QNAP firmware Updates and Virtual Machines use Caution

One of my clients QNAP devices was largely out of date running version 3.2 something, I really wanted to get them onto 4.0 so I could get some nice Rsync and NAS to NAS backups happening. The QNAP runs as an NFS share with 2 VM's and vmdk files located on it and its connected directly to the ESXi server.

I started by shutting down all the VM's, then proceeded to update the QNAP to version 4.0. Update was successful and all looked well in the world of QNAP, however, something had happened where now I could not access the share via windows explorer for example before I could access \\192.168.0.199\VMStorage directly and see the vmdk files,  but now it was prompting for a username and a password.

Why do you need a password now?

The firmware update had brought with it some additional security settings which had caused the direct referencing of the share not to show the files anymore and it broke the connection with my datastore on my ESXi server. I was using the 'everyone' user in order to access the VMStorage. To fix this I had to create a new user on the QNAP and re-map the datastore on the ESXi server. Then I could boot my VM's no problems.

So if you are running a QNAP with several VM's on it with no security on the area where your VM's are stored then I would be cautious when updating the QNAP firmware. The best thing would be to have security on your VMStorage folder when you first set it up as QNAP is going to require you to do this when you upgrade.

Building computers, don't skimp on the power supply

I have been building computers for a long time now for clients and friends alike. However, there is one thing that keeps coming up and has been an issue since more people started to build their own. Everyone seems to skimp or go cheap on the power supply. In most cases where a client's computer will not start up it is due to a generic PSU that has decided to die. 

If you see something like this, it could be this causing the issue.

Now there is definitely a price advantage to going cheap on the power supply, the range in on PSU's pricing can be quite broad and to the average builder a 500w PSU is a 500w PSU right? Wrong, you can find some PSU's with the same wattage almost $100 in difference. So why the difference in price? It comes down to consistent voltage distribution and the biggest one reliability.

Most clients in my experience understand that this often overlooked component of a computer is valuable and will be happy to pay extra for a more reliable computer.

Haven't had one of these die on me yet...

If you are looking for a quick sale and want to get the box out the door and client is only concerned with price, sure put in an el-cheapo PSU in the box. However, if you want to keep this client happy and value their custom built computer at least set $50+ aside for a decent durable power supply. Some brands I recommend are http://www.antec.com/ and http://www.corsair.com/en/