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An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is just a big battery, right? Wrong.
There’s a lot more than just a battery to this essential piece of high-availability kit, especially if you’re determined to keep your servers running no matter what.
Indeed, if you opt for a rack-mount Evolution from MGE UPS Systems, you’ll be getting a lot more than you might expect for your money.
The Evolution family of UPS products is designed to provide power to anything from one to 15 servers, with several different models available from the single server Evolution 650 (about £140 ex Vat) to the Evolution S 3000 at just over £700 ex Vat.
All are line-interactive, which means the UPS can both stabilise and clean the power supply, as well as keep the batteries charged and switch over to battery backup should the AC mains be interrupted.
The Evolution 1150 we tested is designed to power up to four servers with, as on most models, a choice of either rack (1U in this instance) or tower models. A convertible rack/tower version is also available, along with yet another implementation designed for short depth communication racks.
Mounting brackets come with all the rack models as standard, along with all the cables required, plus monitoring software and a documentation pack, which vendors of other IT products would do well to emulate – it’s simply superb.
Following these instructions we were able to mount the Evolution 1150 in our rack – it can go either horizontally or vertically – and connect the test equipment. Four individually controlled output sockets are located at the rear, with a screw-on cover to stop the leads being pulled out once in place. RS232 serial and USB communication ports are also provided, along with software to control attached systems.
There’s also a slot to take an optional network management card (£101 ex Vat). With this installed, the UPS is connected to the Lan with its own IP address and an integrated web server for status monitoring. It can also send email and SMS alerts, and can be integrated into wider SNMP management systems (a separate software kit is required).
The batteries are of the lead acid type in maintenance-free sealed modules that can be replaced should the need arise. You can even get a power distribution strip, known as a Hotswap Maintenance Bypass Module (£76 ex Vat), to allow the batteries, or even the whole UPS, to be replaced without the need to power down the attached equipment. The autonomy of the larger ‘S’ models can also be enhanced by adding up to four additional battery modules.
Exactly how long the batteries will last on the Evolution 1150 when the power fails will depend on the load. With a full complement of servers attached, for example, the UPS will probably only manage about 10 minutes – just enough to close any open files and shut everything down gracefully. However, if you only have one server and, perhaps, a network switch and router, it can keep them all running for 20 minutes or more.
The word comprehensive simply doesn’t do the Evolution 1150 any justice. Absolutely everything you might ever want or need is included in this very impressive package, which won’t break the bank and, in the event of a mains failure, could prove invaluable.
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