Do I Need One UPS or Two?

[ethereal]

I think i will get this ups - CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1350VA 810W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower - $175 - Pure Sine Wave - 5 outlets battery backup and surge + 5 outlets surge only.


I have a windows box and a freenas server under my desk . my question is if i buy one ups is it a simple matter to shutdown both boxes or should I buy two ups so make my life simpler?

I look forward to reading some valuable inputs.

 

[Ericloewe]

You can do that, no problem. You'll want to run NUT on the desktop.

 

[Darren Myers]

You can get away with 1, i only run 2 UPS's because my servers are all dual PSU + my FreeNAS server...so if i loose one side of the outlet at least my stuff is still online.

 

[ethereal]

Thank you for your replies - i am very ignorant regarding upss - i have never used one before.

i have been thinking about it a little more and i think my main concern is how to manage the two boxes and shut them down safetly.

my chosen ups has these ports for management and communications -

HID Compliant USB Port Yes
Serial Port Yes
EPO Port No
Management Cable USB Cable

it only has one management usb port and i wasn't sure how to turn off two boxes

 

[BigDave]

it only has one management usb port and i wasn't sure how to turn off two boxes

The CyberPower website has documentation for that model with the procedure for running the PowerPanel Personal Edition software on your
Windows box (Ericloewe's suggestion to run NUT or Network UPS Tools on your deaktop computer) as the *Master* and configuring your
UPS settings for your FreeNAS box as *Slave* mode.
I'm sure support at CyberPower will help with more details if it comes to that, and there are some posts in here as well. I did not find too many
posts regarding master/slave configuration between a Windows box and a FreeNAS box, so my guess is that it's fairly easy to do. IIRC Ericloewe
has his UPS as master on his pfSense box and slave to his FreeNAS. Perhaps he's too busy at this time to go into details or he's just encouraging
you to do a little digging of your own...

 

[ethereal]

The CyberPower website has documentation for that model with the procedure for running the PowerPanel Personal Edition software on your
Windows box (Ericloewe's suggestion to run NUT or Network UPS Tools on your deaktop computer) as the *Master* and configuring your
UPS settings for your FreeNAS box as *Slave* mode.
I'm sure support at CyberPower will help with more details if it comes to that, and there are some posts in here as well. I did not find too many
posts regarding master/slave configuration between a Windows box and a FreeNAS box, so my guess is that it's fairly easy to do. IIRC Ericloewe
has his UPS as master on his pfSense box and slave to his FreeNAS. Perhaps he's too busy at this time to go into details or he's just encouraging
you to do a little digging of your own...

Thanks for the pointers - i wasn't looking for somebody to do all the work for me - i just wanted to be sure that someone with my inexperience could shut down the two boxes with one ups. i am getting the ups at Christmas (i wish it was sooner) so i have time to read the documentation you suggested.

thank you

 

[BigDave]

Thanks for the pointers - i wasn't looking for somebody to do all the work for me

You're most welcome, and it was not my intention to make you sound lazy

i just wanted to be sure that someone with my inexperience could shut down the two boxes with one ups.

Lots of users have done this exact configuration, so I have every confidence you will be sucessful

i am getting the ups at Christmas (i wish it was sooner) so i have time to read the documentation you suggested.

By the time Santa arrives, I'm sure you will have it all worked out in time for it's arrival. Let us know if you have any more questions;)

 

[Ericloewe]

IIRC Ericloewe
has his UPS as master on his pfSense box and slave to his FreeNAS

I did that for a while, until the pfSense box died. The interface is a little nicer and makes more sense from a management perspective (file server shuts down before DHCP server).

 

[BigDave]

I did that for a while, until the pfSense box died

My heartfelt condolences on your loss :(
But on a brighter note, my correct memory (of your previous configuration)
means I have not yet gone totally senile :D