[email protected] writes: > I've seen top tier brand servers with redundant power supplies shut down > because the power supply system inside the computer flaked out and decided > that both power inputs were bad (disabling both power supplies) > > I've seen rats in the wall chew into power lines, shorting them out and > downing the system. > > I've seen UPS systems that were reviewed by the maintinance company a week > prior fail to handle a loss of power and shut everything down
The vast majority of data center power failures I have seen were do to people, either through greed, ignorance, or inattention, overloading a circuit. I've done it myself; once, when I was much younger and less experienced than I am now. the thing most people don't realize is that not only does power draw change based on load, it changes based on temperature, too. Of course, this is pure incompetence, but still, I'm sure, the #1 killer of power in data centers. The problem is that most places charge per circuit, so the business types want to use as much of each circuit as they can. It seems like it would encourage more rational decisions if power was metered. And those redundant power supplies. People get them, plug 'em into different circuits, but then they load each circuit beyond 50%. One of the circuits dies, and blam, of course the other one immediately blows as well. It's not like they use half the power when one power supply dies. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
