Blogs

We've added some new features to SmallNetBuilder that you should know about.

SmallNetBuilder has always depended on talented and knowledgeable contributors to keep our content a-flowin'. Some of our best stuff comes from networking pros who have the time and talent to share what they know with others.

Unfortunately, time is at a premium for folks like that, so I'm constantly looking for new contributors. You can write about any of the topics that we cover on SmallNetBuilder, or even something that we don't. But we generally want to stick close to the subject of small and not-so-small networks.

Due to shipping logistics, you'll need to be located in the U.S. if you want to review products. But if you're writing how-to's, tutorials, commentary, etc. you can be located anywhere.

You don't have to be a writing pro, but you do need to be able to write clearly and concisely and a bit of personality doesn't hurt, either. I'd also like to hear from folks with their own networking-related blogs who are looking for wider exposure (and some extra income).

So if you're interested, drop me a note. Please be sure to tell me about your area of expertise, include links to past writing and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and, for extra credit, pitch me an article! Thanks!

You can now rate and comment on products we review. No registration required!

What can we do to make our Charts more useful to you?

If we add it, will you use it?

Updated 10/15/09 If you use Postini to handle your mail, you might be wondering where all your mail was today.

Today we launched a new version of SmallNetBuilder that we hope provides an even better reader experience.

For some time, I have been meaning to consolidate the Tutorial and Features categories in each section. Well, I finally did it.

We have made a few changes to the Charts, based on reader feedback.

You might have noticed that our RSS feeds were not updating last week. This was due to their accidental deletion during a site update. They are back now and sorry for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you experience any other problems with the feeds.

In response to reader feedback, we have disabled the article Comments feature. All article discussion has now been moved to the SmallNetBuilder Forums.

The response to my previous post indicates that there is support for Forums. So...they're up!

Fridays are usually my day to do site housekeeping, which includes thinking about ways to improve SmallNetBuilder. Adding discussion forums has always been something that has been on the back burner, but I've never pulled the trigger.

Sorry that there was nothing new posted today, but I spent all day grinding through the Cheap Draft 802.11n Router Roundup that will go up sometime Friday.

You may have been experiencing problems reaching the site over the past few days. We're having some hosting problems and are trying to work through the issues.

In the meantime, if you reach a blank or error page, you haven't done anything wrong! Just try the page again and you will probably reach it.

Thanks for your patience and we're sorry for the problem.

Update 4/7/08 5PM E.D.T. We think we have found the problem and things should be running more smoothly. But please let us know if you experience any problems.

Bill Meade's Build a Cheap and Fast RAID 5 NAS How To has continued to be one of our most popular articles, even though now it's almost two years old. But with the price of ready-to-buy RAID5 1 TB NASes as low as $500, does it still make sense to roll your own?

Over the weekend, we've tweaked the NAS and Router Charts to increase your product comparison pleasure.

I've seen posts in the Comments of a few RAID NAS reviews that complain of failed recoveries. In some cases, the RAID array suddenly becomes available, but there is no drive failure and the array needs to be rebuilt, destroying all data. In other cases, there is an actual drive failure, but the array becomes unavailable and data is again lost.

Has something like this happened to you? Has RAID let you down? Let me know by posting a Comment below. No registration is required. Thanks!