Sage with Windows Home Server

[srothwell]

Hi

Can anyone give me their feedback on running the Windows Home Server version of Sage?

For a variety of reasons, I'm considering chaning from a W2K3 server that's currently running Sage and our home's LAN to WHS and was wondering if anyone had trouble (or good thinigs) to say about sageTV with WHS

I'll be using 2x HDHomeRuns and one PVR-250

thanks

Stacy

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Hi

Can anyone give me their feedback on running the Windows Home Server version of Sage?

For a variety of reasons, I'm considering chaning from a W2K3 server that's currently running Sage and our home's LAN to WHS and was wondering if anyone had trouble (or good thinigs) to say about sageTV with WHS

I'll be using 2x HDHomeRuns and one PVR-250

thanks

Stacy

Sage on WHS can be summed up in 2 words... Rock Solid

[DOS64K]

I'll second that. And the ability to add storage on the fly just can't be beat! If you're going to run a server anyway, SageTV for WHS is the way to go. There can be some capture card driver issues, but the devices you list have been proven on the platform.

Take the plunge, you won't regret it

[TwistedTweaker]

I am very interested in running Sage on my WHS. I was even thinking about building one from scratch to add TV as an option.This should allow me to record to the server and send the shows out to all the rooms that have access to the sage client?

I was thinking about using the ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner (do they still make an internal version)?

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/11564

I really only use basic cable and a few local HD channels. I am currently using Comcast and would like to dump the box, but I am open to suggestions. What hardware set-ups do you guys recommend?

Thanks,

Sean

[Texas-Hansen]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Hi

Can anyone give me their feedback on running the Windows Home Server version of Sage?

For a variety of reasons, I'm considering chaning from a W2K3 server that's currently running Sage and our home's LAN to WHS and was wondering if anyone had trouble (or good thinigs) to say about sageTV with WHS

I'll be using 2x HDHomeRuns and one PVR-250

thanks

Stacy

I do not record TV but do have Sage on my WHS and it works great serving up content on my shares to my Sage HD200.

[mangriotis]

I am also loving this setup. I have one HDHR, a PVR-250 and a HVR-1600. The only thing I have any issues with is the HVR-1600.

Stability is very good, it only ever reboots on updates, keeps my other machines backed up, and I have Cobian Backup running to backup my SageTV directory.

I had to reinstall a few times at the beginning to get things correct (64k blocks in the pool, etc.), so I documented the process and can now get the system completely redone from scratch in a few hours.

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by TwistedTweaker

I am very interested in running Sage on my WHS. I was even thinking about building one from scratch to add TV as an option.This should allow me to record to the server and send the shows out to all the rooms that have access to the sage client?

I was thinking about using the ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner (do they still make an internal version)?

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/11564

I really only use basic cable and a few local HD channels. I am currently using Comcast and would like to dump the box, but I am open to suggestions. What hardware set-ups do you guys recommend?

Thanks,

Sean

That won't work..it's for Vista MC only and on OEM machine only.

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by mangriotis

I am also loving this setup. I have one HDHR, a PVR-250 and a HVR-1600. The only thing I have any issues with is the HVR-1600.

Stability is very good, it only ever reboots on updates, keeps my other machines backed up, and I have Cobian Backup running to backup my SageTV directory.

I had to reinstall a few times at the beginning to get things correct (64k blocks in the pool, etc.), so I documented the process and can now get the system completely redone from scratch in a few hours.

Thanks for the reply.... would you mind posting your document?

I've got a W2K3 server running now with Sage, but I think it's somewhat unstable. Every 5 or 6 days Sage just stops working and I have to restart.

I've got a 500GB main drive and 2x 1TB drives for Sage (full of recordings).

I need to figure out how o properly migrate all this over to WHS with a minimum of downtime and no headaches....

Thanks

[TwistedTweaker]

Originally Posted by ghostlobster

That won't work..it's for Vista MC only and on OEM machine only.

I am loosing you...so there is no way to record TV (visible to Sage) on a machine that is running WHS?

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by TwistedTweaker

I am loosing you...so there is no way to record TV (visible to Sage) on a machine that is running WHS?

What ghostlobster means is, that card will not work with sagetv.

Please look at the Hauppage cards and/or an HD homerun.

Also, please go to the hardware section and do a search for WHS or Windows home server. There were three threads just today about WHS setups.

[mangriotis]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Thanks for the reply.... would you mind posting your document?

I've got a W2K3 server running now with Sage, but I think it's somewhat unstable. Every 5 or 6 days Sage just stops working and I have to restart.

I've got a 500GB main drive and 2x 1TB drives for Sage (full of recordings).

I need to figure out how o properly migrate all this over to WHS with a minimum of downtime and no headaches....

Thanks

I am afraid it won't be much help to you. It's less of a document, and more of a list of tasks to get the machine back to where it was... I don't have it with me right now. Also, I started from scratch with no recordings (i.e. blank HDDs). Migrating them will be a PITA (if you even have the room to do that).

Basically, it inlcudes all relevant product keys, drive configurations, device filenames and the order to install them (very specific to my hardware) in one place. Something like this:

1. Hook everything up like this xxx.
2. Install WHS - and DiskManager Add-in
3. Install chipset, SATA, video, audio, hauppauge, HDHR drivers
4. Change IP to x.x.x.x
5. HDHR channel lineup should be xxx:
6. YAC and YACasService.msi
7. Install Sage Add-in - stop service
8. Copy last backup of ./SageTV folder over new installation
9. Restart service

Wow - The fact that I still remember most of the steps tells you how many times I did this...

[TallMomof2]

WHS is great! I haven't had a single crash or had to reboot (except for system updates) since I went to it.

My advice is to install WHS and run *all* the updates before installing the Connection software on your clients. When you install WHS it goes through a number of reboots and after awhile you get a screen that tells you that it's okay to disconnect your monitor, keyboard, etc. and to install the Connection software on a client. Close out that screen and run all the updates right from your server. It took me six installs/reinstalls to figure that out and achieve a stable install.

I still have to manually reinstall the Connection software on each of my clients when WHS updates which is a minor pain but doable.

Once you get the server software up and running and go to install drivers you will probably need to run the install programs in XP mode. Sometimes you'll have to drill down on the driver CD to find individual setup programs for motherboard drivers (like I did for my ASUS mobo).

Do some reading in the Hardware forum and you'll figure out the best way for you to install WHS.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Once you get the server software up and running and go to install drivers you will probably need to run the install programs in XP mode. Sometimes you'll have to drill down on the driver CD to find individual setup programs for motherboard drivers (like I did for my ASUS mobo).

This is completely contrary to everything I've ever done. I ALWAYS download the latest drivers from either the manufacturer's site or from whoever else (nvidia, Realtek, etc). The drivers provided with the products are generally seriously out of date. It's usually much better to go get the latest versions before beginning.

[TwistedTweaker]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

WHS is great! I haven't had a single crash or had to reboot (except for system updates) since I went to it.

Do you have any issues streaming live TV to your HTPC from WHS?

Have you had any luck streaming LARGE MT2S files? We have had no luck with 30Gig files....but they play fine on the HTPC. They just freeze when we attempt to stream them from the HP MediaSmart server.

Thanks,

Sean

[srothwell]

So, I installed WHS on a test machine and installed Sage.

Is there no way to run sage as a service on WHS? I just remember clear back to V2.x of Sage how flakey it was until they came out with the service mode and have been running it that way ever since....

stacy

[mangriotis]

You need to install the WHS version of Sage (*.msi) via the Add-Ins component of the WHS Console. This will start Sage as a service that can be started and stopped through the console...

[mangriotis]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

My advice is to install WHS and run *all* the updates before installing the Connection software on your clients. When you install WHS it goes through a number of reboots and after awhile you get a screen that tells you that it's okay to disconnect your monitor, keyboard, etc. and to install the Connection software on a client. Close out that screen and run all the updates right from your server. It took me six installs/reinstalls to figure that out and achieve a stable install.

Yes, I forgot this extremely important step... you MUST update WHS. Prior to updates, my free space calculations (the disk bar) in Sage was all screwed up and created a mess for me. I think it downloaded 58 updates for me (and several reboots as mentioned).

[srothwell]

So, how does one format the WHS server drives for 64K Clusters, as Sage recommends?

I've been all over WHS and cannot find it to save my life.

Thanks

Stacy

[mguebert]

I used Acronis Drive manager to create and format the 64K cluster and then setup shares to the drive. I did not let WHS import the drive into the storage pool.

[srothwell]

Hmmm.... interesting.

I'm looking forward to seeing others' respose to this question.

So you're using the WHS "pool" for normal files (photos, music, etc) but using a completely dedicated disk(s) for Sage without WHS managing the pool.

I guess you're not going to turn on duplication and you certainly don't want to back it up.