Microsoft Home Environment Pointers using Windows Vista Media Center
I’ve received a few questions about how I do things with my ever-maturing home environment and thought it might be useful to share a few things … I would also very much like to hear from others who might’ve done things better or differently. That said, I’ve actually finally got things hooked together pretty well and thought others might like to skip the learning part I endured and move straight to something that works J …
Features …
1. Centralized File & Print (Windows Server, Windows Vista)
2. Centralized Media Sharing & Distribution (Windows Vista, Windows Media Center)
3. Well-managed Desktops (Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server, Windows Live OneCare)
4. High-speed Internet, Wireless
5. High-speed Internet gaming, IPTV/VOD (Xbox 360s, Xbox Live)
6. Backup & Restore (Windows Live OneCare)
7. Archiving & Disaster Recovery
8. Desktop Anti-Virus, Malware, Tuning (Windows Live OneCare)
Centralized File & Print, Media Sharing …
Although I’m running Windows Server 2003 R2 to handle the desktop management via group policies & Active Directory, I decided to centralize documents on another dedicated system running Windows Vista Ultimate (a lid-down notebook PC; accessed “headless” via Remote Desktop), mainly due to the fact I frequently test and change settings that require reboots on the Windows Server and do not want to impact up-time for the rest of my household. The centralized family documents are in shares available over the network in a hierarchy which represents my family members names. Permissions are enforced accordingly for appropriate access and administrative functions. This gives the kids their own area to store files, pictures, etc centrally and be able to get to them anywhere on our network … they are also automatically backed-up nightly.
Centralized Media Sharing & Distribution …
Windows Vista Ultimate also includes Windows Media Center, which I use to host my household media including digital pictures, videos (home movies, etc) and music. We can upload pictures from our digital cameras, etc from any PC to be stored either in our own PICTURES folder or we can copy/move them to a peer folder in the Media Center file structure. Media Center could be configured to monitor these folders to automatically add pictures, but we prefer the staged approach to make sure we don’t get dupes, etc. We use Windows Movie Maker to import home movies off our Mini-DV digital video camera. We have an extensive music library where we’ve ripped music off owned-CDs, and I’ve loaded the Zune software on the Windows Vista Ultimate system so we can sync DRM music as well. We are able to access all the media from the Windows Vista Ultimate PC itself, the playroom LCD TV or the den/media-room’s HD DLP, both of which use the Media Center Extender functionality of the 2 Xbox 360s.
Well-Managed Desktops …
Using Windows Server 2003 R2 as a server and DC in my home AD forest to manage 3 home PCs via group policy. The policies aren’t too elaborate, but lock-down the kids systems to keep them from messing things up J, and then sets the various file/share-pointers for personal documents, pictures, etc.
Networking (High-Speed Internet, Wireless, etc) …
I have Comcast’s business-class offering which provides 8MB downstream and 2MB upstream, although I almost always get 10-13MB down. This also provides me with 5 dedicated public IP addresses, which comes in handy for my hosted public domain and various other server testing & evaluation. They provide a multi-port switch which is also helpful in connecting the various devices or servers. I have a 802.11n WAP NAT’ing my internal network and providing DHCP; I’m using a wireless repeater to boost the signal of my wireless coverage in the areas of my home farthest from my WAP. The wireless is plenty fast for most activity, but something more reliable and less latent is needed for Internet gaming (Xbox Live), IPTV/VOD and streaming media from Media Center … to accommodate these needs, I’ve installed a few “Ethernet-over-power-line adapters” from Sling. These are extremely easy to install, pretty inexpensive, and surprisingly fast. I use these to interconnect my Xbox 360s for Xbox Live Internet gaming, IPTV/VOD and for streaming rich media from the Windows Media Center. When I tried to use wireless bridges to achieve this same functionality, it was spotty at best and mostly unusable. Lastly, also using Vonage (VoIP) for my home telephone service.
High-speed Internet gaming, IPTV/VOD via Xbox 360s & Xbox Live …
As mentioned earlier, 2 Xbox 360s connected to HD monitors via HDMI (one cable for video+audio, simple and clean) … both systems connected to the high-speed Internet connection over the Sling devices. Performance is excellent even with both 360s playing simultaneously with multiple gamers. Due to the excellent network connectivity, we’re also able to take advantage of Xbox Live’s full offerings around IPTV and VOD (video on demand). If you haven’t checked out the media options available from the Xbox Live Marketplace, it’s getting more exhaustive and entertaining. I’ve downloaded multiple movies (some in HD), TV shows, game trials, etc. on both systems. Also using the Xbox 360s as Media Center Extenders to access our family library of digital pictures, movies and music, not to mention the IPTV content from MSN. I also have a Slingbox connected to the network and Comcast cable-TV feed so I can view live television from any Internet-connected PC in the world or from my Windows Mobile phone.
Backup & Restore …
With all my family documents, digital pictures, videos, etc centralized and growing daily, backing up family memories and information is getting more important, so I wanted to have a couple of backup strategies. Past the shadow copy functionality in Vista, I connected a USB-attached, external 1TB hard drive where I have OneCare doing automated, nightly backups (among other things). In addition to the centralized system, I have OneCare loaded on the other household PCs backing up (over the wire to the 1TB drive as well) any documents that someone might’ve accidentally saved locally.
Archiving & Disaster Recovery …
To address the situation of a disastrous event in my home that could destroy not only my “server” containing my digital archives of family memories, but also the external drive with the backups, I am using an off-site backup service from Carbonite. The service installs a small client on your system (my central Windows Vista Ultimate “server”), then you easily define the folders/files you want encrypted and then backed-up over the Internet to their off-site repositories. The unique aspect of Carbonite compared to other services I’ve seen is that they have no disk space limits ! It took a while (almost 45GB !), but I ran an initial backup with the service and now have immediate off-site backups for all of my centralized documents and media. From this point, the backups are only differentials. The interface is “right-mouse-button” aware and very intuitive.
Desktop Anti-Virus, Malware, Tuning …
I am using Microsoft OneCare for all my systems in regard to anti-virus, malware, first-line backup/restore and performance tuning. You can load the software on up to 3 systems and then manage the alerts from the “hub” PC via a Windows Live account. This is perfect for monitoring the kid’s PCs for needed updates, problems with backups, etc. You can also use OneCare as a gateway to manage/control your kid’s Internet access through Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, which provides parents with ways to lock-down access, review usage reports, approve access requests from the kids centrally, etc etc.
That’s about it … if anyone has any questions or suggestions on something I’m overlooking or how I could improve things, I’m all ears !
