UPS sizing calculators APC vs HP

[MrWu]

Having been sizing up Power requirements for some new HP servers I found that there is quite a large variance between APC and HP's utilites:

For a HP DL380 G7 - with 2 x Xeon 5620, 72Gb RAM, 2 x 146Gb 15k SAS, 1 x NC550SFP 10Gbe NIC, 2 x SC08e 6GB SAS card, 2 x 460W PSUs

HP (itemising all options - server@100 % utilisation)) = 310VA 299Watt
APC (simple generic HP options for DL380 G7) = 625VA 438Watt


Quite a large difference!


You could have a play with your configs and see what results you get:

HP Power Advisor 3 Download:

HP Power Advisor

APC Product selector:

UPS Selector Sizing Applications

[localzuk]

The HP one is likely closer to reality - I've found that the APC calculator is somewhat over-eager with its recommendations. However, I always 'over spec' UPSs anyway, so it has always worked well for me.

[glennda]

don't buy HP ups's they are awful imho and half of them are apc rebadged. Borri's ups' are good and they will come to site and spec something up to suit you needs and go through all the power requirements.

[MrWu]

Yep, did have Borri pop over and did a survey.

Have quoted for a B500 10kva on line, wired straight to the distribution board, maintenance bypass switch and scope to buy another B500 in parallel for redundancy.

Long story but school has issues setting up an account with Borri in time for install :-(. So using a APC SURT8000XLI might be Plan B, with existing SMT3000RMI2Us acting as the redundant backup UPS for servers with 2xPSUs

[glennda]

How quickly do you need install? I had them drop mine in a week and a half. If you need a Sparky that has wired one before I can give you the name of the fella I used.

[MrWu]

Hi glenda, ideally over summer.

We have our own sparky(However I think Borri will include tapping into our distribution board so all our existing pdus and sockets work) its more the school going through T&Cs for all new suppliers and some they are rejecting to trade with...and theres a backlog of them. They know it's urgent however..so I'm hopeful...

I remember you had Borri as well, I like the idea of Borri feeding th distribution board, and I think by adding another Borri in parallel would provide redundancy(although not as good as having dual seperate circults I suppose...but it will be the same if I went for say redundant conventional APCs UPSs)

What is the shutdown software like for Borri vs APC network shutdown? Usual agent installs on servers? Does it cope with Hyper-V VMs?

Ta

[glennda]

You don't have to get borri to do the connections to dist boards - I didn't and saved quite a bit just had them come in to commision (setup the batteries etc). The agent is ok and works well although can't say i have used it with Hyper-V. But you can execute a batch file which can be used to shutdown the vm's (something like shutdown -f -s -t 01 -m \\machinename).

[SYNACK]

I'd also overspec with the APC figures, also just backing up the stay clear of HP UPSs advice, horrible and not APC rebrands. I have actually had really god service from APC gear. Never tried Bori as its not available here. APC 'now' has good free network shutdown software too.