Re: APC UPS shutdown and SBS
- From: Owen Williams [SBS MVP] <Owen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:16:23 -0400
Well, it appears I am in the minority here, but at least that will give
you an alternative to consider! 8-)
I use APC UPSs exclusively on my customers' SBS networks but I use the
built-in Windows Server 2003 UPS support on all of them. Every one of
these SBSs has gone through a controlled shutdown due to a power failure
at least once (some several times). All of the servers use RAID and run
Exchange. Every one of them has powered up fine after outages with no
Exchange or any other problems.
I have stuck with the Windows UPS support because I have a minimalist
philosophy when it comes to 3rd-party software. Since such software
comes with some level of support requirements, I want it to provide
substantial value to offset that. All I really ask of a UPS is that it
provide clean power, provide a backup power during "short" outages, and
interface properly with the attached computer to cleanly shut down when
an outage will exceed the battery's capacity. Over the past 2-1/2
years, APC UPSs + the built-in Windows support have done this. And I
did not have to deal with the APC software debacle that caused startup
problems with so many SBS servers a year or so ago. (That probably
won't ever happen again, but one never knows for sure.)
I do change the default settings for Windows UPS support so it alarms
when the battery is at 50% and begins the shutdown when the battery is
at 25%. These are more conservative than the defaults. For example, I
believe the default for shutdown is around 3% - 5%. I don't trust that
an SBS will have time to shut down cleanly when only that much battery
is left, particularly as the UPS ages.
Since I have had good experiences with this approach and many others
have had equally good experiences with the APC software, it's clear that
both work. You should evaluate your specific needs and decide on one or
the other.
-- Owen Williams (SBS MVP)
In article <OVns$6YvGHA.1512@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, td_01
@att.net.invalid says...
What's the recommended approach to UPS software -- use the Windows driver or.
the UPS maker's software? The Windows software seems to be a minimal
version of APC's software, which isn't guaranteed to wait for Exchange to
shut down before turning off the UPS.
I haven't done the experiment of pulling the plug to see if the Windows UPS
software can shut down the system, because of the inherent risk. Does
Windows even support shutting down the system? I have seen that the
shutdown.exe utility does not completely power down some systems.
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