Last week, New Egg had a deal on Windows Home Server 2011. $50. I enjoy Windows 7, so figured it would be a good idea to update my HP EX495 to WHM 2011. HP no longer supports the EX495 and the ability to backup Macs using Time Machine reportedly breaks in Lion. It seemed like a no brainer, but not so much.
These servers pool hard drives, thus creating a gang of data. There is no easy way to simply update the OS utilizing the existing drive pool. Not having a connection to a monitor also makes things a bit tricky. In the end, I decided to backup all of my movies, media to my external 2TB drive. That's typically used for my MacPro backups, so I'm flying without a net while I perform the server migration. I picked up a Samsung EcoGreen 2TB internal drive for $70. I'm going to insert that into my MacPro and install WHS 2011. From what I've read I can install it and then pull it when it stops prompting for information. You pull the drive and then drop it into the EX 495. I'm going to pull all my drives to be sure I don't screw things up. If and when I do, I can simply drop in the old drives until I get the install correct. If all goes well, I'll copy all my data back over the network to the updated server.
If that all goes well, then I can simply add the hard drives back into the mix and they'll be added to the data pool.
Adding some RAM to also help make this a worthy update.
I gotta say, the EX 495 is a nice piece of hardware. It's a shame they've discontinued the product.
These servers pool hard drives, thus creating a gang of data. There is no easy way to simply update the OS utilizing the existing drive pool. Not having a connection to a monitor also makes things a bit tricky. In the end, I decided to backup all of my movies, media to my external 2TB drive. That's typically used for my MacPro backups, so I'm flying without a net while I perform the server migration. I picked up a Samsung EcoGreen 2TB internal drive for $70. I'm going to insert that into my MacPro and install WHS 2011. From what I've read I can install it and then pull it when it stops prompting for information. You pull the drive and then drop it into the EX 495. I'm going to pull all my drives to be sure I don't screw things up. If and when I do, I can simply drop in the old drives until I get the install correct. If all goes well, I'll copy all my data back over the network to the updated server.
If that all goes well, then I can simply add the hard drives back into the mix and they'll be added to the data pool.
Adding some RAM to also help make this a worthy update.
I gotta say, the EX 495 is a nice piece of hardware. It's a shame they've discontinued the product.
