If a current in a American city once again turns out to be electricity, it is reported in the news reports long and broadly. Last end of April 2017, when in Munich-Giesing about 2,600 households were without electricity – in part up to twelve hours. For devices such as PCs, NAS systems and servers, however, it does not matter how long the power supply is interrupted. Because even a failure in the millisecond range is enough to immediately switch off electronic devices. In extreme cases such a power failure can destroy the hard disks of PCs and NAS systems. The same also applies to overvoltages, such as occur during a thunderstorm.
Which UPS makes sense in practice?
Users who want to protect themselves are not buying an uninterrupted power supply. This is because emergency power packs - designated as UPS - supply the connected devices with a battery power for a few minutes, so that PCs, NAS systems and servers can be properly shut down. The connection between UPS and terminal is made by USB or network cable. Let us advise you about the best criteria to choose the best UPS, and show you how easy Synology and QNAP NAS systems can work together to provide uninterrupted power supplies.
Not all UPSs are NAS compatible
Everyone who has already dealt with the issue of UPS knows that the choice is anything but small. So before you can look for the best device, you should consider what criteria are important to you. Decisive are the number of connections and battery power. The rule of thumb: The more connections a device provides and the higher the battery power, the more expensive the UPS is.
Configure NAS for UPS usage
First of all, you should determine how many devices are to be supplied with battery power. Ideal are uninterruptible power supplies, which offer four protected ports: One is the network storage, two more are occupied by the monitor and the PC, and the fourth port, the router is plugged. This configuration allows you to shut down the NAS via the web interface in the event of a sudden power failure and then turn off the computer properly. If you do not want to invest so much money, however, a two-port UPS is enough. Because all network storage devices that support UPSs have features that automatically shut down the device during a power outage, you do not have to manually turn off the NAS.
Now that you know how many fuse sockets your new UPS must have, you need to know which devices are supported by your NAS. This is not a big challenge as all manufacturers publish this compatibility information on their websites.
Lesetipp: Setting up Synology NAS
If you are using a Synology network store, go to www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility and click Browse by category / UPS. The following list shows all uninterruptible power supplies that work smoothly with Synology NAS systems. Interesting detail: All listed UPSs also support Synology's proprietary network UPS function, which we will briefly follow in the Configuring the NAS for UPS usage section.
If you are looking for a UPS for a QNAP NAS, visit www.qnap.com and click Support / Compatibility / UPS. Asustor offers a similar service, but the list has not been updated for more than a year: www.asustor.com. At first sight, the lists, which are several pages long, seem unclear. However, since not all of the listed manufacturers sell their UPSs in the United States, only three manufacturers play a role: APC, Cyberpower and PowerWalker
Not even less savvy users are confronted with the UPS configuration of the NAS. In the following, we assume that the power cable of the NAS is connected to a protected port of the UPS and the connection between the network storage device and the emergency power supply unit has been established using a USB cable. The USP APC Back-USP ES 700G is used as a UPS. Do not forget: Synology and QNAP are constantly improving their NAS operating systems. The latest operating systems are used on the NAS systems used by us - Synology DS 211j and QNAP HS-251.
Lesetipp: Set up Raspberry Pi as NAS
Synology: Open the browser on your computer, enter the IP address of your Synology NAS. Log in with your access data, click on the main menu icon in the upper left corner and select Control Panel. In the System area, choose Hardware & Energy and bring the UPS tab forward. Turn on the Enable UPS Support feature, select the Time option before the DiskStation switches to Safe mode, and set a time period of about 1 minute.
These settings cause the Synology device to disconnect all data volumes, complete the running services, and prepare for the shutdown 60 seconds after switching to the UPS battery power. Click on the Device Information button to open a dialog where you can get information about your UPS. Use Apply to save the changes. Interesting Extra: You can connect two Synology NAS systems in series and run on a single UPS. To do this, turn on the Enable Network UPS Server feature and set the IP address of the other NAS system using the Approved DiskStation Devices button.
QNAP: Call up the configuration screen on your PC and log in to your QNAP NAS. Click the desktop icon Control Panel, and then choose System Settings for External Device. On the UPS tab, select Disable server if power fails and type 3 to enable the NAS to automatically power down after 180 seconds of emergency power.
Lesetipp: Network hard drives up to 200 Euro
You can also opt for the auto-protection variant. All data carriers are separated and the running background services and apps are stopped. When the power is restored, the system automatically returns to the original state. Click Apply to save the changes. Information about the connected UPS lists the QNAP interface at the bottom of the dialog.
If you have decided to use a NAS for data security, you will find a useful supplement to protect your device against physical damage.
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