Hello. I have a particular problem (don't we all???) well, I manage this particular network that has a HP Proliant as the DC. The exchange server is on another server. They both have UPS power, but the power is not as reliable. Most of the time when there is a storm, the UPS shuts down the servers. The problem is when the power is restored, the Proliant comes up slower than the Exchange. Since the exchange comes up first, it can't find the DC and is not responsive. Someone has to come and resrt the Exchange all the time. I was wondering if there is a way to have it start only when the DC is up and running or if I have to set this up a different way.... I would appreciate your help. Click.
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Restarting Exchange after power failure.
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i dont think you can tell the server to do that. the easiest thing is to set it so that the server does not power back up after its shutdown. that way it you have better control over when it can reconnect.
Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions
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- #3
That being the case doesn't mean there's a solution. You're basically telling us that you only have one DC, which is a problem in and of itself.
RDP into the server and start the services, or use sc.exe to start them remotely, or add another DC/GC, or resolve the power problem. Or do all of these.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
RDP into the server and start the services, or use sc.exe to start them remotely, or add another DC/GC, or resolve the power problem. Or do all of these.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
A quick and easy solution is to set the battery on the exchange server to wait until it has 30% charge before allowing the server to power back on and set the battery on the DC to 15%. Adjust the threshold as you need until the DC is completely up and running before the exchange server.
The issue I see with that is that we're assuming the capacity dips below 30% (or any set amount). If the UPS kicks in, and waits x number of minutes before shutting servers down, the actual level of the battery might not be something we can always determine.
If it's possible to tell it to wait x minutes before starting the Exchange server, that would be better.
But the real issue is the unstable power to begin with. In most of the installations that I do, it's fairly rare that a UPS system would go to battery long enough to trigger a system shutdown. A good hard look needs to taken at the power source.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
If it's possible to tell it to wait x minutes before starting the Exchange server, that would be better.
But the real issue is the unstable power to begin with. In most of the installations that I do, it's fairly rare that a UPS system would go to battery long enough to trigger a system shutdown. A good hard look needs to taken at the power source.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
I would agree with 58sniper, if they are that many problems with power they need to look into getting it fixed. That power problem is going to cause issues later on especially if one of those UPS batteries fails. If they cant get it fixed i might recommend possibly a small generator to keep certain circuts running such as the servers.
Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions
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Wm. Reynolds
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If you're having that much trouble with the power, then you should absolutely be looking into a generator backup and/or a bigger UPS.
I spent the money on a 12.5kva backup that will power my entire server room for two hours...but I have a natural gas generator that powers the UPS so in total, my UPS has been used less than 30 seconds over the past two years.
Did the system cost a lot? You betcha! But how much is your business worth to keep running?
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
I spent the money on a 12.5kva backup that will power my entire server room for two hours...but I have a natural gas generator that powers the UPS so in total, my UPS has been used less than 30 seconds over the past two years.
Did the system cost a lot? You betcha! But how much is your business worth to keep running?
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
I am talking about startup delays not shutdown delays. For example Powerchute from APC allows you to set a power on delay. Meaning you can tell the battery not to allow the server it is monitoring to power on until the battery reaches a certain percentage of charge. For this scenario, you would want the DC to power on immediately when power is restored and have the exchange server power on at a later percentage. This will allow the DC to be fully operational before the Exchange server is up and running thus addressing the issue of having to restart the exchange server after a power failure.
I agree that the power issue should be resolved. But we have all dealt with utility companies before and they do not resolve issues as quick as we would like. In the mean time if you have a battery (and software) that can allow you to configure startup delays then that could be a temporary solution.
I agree that the power issue should be resolved. But we have all dealt with utility companies before and they do not resolve issues as quick as we would like. In the mean time if you have a battery (and software) that can allow you to configure startup delays then that could be a temporary solution.
But you have no way of knowing when one battery will reach 30% vs the other reaching 15%...it still may cause problems and therefore is not a very good solution to the issue.
The power issue isn't a utility problem, it's the IT issue to deal with on-site. If the weather knocks your power off, then IT needs to have a plan in place to either remain working, or provide time to shutdown/startup gracefully. Anytime you have systems down for extended periods of time then IT should be on hand to start them up manually and not rely upon automated systems, IMHO. All sorts of nasty things could have occured when the servers shut down, gracefully or not.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
The power issue isn't a utility problem, it's the IT issue to deal with on-site. If the weather knocks your power off, then IT needs to have a plan in place to either remain working, or provide time to shutdown/startup gracefully. Anytime you have systems down for extended periods of time then IT should be on hand to start them up manually and not rely upon automated systems, IMHO. All sorts of nasty things could have occured when the servers shut down, gracefully or not.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
That's how I took it. But, as I mentioned, and Davetoo also mentioned, you have no way of knowing what level the battery is in following a shutdown. I certainly wouldn't want the UPS running completely out.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
You could
1) set the Exchange services to manual
2) create a batch file to start the Exchange services (e.g. net start ...)
3) Put a delay in that batch file that will wait long enough (10-15 minutes) for the DC to come up.
4) Put the batch file in registry to startup automatically.
R.Sobelman
1) set the Exchange services to manual
2) create a batch file to start the Exchange services (e.g. net start ...)
3) Put a delay in that batch file that will wait long enough (10-15 minutes) for the DC to come up.
4) Put the batch file in registry to startup automatically.
R.Sobelman
you have to have the power issue addressed. they can not keep running like they are with those kinda power issues. Granted those UPS systems are surge protected but can you safely say that you trust those devices to ensure the servers are safe?
Just as davetoo stated:
Anytime you have systems down for extended periods of time then IT should be on hand to start them up manually and not rely upon automated systems, IMHO. All sorts of nasty things could have occured when the servers shut down, gracefully or not.
If something were to happen during shutdown especially to that exchange server, do you or they really want to have to deal with disaster recovery if something happened to that server because of those power failures?
Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions
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Just as davetoo stated:
Anytime you have systems down for extended periods of time then IT should be on hand to start them up manually and not rely upon automated systems, IMHO. All sorts of nasty things could have occured when the servers shut down, gracefully or not.
If something were to happen during shutdown especially to that exchange server, do you or they really want to have to deal with disaster recovery if something happened to that server because of those power failures?
Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions
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A mistaken assumption on my part. I assumed the batteries are the same make and model. But you could just set the DC to power on immediately and the exchange server to 30%. Thus eliminating the question of how long it takes one battery to reach a certain percentage.
But as you all have said, and I certainly agree. The power issue should be addressed.
But as you all have said, and I certainly agree. The power issue should be addressed.
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- #15
Well, me and the servers are located in SE Florida, where now is Hurricane season. As most IT installations, they are made without consulting the IT people. The closet where these servers are, is adequate, but the Power installation is not. It's not even good in the whole building. A number of issues have come up with the General Contractor, power being one of them. But then again when the power is not an issue, it is the confined space they dedicate to the servers. I was working at a place where the closet the servers were in was about a 5ft by 3ft closet with 3 servers and 3 monitors. The room was so hot that you could use it as a sauna(except there was no room). The servers would freeze or shutdown by themselves over the weekend. Gee, I wonder why, since to save money the owners would shut off the Air Conditioners over the weekend. "the AC is for people, not for machines" they would say.
I think I found a solution that I will implement together with the balancing of the UPS's. There is a power controler that can be accessed over the internet. I think it is a good investment.
Thank you very much for your contributions. Click.
I think I found a solution that I will implement together with the balancing of the UPS's. There is a power controler that can be accessed over the internet. I think it is a good investment.
Thank you very much for your contributions. Click.
If you are responsible for this companys IT infrastructure, you are completely failing them by utilizing such equipment.
Sorry.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
Sorry.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
i agree with davetoo on this. using that device for this is only going to spell disaster in the long run. your just doing a temporary fix to a permenant problem.
Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions
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Wm. Reynolds
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Texas Public Safety Solutions
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- #18
Well, thank you for your input, but like you said this is a temporary fix. EVENTUALLY the contractor will stop fighting with the landlord and they WILL fix the Power problem. In the mean time I have the choice of either buying the remote power device, or driving 50+ miles to flip a switch. Click.
Then the correct temporary solution would be to drive the 50+ miles to ensure that all of the systems are ok after a power failure.
That's the responsible solution, IMHO.
Good luck.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
That's the responsible solution, IMHO.
Good luck.
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!
SteveRoadWarrior
Technical User
- Jun 13, 2007
- 148
Don't forget that HP has some functionality that can assist here: Up to 60 second delay for server power on (Yes, I know not enough for a DC to get GC happy, but a start) and iLO.
Now you just need to buy another HP and install Exchange (just kidding).
Power sequencers aren't that expensive either.
If any of your UPSes are HP or Compaq, you may want to invest in a pair of UPSes that are AVR. They'll do a better job of keeping the power clean.
If you are using the HP UPSes, the more recent versions of HP Power and Rack Tools will allow you to have part of the UPS power on X minutes after the power comes back, and another load zone power on Y minutes after the power comes back. It's real handy. Actually better than the APC software.
just .02
Now you just need to buy another HP and install Exchange (just kidding).
Power sequencers aren't that expensive either.
If any of your UPSes are HP or Compaq, you may want to invest in a pair of UPSes that are AVR. They'll do a better job of keeping the power clean.
If you are using the HP UPSes, the more recent versions of HP Power and Rack Tools will allow you to have part of the UPS power on X minutes after the power comes back, and another load zone power on Y minutes after the power comes back. It's real handy. Actually better than the APC software.
just .02
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