power cuts...
A few months ago we had a power outage in the building, in fact the entire street went out. The floor went completely dark, leaving the just the morning sunlight to illuminate the room. The only sound that can be heard is the sound of the building alarm and cooling fans from the racks in our server room. We ring the power company, and the poor girl answering the phone has obviously started the day with lots of panicing people seeking an update...she has no update. We ring again, in in the hope that another customer support agent might have a better idea.. no chance. We now have a pre-recorded response advising of the outage....bugger, this is going to be a big power outage. So then the immediate panic begins.. we (myself and my team) have to get all the servers shut down before the UPS runs out. Off we dash and start working on getting the servers offline. as you do.

A few mins later we hear a loud banging on the server room door. I go out to answer it, just in case it's our manager asking for an update. Alas it wasn't my manager but a guy standing with his laptop on, demanding to know why he can't get onto the internet on the wireless network.

I just turned around, walked away, closing the server room door behind me and went back to trying to saving the servers from dropping dead. (the UPS died about 30 seconds after the last server shutdown .. close one!)
(sarcasmo needs more sleep, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 16:47, 14 replies)

Oh for fucks sake.
*shakes head and weeps for humanity*
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 17:02, closed)

What sort of UPS
doesn't bring down a server safely during an extended powercut?
(tico_24, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 20:00, closed)

Hmm.. Correct but..
.. what if you've got 2 servers coming off 1 UPS, which has 1 serial/usb port?
(MrNorm, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 13:09, closed)

But
If you have a number of servers off a UPS then you really should have one capable of communicating with installed agents via network else you should stick to one server - one UPS model.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 15:44, closed)

That's where Serial comes into its own
The UPS (at least IMHO w/ROV control desks) just sends out a telegram saying "Bugger me, the mains has gone! Turn off!" and the software on the PCs picks it up.
So if you've got multiple PCs hooked up to the same UPS you can split the RS232 Rx signal off to the different machines (either using a Y-adaptor (which cause more trouble than they're worth...) or a few MAX232 ICs).
With USB there's a whole load of other messing about.

Ethernet's probably the best option, though. Or having a set-up where you've got the intended number of servers coming off the UPS. What were you thinking having multiple servers on a single UPS that can't shut even one of them down automatically?!
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Sun 27 Sep 2009, 0:28, closed)

Mine, sadly.
It will happily tell me that the machine is going to be bought down cleanly, then does nothing.

Still, in Windows it just turns off without warning, so I suppose being lied to by it is in an improvement!
(dchurch bah, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 16:14, closed)

Sorry to sound n00bish
but what's a UPS?
(lionelthefox is sleeping on, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 20:12, closed)

it's a uninterruptible power supply.
Easy to think of it as a big battery that means you have some power (for a time) in a power cut and prevents power blips from turning everything off.
(the_riviera_kid , anyone fancy making me a brew?, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 20:37, closed)

Should be automatic!

( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Fri 25 Sep 2009, 1:15, closed)

I don't get it
Why wouldn't you be able to get onto the internet via wireless network?

Surely you'd have your circuits and a DR wireless access point in the server room with the UPS?
(Jester_, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 9:49, closed)

Well..
.. the logic where I worked was if theres a power cut and every single worksation is dead, theres really no point in sapping up more evergy from the UPS keeping the massive switches, wireless access points, firewalls and modems alive just for a handful of laptops. At the end of the day, the laptops will only have 2-3 hours left in them anyway.
(MrNorm, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 13:13, closed)

Well...
You'd want at least some switches up so the UPS agent can receive the message that the power's gone out.

I guess no two organisations are the same and would do things differently.
(Jester_, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 13:38, closed)

Every fecking time......
...I take our systems down for maintenance or power problems etc I get a text from the boss (the Head of IT) asking if there is a problem with email. I'm doing some work this weekend which means push mail will be down. All the staff have been informed but I can guarantee I'll be getting that text.
( Evil Bastardo, Wed 30 Sep 2009, 15:26, closed)

Hmm..
Why would the UPS die 30 seconds after you swithced of the last thing connected to it... surely then there would be no load and the UPS would just sit there doing nothing with 30 seconds of power left in it....
(Biscuit Boy - aka - mcvpjd3, Wed 30 Sep 2009, 15:27, closed)