APC UPS Product Comparison Quick Access and Surge Let-Through

Sometimes it takes a while to root around and figure out where things are.

We were looking at comparing the two 1500VA rack mount UPS offerings from APC and initially found it difficult to find the comparison button:

• APC Smart-UPS On-Line

It is the third item down in the left column. :)

The number we are looking for is the Surge Let-Through. Both should be the same or very similar but for some reason finding the number for the SURTA1500RMXL2U has been more than difficult.

So, we called: 1-800-800-4272 and chose the Support Option for Smart-UPS. Our result:

• 0.3% Surge Let-Through (330 Volt).
• Wikipedia: An explanation of Clamping voltage

They are virtually identical.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

A UPS Is A Necessity

You know you have bad power when:

In the last twelve weeks we have had 13 blackouts and one undervoltage event in that time period.

One of those blackouts was during a fairly crazy storm that jumped on us as we were coming back into St. Albert from Edmonton on St. Albert Trail one Sunday evening.

The lightning strike was absolutely spectacular and the explosion that followed it was just as spectacular and we practically had front row seats! Then almost every single light on the South end of St. Albert went out including the traffic lights.

Some folks did not know how to approach the huge intersection we were approaching just after that event. Six lanes in one direction and four in the other was one big intersection to run as a four way stop in the pitch black and a heavy downpour.

A number of our local clients were impacted by the blackout including the one whose UPS software above.

Our shop was fortunately tied to another substation so we did not lose power there.

All it takes is one spontaneous shutdown of the server due to a power outage or even a hardware failure to completely toast Active Directory, Exchange, SQL, database Line of Business applications, and other components on the SBS server or Windows Servers.

A UPS, we use APC, is a necessity for any server setup. The UPS needs to have sufficient run time to allow all SBS related services to shutdown properly along with the SBS OS.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Windows Vista – No Network Connectivity (H/W)

We recently completed a hardware upgrade for one of the partners at a client.

The upgrade was pretty straight forward. New hardware included an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and an Intel DP45SG Extreme series desktop board.

We put a fresh copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (FPP) on the box, installed the most recent hardware drivers, updated the OS and Office 2007 installs, and ran through a burn-in.

The system passed with flying colours.

Out the door it went. That was late last week.

After a successive number of phone calls from the partner saying that he could not, no matter what he tried, get the system to connect to the Internet we figured his 2-3 year old Linksys WRT45G router was toast.

His ISP had sent him a new 2Wire modem/router combo box, so we figured we would put in a new high performance N series wireless access point. We set both boxes up to work together (DHCP off on the N AP and a static IP on the 2Wire subnet), and tested everything successfully.

After taking the 2Wire and N AP home and setting it up, his laptop connected to the Internet effortlessly via the new N series AP.

But, the upgraded system still refused to pull an IP address from the 2Wire device!

So, we had him drop the system off here at the shop so we could have a look at it. We ran several tests that included plugging the system into our workbench network, our own internal network, and a couple different routers with DHCP enabled on them and all of the devices were successful in delivering an IP address to the box.

Scratch the head time

He came and picked up the box this morning and was going to put things back together and see if it worked. He stood here in the shop and watched me plug it into the different devices to get an IP successfully, so he knew it should work!

Well, at lunch time he called and said that the box was still not pulling an IP address.

It is now a pretty clear thing that there was something about his environment that was mucking things up.

So, out come the 50 questions:

• Where is the 2Wire and N series AP plugged into? The wall.
• Where was the system plugged in? A power bar.
• What else is plugged into that power bar? Another PC, two LCD monitors, a LaserJet printer, and a couple of other doodads.
• Is there a UPS? No.

On the off chance, we had him shut the system down, plug it into the wall, and plug either the 2Wire or wireless N access point into the power bar.

He called back about 15 minutes later absolutely ecstatic! The system pulled an IP address and was now connected to the Internet!

We had a good laugh over the situation, but it sure was frustrating getting to the bottom of it.

So, we are ordering up a couple of APC 1500VA voltage regulation based UPSs (BR1500LCD) to split off the two PCs and will make sure that the laser printer is plugged into the surge port and not a battery backup port.

It just goes to show you, there can be any number of physical reasons behind a system’s strange behaviour. One of those reasons is enough A/C power to bring core system components online, but not quite enough coming in from the A/C side to get everything running properly.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS - No Graceful Shutdown? Be Prepared ...

If the server does not have a UPS capable of at least shutting the server down gracefully ... what happens?

Well, if one of the hard drives in a RAID 1 array was just a little flaky, then it is very likely that the shock shutdown may kill it.

Or, if there were some sort of OS corruptions hanging in the balance, they may show themselves with a no boot situation.

How do we know that one of the drives is flaky after the power outage?

The OS will take an inordinately long time to boot, and may, or may not, have a service failed error after the outage.

So, in this scenario we can discover very quickly two of our weakest links:

• UPS is not big enough to gracefully shutdown the server after a predetermined amount of time
• Our backup restoration method has not been tested yet and it fails.

Or, if the UPS has no A/C power filtration capabilities at all, it may let the subsequent series of spikes through to the server when the power comes back up. This in turn may cause a problem. Keep in mind that the initial spikes may get filtered out by the existing UPS, but the smaller subsequent ones may not.

So, we learn a very valuable lesson:

1. Have a UPS in place that is big enough to allow for a graceful server shutdown
2. Have a UPS or UPSs in place that properly filters all A/C power or other power sources heading into the server including:
• Telephone for fax and/or DSL
• COAX for cable Internet
• CAT 5E for all server ports
• Network switches, DSL/cable modems, etc protected.
3. Workstations have at least a 3K+ Joule surge arrest in place on their A/C, CAT 5e, and telephone if needed.
4. Workstations used for database work have at least a 1000VA UPS with filtration in place for graceful shutdown of the database.

After installing a new UPS, one of the first things to do beyond the UPS' own self-test routine is to test it. We need to know how that UPS is going to behave in the environment it will be protecting. Unplug it after at least 24 hours after delivery and setup to give it enough time to go through a charge cycle.

Sometimes a factory defect may not show itself until the UPS flips over to battery mode for an extended duration. So, it is better to know that the unit is going to fail before an actual power event brings a defect out and causes even more grief.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - Some Real World UPS - Power :) - Experiences

We have a really insane storm going on outside right now. Lots of lightning with the thunder literally shaking the building.

We have been having unusually hot weather here, and that has lead to some really neat storms.

So, what happens when the power goes out?

Have you tested your UPS setup to see if the "shutdown the server" after so many minutes actually gives the SBS box time to shutdown properly?

We all may know that if we don't stop the Exchange services before a reboot, that reboot can take a long time. Especially on the older SBS installs and hardware boxes.

The same goes for the shutdown sequence initiated by the UPS software.

An improper SBS shutdown can have unpredictable consequences.

Once the power comes back up, is the server's BIOS setting changed from "Last State" or "Power Off" to "Power On"? If that setting has not been changed to power the server back up after the power outage, someone will need physical access to the box or we are on our way down to the client's location to power it up and make sure that everything comes up normally.

Here is our typical experience with the APC UPS products we install with our SBS servers:

• 2U SUA1500 VA: Dual Xeon 51xx 5U Series + 6-10 drives: ~9-14 minutes.
• RS 1000 VA: Pentium 4 HT + 4 drives: 7-10 minutes
• RS 1500 VA: Pentium D + 4 drives: 9-12 minutes

Those numbers are on the somewhat conservative side as server power consumption, therefore run time, can vary by the time of day when the power outage happens.

We typically install a separate 700-1500 VA UPS for the ADSL/Cable modem, router if there, and other network infrastructure leaving a dedicated UPS to each server.

Power backup solutions vary by client and their needs. Always be aware of how much revenue a client looses for each hour of downtime! For some of our larger engineering, architectural, and accountant firm clients the cost of downtime can be in the thousands of dollars per hour range.

This is a great opportunity to generate some billable time with your clients. Also, having an inventory/audit of the client's infrastructure will provide a quick method to run through and see who has what UPS installed where and how old they are.

Give the client a call about the need to test the UPS infrastructure, and pop in when the time is convenient for the client and start pulling those UPS plugs.

A short battery life is essentially a dead battery. It is then time to replace the battery if the UPS is younger than 2-3 years or replace the UPS if it is older than 2-3 years.

WikipediA for UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

System Builder Tip: Have dirty power? Will blow up!

The summer is a bad time for us in St. Albert. It is guaranteed that someone somewhere will be putting a shovel or something through our power lines at least twice or more.

When we build systems, we are responsible for the immediate warranty fulfilment. We must keep enough system parts around to support our warranties. This is especially important as various components within the system may not be available at a later time if we are supporting a two (2) or even a three (3) year warranty.

Ever have a piece of equipment blow up from power spikes? We have.

Ever have a database get so badly corrupted because one workstation went boom during a high intensity lightning storm and it wasn't properly protected? We have. It was a door through which A/C current could hit the network.

Any power bar that is does not have a Joule suppression (eP Joule) rating on it is NOT a surge suppressor. It don't matter if it says so on the box! No eP Joule suppression rating? Then it ain't no surge suppressor.

The higher the eP Joule suppression rate, the better the surge protection. An eP Joule rating of 2500 or more is where to start when protecting workstations. Preferably one with RJ45 and/or RJ11 connectors too. This provides another level of protection for the network.

Every avenue that power gets into the network infrastructure, that includes RJ45 Ethernet, RJ11 Phone, AC receptacles, and any other external power source must be protected.

Think network switches plugged into the wall. Think ADSL or cable modems plugged into the wall. Think of the cable Internet COAX plugged into the cable modem that heads outside! Think phone lines providing ADSL. All are paths through which sensitive network infrastructure equipment can be killed by A/C.

Here is what a typical summer day looks like in St. Albert as far as power is concerned:


The 20 minute power outage was very recent. Somehow a transformer got popped and that wiped out the power for an entire city burrow. Our client's offices were in that burrow.

Fortunately, all of their systems were protected by both surge protection for the workstations as well as UPS with line conditioners for the servers, switches, and Internet connectivity equipment.

The overages show just how dirty the power is here in town. We are a small city of about 60K bordering on Edmonton with around 800K.

We always highly recommend that any workstation where an employee is working on databases, whether SQL, Access, QuickBooks, Simply Accounting, CCH programs, and more must have a UPS with power conditioning capabilities attached to their system. The UPS must provide enough battery based up time to safely shut down the database application attached to their system.

Just to repeat: Working with databases? A UPS with line conditioning is mandatory on the workstation as well as the server and network infrastructure.

And yes, we only use APC UPS and Surge Protection products. We have had great success with their products and have never been given a reason to switch. We have no qualms with recommending them.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists