Sugessions for power management software

[genesis]

Hi

 

We are having problems with users leaving computers on which are then left over night and on weekends which is wasting a lot of power.

 

I am planning to buy either Faronics\ PowerMan .

 

Power Save - Faronics

PowerMAN PC Power Management Software.

 

Has any one used these power management software.

Any suggestions much appreciated

 

Thanks

[Davit2005]

Use GPO to deploy a scheduled task which shuts down PC's at 10pm, it gives them a pop up to let them know then 10mins later the PC's shutdown.

 

No need for third party tools, the only problem is where you get local admins exploiting their trust and deleting the task, but the next time the machine re-starts it gets the task added again.

[Norphy]

After finding scheduled tasks somewhat unreliable, we've been using this for the last year:

 

Remote Shutdown - Automatic Shutdown and WOL Software

 

It's very good indeed.

[Oaktech]

I use scheduled tasks and text files with machine names using psshutdown.exe from a server to shut down and powercmd.exe and xml files with mac adresses in them to do magic packet WOL.

[RichCowell]

An extreme solution for just that one task, but I use Impero for Power Management... It generates reports so you can see how much it's saved you, and they reckon there's a return on investment in about 6-8 months from Power Management... Plus it could save you money reducing the need for other solutions you may have in place...

[psydii]

How much does it cost to have a modern PC in standby through the night?

 

How much does it cost in terms of lost productivity to have updates hit during potential working hours?

 

Does group policy preferences power management work so badly that a third party solution is required?

[GeekyPete]

How much does it cost to have a modern PC in standby through the night?

 

How much does it cost in terms of lost productivity to have updates hit during potential working hours?

 

Does group policy preferences power management work so badly that a third party solution is required?

 

1-2 watts for the PC and again for the monitor. Shutdown won't switch the monitor off. Say 14 hours per night (18:00 - 08:00) x 4 for the week nights, plus 62 hours for the weekend. That's 116 hrs/week. 1 Unit (about 15p) is 1000 watt hours (or KWh). 116h x 2W =232Wh/week. Roughly 15p saving for every 4 computers per week. But you only make the saving on the ones that the system actually switches off. So if 100 computers were left on then the saving would be just over 23 KWh per week which works out about £2.45.

 

Unable to quantify cost for loss of production. Too many variable to make sensible assumptions. But even working on Minimum wage alone it could cost £100s.

 

No but there are still some technical staff that are not confident enough editing GPOs.

[Davit2005]

Our Startup GPO Script simply adds the task so it may be better than deploying schedule from GPP.

 

The Startup Script to add the task

 

SchTasks /Create /SC DAILY /TN "Shutdown" /RU System /TR "\\domain.local\netlogon\shutdown.bat" /ST 21:50 /F

 

The batch Script the task runs

 

shutdown.exe /s /c "Your machine will shutdown in 10 minutes. IT Department" /t 600 /f /d p:4:1

 

I'm just wary about having lots of third party tools on desktops TBH

[Edu-IT]

1-2 watts for the PC and again for the monitor. Shutdown won't switch the monitor off. Say 14 hours per night (18:00 - 08:00) x 4 for the week nights, plus 62 hours for the weekend. That's 116 hrs/week. 1 Unit (about 15p) is 1000 watt hours (or KWh). 116h x 2W =232Wh/week. Roughly 15p saving for every 4 computers per week. But you only make the saving on the ones that the system actually switches off. So if 100 computers were left on then the saving would be just over 23 KWh per week which works out about £2.45.

 

Unable to quantify cost for loss of production. Too many variable to make sensible assumptions. But even working on Minimum wage alone it could cost £100s.

 

No but there are still some technical staff that are not confident enough editing GPOs.

So for every 100 computers you turn off, you save £3.75 a week, £195 a year? Doesn't seem a huge saving when you factor in the 30 minutes it could take someone to go round and turn every monitor off too.

[ITGuyWestMidlands]

But 500 pcs saves 1000 year. So that makes a difference

[Steve21]

But 500 pcs saves 1000 year. So that makes a difference

 

Think his point was not if you take the manhours into it:

 

100 computers you turn off, you save £3.75 a week

 

Ok so say 1000 = £37 a week, lets say you have a marathon runner who can do 1000 monitors in an hour

 

Then take even minimum~ wage of £6.50 over 5 days is £33~ (In reality would be more too)

 

Steve

[ITGuyWestMidlands]

Monitors use a very small amount compared to pcs and they have enrgy saving built in. Just shut them down. Plus they are heating your rooms...

[Norphy]

I think that arguing over the monetary cost of the software and/or the resources it takes to shut them down is being disingenuous and is missing the point somewhat. Keeping the PCs on at the end of the day means that they use three times as much energy as they need to. They don't need to be on for 24 hours a day, the majority need to be on for eight at most. Why keep them on overnight when they're doing precisely bugger all? Why waste all that energy? We don't have unlimited resources on this planet and keeping your computers on 24 hours a day means that we're using what resources we do have that little bit more quickly.

 

Turning things which aren't in use is the responsible thing to do. It's the right thing to do. Don't be tight, spend a little bit of time and/or money on some decent power management.

[southhamster]

If you're using spiceworks there is a neat add to shutdown computers. I know it works as I had a call from a teacher asking why her PC kept shutting down at 6 pm. I was impressed that she was still there at that time!

[Edu-IT]

I think that arguing over the monetary cost of the software and/or the resources it takes to shut them down is being disingenuous and is missing the point somewhat. Keeping the PCs on at the end of the day means that they use three times as much energy as they need to. They don't need to be on for 24 hours a day, the majority need to be on for eight at most. Why keep them on overnight when they're doing precisely bugger all? Why waste all that energy? We don't have unlimited resources on this planet and keeping your computers on 24 hours a day means that we're using what resources we do have that little bit more quickly.

 

Turning things which aren't in use is the responsible thing to do. It's the right thing to do. Don't be tight, spend a little bit of time and/or money on some decent power management.

I don't disagree at all.

 

There just seems to be a certain number of PC's you are managing before such software pays for itself, as mentioned above.

 

I think 6-8 months to pay for itself is a little out?

[ITGuyWestMidlands]

Run shutdown /m in a batch. One line for each pc. Schedule it on a server. Done. No need for software

[IanT]

We manage a large number of workstations (thousands) and we just use a simple scheduled task to shut the machines down, is there really a need to spend money on a solution just to turn it off...

[Edu-IT]

How much energy is used by AV equipment left on? I'm thinking speakers.