Single UPS that can control 2 PCs?
in [Hardware]
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From: Bert Hyman on 18 Jul 2010 11:18 After three power failures in a week, I'm ready to get a UPS. I'd like a single UPS which can signal two PCs to shut down on loss of AC power. I don't need the PCs to run any longer than it takes to shut down cleanly. I visited APC's Web site, but there's nothing in their selector "wizard" to specify that particular requirement. Who makes a "consumer" UPS that can perform this function? -- Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert(a)iphouse.com
From: John McGaw on 18 Jul 2010 15:04 On 7/18/2010 11:18 AM, Bert Hyman wrote: > After three power failures in a week, I'm ready to get a UPS. > > I'd like a single UPS which can signal two PCs to shut down on loss of > AC power. I don't need the PCs to run any longer than it takes to shut > down cleanly. > > I visited APC's Web site, but there's nothing in their selector "wizard" > to specify that particular requirement. > > Who makes a "consumer" UPS that can perform this function? > I've never seen any UPS units other than whole-rack server units that could control multiple computers. If your two computers are networked then one kludge would be to have the master computer run a batch file as Windows is closing using the Group Policy Editor and then have the batch file execute "shutdown /m \\other_computer". I'm fairly certain that this would work -- for sure the shutdown command works on my networked computers. If you just type "shutdown" at the command prompt you will see that there are a dozen or more options available.
From: Bert Hyman on 19 Jul 2010 08:54 In news:MeI0o.500768$Up1.496985(a)en-nntp-09.dc1.easynews.com John McGaw <Nobody(a)Nowh.ere> wrote: > On 7/18/2010 11:18 AM, Bert Hyman wrote: >> After three power failures in a week, I'm ready to get a UPS. >> >> I'd like a single UPS which can signal two PCs to shut down on loss >> of AC power. I don't need the PCs to run any longer than it takes to >> shut down cleanly. >> >> I visited APC's Web site, but there's nothing in their selector >> "wizard" to specify that particular requirement. >> >> Who makes a "consumer" UPS that can perform this function? >> > > I've never seen any UPS units other than whole-rack server units that > could control multiple computers. If your two computers are networked > then one kludge would be to have the master computer run a batch file > as Windows is closing using the Group Policy Editor and then have the > batch file execute "shutdown /m \\other_computer". I'm fairly certain > that this would work -- for sure the shutdown command works on my > networked computers. If you just type "shutdown" at the command prompt > you will see that there are a dozen or more options available. Neat idea. I'll give it a try and see if the batch file is executed early enough in the shutdown sequence that the network is still alive. If it works, it would certainly save me more than a few bucks. -- Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert(a)iphouse.com
From: Gerard Bok on 19 Jul 2010 10:37 On 19 Jul 2010 12:54:32 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert(a)iphouse.com> wrote: >In news:MeI0o.500768$Up1.496985(a)en-nntp-09.dc1.easynews.com John McGaw ><Nobody(a)Nowh.ere> wrote: > >> On 7/18/2010 11:18 AM, Bert Hyman wrote: >>> After three power failures in a week, I'm ready to get a UPS. >>> >>> I'd like a single UPS which can signal two PCs to shut down on loss >>> of AC power. I don't need the PCs to run any longer than it takes to >>> shut down cleanly. >>> >>> I visited APC's Web site, but there's nothing in their selector >>> "wizard" to specify that particular requirement. >>> >>> Who makes a "consumer" UPS that can perform this function? >>> >> If your two computers are networked >> then one kludge would be to have the master computer run a batch file >> as Windows is closing >Neat idea. > >I'll give it a try and see if the batch file is executed early enough in >the shutdown sequence that the network is still alive. That won't be a problem. Look at the START command (part of Windows). Precede your batch lines with START /WAIT and you will force the batch commands to be executed one after the other. -- Kind regards, Gerard Bok
From: Bert Hyman on 19 Jul 2010 11:20
In news:Xns9DBA50745FE10VeebleFetzer(a)216.250.188.141 Bert Hyman <bert(a)iphouse.com> wrote: > Neat idea. Well, maybe not quite. I tried it and it works (I had to update permissions on the "other" machine to allow remote shutdown). But, as I tested the process, I realized that I really don't want the "other" machine to be shut down every time "this" machine shuts down. Maybe the UPS utilities or whatever set some sort of environment variable or leave a file around that can be tested in the BAT file I'd use to shut down the other machine so that it only performs the remote shutdown on a power failure. I guess here's where I find out just how good the pre-sales tech support of the various UPS makers is :-) -- Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert(a)iphouse.com |