Windows Phone gets server management tools

Microsoft has unveiled tools that enable Windows Phone 7 users to manage Windows servers on their handsets.

The Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector offered access to servers running Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

"After completing the integration of your Windows Phone 7 phone into a WHS 2011 server, you can use your phone to perform remote server management tasks (such as view alerts, manage users, and start and stop backups)," Microsoft said on the Windows blog.

"In addition, with appropriate permissions, you can use your phone to view or access media files that are stored on the server," the company added.

The media tools allowed a photo on the server to be viewed on the phone, and photos taken by the phone to be uploaded to the server.

Music and video can also be streamed, but there were limits on format types, and files embedded with DRM will not be supported.

"It is not possible to stream music while tethered to a computer and connected to a Microsoft Zune application," Microsoft added.

The media tools wouldn't work with Small Business Server as it did not support streaming.

To use the system, customers would need to install a server-side Add-on as well as download an app for Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft warned anyone using the connector to take phone security seriously.

"We strongly recommend that you protect your phone with a lock screen PIN," it noted.

"If you lose your phone, or someone gains access to your phone, even for a short period of time, the security of the server and other personal content on your phone or on your server may be at risk."

Full details of how to use the system were available on Microsoft's TechNet site.