So, if you want to install WordPress on your new $199 Windows Server box, it now only takes a few clicks.

Why is this important? One, it’s from Microsoft. Two, it’s on Windows Server. Both are important… for different reasons.

Windows Server has started to lose favor with the Web 2.0 generation. While IIS is preferred for in-house apps, the open source community has actually found it more difficult to use than LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL & PHP). This, of course, is because a standard Linux distribution comes with all four… whereas with Windows Server, you have to install MySQL, configure MySQL, install PHP, and finally, configure PHP. If that sounds daunting, it is. I’ve had to do it.

So, Microsoft has made this process painless. Great. But, more importantly, Microsoft is doing it themselves. They’re embracing web apps, and making it easier to setup than Linux. This is something they need to do, to woo over dot-com startups… like MechaWorks.

I’ll tell you, I’m really excited about this. If the tool is robust enough, it may allow us to bring web hosting duties in-house. That would save us thousands of dollars per year.

Also, it will enable consumers to run web apps out of their house. You can bet that this will be in both consumer versions of Windows 7, and the next release of Windows Home Server. Plus, you can use it today on XP Pro, Vista, etc… all you need is IIS, and premium versions of Windows have had that sitting around for years. Until today, it wasn’t good for much… that’s about to change.

Is this the silver bullet to fix Windows Server? Probably not in the first release, but if these kind of no-brainer setup protocols are in place, and backed up with no-brainer maintenance protocols… I think Windows Server may be ready for a comeback. And yeah, it does feel wierd to say that… but it doesn’t feel bad either.

One big downside: The tool requires Windows Server 2008 or Vista SP1. That means Windows Home Server users are out of luck as of right now (Home Server v1 is based on Windows Server 2003 SBS).

As I reviewed the initial release of Windows Home Server, I noted the lack of Media Center integration, especially noting that the product still did not remove the push to run Orb on your client PC (or, if you like burning money, Slingbox). In short, the product lacked the ability to stream TV remotely to phones and other devices. In addition, WHS couldn’t backup Windows x64 systems, including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, and all 64-bit versions of Windows Vista.

Power Pack 1 will address both of those problems. The update includes WebGuide technology, which Microsoft acquired last year. WebGuide is a competitor to Orb that focused on streaming data. This will be combined with the existing remote file access infastructure. Also, the Windows Home Server Connector software will be updated to support all versions of Windows XP and Vista, including 64-bit versions.

Finally, the update will add a Wizard to making a remote copy of the Windows Home Server’s storage. While WHS stores files on multiple drives, to protect files from the failure of any single hard drive… the WHS unit is not protected against catastrophic failure (or theft/loss) of the entire system. This wizard will automate the process of connecting an external hard drive, and transferring all files on the WHS’s shared storage to that single drive (or, presumably, break it up onto multiple drives). The WHS owner can then store those drives off-site for added protection.

Power Pack 1 will be out some time in the first half of this year, check of Microsoft’s WHS Blog for the full photo walkthrough.

My Home Server only has two SATA ports, though I’m thinking of expanding to a new system with four. So, once I had filled those up, I went outside the box and plugged a SATA 2.5 GB Seagate in with USB 2.0. Eating up three empty USB connectors (a whopping two for power, and one for USB data)… everything seemed to go fine. Until I got home one day to hearing constant knock-of-death noise.

Thinking the drive was dead, I unhooked it from WHS and plugged it in via eSATA to my MacBook Pro running Vista. The nice thing about eSATA, is that you can run drives and have the full range of diagnostic tools… eSATA has all the SMART diagnostics that PATA and SATA do with internal drives. To my surprise, the drive passed all tests… repeatedly, even on full sector scans. The conclusion? The enclosure isn’t passing proper power, and in a server environment, those subtle power problems can crop up in the form of failures.

Bottom line: Windows Home Server is now going through the hours-long process of removing the drive (to be safe, rather than using the backup copy on another drive, WHS moves the data from the original drive to another hard drive when possible).

The good news is, enclosures are getting dumber. Meaning, they’re doing less. For example, eSATA enclosures have no real need for a bunch of complicated chipsets or circuitry to get in the way. So, if you’re going eSATA, I’d say you’re fine with going cheap. If not, and you’re using USB 2.0, I’d go with high-end gear. FireWire is a bit of a mixed bag… with fewer chipsets, there are fewer cheap bad guys; go with an Oxford chipset to be safe however on FireWire.

SyncToy has turned version 2.0, and this release finally brings the MS PowerToy up to its true potential. The tool allows for incremental syncs with endless configuration options.

It’s great for backing up WHS’s shared storage over-the-network to a client PC, and then using an online backup service to back up both. Just have a big drive, connected to a PC with an online backup service, and use SyncToy to Echo (their name for shadow copy) all the content to that drive (you can even use a folder on an existing drive). Then, make sure your online backup software backs up that root folder/drive, and all its contents. Presto! Your WHS is automatically backed up to a PC that is automatically backed up online.

Note: If you have a lot of WHS storage, like I do, you may want to make sure your PC is fully backed up online first. It will take many days to back up a large WHS store (100 days remaining on my cable connection, with the backup throttled to 128k upstream).

Back to My Mac uses standard ports, ports for SSL and IPSec communication. Problem is, if you already have those ports routed, you cannot use the service at all. For example, Windows Home Server requires port 443 (SSL) to be used for logging into the server. As such, it forwards the port on the router to itself. This results in either BTMM or WHS not working. And there are just as many examples with folks using IPSec as there are with SSL.

The solution is rather trivial for Apple to implement. They simply need to pick two, unused ports, and designate them as “BTMM Alternate Ports”. In the .Mac settings, the user could check a box to “use advanced ports”, and that would alert the .Mac server to communicate to the Mac with those alternate ports. The .Mac server would then also tell other client systems to use those ports when resolving the client.

BTMM is a great service, and this workaround only works because BTMM exists, and uses the .Mac servers as a transparent DDNS service. But, Apple will need to implement it for this to work properly. Want it to happen? Head on over to .Mac Feedback and tell them (or just link back here)… they really do read each feedback.