[olug] UPS

[Phil Brutsche]

William E. Kempf wrote:
> We recently had a power outage that caused my Linux box to shutdown 
> abnormally.  Since then I've had some problems with my ReiserFS 
> partitions.

Uh oh...

> I haven't done it yet, but I assume that an fsck will cure this and

Even if fsck could fix your file system problems (until the last year or 
so reiserfsck was basically worthless) there's still no guarantee your 
data didn't get hosed.

A FS that only journals metadata (like ReiserFS) will report everything 
is OK even if you files you were working on at the time have turned into 
garbage.

> (The machine runs 24/7 and acts as my personal server, but there's
> nothing machine critical on there, which is why I've not considered a
> UPS until this point.)

Power failures can sometimes damage hardware, as can noise (sudden 
spikes or drop-offs) on the power lines.  A 1.5kVA APC SmartUPS 
(according to my sources approx $440, your results may vary) is pretty 
cheap protection, especially since you can run as many 4 or 5 computers 
off it and still get good battery life.

> So... I'm looking for advice on an inexpensive UPS system that works
> well, is reliable, and is compatible with Linux (i.e. it can trigger
> a safe shutdown prior to loss of battery power in cases that the 
> electricity is out for an extended time).  Anyone have suggestions?

APC Smart-UPS or Back-UPS Pro.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us