Power is extremely reliable on our campus, but we still try to provide
battery backup for most of our switches (VOIP and life safety reasons).
We have found that the small 1500-2200VA UPS units need battery swaps
every 3 years and full replacement every 6-9 years if you want to
guarantee 100% reliability. Without that strict (and expensive) UPS
maintenance schedule, we were having more switch outages due to UPS
issues than actual power outages. This is especially true when you only
have a power outage every few years. We used APC and Tripp-Lite for the
small units and found both to be reliable if maintained and replaced on
a strict schedule.
We have had much better luck putting large 16kVA APC units in the
basement of each building, then running 20A 220V outlets to each closet.
The closets get a second 220V outlet on regular building power. The UPS
sits behind the generator for the building, so backup power is
essentially unlimited. That second non-UPS outlet in the closet prevents
switches from being taken offline due to possible UPS issues in the
future or generator ATS maintenance/malfunctions. The 16kVA modular UPS
units have much more redundancy built into their systems and can be
reliably kept is service much longer than the small units. We have been
using these for around 15 years and have never had one fail,
malfunction, or drop power to any piece of gear.
For small buildings with extremely reliable power, we have begun to
phase out the small UPS units. The VOIP phones in those locations all
get a sticker saying that they will not function during a power outage
and everyone has cell phones now. Our switch gear is all Cisco with
lifetime warranties. We keep an active contract for TAC cases and
software updates though.
Lawson Cassels
Network Engineer
Infrastructure, Operations, and Networking
Illinois State University
p: 309-438-4318
On 7/20/2017 10:02 AM, Sandra Bury wrote:
Good morning -
I would be interested to know how many of you include UPS purchases
for switches in each network closet in your campus deployments. If you
do not build in backup power, do you put your switches on a
maintenance contract, or do you pay to replace them when they fail
outside of warranty?
Thanks very much.
Sandy
*Sandra H. Bury*
Executive Director, Computing Services
Information Resources and Technology
Bradley University
309-677-2808
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
/
/
/
/
********** Participation and subscription information for this
EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at
http://www.educause.edu/discuss.
**********
Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group
discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss.
