Scenario: Windows Server 2012 (R2) Essentials, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials or Windows Home Server 2011 is used for file sharing, streaming and remote access 

Intention: Run Windows Server 2012 (R2) Essentials, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials or Windows Home Server 2011 manually only when needed, sleep the rest of the day to conserve energy. 

Recommended Settings

• Standard delay and action: 5 minutes, suspended mode or hibernation.
• Monitored sources: All 4 standard sources
• Select all Windows Home Server Clients and all IP clients for monitoring on computers page tab (default).
• Disable “automatic wake-up” on all clients (computers properties).
• Enable “client side suspend” on all clients (computer page tab, default).

Windows Server 2012 (R2) Essentials, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials or Windows Home Server 2011 will not wake-up when a client computer is started or resumed from standby. Use the context menu of Lights-Out tray application to wake the server when required. Windows Server 2012 (R2) Essentials, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials or Windows Home Server 2011 will stay awake as long as one or more clients are running or as long as audio or video streaming are active. Use the context menu of Lights-Out tray application to put server into standby when no longer needed.

How-tos and best practices