Why do server racks need power?

They don't always need power, some have PDU's that give power to the servers and some racks have fan's at the top to assist with cooling.
 
It's simple :s?

You have a rack which devices screw into.

Each rack can have 2 power strips (pdu) so you can power devices like you would power your pc...
 
In it's most basic form, yes.

Get a managed PDU and it will have an Ethernet port. That lets you do various tasks such as look at power consumption and remotely power off/on individual sockets to reboot hung devices. Ideal for equipment you might need to reboot but don't have on-site people to do it.
 
#Chri5# said:
In it's most basic form, yes.

Get a managed PDU and it will have an Ethernet port. That lets you do various tasks such as look at power consumption and remotely power off/on individual sockets to reboot hung devices. Ideal for equipment you might need to reboot but don't have on-site people to do it.
Click to expand...

Okay cool.. So what does the PDU connect into for its power source?
 
drbx19 said:
Okay cool.. So what does the PDU connect into for its power source?
Click to expand...

In a small environment, it could go directly into a UPS in the same rack. Or, if the equipment isn't super important to keep going during a power-cut, directly into the mains.

In larger DCs, the UPSs are shared between multiple racks.
 
#Chri5# said:
In a small environment, it could go directly into a UPS in the same rack. Or, if the equipment isn't super important to keep going during a power-cut, directly into the mains.

In larger DCs, the UPSs are shared between multiple racks.
Click to expand...

So I'm guessing a UPS connects to the mains? Then if power from the mains goes out the UPS (connected to the PDU) kicks in?
 
Or in even bigger places, the PDU connects to the UPS, the UPS to the diesel generator which has at least 1 weeks run time, the diesel generator to the sub station. Of course then you need to make sure you have at least N+1 (where N is the number of devices required to run the power, data etc so you add an extra 1 to cope for a single failure) or N+2, or N+N.

Latest one I've just had built has 2 separate sub-stations feeding 2 separate power grids on site, each grid is backed up by a diesel generator with at least 1 weeks on site diesel to run it, this feeds an N+N UPS (the batteries for each UPS weigh 4 tons!) design each on separate grids.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom