# Josh Dargie > Independent technology consultant (Infrastructure · Cloud · Software). Head of Product & Engineering at Kualo; formerly A2 Hosting and GreenGeeks. Consulting for homeowners, small businesses and hosting/SaaS teams. Hands-on installation is via RelayPoint Technologies (relaypoint.ca); hosting via DrivenHost (drivenhost.com). Every page on this site is also available as Markdown: append `.md` to the URL, or send `Accept: text/markdown`. ## Pages - [Home](https://joshdargie.com/index.md): Independent technology consulting from Josh Dargie. - [Hire Josh](https://joshdargie.com/hire.md): Six ways to work together: assessments, second opinions, build plans, fractional technology lead, hosting and platform engineering, software advisory. - [Work](https://joshdargie.com/work.md): Selected projects. - [About](https://joshdargie.com/about.md): Career, credentials and how I work. - [Blog](https://joshdargie.com/blog.md): Notes from the field. - [Installation, hosting & support](https://joshdargie.com/services.md): Where the hands-on services now live: RelayPoint Technologies and DrivenHost. - [Contact](https://joshdargie.com/contact.md): Book a 30-minute call. - [InfraSight: replacing SaaS monitoring with a fleet-wide observability and security platform](https://joshdargie.com/work/infrasight.md): A self-hosted monitoring and security platform built from the ground up for a managed hosting fleet: per-second stack-aware metrics, centralised security event visibility, fleet-wide software inventory, and CVE response in seconds instead of SSH sessions. Designed, built and still actively developed. - [Building the platform and the team that runs 700,000 websites](https://joshdargie.com/work/platform-engineering.md): Operations and platform architecture for one large host, then building a Platform Engineering function from scratch at another: the automation, the standards and the people that let a few dozen engineers run infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of customers. - [A whole-home smart system without the subscription trap](https://joshdargie.com/work/smart-home-without-the-lock-in.md): Lutron lighting and shades, Ubiquiti networking and cameras, and Home Assistant tying it together: a high-end automated home built on open integration instead of a dealer-locked platform, at a fraction of the licensed alternative. - [Network, Wi-Fi, cameras and door access for a new office, from bare walls](https://joshdargie.com/work/office-fit-out.md): A complete technology fit-out for a business moving into a new suite: structured cabling, enterprise Wi-Fi, camera coverage and fob-based access control, designed together and installed before the furniture arrived. ## Articles - [Setting Up Your First NAS the Right Way (Synology DSM)](https://joshdargie.com/blog/setting-up-your-first-nas.md): A NAS done right on day one: drive choice, real redundancy, per-person accounts, remote access without port forwarding, and a backup for the NAS itself. - [Choosing a NAS: Synology, UniFi, or TrueNAS?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/choosing-a-nas-synology-unifi-truenas.md): Synology, UniFi's UNAS line, or a home-built TrueNAS box: an honest look at licensing, lock-in, and upkeep for business and home buyers. - [Is Home Assistant Worth It for a Normal House?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/is-home-assistant-worth-it.md): Local control fixes the cloud outage problem, but it comes with a maintenance tail. Here is where a hub earns its keep and where it does not. - [Will Your Smart Home Still Work in Five Years?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/smart-home-cloud-shutdown-risk.md): Cloud shutdowns turn working smart home hardware into plastic. Here is the question to ask before you buy, and what to do with the gear you already own. - [What to keep running when the power goes out](https://joshdargie.com/blog/what-to-keep-running-in-an-outage.md): Storm season is a good time to decide on paper what actually has to stay on when the hydro goes out, what can wait, and what that costs. - [Fixing UniFi Device Adoption Failures](https://joshdargie.com/blog/fixing-unifi-adoption-failures.md): A methodical way to fix a UniFi access point or switch that will not adopt: IP checks, VLAN gotchas, factory resets and SSH set-inform. - [UniFi's Whole-Home WiFi: my first take](https://joshdargie.com/blog/unifi-whole-home-wifi-first-take.md): Ubiquiti announced a WiFi 7 mesh aimed at regular houses today: the UniFi Express 7. Who it's actually for, how it stacks up against the pro setup and against eero and Orbi, and the catches. - [Who Actually Owns Your Domain and Accounts?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/who-owns-your-business-accounts.md): A plain look at who really controls your domain, DNS, hosting and cloud accounts, why that matters more than most owners expect, and how to fix it. - [What should a small business budget for IT?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/it-budget-small-business.md): Percentage-of-revenue benchmarks fall apart under 50 staff. Here is a simpler way to build a technology budget you can actually defend to your board. - [What your support queue says about your platform](https://joshdargie.com/blog/support-queue-signals.md): Support tickets are the cheapest telemetry a hosting or SaaS team owns, and most teams read them as a cost line instead of an engineering signal. - [How to set up VLANs on a UniFi network](https://joshdargie.com/blog/unifi-vlan-setup-guide.md): A practical walkthrough of VLANs on UniFi: planning the segments, creating the networks, tagging Wi-Fi and switch ports, and firewalling between them. - [Windows 10 Just Got Another Year. Now What?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/windows-10-another-year.md): Microsoft quietly pushed free consumer security updates for Windows 10 out to October 2027, but the reprieve does not cover every machine in your office. - [Setting up guest Wi-Fi on UniFi properly](https://joshdargie.com/blog/unifi-guest-wifi-setup.md): How to build a guest network on UniFi that gives visitors internet and nothing else: isolation, bandwidth limits, and the portal question. - [How to tell a project is too big for your vendor](https://joshdargie.com/blog/project-too-big-for-your-vendor.md): The warning signs that a project has outgrown your vendor, how to check before you sign, and what to do if you are already mid-project. - [How to read a camera-system quote before you sign it](https://joshdargie.com/blog/how-to-read-a-camera-quote.md): Five things that are usually missing from a security camera quote, and the one line item that is almost always padded. - [What to do the moment you suspect malware](https://joshdargie.com/blog/suspect-malware-first-steps.md): The first hour after 'something is wrong with this computer': what to do, what not to touch, and how to tell an infection from a slow PC. - [What SaaS teams get wrong about infrastructure](https://joshdargie.com/blog/saas-infrastructure-mistakes.md): Patterns from years inside hosting: single-region assumptions, backup theatre, surprise cloud bills, and why boring infrastructure wins. - [Choosing a web developer without getting burned](https://joshdargie.com/blog/choosing-a-web-developer.md): How to vet a web developer: verify the portfolio, keep ownership of domain and hosting, pin down maintenance, and start with a small scope. - [Does smart home tech help resale value?](https://joshdargie.com/blog/smart-home-resale.md): An honest look at smart home tech and resale: wiring and network infrastructure add value, gadgets mostly do not, and documentation matters. - [A backup strategy an owner can actually audit](https://joshdargie.com/blog/backup-strategy-owners.md): Three plain questions (what, where, restored when?) that let a business owner audit backups without technical knowledge, plus a checklist. - [DIY, handyman or specialist: picking the right level](https://joshdargie.com/blog/diy-or-hire.md): A simple triage for home and small business tech jobs: what to do yourself, what to hand to a generalist, and when to pay a specialist. - [When the cheapest quote is the expensive one](https://joshdargie.com/blog/too-cheap-quote.md): A quote that comes in far below the others is telling you something. What gets cut to hit a low number, and how to compare quotes honestly. - [In-house, outsourced or hybrid IT](https://joshdargie.com/blog/when-to-outsource-it.md): How to decide between in-house IT, an outsourced provider, or a hybrid, based on company size, risk, and the hidden costs of each. - [Capacity planning lessons from hosting at scale](https://joshdargie.com/blog/capacity-planning-hosting.md): What running large hosting fleets taught me about capacity: plan on percentiles, watch for growth cliffs, and price headroom against outages. - [Technical debt, explained for owners](https://joshdargie.com/blog/technical-debt-plain-terms.md): What developers mean by technical debt, how to budget for paying it down, and when carrying some debt is the right business call. - [The support fine print nobody reads](https://joshdargie.com/blog/warranty-and-support-fine-print.md): Response time is not resolution time. What support contracts actually promise, what voids coverage, and who owns your configurations. - [The conduit rule: cheap now, priceless later](https://joshdargie.com/blog/renovation-conduit-rule.md): Why running empty conduit during a renovation is the cheapest insurance you can buy, and where those pull strings pay off years later. - [Managing IT vendors when you're not technical](https://joshdargie.com/blog/vendor-management-basics.md): You don't need to understand the technology to manage IT vendors well. You need written scope, one accountable name, and exit terms. - [Running cPanel at scale: what I learned](https://joshdargie.com/blog/cpanel-at-scale.md): Lessons from years of running large cPanel fleets: staged updates, noisy neighbours, backup windows, and alerts worth waking up for. - [Eight questions to ask before signing a hosting contract](https://joshdargie.com/blog/hosting-quote-questions.md): The questions that separate a good hosting deal from an expensive one: tested backups, real support, renewal pricing, and the exit. - [Build vs buy for small-business software](https://joshdargie.com/blog/build-vs-buy-small-business.md): What custom software really costs over five years, when a spreadsheet is honestly fine, and the narrow cases where building wins. - [Why good Wi-Fi starts with wires](https://joshdargie.com/blog/wiring-for-wifi.md): Wireless is the last metre, not the whole network. Why access points need cables, what mesh can't fix, and where the wires should go. - [Why hosting migrations go wrong (and how mine don't)](https://joshdargie.com/blog/migrations-go-wrong.md): Fifteen years inside hosting companies taught me that failed migrations are predictable: DNS TTLs, email cutover, and untested restores. - [When a growing business needs its first IT person](https://joshdargie.com/blog/first-it-hire.md): The signals that a growing business is ready for its first IT hire, why a generalist should come first, and the alternatives worth weighing. - [Scoping a technology project before calling vendors](https://joshdargie.com/blog/project-scoping.md): How to scope a technology project before calling vendors: describe the problem, be honest about budget, and define success so quotes compare. - [Decide these five things before the drywall goes on](https://joshdargie.com/blog/before-drywall-decisions.md): Five low-voltage decisions to lock in before drywall: cable drops, conduit, camera positions, access point locations, and the network closet. - [The case for keeping the technology you have](https://joshdargie.com/blog/keep-what-you-have.md): Why I often tell clients to keep the equipment they already own, and the questions I ask before recommending any new technology spend. - [What a second opinion on a quote actually catches](https://joshdargie.com/blog/second-opinion-value.md): What an independent review of a vendor quote actually finds: padding, missing scope, and oversized solutions, and what that review is worth. - [Five red flags in a network cabling quote](https://joshdargie.com/blog/network-quote-red-flags.md): How I read network cabling quotes: the five omissions that predict change orders, poor workmanship, and gear you can't maintain later. ## Feeds - [RSS](https://joshdargie.com/feed.xml) - [Sitemap](https://joshdargie.com/sitemap.xml)