iTunes 9.2

to install this open iTunes and click on the help menu, then on check for updates. iTunes 9.2 is required to install & sync IOS4, and was previously only available in a beta version on the Mac. Ensure you restart the PC after installing iTunes, Safari 5 and any pre-requisite files the installer reports, such as the mobile.me extension

Restore Files

After you have installed iTunes 9.2, check on the Internet for the IOS4 GM (Gold Master) IPSW restore file for your particular model of  iPhone / iTouch etc. I downloaded my restore file  from the Apple developers site, but the same one is found on various sites such as here.

Update the O/S

Connect your iPhone to iTunes, ensure it does a backup, transfer any purchases also.

Select your iPhone, Shift Click on Check for Update and you will get a dialogue box, browse for the correct ipsw restore file you have recently downloaded and start the update.

Don’t worry when it reports that it will validate the file with Apple, this is for your safety and will check the validity of the file, and no doubt check for jailbreak code too…

The Operating system is installed followed by a firmware update, and lastly by a verification and restore of Apps, Music, Videos etc, this all should take 10-15 minutes.

Thats it!

IOS4

simples

At 9pm UK time on the 9th Jan, there was a post regarding the website being severely stressed with all the traffic, and the download would be re-posted later when more servers have been added. I checked again at 6am, then again at 11am, still the same.

Reading various posts in the windows blogs, some one detailed a method of downloading the product key, something which entailed using Firefox, with a content checker, 20 or so duplicate tabs and a 2 hours wait… but eventually I obtained the product keys and downloaded the beta.

Today I installed the beta on a Dell notebook, a Latitude D810, Pentium M at 2.1Ghz, and 1Gb ram, a very low and slow spec for Vista so I wasn’t expecting miracles…

30 minutes or so later, Windows-7 was installed, and running, 4 devices were not found, so I attached it to the wired network and a windows update later all devices found and running, on a 4 year old laptop!

So far so good, a bare OS install (Ultimate edition by the way) uses just 512Mb ram, and idles at 5% or so processor. It performs snappily and even has the Aero desktop at 1920×1050 desktop.

Next I connected to the Home server, again no problems, everything worked as expected, setup the Media Centre to read all the videos, music and photos from the Home Server.

In the next few days I will be installing some typical software which works on XP and or Vista and we will see how it performs.

So far my thoughts are that it is a cleaned up Vista, easy to use, much better ergonomics, gadgets go straight to the desktop, no sidebar needed here. Task bar is reminiscent of the Mac dock in that there are fly-outs and context sensitive dialogs when clicked.

More as it happens.

Steve

First and foremost, Microsoft WHS is an appliance designed to provide a central hub for the modern home, which has more than 1 PC or laptop.

It’s feature list is very long, and it has some very advanced features at that, many that businesses could benefit from. See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

HP Home Server

What can it do?

Basically WHS is based on Windows 2003 server; in fact it is Microsoft Windows 2003 server with bells on.

Centralised backup for all connected PC’s using an image based backup to enable fast and complete restoration, single instance storage across all backups ensures minimal disk usage. http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/02/08/home-computer-backup.aspx

A very efficient duplication process ensures all data stored is also duplicated onto another hard disk in the server, thus protecting the data from loss due to hard disk failure.
Very simple remote access functions, using a more advanced version of the Windows small business server 2003 remote desktop. Headless design, with web control panel, makes every thing easy to manage.

How is it suitable for business use?

VERY

As long as the business has less than 10 PC’s and/or laptops (the max number of clients is 10 for WHS) then a WHS appliance can be deployed on the network, the client PC’s are connected and backup schedules created (defaults to once per night)

If the small business already has a server, most probably SBS 2000 or SVS2003, then non confidential data can be transferred to a duplicated folder on the WHS appliance, this ensures its safety… as WHS doesn’t use Active Directory its security for file access is limited to non access, read only or full on a per person basis.

An external large hard disk would be added to the WHS appliance via USB, this provides a backup medium for the WHS, which has built in routines to back itself up

Disaster Recovery is something even a small business has to consider, how much money and time is lost if the main server fails?

To provide a DR solution using WHS is possible, with the addition of free software from VMware, we can create an image of the main SBS server and store this on the WHS server, and should the SBS server fail, this image can be started within VMware Server and act as the main server. No other changes are needed on the network, it could be only 5 minutes and you are back up on-line.

http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

A Practical Example.

Being a Microsoft Partner I have access to the WHS software, and as such didn’t require an appliance, but the principles are exactly the same, just a different hardware box.

I purloined an old server from work, to save it from the WEEE directives and its new life in Western Africa, in this box I added 3 300Gb IDE drives which were available, 2Gb ram, and the processor was already a P4 2.4Ghz. Installing Microsoft Windows Home Server was simple enough, in fact during the install process certain Server 2003 and SBS2003 screens pop up as it installs services and applications.

Once up and running I added a few new folders, setup duplication (a simple tick box), created users and gave them various access levels to these storage folders.

Next I copied data from the SBS server into the folders and changed some existing applications to use the data in its new location (this can be as simple as mapping a drive letter)

Now the killer, Using VMware converter I created a working Virtual Image of the SBS server and saved this on the WHS server, installed VMware server (both free) and after shutting down the Real SBS server I started the Virtual SBS server, very few changed were required, just some unneeded applications and backup routines.

A couple of workstations complained that they had lost connectivity with the Exchange server, a simple restart of Outlook solved that one, but all in all no one was the wiser.

(Microsoft Activation will kick in if your SBS2003 software is OEM or Retail copy, but a phone call to Microsoft should sort that out in an emergency situation)

I could go into much more detail, but the basics are there, its simple enough for most enthusiasts to manage, and no problem at all for a server engineer to accomplish.

If you have any questions, please ask

Next Time:

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