UPS - No. per UPS?

[owen1978]

I got a SmartUPS 1000

 

Which is powering 3 servers and a monitor.

Is that too much for it to handle?

 

The local council Brum, say that each curriculum and admin server

should have their own UPS?

 

Thanks

[K.C.Leblanc]

If it's a CRT, do not pass go, do not collect £200, disconnect it now.

 

If it's a TFT, it's still well underspecced. I'd have either a 1000 for each server, or maybe a 1500 for two. Although it depends how big the servers are.

 

Have you actualy tested to see how much run time you get when you pull the plug.

[Jamman960]

I'd imagne with that load you'll get very little run time, probably not enough to shut down the servers.

 

Have a look at the load LED's on the front, I'd imagine most if not all will be lit.

 

SmartUPS 1000:

Typical Backup Time at Half Load 20.6 minutes (335 Watts)

Typical Backup Time at Full Load 6.1 minutes (670 Watts)

[Edu-IT]

I'd imagne with that load you'll get very little run time, probably not enough to shut down the servers.

 

Have a look at the load LED's on the front, I'd imagine most if not all will be lit.

 

SmartUPS 1000:

Typical Backup Time at Half Load 20.6 minutes (335 Watts)

Typical Backup Time at Full Load 6.1 minutes (670 Watts)

Should these lights be lit all the time?

[localzuk]

Should these lights be lit all the time?

 

They indicate load, so if you want a long run time on battery, then you want as few as possible lit.

[Michael]

You can quite comfortably run two servers off a UPS, but as others have stated, this'll typically reduce your backup power in the event of a power cut.

 

If you install the APC software this will give you fairly accurate readings how high the power consumption is. Alternatively there will be two readings on the front. One for the battery (which should be full 5 out of 5) and the second for how much the servers are using. Realistically this shouldn't be anymore than 3/4 out of 5.

[owen1978]

On the front;

 

Battery 5 out 5

Load (or No. Devices connected, its got a picture of a computer?) 3/5

 

Just checked the APC Powerchute console - no big errors apart from the battery age

Edited December 14, 2009 by owen1978

[Number6]

We use a 1500 UPS for each server and a further one that powers the server room switches, 2 x CDPs, a KVM, ADSL modem and a pull-out rack keyboard & monitor thingy.

[owen1978]

Also just checked the UPS Load in the console its at 50%

[Jamman960]

PowerChute should also give you an estimated runtime, if the time given is enough to shutdown the servers(probably 15mins+) I'd say your ok with the UPS you have.

[teejay]

Also, if you are running redundant psu's in your servers then ideally they should be plugged into seperate UPS's. You can do this by sharing 2 UPS's between 2 servers.

[Edu-IT]

Ours is showing no load on the front so I'm not convinced it's working?

[Jamman960]

Ours is showing no load on the front so I'm not convinced it's working?

 

What UPS is it and how many servers are hanging off it?

 

Also what does powerchute say regarding load etc?

 

James

[GorgeousGeorge]

I got a SmartUPS 1000

 

Which is powering 3 servers and a monitor.

Is that too much for it to handle?

 

The local council Brum, say that each curriculum and admin server

should have their own UPS?

 

Thanks

 

 

If the unit doesn't have over 80% load on it and you're satisfied with the run time, you'd be good to go. If you're unhappy with the runtime, feel it's too short or don't have enough time to safely shut down, you need to get a different UPS.

 

Sizing UPSs is tricky, you want enough but not too much, if you have too much it costs longer in the long run as maintenance is more expensive.

 

How often do you have power outages?

[owen1978]

If the unit doesn't have over 80% load on it and you're satisfied with the run time, you'd be good to go. If you're unhappy with the runtime, feel it's too short or don't have enough time to safely shut down, you need to get a different UPS.

 

Sizing UPSs is tricky, you want enough but not too much, if you have too much it costs longer in the long run as maintenance is more expensive.

 

How often do you have power outages?

 

I've got it to initiate a shutdown sequence as soon as its been on battery for a minute, the curric

server then runs the default.cmd script which then sends a shutdown command to the admin server.

 

Once a year probably, rather be safe than sorry!

[Edu-IT]

@James

 

Running three servers from it.

 

We have the free PowerChute software that came with the unit, I can't see anything untoward in there but will check again later.

 

It's only listing one device in the software, the other two servers have the agent on them, and I have a Shutdown script which runs shutting down the two servers not listed in the software.

[Edu-IT]

Okay 13% load on the UPS/61 minutes. Would that suggest it's powering just the one server?

 

Is there a way I can get it to talk to the other servers, or do I need a cmd file to run shutdown? If so, can I just do shutdown /f \\ip-address?

Edited December 14, 2009 by Edu-IT

[AngryTechnician]

Just checked the APC Powerchute console - no big errors apart from the battery age

If the battery is old it might be worth running a calibration if you haven't done one recently. Be prepared for a shock however - you may find the runtime is much less than you anticipated even with a relatively light load.

[glennda]

 

Is there a way I can get it to talk to the other servers, or do I need a cmd file to run shutdown? If so, can I just do shutdown /f \\ip-address?

 

shutdown -s -f -m \\ip-address is how i believe it should be

 

-s is for shutdown

-f for force applications

-m to specify machine

 

toby

[Edu-IT]

shutdown -s -f -m \\ip-address is how i believe it should be

 

-s is for shutdown

-f for force applications

-m to specify machine

 

toby

Yes I just found my old thread actually.

 

Just wondering why the APC software isn't finding all the servers?

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows/44020-apc-powerchute-business-edition-basic.html

[glennda]

how are they connected?

[Edu-IT]

Serial cable. Under communication it says 'Smart Signaling'.

 

In the shutdown sequence in APC I have the CMD file and Operating system set at:

CMD delay: 1 mins

CMD duration: 1 mins

 

OS delay: 2 mins

OS duration: 3 mins

 

That was what APC set by default, that seem suitable?

Edited December 14, 2009 by Edu-IT

[glennda]

Serial cable.

 

In the shutdown sequence in APC I have the CMD file and Operating system set at:

CMD delay: 1 mins

CMD duration: 1 mins

 

OS delay: 2 mins

duration: 3 mins

 

That was what APC set by default, that seem suitable?

 

as far as i can remember, if the serial cable is only plugged into the one server, then it will only see the one server even if the software knows more then one machine is plugged into the ups or something like that, you can get serial expansion module, means you can plug more then the one server into the thing, which then means you can plug the others in aswell

[Edu-IT]

There is an expansion card and all the servers are plugged in. I suspect that perhaps the wrong cables? I've got quite a few APC cables still in packets.

 

Anyone know what should be used so I can compare numbers? (P/N 940-2004? 940-0020?)

 

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=940-0024

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=940-0020

 

 

Hmm.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Edu-IT

[glennda]

There is an expansion card and all the servers are plugged in. I suspect that perhaps the wrong cables? I've got quite a few APC cables still in packets.

 

Anyone know what should be used so I can compare numbers? (P/N 940-2004?)

 

UPS Communication Cable Smart Signaling

 

 

Hmm.

 

the serial leads that come with the ups should be used, i assume the machine the ups can talk to is plugged in using the cables they came with, they have a special wiring method, thats what the smart signalling is, they are wired slightly different to a normal serial lead

 

APC's smart protocol

 

This also has a wiring diagram for the different apc part numbers

Edited December 14, 2009 by glennda