[SWLUG] UPS recommendations?

[Terry John]

In my experience the most unreliable part of a UPS protected system is
the UPS! They are great as long as they are well maintained but read the
manual because without proper monitoring the batteries can age and fail
and you will never know. Then one day either the UPS or the mains will
fail and you'll be left confused as to what is going on.

You also need to work out an estimate of how long the UPS will keep the
system up. Work out how many watts in total s being used by the
equipment and make sure the UPS can supply that amount of power. UPS's
are specified in VA (Volt-Amps) which is roughly the same as watts so
make sure you have enough VA and some to spare. How long it will stay up
depends on the size of battery you have in it. You'll have to see the
manufacturer's spec for approx uptime of half load or full load as a
guide.

They key is to keep up the maintenance on them.

Also don't let anyone tell you that you need not protect the monitor. If
you are in a mains fail situation and you want to shut things down
clearly then you need that monitor. A good KVM switch is best if there
are multiple machines involved, not forgetting that it needs to be on
UPS as well.

If it's for use at work don't forget the safety labels warning that even
if the mains is off there will be live voltages around. At home, it's up
to you :-)

Terry

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at swlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at swlug.org] On
Behalf Of Mark Summerfield
Sent: 07 January 2008 13:45
To: SWLUG
Subject: [SWLUG] UPS recommendations?

Hi,

I thought I'd start the new year with excess paranoia, so I was
wondering if anyone had experience of/recommendations regarding UPS
systems?

The things I want to protect are my dual processor desktop PC, 20" LCD
monitor, and network router. I only run Linux on this machine, so UPSs
which need Windows software are no use to me---also I'm not v. good with
hardware so I just want something I can plug in and go with.

Thanks!

-- 
Mark Summerfield, Qtrac Ltd., www.qtrac.eu

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