SharePoint on Home Server
For those that said it couldn't be done…it can.
Then there are those that asked if it should be done…for that you'll have to answer on your own…
For those interested, I was able to do this with relative ease. I would recommend doing so at the console or through LAN connected mstsc rather than through the web service known as remote access.
If you know your way around setting up Windows SharePoint Services then setting it up on Windows Home Server is rather easy, and a great add-in for users looking to get more out of their Home Server experience.
A quick look at some of the features of WSS that could be used in a home/connected family/network.
- Shared Calendars…I see this requested a lot, and it is missing otherwise, but this offers a family a shared location for aggregating their lives, events, and calendars…
- Blogs…these are really great for family members to keep a journal, and share what they want, when they want and with who they want while in a more secure manner than mySpace or Facebook or any of those…
- Wikis…we discuss this feature a with tons of small businesses but it also makes sense for the connected family. A simple repository for unstructured data, wonderful!!!
- Contacts…again a great way to share the contact list, and sync with outlook, oh, by the way calendars will do this as well…
- Links…hyper links for all the places people will go to after here.
- Custom built widgets and stuff like a twitter page, personalized for each person…
- RSS aggregation, consumption, and regurgitation, can you say yummy!!!
- Obviously shared files and folders, but that's starting to step on WHS…
Custom lists like shopping lists (oh and it's mobile accessable) from basically any WAP phone…
- So look at that for a moment, create a shopping list that is fed by users, but could you extend that to a bar code scanner? Sure, and at a pretty low cost too.
- It in turn feeds the budget for the family, comparing actual vs projected…in real time…
- Asset tracking, mileage tracking, you name it, we can probably do it…
So I am sure there is way more we can do with WHS and WSS, but to get it started it's pretty darn simple. There are some draw backs. Setting it up, YOU REALLY DO NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, because by default, you are going to HOSE the default WHS site, so be careful! As a rule, for this, I'd recommend using a custom port number for sharepoint. You'll have to make a rule in your WHS firewall, and if you want it accessable from the intertubes, you'll want to poke a hole in your NAT router/firewall as well. If you're this far though, you should already know how to do that. And you should already know the risks and concerns of opening that hole…
So where else can you go from here? Well integrating with a Phone system might be a good place to start. If you are invested in ResponsePoint, there's plenty of opportunity here. I see this as a GREAT home phone system for the connected family. Simple to use and easy to manage. I have already done some 'integration' with RP and WHS, mostly in exposing the administrator in the advanced console add-in. I even added a script to pull the call logs and place a csv in a share so I can 'examine' the haters and spammers that call the house ALL DAY LONG!!! If you are not into RP, get into it!!! Or you could use a VM image of Trixbox, the open source derivative of Asterisk. I particularly like the nerd-vittles customizations, and therefore will point you to www.nerdvittles.com this guy is GR8, with a capital GR8!!! I have tested this out and may blog about it in the future. But it is a great way to get up and running quickly on a VoIP PBX without paying an arm and a leg. He gives you all the info you need and if you are a hobbyist, then this is right up your alley. They lay it all out, I have had to figure some stuff out, but they do really well at breaking it all down for you, check it out.
So this has gone on too far beyond the SharePoint on Windows Home Server, but hopefully, you got something out of it. Oh by the way, I had downloaded the xbox feeds add-in for WHS and am planning on adding feeds from my newly created WSS site to feed the xbox feeds news about the family and what not.
Future posts may be about Live Mesh integration, this is a core component that we use, and I have found it works perfectly. It is still limited in features, but promises to be great very soon…