Looking for a WHS alternative, please convince me

[lou1z]

got to agree with cpg there.
amahi is amahi and should be treated as so. the fact that it runs on fedora which can do more isn't really what amahi is about. its in it's infancy and i'm sure over time, it will offer a lot more complex configurations.
should it run a vm server? personally, i don't think so. vm's are an entirely different setup and not something to be taken lightly. you need a hefty machine to run multiple vms whereas amahi can run on an old clonker.
should it run within a vm? i do and it runs quite happily on an esxi4. to runs vm's properly, you need to understand networking and isolation ie subnets,bandwidth, vlans etc. most people do not realise that and run them all on the one network possibly due to vm desktop products which are really on for testing vm's
in years to come (its already happening as dell, hp supply their servers with built in esxi etc), most pc's will boot to a virtual envoironment where there are multiple vms running on them.
this is where you will see and upsurge in linux use. not on the desktop (i don't think) but behind the scenes where amahi has placed itself and has a bright future. it's not clarkconnect (sbs rival) but it really is a whs rival and uses tried and tested service & protocols etc
compared to windows? all i can say is i have run similar apps (slimserver etc) on both and for some reason, it runs better on amahi (fedora) than it does under windows. its been flawless and more responsive in these apps with less ram.

[orbit77]

Just wanted to reply to this thread to assure any curious readers out there that Amahi does do what it says it can do, but is still a work in progress (especially the documentation, which I could help out with if someone gets in touch with me). I discovered Amahi just over a week ago and have it running on a headless machine for 8 days now with no problems. I installed it twice - first time no issues. Second time there was a php problem that I solved by searching the forums - I've found that any question I've had has been answered in the forums (but not necessarily in the wiki). The Samba shares are easy to set up and work perfect for storing my media to watch on my iMac and laptop. The iTunes server works great. TorrentFlux has freed my desktop from waiting for a download to finish.

It is a home server, not a web server, a point that perhaps could be made clearer to sever newbies. While the apps available might technically be able to publish and/or stream media over the internet, etc, Amahi isn't really designed to allow this to happen in an easy or safe way, from what I can tell. That's fine, but it's a message I learned after installing and using it, not one that was clearly communicated to me via the website information pre-install.

So, all that just to say to any potential Amahi users - try it! It installs easily, and even if you've never used Linux before you'll be able to follow the instruction manual no problem. Start using the basic built-in functions, then slowly add aps once you get comfortable with the way things work in Amahi. I put Amahi on an old pentium 4 I bought for $20 and I'll add drives as I need space. Everyone can afford to have an Amahi home server - can't say that about WHS!

Just my 2 cents.

[dvdesign]

Well im back just to update things. I decided since i "reviewed" Amahi, itd only be fair if i did the same with WHS in the same circumstances.

The short of it is that i had WHS in a VM on my network visable to all computers (with its own ip) and was adding addins 2 hours after i put the disc in my drive to install it.

The console connector software is something Amahi should seriously consider trying to emulate. Within 3 hours of installing i had installed several addins and now had torrent download capabilities from any computer on my network (downloaded on the WHS), had remote desktop setup, PS3 Media server (to stream to PS3), Tversity setup with browser based admin, true backups run by and scheduled by the server, ability to easily add new accounts and shares from any computer, and more.

A shortcut to the shares was placed on every desktop (automatically) and was user/password protected. The console software starts at boot and stays in the system tray and automatically reports network status.

A 5 year old literally could have set this up, and at a $90 "expensive" price tag, it will probably be the only legit software i own. It needs only 512MB to run (albeit 1GB is probably what you want min) and will easily run on P III or higher (as a matter of fact my VM tells WHS i have a P III). Ive even pieced together new components to build a server that range from $300-$500 dependent on the type of components, althought you could easily run this on any computer of 5-7 years old or newer.

As for saying that the Amahi home page and features page are accurate...thats a bit of a stretch. When your told the best method of backing up is to set the built in windows backups to backup to the server share...thats not built in "easy" backup. Also they make it sound much easier then it really is...Amahi was what i expected from WHS, and what WHS gave me was what i expected from Amahi.

I think the Amahi devs should take a long look at WHS and try to emulate alot of it...you shouldnt need to have a technical background to setup a home server.

Lastly, the attitude of some of you is unbelievable. CPG i read every single link you sent me, i read on my own, probably hundreds of wiki's and howto's (i spent a solid 15 hours one day researching and fiddling). The fact that at least half the links you sent me had little, nothing to do, or where not written accurately didnt even stop me from reading them...that doesnt mean they helped me. I didnt say anything to you about that wiki page because by then you had already told me that you didnt think "Amahi was for you"...maybe Amahi isnt ready for most people...with that attitude your gonna drive away your patrons, the people who are going to use and support your product. Your mentality must have simply been that you didnt feel like helping anymore, and i can understand that...it still doesnt make it right.

I just find it funny that in your "fourth:" paragraph, "try the same with other products and see how far you get"...so i did and it took me 2 hours. Both my first time using WHS and my first time successfully setting up a VM (2nd time if you count setting up Amahi)...must be real difficult to do...

I really hope you guys update Amahi to the point it fits your description of it (or update your description to what Amahi really does and doesnt do), sadly as long as MS puts a product of this quality at such a reasonable price...ill be using that.

[pjcrux]

Just wanted to reply to this thread to assure any curious readers out there that Amahi does do what it says it can do, but is still a work in progress (especially the documentation, which I could help out with if someone gets in touch with me).

Send me an email at pjcrux at gmail dot com

We'll definitely put you to work!

[pjcrux]

Well bad news is i dont think im going to continue with Amahi, i think WHS doesnt really have any viable competition now and i may be stuck using that.

I'm sorry to hear that

In all fairness im sure trying to install amahi in a VM complicated things...but i think linux in general was not meant for the average person to use in a home scenario. Things that should be easy (or made easy) turn out to be a long process of typing commands.

I would ask that you try the install as we recommend. Granted by your own admission you are trying to install in a VM which is always a crap shoot. But Amahi is designed to run as a headless no nonsense appliance.

I think Amahi has potential, but i just cant see it being used even by the enthusiast who doesnt have a working knowledge of linux. I would consider myself more then just an average computer user, being as i work in the field (just not with linux)...but even for me setting this up became a bit much.

I came to this project with absolutely no knowledge of linux, none. However, I have had my fair share of problems with hardware.

Its just my opinion that the home page and features page really do alot to sell Amahi, but i think alot of it is misleading, and the documentation is pretty poor all around. I understand the reasons for it, but it doesnt really excuse it. A pretty good example is a link i was given when i asked how to turn of DHCP and DNS in Amahi and was given the following link:
http://www.amahi.org/faq#can-i-disable- ... -amahi-hda

Could you elaborate more. As one of the individuals in the project who shares responsibility for the documentation this doesn't explain the issues you are having at what point did you start to have issues with the documentation. I'll be the first to admit that we need to update the documentation. please send me an email at pjcrux at gmail dot com with the problems that you have had in the documentation.

The first line tells you to goto "Setup --> Applications --> Server". Either "Server" doesnt exsist, or its not in an obvious place because i spent 10mins looking for it and did not find it. Possibly i over looked it...but thats my point, things like this should be in obvious paces like under the network tab, and even if its not the documentation should explain in detail step-by-step how to find it.

ok

The writers of the documentaion presume that people have a deeper understanding of linux then most people actually do.

elaborate please

[Lincee]

don't worry, we'll get you some day.

This is the line that worries me, i'll get back to that later in this post.

First off, "Convince me" is never a good thing to post, yeah perhaps it works with the ubuntu n00bs, but many other devs will most likely ignore a post like that.
Obviously, you have not read the documentation at all.
In various places, on the forums, the wiki, you are warned for doing things amahi is not (yet) supposed to do, might break the install,
if you choose to ignore these warnings, and go ahaead, thats fine!
But dont blame it on Amahi when it doesnt work, its all your own fault.
seccond of, Amahi is not supposed to run on a VM with NAT.. Amahi is supposed to run as an all-in solution for networking, n00bs dont do VM's.
and you're not so pro as you claim to be, because i know people who run Amahi in a VM, and they run it well.

it seems to me that you allready had your mind set on WHS before you even installed Amahi, thats not our problem, but its yours.
If you're happy with WHS, then by all means, keep using it.
Amahi should not emulate WHS, as it is not WHS, and the way it goes now, makes it fine for almost every user.
And sure, some knowledge is required ATM, but then, anyone with a home server should have some knowledge.
Thats why virusses get so wide spread, all these people doing things without any knowledge, TSSK.
i sure hope you dont step into the kitchen with that attitude, or your local firedepartment has their work cut out in advanche.

I'm a linux n00b, and i find my way arround quite nicely.
Linux is NOT windows, never tried to be, never will be.
Working with linux requires at least a little knowledge, and thats good!

on the other hand, epople like you keep me working, so stick with windows all you wish, but dont come here with this "convince me" attitude, it smells.
in the time we could have "convinced" you, we now helped a few users who had REAL problems with their HDA.

Now, to CPG,
its not a matter of "getting" to people some day, i surely hope you where joking.
there's nothing wrong with having users do a little research about the project.
and there are boundary's as to what public amahi should be targetted, personally, i think stick with the newbie's.
the kind of users who want to install it on a real pc, and put it in the basement, never to look at it again.
If you wanna include these "pro's", you're time will be eaten up by thinking of scenarios, instead of programming.

Now.. i'm back to the channel, helping users with problems that ARE within the boundary's of what Amahi is supposed to do.