Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 has been announced on its official Team Blog. I myself don’t use it regularly but find it really useful for home network management and backup. Power Pack 2 is like a Service Pack but contains new features along with bug fixes. It’ll be released on 24th of March via Automatic Update. The list of updates includes:
- A redesigned remote access page for easy usage.
- A Web-hosted diagnostic service is used to more accurately test if remote connectivity is available from outside the home network.
- New and improved initial configuration and repair wizards, as well as better troubleshooting guidance for common home networking issues that can prevent Remote Access from working properly.
- Windows Media Center computers will automatically have access to content stored in shared folders on the home server. Music, Photos, Videos, and Recorded TV folders are enabled by default.
- Windows Media Center Extenders can access and stream multimedia content stored on the home server. Access permission can be granted on an individual folder basis.
- Windows Home Server now supports streaming MP4 files, a popular format for high quality multimedia, to Xbox 360 and other devices that support the MP4 format. Metadata such as title, artist, composer, album, and genre now appears in the music or video library.
Lots of useful new features here. The next version of Windows Home Server is rumored to be planned for 2010. And this update seems good enough to keep users hooked up till then.
