Remember kids - UPS

neil_g

neil_g

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Neil
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Public service announcement time..

Short version - If you have a UPS remember to test it so that you know your equipment is gracefully shutting down in the correct amount of available run time.

Long version - The Microserver, DASes (multiple?), network etc all hang off of a 1500v UPS. The Microserver is attached via USB and is supposed to shutdown after a minute of no AC to the UPS. For whatever reason this didn't happen/didn't happen in time this morning when the power went down for 2 hours (I'm at work).

The Microserver has come back up with power restore but the DASes haven't. Hopefully they're just powered down and not in a smouldering heap of hard drive platters.

I'll be thoroughly testing this tonight. And getting a small UPS for the router (in another room) so that my email notifications work.

/that is all.
 
1500V?
 
neil_g said:
And getting a small UPS for the router (in another room) so that my email notifications work.
Click to expand...
;)

Last time the power failed it took the RCD switch with it and we were in Japan. I have UPS on the main PCs and the router and mail notifications set up. All worked as expected (machines shut down etc) and mail notifications sent. Unfortunately, the mail notifications went to an e-mail that is only regularly checked when I am at home on my desk (an e-mail I have for sysadminy things). We didn't find that power had gone out until Ms arad85 got home 7 days later to find rotting food in the fridge....

Changed the mail address sharpish when I got home (if we'd known, we could have got someone round to reset the power)!

The rule of Murphy applies at all times in all places of the Universe...
 
never used to be a problem in the flat, everything was in the same room. although the house has about a million phone sockets theyre all downstairs apart from one and thats the other end of the house to the server "rack".

there is one under the stairs which is the closest but running it into the cave and kitten-proofing it isnt going to be easy.
 
:D Anyone else remember this thread Have you thought about a UPS.... :p;)
neil_g said:
yes youre right you should really do a check every now and again even if the UPS has built in auto test. for home/small office users thats easy as you can turn off any sensitive kit..
at work we hadnt tested the production network backup for a while and when the power went off one day we realised the short term UPS (the size of a small cupboard) that covers the 15 secs between the diesel genny kicking in had killed its batteries and 30 odd servers, a big ol' IBM iSeries and a SAN comes crashing to a stop :bang:
Click to expand...
 
Looks like after 2 years I need a new battery. These cells just aren't holding charge.

So that's £60 quid for the 2 cells and I reuse the harness or £80 for a prebuild. Lovely..
 
both (to be fair it was 2.5 years old and APC say battery life is 3 years so would've needed doing soon anyway). it seems to be pretty common that APC units need a complete recalibration after a new battery is installed.

trouble is it needs a decent load during the calibration and the microserver and DAS arent providing enough :lol:
 
May be a bit of an expensive pain, but they save an awful lot of hassle if the leccy goes wonky :D
 
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