A new year!

I would like to wish all of you a happy New Year; all the best and a good health for 2012!
And hopefully lots of good things to come for Windows Home Server and its users…

Cheers,
Nick

AdminiMe 2012 for Windows Home Server 1 is here!

It’s that time of year again…

After the great reactions and suggestions from the previous version; I started with this new one.
A lot of hard work is put in it, but that means a lot of great features too…

Here is a list of new features:

• Top 5 current cpu consuming processes.
• Top 5 current memory consuming processes.
• Cpu temperature monitoring. (Not all CPU’s are supported; if not then no output is shown)
• Statistics are kept on the number of shut downs, suspends, resumes, log offs.
• Server name/Server IP is listed in the email.
• Option to shut down / reboot / … when a serious error occurs.
• Execute a process when a failure or error occurs.
• Total redesign of the user interface
• Option to turn off the chart updates.
• Support lnk files / command line switches
• Export logging.
• Full support for Simplified Chinese. (Thanks to Yong Zang)

Fixes:

• The total number of days went into negative after 20+
  days running nonstop.
• GUI advancements

Now I hear you asking… what about Windows Home Server 2011???
Well, don’t worry, I am working on this one too, as I have decided to support both versions.

Regarding pricing:
- Existing users can upgrade by paying 5€. Just send along your current license file of AdminiMe 2010.
- New users pay 9€.

Please fill in the survey: here
If you have problems, report them: here
Download AdminiMe 2012 here.

Have fun!

Some nice info on WHS2011

Microsoft has posted some nice documents containing information about Windows Home Server 2011.

Getting Started, data sheets, white papers, Top 10 reasons to buy WHS,…
Get it here.

AutoExit 2011 Beta-2 For Windows Home Server 2011

It’s been a while since Beta-1 of AutoExit for WHS 2011 was released, but now you can rest assured Beta-2 is here!

This version mostly fixes issues that were present in Beta-1 and it had been made fully compatible with the release version of WHS 2011.
A new feature in this beta is that you can now also add non-WHS machines (which don’t have the WHS Client Connector software installed)

You can download it from the ASoft site.
Please report your bugs via this feedback page.

Newsletter

You can now subscribe to the ‘ASoft Newsletter’; news/updates will be posted to this mailinglist so that you can easily stay up-to-date with ASoft and its products.
Just send a mail to newsletter-subscribe@asoft-ware.com and confirm.

How to retrieve the product type of Windows Home Server 2011

Windows Home Server 2011 has three product editions:

• Windows SBS 2011 Essentials incorporates best-of-breed 64-bit product technologies for data backup and restore, remote access, file and printer sharing, and quick connection to the cloud—in one fully integrated solution.
• Windows Home Server 2011 is the server platform that’s designed specifically for families and how they access their digital data. It helps to simplify and connect your family’s photos, videos, music, and TV by providing a familiar and easy way to share, store, stream, and automatically protect what’s most important. It supports up to 10 users.
• Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is the ideal storage server solution to help home-based and small business owners keep important data automatically backed up, protected, organized, and accessible from virtually anywhere. Built on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, it streamlines access to centralized files for up to 25 users.

If you are writing an addin and you want to know what version your addin is running on, then this simple class will be very helpful to you.

The way we retrieve this information is via the Windows API GetProductInfo:
private const int PRODUCT_HOME_SERVER = 0×22;
private const int PRODUCT_SB_SOLUTION_SERVER = 0×13;
private const int PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM_SERVER = 0×32;

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern bool GetProductInfo(int dwOSMajorVersion, int dwOSMinorVersion, int dwSpMajorVersion, int dwSpMinorVersion, outuint pdwReturnedProductType);

///<summary>
/// WHS Edition
///</summary>
public enum WHSEdition
{
///<summary>
/// Unknown Edition
///</summary>
Unknown = 0,
///<summary>
/// Windows Home Server 2011
///</summary>
Standard = 1,
///<summary>
/// Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
///</summary>
SmallBusinessEssentials = 2,
///<summary>
/// Windows Storage Server 2008R2
///</summary>
StorageServer = 3
}

///<summary>
/// Retrieves the WHS Edition that the application is running on
///</summary>
///<returns>WHSEdition</returns>
public static WHSEdition GetWHSEdition()
 {
uint pdwReturnedProductType;

GetProductInfo(Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major,
Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor,
0,
0,
out pdwReturnedProductType);

switch (pdwReturnedProductType)
{
case PRODUCT_HOME_SERVER: return WHSEdition.Standard;
case PRODUCT_SB_SOLUTION_SERVER: return WHSEdition.StorageServer;
case PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM_SERVER: return WHSEdition.SmallBusinessEssentials;
default: return WHSEdition.Unknown;
}
}

You can download the class sourcefile here.

.NET Version Detector XI is here

A new version of .NET Version Detector has been released.
It’s a minor update but with a very useful feature!

It’s now possible to use a the commandline to run .NET Version Detector without its user interface and create a report that is saved to a file of your choice.
You can do it like this: dotnet.exe <pathtofile>
Example: dotnet.exe c:\temp\asoft_netver.txt

You can download the latest version here.

New forum up and running for discussing the new Server Solutions SDK

The WHS Team has created a new forum to discuss/ask questions about the Windows Server Solutions SDK.
This is the SDK that allows you to create addins for WHS 2011.

You can find it here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsserversolutionssdk/threads

Get the final Windows Home Server SDK

With Windows Home Server 2011 released; you can now happily start coding away with the final.

You can find lots of information about the SDK over here.
And the download for the final SDK is located here.

So jump straight into it and have fun!

Congratulations: monhomeserver.fr turns 3 :-)

Sébastien Toussaint is the French MVP running the blog covering Windows Home Server in France: http://blog.monhomeserver.fr/2011/02/le-blog/3-ans-un-nouveau-blog/

The site recently turned three years old and is a must-have for the French users out there!