Interestingly, network storage companies have flocked to WHS. Meanwhile, a NAS (network-attached storage) such as the Maxtor Shared Storage II lets you back-up computers in your home and stream videos to your Apple TV, but it’s definitely not a home server.

WHS is built on Windows Server 2003, a highly stable and powerful platform indeed. Yet, these programs are meant for the home: a publishing agent that lets you stream videos to your TiVo, a photo uploading service, and even packages that let you encrypt data-say, for those who work in the financial sector from home. You can add software to the server just like they do in the enterprise. These let you extend the capability of the platform. In fact, application developers are busy designing some pretty cool add-ons to Windows Home Server. While not open in the sense of open source, this is a true server OS, so is more open than closed-box NAS systems. Microsoft Windows Home Server (WHS), released this fall as an OEM product-which you can buy at NewEggand other sites as long as you buy one other minor hardware item-addresses the need to “open up” our home networks.Īs the first Microsoft product ever released that is a true home server, WHS allows you to configure user accounts, make unattended back-ups of any PC in your home, and even set up remote access to your storage using an interface that is both powerful and relatively straightforward.

Windows home server 2011 system builder