Today I’m going to share some pointers I learned from my previous experiences in buying and setting up a UPS for a midsize server room. I hope it will be useful to you.

1. Count your sockets

It might seem like a no-brainer, but it is important to ensure that you have sufficient sockets available at the back of your UPS to meet your requirements. The number of sockets that is required can add up quickly once you factor in Internet-access equipment such as routers, modems, firewalls, and VPN appliances. Double that if you are running a multi-homed configuration, or have servers equipped with dual power supply units that are capable of hot failover. Do remember to plug in your monitors and KVMs — if you are using them — into a protected power outlet, too. (Just power them off when not in use) Another solution might be to buy standard power strips and manually rewire their default connectors with plugs that can fit those on your UPS. This is useful for protecting multiple minor pieces of equipment, such as modems and other low-drain equipment.

2. Consider additional UPS units

Some mid-range UPS models offer the ability to “cascade” additional battery packs from the main UPS. The additional battery packs are usually rack-mountable as well and represent a convenient way to increase the runtime of your UPS beyond the default configuration.

An advantage of going this route is that you get to share your available battery runtime more efficiently across all of your equipment. Other potential benefits – though it varies with models — is the lower cost compared to scaling up to a higher range of UPS, as well as the possibility of hot-replacements of batteries.

On the other hand, you have to consider that certain mid-range UPS models do offer a number of features such as the ability to stagger power-on times, as well as giving you the ability to remotely power-cycle equipment at the power receptacle level. Having two separate UPS units working at 40% load does represent a full backup complement.

3. Beware the deep end

If you are working with rack-mounted equipment, you will do well to ensure that your UPS has sufficient space on the back portion after mounting onto your rack. While a 19-inch UPS will fit just fine into a 19-inch rack, the fact is that not all 19-inch racks are built the same.

Smaller racks built to a reduced footprint or inferior racks might not have enough spare leeway for you to plug in the power connectors and still be able to close the back door.

In addition, it is also worth noting that higher-end UPSs typically use customized or non-standard plugs on the UPS-end. It will be wise not to position your rack too far away from the wall power socket.

4. Create a separate power circuit or branch

If you have access to an electrician, it is normally best to have him or her create a separate branch circuit from your office’s (or building’s) main power switchboard. This will help reduce instances of staff tripping your server room’s power by plugging in a faulty microwave oven.

5. Configure for (and test) the shutdown of servers

Many people forget that UPSs are meant only as a temporary measure for intermittent power outages. In an extended blackout or brownout, you do need to shut down your servers to prevent data loss. There are a few ways to do it — including the installation of vendor-specific software utilities — though we’re not going to cover this today.

6. Other points to consider

TechRepublic members suggested a number of useful pointers in my previous article, “Selecting and installing your first UPS.”

TR member Ethical_Loner suggested the online tool on APC’s Web site here to get a better idea of your power requirements. TR member robo_dev cautioned against assuming all the connectors on a UPS are the same. Specifically, watch out for UPSs with power outlets that are divided into “Battery backup” and “Surge suppression”, making sure to plug your equipment into the right outlet.

A topic which I completely missed out on would be the three categories of UPS that are available: off-line, line-interactive, and double-conversion. In a nutshell, it makes sense to go for a double-conversion UPS if budget allows. Due to the presence cialis for sale online of a rectifier directly driving the inverter, a sort of electrical “firewall” is formed to better protect against noisy or poor power environment. An off-line UPS will only kick in during a power outage, and a line-interactive lies somewhere in between.

February 8th, 2009

Posted by Robin Harris

If the economy has made you put off buying a faster system, you aren’t alone. The good news: you can make your current system much snappier with faster storage – DRAM and disk. Here’s how – and why.

Your CPU speed is fixed. So is your network and memory bandwidth. Only new storage can give your system a performance boost.

Even better news: storage prices are at all-time lows. There’s never been a better time to upgrade.

The basic strategy
Start with #1, then look at #2. The 3rd option isn’t cost-effective for most people today and you have to be careful cialis daily generic to avoid some really awful 1st and 2nd generation products – buyer beware!

1. Add main memory – also known as DRAM, RAM, DIMM or SO-DIMM.
2. Install a faster and/or higher capacity disk drive.
3. Install a flash-based Solid State Drive – which doesn’t make sense for most people.

RAM or disk
There are 2 kinds of storage or memory in your system: DRAM or RAM – Dynamic Random Access Memory – fast electronic storage; and disk or hard drive storage. If there isn’t enough DRAM for the work you want to do, the operating system uses the disk memory as a substitute.

That works OK for light use, but disk drives take a million times longer to access data than DRAM, so as you get busier your system gets slower. For maximum performance you want to minimize disk I/O.

First
To minimize disk I/O increase your DRAM. More memory reduces disk I/O in 2 ways:

• Entire programs and data can be loaded into DRAM and run without having to swap parts in and out. For example, Photoshop maintains several copies of any image you are working on. For a 50 MB image Photoshop will run best with ~250 MB free DRAM. Your OS and other programs need DRAM too, so the demand quickly adds up.
• When DRAM runs short, Windows or Mac OS start using the disk drive as “virtual memory.” Since disk drives are so slow compared to DRAM, this slows your system down. Too many outstanding I/O requests will overflow the on-chip memory, further slowing your system.

Typical desktop systems support up to 8 GB of DRAM – check the specs – and more is better. Doubling the amount of DRAM you have now – assuming you aren’t at full capacity already – is a good rule of thumb for maximum bang for your buck.

How much better? I went from 5 to 8 GB DRAM on my quad-core Xeon Mac Pro and was amazed at how much snappier and stable the system became. The added DRAM almost eliminates disk swapping.

I typically have a couple of dozen programs open – often including I/O intensive video, image and audio editors – so if all you do is surf the web, read email and type a few letters you won’t need 8 GB – 2-4 GB will be fine. One caveat: a 32-bit OS, which includes most versions of Windows, won’t support more than 4 GB of RAM, even if the hardware will.

Later this year I plan to upgrade to 16 GB of DRAM. When I do I’ll let you know how it goes.

Disk drive upgrade
I recently upgraded my system disk from a 7200 RPM disk to a 10,000 RPM Western Digital VelociRaptor. It made a HUGE difference in machine performance.

1/3rd faster boot times. 3 GB swap files that I didn’t notice. Snappy app loads. It’s like a new system.

You’ll see similar results upgrading a 5400 RPM notebook disk to a 7200 RPM disk. Either upgrade offers a 30-40% improvement – one you will certainly notice.

If you edit much video, a 2nd drive can help. Keep the project on the 2nd drive and render to the system disk for greater speed.

Even if you don’t upgrade to a faster drive, a much more dense drive – for example, moving from 80 GB to 500 GB – will give performance gains. The higher bit density means large reads and writes are faster and average seeks shorter. Not as dramatic as a 10k drive, but noticeable.

Performing the upgrade
Most memory upgrades are user installable. Check your vendor’s web site for instructions. For the best prices I check out dealram.

Many notebook drives are upgradeable as well. If you have a plastic MacBook check out my 1 minute guide. Otherwise consult the vendor web site.

Tower systems vary in their expansion ease. The Mac Pro is really easy. Most Dell’s and other towers are ok, but expect to spend some time. Or find a friend who’s done it before and learn with them.

The Storage Bits take
I/O bottlenecks slow systems down. Faster and more abundant storage speed them up. With RAM and disks so cheap, upgrading storage is a great mid-life kicker.

Comments welcome, of course. If your hard drives more than 3 years old, replacing them is a good idea. They are mechanical devices and simply start to wear out.

Yes, I ignored overclocking. If you want to overclock, do it right!

If you’re like me, you live and breathe by your contacts. They’re vital to my business, as they probably are to yours. When I’m on the road without cialis buy on line remote access, that can be a problem. I know that I can print my contacts, but taking the .pst file with me is much better. (The .pst file contains your contact information.) It’s a simple process:

To use the file, you can simply import it into Outlook on another computer. But you should also be prepared to not have access to Outlook. Repeat the above process again, saving your .pst file as Microsoft Excel file and a comma-delimited text file (Comma Separated Values). If the worst happens, you can at least view the information.

Now, you probably already knew that you could export the .pst file. What you might not have considered was how easily you could save that exported file to a flash drive and take it with you.

If acheter cialis original you've gotten a new computer in the last few years, it more than likely came with USB ports. If you're not sure, USB ports are the little slots on either the front or back of your computer that you can use to plug in certain devices, such as a flash drive or digital camera. USB ports come in two different speeds: 2.0 and 1.0, with 2.0 being faster. Most newer PCs have the 2.0 speed, but if you purchased yours quite awhile ago, you may have the 1.0 speed. So, if you've ever wondered which speed you have, keep reading to learn how you can find out!

To get to your computer's USB area, you need to right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. Next, click on the Hardware tab and then hit the Device Manager button. When the new window opens, scroll down to the very bottom where it says Universal Serial Bus controllers. Click on the plus sign (+) next to that and all of your USB information will come up. You may have quite a few listings or you may only have a few. It just depends on how many ports came with your computer and if you've added any yourself.

If you see one that says something like "USB Enhanced Host Controller," that means you have the 2.0 speed. The "Enhanced" part is what sets the 2.0 apart from the slower speed. On my computer, that entry was the very last one, so make sure you look through your whole list before you make any assumptions. Also, just for your information, if one of your USB ports is 2.0, it's likely that all of your ports will be the same. That goes for the 1.0 speed as well. Most computers don't come with two different port speeds. So, tell me, how does it feel to know what kind of USB speed your PC is running? Pretty darn good, huh? Check yours out today!

Q:
I have accumulated several flash drives over the years and I was just wondering if I should ever defragment them. I know we have to do it for our hard drives, but are flash drives the same? Please explain!

A:
Wow, what an excellent question! I know several of you use flash drives, so this is one that's going to help a lot of you out. I'm going to start today by saying you're absolutely right when you said we all what is cialis need to defrag our hard drives on a regular basis. That's a given. But when you think about doing the same for flash drives, it turns into a completely different situation. So, come along with me as we delve into the world of flash drives and defrags!

The simple answer to today's question is: you should never defrag a flash drive. Does that surprise some of you? Well, let me explain! Let's first talk a little about hard drives. The files you have stored on your hard drive are usually saved in several little pieces, often in groups of 512 bytes. Now, those chunks of data are usually never placed next to each other or even remotely close to each other. Therefore, your files are generally spread out all over your hard drive, which is why defragging is so important.

The whole defrag process is done through a read/write head that rearranges your files and places them back together for you. That way, when you need to access a certain file, everything is put back together and your computer doesn't have to work as hard to find what you're looking for. Defragging simply helps speed up your system when you need to open a certain file. Yep, that's why it's so vital that you defrag on a regular basis (at least once a month or so).

On the other hand, flash drives do not have a read/write head, so if you were to defrag one, you wouldn't get any extra performance benefits from it whatsoever. Basically, without a read/write head, flash drives don't have to work any harder to find your files. Your files can be laid out in any order and your flash drive will still be just as fast when finding them for you. Still not convinced? Then keep reading!

Another reason why you should never defrag a flash drive is because flash memory wears out over time. Basically, the more you write (saving files, etc.) to your flash drive, the shorter its lifespan will be. And since defragging is a huge write process, every time you do it, you're adding thousands of extra writes to your device that just aren't necessary. So, if you've been continuously defragging your flash drives, you should stop. If you want your flash drive to last you a long while, simply stop the defrags. You won't get any benefit from it and you'll just end up with a broken down flash drive for no reason at all. Go and defrag your hard drive instead!