Looking for a Better Back-Up Power Solution?

ThisIsFred asks: "I maintain a small network (about 1500 users, 9 servers in four locations), and happen to be in an area where the power company's quality of service could be better. Reliability has been slowly improving over the past few years, but we still experience dozens of outages during the course of the year. Unfortunately, all of our un-interruptible power supplies give in after about two years of service, regardless of the brand I buy. I have stacks of lead-acid batteries waiting to get hauled away by a subcontractor licensed to dispose of hazardous materials. This is an expensive service, my employer doesn't want to allocate funds for it every two years. I don't like having to give up space for the storage of dead batteries, and I don't like wasting my time replacing them. Should my employer be responsible for the disposal fees? Shouldn't vendors selling new UPS units be legally required to take back old batteries, like with auto batteries? And what sort of solution should I be looking at that is lower maintenance? Currently I am using smaller, standalone units (1400 VA), because it is really hard for me to secure the funds for something more expensive. I'd like to see what other folks do. I trust examples based on Slashdot's real experience more than some vendor's sales pitch. I need to put together a good argument for the next budget review."

Comments

Re:Yet another problem waiting to happen...

[D.A. Zollinger]

That is a really good point, and I would also suggest layering your power backup infrastructure. Many of the costs associated with providing acceptable power to the building we purchased was figured into the cost of building maintainance. We layered the power with an external generator (gets tested once a month - enough diesel stored on site for 72 hours of operation), a building-wide UPS (room dedicated to lead acid batteries), and a rackmounted UPS in every rack in our server room.

The building-wide UPS powers a special outlet in every cubicle that everyone's computer is plugged into. If the power goes out, the lights may go out while the external generator gets up to speed, but the computers stay on (although we do have some employees who like to move things around - we find out who they are at the next power outage).

The advantages of this are that the UPS doesn't get used very often, and when it does, it is only for a short period. However, if there are major power problems, we can stay up for a relatively long period of time.