[GLLUG] Power control over IP

[John Hearns]

As above, you need to tell us a bit more about the servers you use. Also
some information about the rack would be useful too, and the existing PDU
(power distribution unit)

On Sun, 30 May 2021 at 06:58, John Hearns <hearnsj at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am a principal engineer with Dell. As James says, Dell servers have
> iDRAC controllers which permit full remote operations on servers.
> We can read out power consumption, fans speeds (etc. etc.), do firmware
> upgrades to fleets of servers using Openmanage enterprise and proactively
> monitor for failures (*)
> If anyone needs help with iDRACs I am happy to provide some advice. If it
> is a deeper technical issue I can contact engineering with your question.
>
> There are remote KVM solutions - these were popular in the past in HPC but
> I haven't seen one in use for years. Raritan brand rings a bell.
>
> Regarding IP controllable power sockets APC/Schneider as said are a
> popular brand. Note of course that you have to have an ethernet cable going
> to that APC Power Distribution Unit!
> Note also you want the BIOS set to Resume when Power is applied. no use in
> switching a server off if..  Errr... you cant turn it on.
>
> Regarding the network connection, iDRAC (and other BMC such as Supermicro)
> can use a dedicated physicsl socket or can share the motherbord ethernet
> socket.
> Most HPC setups have a dedicated iDRAC/BMC setup with PDU connections on
> separate 1Gbps switches. I would say that it is good practice to have a
> dedicated and separate network for what I as a physicist would call 'slow
> control'.
>
>
> (*) there are different license levels for idRAC. You need the Enterprise
> license for some of those features.
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> On Sat, 29 May 2021 at 16:19, stuart taylor via GLLUG <
> gllug at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> During the past 15 months I have managed to change various things
>> involving our systems, for the better I think. We have also gained various
>> part time volunteer admins, who are very good, mostly better than I am. One
>> of them showed me how he could power down his servers remotely over IP, and
>> restart them again. This looks very useful as we are spending less time at
>> the building and mostly working from home. I have previously managed to
>> obtain a cabinet, for our servers, change the lock for a padlock based
>> system and restrict the key holders to a few people. This means switching
>> servers on, or off, is better controlled, but also makes it more difficult
>> for the admins to reboot when they are at home. Can anyone point me towards
>> a suitable 'power supply over IP' solution? Are there any drawbacks to
>> using these?
>>
>> Stuart
>>
>> --
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>
>
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