I am considering a UPS for my unraid server right now, my server is only 300W(max)， so don't need anything fancy

 

Could anyone recommend me a UPS that can support natively in unraid, show power load, can do auto shutdown and auto boot when power is back?

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by xyzeratul

Most major brand consumer UPS will do most of what you ask.  For a system that is (actually measured to run) 300W max, you are going to want a good sized unit. 1000W at a minimum, 1500W would be better.  A UPS is not meant to keep a server running indefinitely, but rather to ride out a few minutes of power gone time then gracefully shut down the server (which again will take a few minutes to accomplish.  Ideally you don't want to run your battery down below 50% charge/run time.  It is bad for battery longevity and it takes *much* longer to charge than discharge.

 

The only thing that is difficult to implement is "Auto boot".  After power goes out, you then shut down the server (power off state).  Depending what else you may have connected to the UPS (router, modem, network gear, etc) you can then decide if you wish to keep the UPS power output on or off.  (Leaving it on continues to discharge the battery, even if everything connected is powered off). 

 

Once the AC power returns, you want to power up the server.  There are many things to consider:  How charged is the battery?  How likely will the power stay on (think power blips during a storm)?  Surely there are other things to consider.  So you need something smart enough to decide it is OK to restart the server, then turn back on the ac output of the UPS, then power on the server.  You won't find that in any not "fancy" UPS.

 

This is a snapshot of my APC RS-1350 MS looks like.  It powers the two servers in my siggy (the 1500X is sleeping), a mini-PC firewall, a Raspberry Pi, external HD, and two small network switches.  With the 1500X still asleep, max power at shutdown (which will spin up any Unraid drives that are sleeping) reports a UPS Load approaching 200W.  (This is why I questioned your 300W max earlier.  Don't go buy PSU calculator results, they are looking at momentary peak surges and to sell you a bigger, more expensive power supply).

 

Thanks

 

My server PSU is an ENP-7025B, standard output is 250W, max output of 300W,  and my smart plug shows the peak load is only 200W for the past year, so I considered it as 300W max, and looking for a UPS around 400W, your recommendation looks a bit overkill? 

 

So auto boot is a bit tricky, I was thinking if some smart UPS can set to restore power when its battery charge is above XX% and if I set the power loss state as always on in BIOS, it sort of works as autoboot.

 

I checked the Unraid manual, seems it only supports APC UPS natively.

 

 

 

 

 

The Devil is in the details.

 

If you go with a 400W UPS, you will need to set the shut down to be basically immediately (say, 1 minute).  It takes Unraid a few minutes to shut down - It spins up all drives, shuts down Docker, VM and other services, unmounts the file system before taking the array offline, then powers down.  Always good to time how long a clean shut down takes for your system (there are Unraid settings you can tweak to allow extra time before Unraid kills processes if something needs extra time to shut down gracefully).

 

Another thing to consider is how a UPS actual behaves vs. how it theoretically behaves.  Even a momentary power sag, one which you may not even notice your lights flicker, will kick it to battery for a moment.  And this alone can drop your battery by several percent.  And take the UPS a couple of hours to top off.

 

Most power events are not simple.  A thunderstorm may give multiple power sags as above.  Or maybe even several longer power outages, of a minute or so, over an hour.  Each will delete battery reserve power.  How much depends on how much/hard the attached load is.  So each time the power comes back, you are not starting with a 100% charges 400W UPS, but of something much less.

 

So my recommendation isn't really overkill.  A UPS is insurance for not losing data by unclean shut down of the server.  The only thing worse than not having insurance is to spend money, think you are covered, then find out you aren't.

 

Auto start - Setting the BIOS to power on the server when power is restored won't work.  The APCUPSD native to Unraid has a setting - Turn the UPS AC power output off after shutdown.  If you turn off the AC power, it won't come on once main power is restored, so your server won't start.  Or you leave the UPS power on after shutting down the server, so your server won't start.  You will need to power the server back on by another method - via USB, Ethernet, etc.  Most basic UPS do not have such a feature.

 

APCUPSD goes back to the very early UNIX/Linux days, and was written for APC brand hardware.  Most major manufacturer's of UPS support APC's command set and communication protocols, so work with APCUPSD.  Once you find a unit you think to buy, you can do an Internet search to confirm.  Another popular program is NUT which I believe can utilize other brand's formats/enhancements (disclaimer: I've never have used it).

 

 

So the 400W is a bit small, maybe something over 800W(anything bigger my tray won't hold）should be OK.

 

Auto start on UPS is more trouble than I thought, maybe using WOL on my router is a much easier option, and if I go with other brands, choices are much cheaper, thank you for the clear explanation.

 

My main reason or focus on auto start is, I am often away from my home, so I need to keep my home server setup needing as little on site maintains as possible.

Edited January 3, 20242 yr by xyzeratul

From my experience: buy cheap, buy twice - especially when it comes to UPS.

Buy the most capacity and features you can afford, e.g. a pure sine wave output is worth it.

Personally I can recommend Eaton as a brand, I'm very happy with my Eaton 5P 850 and it works well with NUT.

 

25 minutes ago, Rysz said:

Buy the most capacity and features you can afford, e.g. a pure sine wave output is worth it.

Personally I can recommend Eaton as a brand, I'm very happy with my Eaton 5P 850 and it works well with NUT.

Why would a pure sine wave worth it? It won't make any difference as long as you have a decent quality PSU.

Eaton's medium and high end units are very good but their lowest lines shown to be garbage.

9 minutes ago, Lolight said:

Why would a pure sine wave worth it? It won't make any difference as long as you have a decent quality PSU.

Eaton's medium and high end units are very good but their lowest lines shown to be garbage.

 

Because some electronic devices can be sensitive to simulated sine wave and if you're already spending that money on a UPS, you might as well get one with decent features.

 

I don't know about Eaton's budget lines, but I'd generally not buy entry-level or budget UPS devices from any vendor - this is not something where I want to spend the least amount of money possible. Eaton has never let me down and their customer service, compatibility and RMA process are all top notch so I'd say they are well worth the investment. But that's just my opinion and experience.

 

Edited January 3, 20242 yr by Rysz

2 minutes ago, Rysz said:

Because some electronic devices can be sensitive to simulated sine wave and if you're already spending that money on a UPS, you might as well get one with decent features.

 

I don't know about Eaton's budget lines, but I'd generally not buy entry-level or budget UPS devices from any vendor - this is not something where I want to spend the least amount of money possible.

There's no reason to overspend if the simpler/cheaper solutions work just fine.

8 minutes ago, Lolight said:

There's no reason to overspend if the simpler/cheaper solutions work just fine.

 

Well it's usually the cheaper devices that end up with USB connectivity problems or USB busses crapping out early and other such annoying problems from my personal experience. I mean they have to save money somewhere when producing these cheaper units, so there's that. I personally just don't feel comfortable going budget on a lead acid device that could very well burn down my house (as with any other electronics, of course, but still) but to each their own.

 

Besides to me there's a fine difference between overspending and going budget, it's making a conscious and informed decision.

 

Edited January 3, 20242 yr by Rysz

10 minutes ago, Rysz said:

 

Well it's usually the cheaper devices that end up with USB connectivity problems or USB busses crapping out early and other such annoying problems from my personal experience. I mean they have to save money somewhere when producing these cheaper units, so there's that. I personally just don't feel comfortable going budget on a lead acid device that could very well burn down my house (as with any other electronics, of course, but still) but to each their own. 🙂 

Sure, but I'm not talking about the cheapest units, like the previously-mentioned Eaton that has shamelessly taken advantage of its reputation for quality in the enterprise segment to push out hot garbage on the unsuspecting low end customer.

There's a good selection of quality UPSs which are still significantly cheaper (and efficient) than the pure sine-wave units.

Edited January 3, 20242 yr by Lolight

16 minutes ago, Lolight said:

Sure, but I'm not talking about the cheapest units, like the previously-mentioned Eaton that has shamelessly taken advantage of its reputation for quality in the enterprise segment to push out hot garbage on the unsuspecting low end customer.

There's a good selection of quality UPSs which are still significantly cheaper (and efficient) than the pure sine-wave units.

 

You seem to have very strong opinions about Eaton, my personal experience with them has been nothing short of great on the other hand.

 

So not really much more to add to that. 🙂 

1 minute ago, Rysz said:

 

You seem to have very strong opinions about Eaton, my personal experience with them has been nothing short of great on the other hand.

I voiced my opinion on a certain line of a product as a warning since Eaton is universally known as a high quality brand.

I'm not sure on the nature of your disagreement since you clearly own an expensive, higher end unit that has nothing to do with my warning.

6 hours ago, Rysz said:

 

So not really much more to add to that. 🙂 

I apologize if my responses looked confrontational - it wasn't my intent. 😐

My goal was to point out the existence of low-quality models within the overall high quality brand.

Such as the Eaton 5E which is marginal in quality even when compared with other similarly priced units by other brands and should be avoided.

 

Edited January 4, 20242 yr by Lolight

11 hours ago, Rysz said:

From my experience: buy cheap, buy twice - especially when it comes to UPS.

Buy the most capacity and features you can afford, e.g. a pure sine wave output is worth it.

Personally I can recommend Eaton as a brand, I'm very happy with my Eaton 5P 850 and it works well with NUT.

 

Wow, I worked with Eaton for years, no idea they make UPS.😅

 

Just check with their local cop, they don't sell UPS here, my only options are APC or Santak.

Edited January 4, 20242 yr by xyzeratul

2 hours ago, xyzeratul said:

Wow, I worked with Eaton for years, no idea they make UPS.😅

 

Just check with their local cop, they don't sell UPS here, my only options are APC or Santak.

 

In that case I'd definitely go with APC because you'll find them mostly compatible out of the box with Unraid.