Back me up scotty
After a recent evaluation of our current systems, we have been doing quite a few infrastructure updates in preparation for three new work-mates and the launch of some high-traffic websites. As part of these updates, we realised that our development rack has a serious lack of backup power. In fact, a couple of weeks ago we accidentally tripped the buildings’ breaker and our Windows Server 2003 box hadn’t even shut-down before the UPS ran out of juice.
In light of this, my Technical Manager introduced me to APC’s UPS selector; A neat little web-application which helps you figure out how many volt-amps of power you’ll need to run your specified hardware for a specified amount of time.
After putting in all the details of the hardware you want to run, the application gives you a few options, listing the volt-amp rating of each UPS. From this you can get a rough idea of the size of UPS you’ll need and then check out other brands and retailers to get the best price.
Unfortunately, the amount of power our development rack requires is fairly substantial and as a result the cost of the recommended UPS gave us quite a shock (no pun intended). But it was interesting to play around with the tool and see some of the ridiculous products (check out the photos) APC have on offer.
