The last couple of days I began to design a new addin for the Windows Home Server.
I missed some functions with the Remote Access.
The option to allow friends to access the shared folder is great!
I know who can access my home server, but i don´t know what they're really doing on my website and what files
are really popular. So I decided to make a new addin--> WHS Audit
I need more statistics to see what's really going on on my HomeServer.

In the first step I'll create a new tab for the Home Server Console with statistic for:

• User Statistic
  Last Login/Amount of logins
  What the user is up- or downloading?
• File Statistic
  Last download/upload
  Amount of downloads

In the next step I'll extend the Windows Home Server Website for the statistics.
If you have suggestions for other statistics or functions for the WHS Audit addin,
please let me know (Comments or Mail)!

To make the new version even better, i would like to collect new ideas, functions and suggestions for the
forthcoming versions. Some ideas are:

• Unzip/Decompress Files (Password Protected)
• New Filehoster
• Upload Function (deactivated in Version 3.2.0 for redesign!)
• FTP Function (deactivated in Version 3.2.0 for redesign!)

The version 3.2.1 has some bugfixes and one new great feature for Online TV-Recording.
The new version supports files download from save.tv and the option to automatically
download finished TV-Recordings from the save.tv online archive. You're scheduling your recording
online and the Windows Home Server downloads the file automatically for you when the recording is ready for download.

WHS-Download Manager 3.2.0

The latest release version of Windows Home Server Download Manager is now available for download.
The new version comes with new filehoster support. Currently there are:

•  uploaded.to Premium Account
•  megaupload.com Premium Account
•  rapidshare.com Premium + Free Account
  

Single-file-links as well as DLC-Container are supported.

The WHSDM front-end got a redesign. Less buttons, but more functionality.

• Download Pool
  New Progress Bar with the current download size.
  Checkboxes for each row to edit multiple items.
  Check function to review if the file is online.
• Transfer Combobox
  Simply select the correct filehoster/transfer protocol

...and that´s it. Only the important functions to download a file remain visible.
The other functions are moved to the Settings Property of the console.

WHS-Download Manager 3.2.zip (594,21 kb) (available in English)

Note: The WHS-Download Manager 3.2.1 is also available!

Feedback, bug reports and suggestions to improve the Download Manager are welcome!

The new WHSDM-Download Manager Version 3.2.0 comes with a new property in the Settings.
You can now manage the important things here:

• Provider Credential
  Manage Filehoster, Username and Password
• Download Properties
  Set the Download Folder,
  Set the amount of parallel downloads,
  activate the shutdown and set the shutdown hour
• Restart Download Service
  You can now restart the Download Windows Service from the Settings
• Clear Event Log
  Delete the Event Log from the Console

The Design suggestion for this improvement comes from a Community member stevi
from the HSB-Forum. Thanks for the support!

In the next Release, the Download Manager will be definitely support the uploaded.to  and ! megaupload Filehoster for Premium Users.
The Functions are Ready, give us a couple of Days to Test this Functions.

The new WHS-Download Manager is on the way.
One of the new features ist the ProgressBar in the Download Pool.

In version 3.2, it is possible to download multiple files at once. If the filehoster supports it
(most do on Premium Accounts), you can get up to 10 parallel downloads in the Download Pool.
Another criteria for the parallel downloads is the CPU utilization. If the CPU utilization is very low,
the WHS-Download Manager starts another Download in the pool (up to 10). If the CPU
utilization is very high (Backup,Stream ...) though, the WHS-Download Manager decreases the possible parallel
download number (down to 1). The technique behind this is ThreadPooling.

The ProgressBar in the Listview shows the parallel download progress, with the filesize and the completed size.
There are three possible color-states:

1. Light Blue: Download is in progress
2. Green: Download finished successfully
3. Red: Download error/canceled

 Look out for the upcoming new features on the next release in this blog!

If you deal with multithreaded programming in .net , you have the choice between ThreadPool and Thread. But what exactly is the difference between them?

ThreadPool

Server Applications (like the Windows Home Server) often use ThreadPools.
The Threadpool is suitable for short running work items and has a Thread limitation of 25 Threads per Application.
There is only one pool per process. You can't create a new one and you can't cancel the work items in the ThreadPool.

Threads

A Thread is the entity within a process that can be scheduled for execution. In comparison with ThreadPools, there is no managing of the remaining divided CPU time. You can start as many Threads as you like. A Thread has many functions/methods to start/stop and manage the Threads.

If you need a lot of Threads use a ThreadPool, otherwise you can take the easy way with a simple Thread.

Perhaps you've noticed the Context Menu in the Download Pool?

Let me explain the functions behind the Context Menu.

• Pause
  The Pause function pauses the selected item, so that the download won't start
  until you change the status.
• Download Now
  The Download Now function changes the status to added and changes the time
  to the current time. The download is soon to be started.
• Retry
  The Retry function changes the status to added but doesn't change the date/time.
  This Function should be used, if you get an error and want to retry the download.
• Delete
  The Delete function removes the the selected row from the Download Pool.

If you often use your Windows Home Server with the Download Manager, you may want to know how much
traffic your server is causing. In that case the Statistic Feature is what you need!

The WHS-Download Manager logs every download, the file size and the date of your download.
After a while you'll get a statistic graph, showing a curve of your download traffic per year/month/day and
it's size. For a better overview you have a Zoom Function with a scrollbar.

If you need more Statistic Functions or other analyses, please let us know.

In a few days we'll release the new update for the WHS-Download Manager.
Here are some new functions you'll get with version 3.2:

• Uploaded.to Premuim support
• Megaupload Premium support
• Download-Pool list: Some bugfixes and the new multiselect function



• some new 'behind the scenes' functions for the WHS-Remote Application