Minimum hardware requirements for Windows Home Server

I was at WinHEC 2007 a few weeks ago and Windows Home Server was one of the hot topics of discussion. On the show floor, there were two speakers talking about WHS and demonstrating the product, and there were typically five to ten people in that part of the Microsoft booth at all times. One of the staff demonstrating the product was Chris Gray, the project lead, who was extremely knowledgeable about the product, as one might expect, and very friendly.

Charlie Kindel, General Manager of Windows Home Server, gave an overview talk about WHS. One of the key attributes of WHS is that it is designed to be a plug and play, headless appliance, as easy to install as possible. The hardware concept is described as

• Small form factor
• No monitor / display
• Low cost x86 CPU
• Rear connectors: Power, USB, Gigabit Ethernet
• Two to four internal drives
• Storage expansion options
• Affordable for consumers

With these attributes in mind, the minimum requirements are:

• ≥ 1.2GHz equivalent x86 CPU
• One internal hard drive (80GB min.) with tool-less expansion
• 512MB RAM minimum
• 1GbE network card
• Four external USB ports
• ≤30dB acoustics

Explicitly disallowed are:

• Wireless network adapter (too hard to configure without a display and keyboard)
• Video connector (since designed to be a head-less appliance)
• Optical drive (restore over the network)
• Keyboard and mouse ports
• RS-232 and parallel port

Microsoft has done a good job identifying their target market and defining an appliance that will serve that market well. One or two more posts on WHS to follow.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a Microsoft shill, just an enthusiastic beta tester. I do not work for Microsoft and only use a few of their products (XP, Office, Streets and Trips, Hotmail, TellMe, and that’s about it). I’m dual booting Ubuntu with XP on most of my home computers and am evaluating Open Office as a no-cost alternative to Office. Not being a fan of bloated software with way more features than everyday users need, I’m really impressed that Microsoft has decided to keep WHS simple and to allow third parties to write applications and develop hardware solutions rather than doing everything themselves. I hope that this is an indicator of things to come from Microsoft.

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