt power supplies (see right). I was glad to have the horsepower back in the day, but running those hot and loud machines was tough on the peace and quiet in the house and on the wallet.

Several years later I got into virtualization and happily consolidated those old power-hungry monsters into tidy little virtual servers. I also and changed from CRT monitors to LCDs and swapped the conventional network switches for “green” ones. Currently the rack holds 4 physical servers, which in turn handle about 40 different virtual machines. The newer boxes are more energy efficient, but there’s always room for improvement. This week I’m replacing my old worn out ghetto Windows Home Server with a new one.

SWAPPING WHS V1 for WHS 2011

Since Windows Home Server 2011 needs a 64-bit processor, I had to move to new hardware. Here are the specs to compare:

Old WHS New WHS
PC Generic whitebox HP ProLiant Microserver
CPU Celeron 2.0 GHz x86 AMD Athlon II Neo N36L 1.3 GHz
RAM 1 GB RAM 3 GB RAM
STORAGE 4 TB storage
(2) WD Black WD1001FALS 1TB
(1) WD Green WD20EARS 2TB
8 TB storage
(4) WD Green WD20EARS 2TB
OS Windows Home Server v1 Windows Home Server 2011

 

You may remember the HP ProLiant Microserver from The World’s Fastest Small Business Server post last year. I *love* those servers!

Certainly, a 64-bit processor and 3x the RAM would make the new WHS box faster than the old one (in spite of the 1.3 GHz clock speed). But I was curious if going to 4 “Green” drives would use more power than the old server which had 2 “Black” drives and 1 “Green” drive.

MEASURING THE POWER USAGE

The Kill A Watt from P3 International - Measures your electric usageThere’s a handy little device from P3 International called the #P4400 Kill A Watt that retails for $17-$25 US.

It’s accurate within .2%, and easy as pie to operate – the instruction manual only has one page.

There are 5 buttons on the front:

  • Volt (volts AC)
  • Amp (amperage)
  • Watt / VA (Watts / Volt Amps)
  • Hz / PF (Hertz / Power Factor)
  • KWH / Hour (Kilowatt-hours / timer)

For our purposes, you only need the Watt button.

  1. Plug the Kill A Watt into the wall (I use an extension cord)
  2. Plug the server (or other equipment) into the front of the Kill A Watt
  3. Turn the server on
  4. Wait for a few minutes for the server to boot and settle down
  5. Press the Watt button and write down your reading

CALCULATING THE COST

Now that we know how many Watts your server is using (let’s say 75 Watts for the sake of argument) let’s calculate what the financial cost is.

Get your latest electric bill or go to your utility website and find the charge for a Kilowatt-Hour (kWh). In Louisville, that’s currently $0.07068 kWh.

To create a formula, and we’ll assign those numbers to variables:

  • W = Watt usage
  • C = Cost per kWh

Formula to calculate the cost to run your server…

…per day: (W / 1000) x 24 x C

…per month: (W / 1000) x 730 x C

…per year: (W / 1000) x 8760 x C

What we’re doing is:

  1. Converting Watts into Kilowatts by dividing W by 1000
    75 Watts / 1000 = 0.075 Kilowatts
  2. Then multiply those Kilowatts x 24 hours in a day to get kWh
    0.075 Kilowatts x 24 hours = 1.8 kWh
  3. Finally, multiply the kWh x the Cost per kWh
    1.8 kWh x $0.07068 = $0.12 per day

Example: (75 Watts / 1000) x 24 hours x $0.07068 kWh = $0.12 per day

You can multiply that number by 365 days to get your cost per year = $43.80

Tip – Skip The Math Anxiety

If you don’t feel like doing the math above, just take your Watt (W) and Cost per kilowatt hour (C) and use the online calculator here:
http://mathmerlin.com/

The online calculator shows you the cost per hour, day, week, month and year all at once.

Kermit said, "It's not easy being green." He lied.ARE WE GREENER?

So how does the new WHS 2011 Microserver compare to the old junker? I measured both servers while streaming a 24 GB .WTV video file from them.

  • OLD Celeron whitebox WHS v1 uses 122 Watts
    Cost to run: $0.21 per day / $6.29 per month / $75.54 per year
  • NEW HP ProLiant Microserver WHS 2011 uses 46.5 Watts
    Cost to run: $0.08 per day / $2.40 per month / $28.79 per year

HP ProLiant MicroserverWINNER = NEW HP Microserver with WHS 2011

  • Has 2 x the storage as the old box
  • Has 3 x the RAM as the old box
  • Uses 60% LESS power
  • Costs me $46.75 LESS per year to run

I had no idea how much juice that old garbage PC was using. I just assumed that a Celeron would use less power because, well, it’s slower. Right?

Obviously, that $46.75 cost savings per year doesn’t pay for even one hard drive in the new server, but that’s not the point. The old box was gimpy, and the hardware had to be replaced to go to the 64-bit platform anyway. The point is that it’s easy to use less energy by making smart hardware choices – choices that still perform REALLY well. The power savings on the new server will more than pay for the cost of the P3 Kill A Watt. The leftover money savings is icing on the cake.

CALL TO ACTION

I encourage you to use a Kill A Watt to see how much juice your server rack or office is burning. You can check the equipment one piece at a time, or just plug a power strip (or your UPS) into the Kill A Watt and check it all at once.

If you have a device that kicks on and off, like a mini fridge or an air conditioner, you can use the KWH button instead of the Watt button and come back an hour later to see the accumulated result. Measuring your electric usage is now quick, easy, and you just must might save yourself some dough.

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Tips for eating well

The recommendations in the Australian dietary guidelines and Australian guide to healthy eating help us choose foods for good health and to reduce our risk of chronic health problems. Try out ikaria lean belly juice.

If we are carrying extra weight, the Australian dietary guidelines can also help us lose weight. They steer us towards foods that are high in nutrients but lower in kilojoules. These choices are nutrient dense but less energy dense and helpful for both achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This is how
prodentim works.

People wanting to lose weight will also find this information useful for planning meals and snacks. Following the recommended number of serves from the five food groups and avoiding the discretionary foods will result in a gradual but healthy weight loss for most people. However, some people, particularly younger men and people who are taller than average or more active, may need additional serves of the five food groups. Try out the best alpine ice hack.

You can also check by taking the ‘Are you eating for health?’ quiz in the Dietary guidelines summary booklet.

Eating regularly

It’s essential for weight control and especially weight loss, to recognise and act on the feedback your body gives you about when and how much you need to eat. However it’s also important to aim for a regular eating pattern of meals, or meals and mid meals.

A planned pattern of eating is more likely to include the recommended number of serves from the five food groups. A spontaneous, unstructured eating pattern is more likely to include too many discretionary foods which means too much saturated fat, added sugars, added salt and kilojoules at the expense of fibre and important nutrients. Take a look to these alpilean reviews.

Don’t skip breakfast?

Breakfast skippers are more likely to be tempted by unplanned discretionary choices during the morning and large serves at the next meal or snack. Just think of how yummy those large baked muffins look at morning tea if you’ve missed breakfast!

People who regularly eat a breakfast based on wholegrain cereal or bread, low fat milk or yogurt and maybe some fruit or vegetables are much more likely to be eating well and lose weight than those who skip breakfast. Learn more about metaboost connection.

Eat with other people not TV

We also know that people who eat with others and eat at the dining table, are more likely to eat regularly and eat well than those who eat alone or in front of the TV. Meals with others tend to include more foods from the five food groups. For example, people often report that they can’t be bothered cooking vegetables just for themselves.

Television watching is associated with eating more discretionary choices like take-away or convenience foods and fewer foods from the five foods. It also makes it much more difficult to recognise and respond to our body’s signals about hunger and satiety.

Good meal planning and making healthy choices can sometimes be tricky but a few useful tips can make it easier.

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