Should I get a UPS for this setup?

[Mark R]

I can't believe I sat through a 2 hour meeting at work, when people were arguing as to whether they should get a UPS for this rig, which will be used for mission-critical and safety-of-life application hosting.

Dell R820 x 4
Dell R715 x 3
EMC VMX 5300 x 4
Brocade 5100x2

Software:
Windows 2012
Clusterware
Oracle
Various proprietary apps

"Oh. But we've got a generator. We can just reboot the servers after switching over."

I'm not sure anyone there really understood.

 

[Blain]

"Mission-critical and safety-of-life" running any Windows = At this point you can't do anything about that.
"Mission-critical and safety-of-life" powered through line-interactive UPS = :thumbsup:

 

[corkyg]

"Oh. But we've got a generator. We can just reboot the servers after switching over." I'm not sure anyone there really understood.

Wow! Your impression was correct. So, what happens to the "mission critical" data that was not yet saved and a work in progress? Sounds like you are dealing with members of the Ineptocracy. Blain has it right!

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Wow! Your impression was correct. So, what happens to the "mission critical" data that was not yet saved and a work in progress? Sounds like you are dealing with members of the Ineptocracy. Blain has it right!

Yep, there are plenty of inept IT people out there... :thumbsdown:

Blain really hit the nail on the head there... :thumbsup:

 

[Mark R]

Heh. The system is being purchased as an turnkey setup from a software vendor; as the software vendor supply the hardware, there should be no issue with compatibility, and the same support contract will include the hardware.

The original tender did specify a UPS (again, supplied by the software vendor), but the finance guys were bitching about the extra $15k for 3 UPSs. So, the software vendor offered an option of not including the UPS.

Then IT turned up and started bitching that the software vendor wanted to use Dell servers and EMC SAN, when their server room is an HP shop.

There was a sensible suggestion that the server room already had a UPS, and it might be possible to make capacity for the new servers on it, and that might be cheaper than the quote from the vendor.

In the end, I pointed out that they were buying a dual-redundant clustering system with 3rd replicated DR system. Did they really want all 3 systems on the same UPS? They did get the message, but it took some convincing.

 

[mfenn]

$15K for enough UPS capacity to power all those items is actually quite reasonable. The total hardware cost there is probably $250-300K, and they're balking over another $15K? Give me a break.

I can't believe "life safety" and "reboot after we switch to the generator" were mentioned in the same sentence. All involved should be fired for incompetence.

 

[videogames101]

TLDR get the UPS, better safe than sorry as always.