Scenarios and testing
Scenario 1:
Company: Quimby Demolitions
This company needs a small rack-mountable UPS to run a total of four switches.
Approximate budget: $1000
Requires: One rack-mountable UPS with four power ports.
Concerns: Maximising uptime in the event of a power failure is the company's main concern. Minimising rack space is also an issue; the company would prefer a 1U device, but 2U is acceptable.
Best Solution: APC Smart-UPS 700
Qumby Demolitions would be best served by the APC Smart-UPS 700. This unit has all the features you need, including the option of internal networking. The software is very good and battery life, while not the best, was very close. The Sola 520 ran a close second; it would have been great if we could have seen it's networking capabilities.
Scenario 2:
Company: MadCat Internet
This ISP needs a rack-mountable UPS to run seven servers and three switches.
Approximate budget: $5000
Requires: One rack-mountable UPS with 10 power ports.
Concerns: The company wants to be sure the UPS will provide enough power to let all the servers shut down gracefully in the event of a failure. The company will also look into how the UPS communicates with the servers, the UPS management software, and the availability of hot-swappable parts.
Best Solution: APC Smart-UPS 3000
The APC would once again be the best choice here, though closely followed by the PowerWare 5125. Both systems have excellent running time and cost-per-minute ROI, but the APC wins with slightly better software and the fact that we have actually been able to see and test its network solution.
How we tested
All UPSes were plugged in and charged up for 24 hours before testing.
Small UPSes: We attached three assorted articles of network gear: a 10Mbps switch, a 100Mbps hub and a gigabit switch to the UPS and timed the battery life.
Scenario 2: We attached the abovementioned hubs and switches plus an Acer Altos 1200 server and an old Digital 14in monitor to increase the load.
Battery life was timed by recording the timestamp on a system while pinging a Testlab server through the gigabit switch. As soon as the pings stopped, the clock was stopped and the runtime calculated.
Each server was tested twice and the results averaged.
Interoperability was rated on operating system support, easy-to-read display, and software.
Futureproofing scores were based on replaceable batteries, the ability to add batteries, and the availability of a network module.
ROI was calculated based on the cost per minute of uptime provided by the UPS.
Service dealt with the duration and terms of the warranty.
The September issue of Australian Technology & Business magazine contains benchmarking tests on the products outlined in this article. For information on how to subscribe to this magazine, visit this page.
