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The official Product LifeCycle states that WHS 2011 will be end of life following patch Tuesday of April 2016. However, I'm running into a lot of people who're claiming that it's going to get 5 or 10 more years of patches.

The support until 2020 claims are based on WHS 2011 getting Windows Server 2008 R2 patches; and that OS remaining in support until 2020. This one I find at least somewhat plausible; but "maybe they won't stop" isn't a strong enough claim to defer my current plans to have a replacement NAS operational by early next year.

The ones arguing 2025 are basing it on the first version of the FAQ for Windows Server Essentials 2012 claiming that WHS 2011 would be available as an OEM embedded product until 2025. I find this one completely improbable and that the statement was in error both because it would be 5 years beyond the underlying OS going out of support, and because the FAQ they're citing has been updated to say:

Q: How long will customers be able to purchase Windows Home Server 2011?

A: Windows Home Server 2011 will remain available in all current channels until December 31, 2013. Additionally, under the standard Microsoft embedded OS licensing terms, select OEM partners may choose to continue offering WHS 2011-based appliances for an extended period of time.

I'm hoping to find some sort of official guidance from MS one way or the other; but other than a few "What I'm replacing my WHS with" blog posts on MSDN I can't find anything from the last year or two on a Microsoft domain.

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Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
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  • Good question and well documented, Microsoft has a rather bad history with WHS. Would you really want to ride it to the end? If you are basing on TV (no idea your setup) perhaps an early migration to Emby, Kodi, openElec or similar may be wise. – StackAbstraction Sep 09 '15 at 01:33
  • @StackAbstraction I'm using it as a backup/storage server. Currently debating between W10 + Storage Spaces or StabileBit Drive pool, FreeNas + ZFS, or a Synology/Qnap box. Mostly the flexibility of being able to create a mirrored pool with unmatched random drives, the increased integrity of ZFS, and a commercial NAS's easy button; while wishing I could merge the best features of the first two into a single platform. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Sep 09 '15 at 02:36
  • If you only want mirroring Storage Spaces might be ok; otherwise ZFS is absolutely fantastic and you can mirror unmatched drives (at size of LCD). start with 2 x 6TB drives mirror you can later extend vdev by adding 2 x 8TB. RAID-Z2 (dual redundancy is ideal) Auto scrubs to check integrity and is amazingly stable. FreeNas or if Napp-In-One (All-In-One = ESXi + virtualized ZFS SAN/NAS in one server) works great. – StackAbstraction Sep 09 '15 at 02:57
  • @StackAbstraction I know about ZFS's option with pairs. if I was building a larger array; but when my past history (dating back to WHS v1) suggests I'll never need more than 3 or 4 drives (assuming HD capacity continues to scale anyway); the pair requirement drives up my minimum hardware spec to 6 sata + 1 M.2 (os) from 4+1; which's a potential concern since the last time around I had a hard time finding low power mITX boards with more than 4 sata ports that didn't have some other liability; and because of the higher incremental cost each time I need to add capacity. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Sep 09 '15 at 03:21
  • ...The W10 option would let me do something like: 2x6tb (6tb total, now); + 10tb (11tb, 2-3 years); + 1x 15 TB and -(4-5 years, 18.5 tb); + 1x20 tb -2x6tb (5.5-6.5 years, 22.5tb and remove aging drives). Then add/retire one drive every 2.5 years or so; along with periodic OS/drive migrations to new hardware. Only building a new box if my upgrade path became broken. (Win11? When SSDs become cheaper per TB than HDDs????) – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Sep 09 '15 at 03:30

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