What to do when you have more UPS's than you need?

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-30

Current configuration: 9 Servers connected to 9 UPSs (2200 or 1500s)

Future configuration after some Server consolidation:6 Servers connected to 9 UPS (same 2200 or 1500s)

All my servers have dual power supplies.

Is there a "best practices" of what do do when you have extra UPSs? Do people ever connect them serially? (Outloot > UPS > UPS > Server) Put one UPS per power supply on the most import servers?

Just curious.

Erasmus_apc · ‎2021-06-30

As long as the number of UPS' you have meet your runtime and redundancy needs...there's not really a "best practice" approach to this situation although it sounds like you've found an acceptable configuration. If you are referring to "daisy chaining" when you asked about UPS > UPS, we cannot support that since it does not meet UL specifications and can actually interfere with normal UPS performance. Sharing multiple power supplies among UPS' is not an issue as long as each power supply has a redundant source. Having one UPS per power supply will ensure that the supply has the maximum amount of runtime it can be provided and will probably ensure you better runtime and prevent any risk of overload.

However, if you find that everything is working for you currently and there are no runtime shortages and none of the UPS' are close to overload...you could always distribute those UPS' to another location within your facility.

See Answer In Context

Erasmus_apc · ‎2021-06-30

Marked as answered due to date of last response.

Erasmus_apc · ‎2021-06-30

As long as the number of UPS' you have meet your runtime and redundancy needs...there's not really a "best practice" approach to this situation although it sounds like you've found an acceptable configuration. If you are referring to "daisy chaining" when you asked about UPS > UPS, we cannot support that since it does not meet UL specifications and can actually interfere with normal UPS performance. Sharing multiple power supplies among UPS' is not an issue as long as each power supply has a redundant source. Having one UPS per power supply will ensure that the supply has the maximum amount of runtime it can be provided and will probably ensure you better runtime and prevent any risk of overload.

However, if you find that everything is working for you currently and there are no runtime shortages and none of the UPS' are close to overload...you could always distribute those UPS' to another location within your facility.

EZ_Button_apc · ‎2021-06-30

Yes, plugging each power supply into seperate UPS's is a common practice. To be truely redundant, obviously both your power sources should be different, even a different circuit isn't a bad idea.

For redundant setups, I'd even recommend putting network management cards in each UPS. (part number ap9617, ap9618, ap9619)

You can install a Power Network Shutdown agent on each server attached to the 2 UPS's and configure the single agents to talk to multiple cards. This is great in that when a critical event like "low battery" happens to one unit and not the other, the software doesn't bother shutting down your systems. It will effect it when you have critical events on both UPS's.