Remote-Controlled Power Strips? 23
Quixote asks: "We've all seen power strips; but are there ones that can be controlled via TCP/IP ? Can you turn on/off each of the
outlets remotely? Such a puppy would be ideal in a machine-room or co-lo environment. Are there any drawbacks/risks to such devices?" I know such devices exist because I've used them before, but I don't know if they are exactly power-strips, but you get the idea. Plug in your servers, and a network cable and never worry about leaving home/office to restart dead servers again!
APC MasterSwitch (Score:2, Informative)
Re:APC MasterSwitch (Score:2)
I have one here under my desk (no troll, it isn't on the internet).
Re:Oh my GOD!! (Score:1)
Unit Power Switch (Score:1)
MGE makes UPS's that do this (Score:2)
I've haven't used these personally, but they work well for a friend of mine in a colocation facility. Their software seems to be windows only.
BBK
Re:network pwr strips are easy to build (Score:1)
There's also this thing called a "salary". It means that you have to pay the person at the other end of the telephone to do this. If this tech gets cheap enough, you can save money by using this instead of so many on-site helpers.
the apc master switch works well (Score:3, Informative)
colo's. You can via a tcp/ip telnet session shut off one specific outlet or specific groups of outlets or all the outlets. It allows you to label electronically each outlet so you know what you are turning on and off. They cost ~350$ each
I would recommend them.
Malice95
Sony has something... (Score:2, Funny)
http://www.theonion.com/onion3104/newremote.html [theonion.com].
X10 (Score:1)
My monitor and speakers are plugged in to separate X10 boxes. The PC (Linux of course) has an X10 transmitter. So I can ssh in from work, run "br --house b -n 3 -r 3" and freak out the burglars.
Although the switch boxes don't always like being on the safe side of a surge protector or UPS. It helps to have one of the transceiver boxes on the safe side as well.
Re:X10 (Score:1)
The appliance module is limited to 500 watts, so don't stuff your computer too full. But if you already have a Linux firewall, you can hang the X10 transmitter off that, and run everything. Protecting the firewall itself is left as an exercise for the reader.
-B
Re:X10 (Score:1)
Another option: phone reboot (Score:2)
We have used Teleboots [teleboot.com] to power cycle outlets using a touch-tone phone. They work well even when you have no network connectivity.
I have sort of started a little project like this. (Score:1)
Another remote power switch (Score:1)
baytech (Score:1)
They've got all the remote-power and remote
serial-console stuff you can imagine. We have
three of their DS-9 serial-console --> ethernet
boxes and about 5 of their RPC series power strips.
The power strips can be controlled via a serial
line to one of their serial console boxes or
directly over the ethernet.
This stuff is the reason that I now work from
home instead of commuting 50 miles each way.
--chuck
Re:baytech (Score:1)
We hacked up a Tivoli add-in to control them via SNMP. That gave us point and click control, from a centralised console. You can also script it so that all outlets to a server are turned off - e.g if you have a big box with multiple inlets.
My only real concern with them is security - what would happen if someone else got in?
- Lindsay