What are good UPS options?

[SPOautos]

I'm not very knowledgeable about these things so please excuse any ignorance on the subject lol.....

 

Are there some UPS options that can be used to automatically do a clean shutdown of the server after a period of time then automatically boot it back up when power is restored?

 

Also...without spending a ton....say $300 or less and hopefully substantially less.

 

Thanks for any input you guys have!

[StevenD]

I prefer Eaton, but for that budget, you cant go wrong with an APC BR1500MS.

 

I have paid as little as $170 for them.

Edited October 10, 2020 by StevenD

[JonathanM]

4 minutes ago, SPOautos said:

automatically boot it back up when power is restored?

That part of your scenario is not good. When power comes back, you want to be in control of the subsequent start, not automatically come back up. Many times when power is restored, it isn't on for very long before it goes out again for a period of time. The recharge time is often 10 or 20 times longer than the outage, so a second power cut would result in a server crash.

 

As far as brand recommendations, typically APC is the first choice, as those are typically supported in unraid out of the box. There is a plugin for NUT available, which has a much broader list of supported models. https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

 

First thing to find out is your full load power draw, and the amount of time it takes to shut down with no advance warning, as in all VM's and containers up and doing their thing.

[SPOautos]

1 hour ago, jonathanm said:

That part of your scenario is not good. When power comes back, you want to be in control of the subsequent start, not automatically come back up. Many times when power is restored, it isn't on for very long before it goes out again for a period of time. The recharge time is often 10 or 20 times longer than the outage, so a second power cut would result in a server crash.

 

As far as brand recommendations, typically APC is the first choice, as those are typically supported in unraid out of the box. There is a plugin for NUT available, which has a much broader list of supported models. https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

 

First thing to find out is your full load power draw, and the amount of time it takes to shut down with no advance warning, as in all VM's and containers up and doing their thing.

 

How can I figure out my full load power draw?

 

I can understand the needing to be in control part, however the server is being relied on for a lot of the day, every day....but I am out of town pretty often, sometimes for a full week. So I need a way to boot it up from the state of being completely turned off.  How can I accomplish that? 

 

If the server is running like normal and I dont do anything but click shutdown, it takes about 20 seconds for it to be off. BUT, I would like it to be able to run for at least several minutes prior to shutting down so if the power of only out for a couple minutes it doesnt shut the server down.

 

 

[JonathanM]

3 minutes ago, SPOautos said:

How can I figure out my full load power draw?

kill-a-watt, or similar product.

 

3 minutes ago, SPOautos said:

So I need a way to boot it up from the state of being completely turned off.  How can I accomplish that?

Server boards typically have IPMI, which is available as soon as the motherboard has power. This enables you to connect to the server and power it on, all you need is a VPN connection to your router.

 

5 minutes ago, SPOautos said:

I would like it to be able to run for at least several minutes prior to shutting down so if the power of only out for a couple minutes it doesnt shut the server down.

How often does the power go out in your area? Around here, if the power is out for more than a minute, it's probably going to be several hours before it's restored.

 

Also, while planning this out, keep in mind that your internet and network pieces need to be powered as well. If your server isn't in the same space as your router and switch(s) you will need another UPS to keep them up as well. The load on that type of equipment is typically very small, so a cheap UPS will work fine if all it's doing is keeping the modem, router, and switch running.

[SPOautos]

5 hours ago, jonathanm said:

kill-a-watt, or similar product.

 

Server boards typically have IPMI, which is available as soon as the motherboard has power. This enables you to connect to the server and power it on, all you need is a VPN connection to your router.

 

How often does the power go out in your area? Around here, if the power is out for more than a minute, it's probably going to be several hours before it's restored.

 

Also, while planning this out, keep in mind that your internet and network pieces need to be powered as well. If your server isn't in the same space as your router and switch(s) you will need another UPS to keep them up as well. The load on that type of equipment is typically very small, so a cheap UPS will work fine if all it's doing is keeping the modem, router, and switch running.

 

I ordered a meter, but it probably isnt pulling a lot....the CPU is typically at 2%-5% unless its transcoding a 4k bluray on Plex.

 

The Unraid box, modem, and router are all next to eachother. They are all in the same surge protector and I was thinking about putting the ups in a corner about 10 feet away and running a good extension cord from the ups to the surge protector.

 

You are correct that if it can stay on a couple minutes itll cover most power outages. What I'd like is that the ups can keep it powered for little while then if the power isnt back and the ups is getting low on power, it just trigger a graceful shutdown on the unraid and everything go off.

 

Then when power comes back on, I need a way to boot the Unraid box. It uses a Asus x99 Deluxe ii motherboard.....I dont think it has IPMI, but it does have a couple settings that may be useful for this.....I think the "Restore AC Power Loss" and maybe the "Power on by PCI-E/PCI".  ALSO, I do have VPN into my router setup and use it often to log into Unraid when away from home.

Edited October 11, 2020 by SPOautos

[SPOautos]

On 10/10/2020 at 12:53 PM, StevenD said:

I prefer Eaton, but for that budget, you cant go wrong with an APC BR1500MS.

 

I have paid as little as $170 for them.

 

I went ahead and got a BR1500MS. I'm in the process of hooking it up right now. In the Unraid ups settings do you have a suggestion as to what percentage I should have it do a clean shut down at?  My system shuts down pretty fast....typically around 30 seconds. So I really dont need a ton of power remaining when it shuts down, but I want enough remaining so that if the power comes off and on several times there is enough power to shut down several times without much recharge.  I'm running 250-350 watts depending on load. It looks like at 350 watts the battery lasts 20 minutes, but I believe I saw that is just where its down to 40%.

 

Just wondering what percent others shut down at. Also in the settings it has both percent and time for "Battery left to initiate shutdown"....which one is going to take precedence? Do I need to set either the percent or time to zero so that Unraid is only looking at one of those?

 

ALSO, any thoughts on the NUT app? Are there any good benefits to using that app?

Edited October 15, 2020 by SPOautos

[StevenD]

I start shutting things down at about 50%.  That being said, 50% for me is about 30 minutes into an outage. 

 

I cant comment on NUT though.  I exclusively use Eatons for all my rack mount gear, and everything is running in VMWare. I have a VM appliance that manages my unRAID (and all other VM) shutdowns.

[SPOautos]

Well I have the battery hooked up but it seems like Unraid isn't finding it. I'm not sure if its a setting or something else but it isn't bringing in any of the battery information. Anyone have any thoughts on it?  Here are the settings I'm using.......

 

 

[SPOautos]

I got Unraid to see it....I just had to reboot the server and it picked it right up.