Remote power switch for servers

A

awesomo

Gawd
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Mar 20, 2010
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I have a 4 main servers I run at home. One is a storage server, another is a virtualization server, a lab phone server, and a live phone server. They are all beasts except the live phone server and pull around 250watts each at idle.

I need a way to remotely power these servers on. For power reasons, I don't want them running 24/7, and for lazyness reasons, I don't want to run down to the corner of my basement every time I want to grab a file, or start a lab. WOL is not supported properly on any of the hardware I have with the software I am running. I am looking for a solution that I can tap the power switch and remotely hit it. It could be x10, IP, zwave, etc... I just need a way to trigger the power switch. Anybody know of anything?
 
Sounds like you want a Remote PDU. Not sure what your power requirements are, so I'll assume 15amp 120VAC. Also assuming your servers can turn themselves on after AC powerloss (most servers do this). These are nice units, though a little pricey:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP7900&tab=features

a little cheaper:
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=941&txtModelID=3495

Another option is get a UPS that has a network management card. The ones I've seen from APC allow you to powercycle the UPS. Not the greatest solution, but it works.
 
hawk82 said:
Sounds like you want a Remote PDU. Not sure what your power requirements are, so I'll assume 15amp 120VAC. Also assuming your servers can turn themselves on after AC powerloss (most servers do this). These are nice units, though a little pricey:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP7900&tab=features

a little cheaper:
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=941&txtModelID=3495

Another option is get a UPS that has a network management card. The ones I've seen from APC allow you to powercycle the UPS. Not the greatest solution, but it works.
Click to expand...

The server with the Tyan board will do this, but I am still SOL with the other two. I think splicing into the power switch would be the only way.
 
After seeing my power bill spike $45 a month leaving everything on, I decided to renew my search for a remote power switch solution. I finally found a way to do this for under $50. I got a 4 channel RF remote switch control, 3 relays, and 3 harnesses from Amazon. I spliced the wires on the power switches and soldered in the relay contacts. Wired it all up to a 12volt linksys wallwart I had lying around and bam, I have a wireless remote the size of a keyfob to turn my stuff in the basement on. A tutorial may come if someone expresses interest.
 
awesomo said:
After seeing my power bill spike $45 a month leaving everything on, I decided to renew my search for a remote power switch solution. I finally found a way to do this for under $50. I got a 4 channel RF remote switch control, 3 relays, and 3 harnesses from Amazon. I spliced the wires on the power switches and soldered in the relay contacts. Wired it all up to a 12volt linksys wallwart I had lying around and bam, I have a wireless remote the size of a keyfob to turn my stuff in the basement on. A tutorial may come if someone expresses interest.
Click to expand...

but you have to be home to do that :) with a PDU, you can remote in from anywhere :)
 
What kind of hardware do you have? If it is Intel look at their remote management cards, or whoever the manufacturer is. Remote management like iLo or Drac would be your best bet if you can get them
 
A remote access card is the better solution. A pdu can powercycle, but cannot re-start a server that was shut-down clean.
If you are needing the computers on at certain times, some boards support auto-start on a schedule (in BIOS).
Another possibility is to allow the computer to sleep, setting the NIC to remain powered and able to wake the computer. Kill the switch port to prevent traffic waking the computer. A little hokey for my taste, but there it is.
 
You could get something called an iBoot. It's a remote power controller. You can log in, and turn it off/on/reboot from the net. From the looks of it they also have a rack mount one that has multiple outlets. I want to get one for my home just in case I need to reboot.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, but I have already thought of every single one. I only have one authentic server and that would be my hand built intel based esxi. If I really cared about remote power control I'd get one of these and splice it into my setup http://store.iobridge.com/IO_204_p/a0019.htm

My options are limited because my play servers and desktop down there are all hand built.

Afaik, ESXi can not be put to sleep (probably for a very good reason), although that would be a good solution.

I just wanted a cheap solution to turn my stuff on in the basement from where ever I feel like using it in the house, that was it.
 
I picked up an old APC AP9211 on ebay. Works perfectly. Took a bit of playing to reset the passwords with a serial cable but now the web interface works. Got it for $50.
 
I work in the colocation/data center industry and i'll put in another vote for a switched pdu, the smaller APC units can be had on ebay extremely cheap as s0rce found and are bulletproof in my experience. SNMP, ssh, http and telnet access make them extremely versatile, i use them in all my deployments.
 
bleomycin said:
I work in the colocation/data center industry and i'll put in another vote for a switched pdu, the smaller APC units can be had on ebay extremely cheap as s0rce found and are bulletproof in my experience. SNMP, ssh, http and telnet access make them extremely versatile, i use them in all my deployments.
Click to expand...

So how would this work if the computers I am trying to remotely turn off/on do not have a start after power failure feature? Better yet, how would it start a server after a clean shutdown? Is there something that I'm missing? Or is EVERYONE just posting to a thread without reading past the topic...
 
awesomo said:
So how would this work if the computers I am trying to remotely turn off/on do not have a start after power failure feature? Better yet, how would it start a server after a clean shutdown? Is there something that I'm missing? Or is EVERYONE just posting to a thread without reading past the topic...
Click to expand...

I'm wondering the same thing, that is why Drac and iLo are so great, they can power on a server that has been clean shutdown perfomed on it.

From my Knowledge, "Most" servers only power on after a power failure and a hard shutdown.
 
I <3 iLo,

but does such a thing exist for normal computers? Or even normal beefed up pc's that are used as a "server"
 
I dont know of any off the self products off that works out of the box at the moment, but you could interface the power button and power light to some sort of ethernet controller such as the arduino with an ethernet sheild. I did the same sort of thing with my pFsense but interfacing it to my crestron controller with a subroutine written so that if it is off for a certain amount of time, say after a power outage, it would power the pFsense box back up.
 
Most hardware from the past 10 years will work with WOL, it's not software dependent.


I have seen a PCI card with these features, I just can't for the life of me find info on it right now.
 
I had looked into this a while ago. Forget who made them, but for about $100 you could get a power strip that would allow you to cycle each outlet. I was thinking about one of these because the server at work was such a piece of shit and would need a hard boot. Thankfully we replaced that unit. Funny as much as I hated that box it does a great job at the house:p
 
awesomo said:
So how would this work if the computers I am trying to remotely turn off/on do not have a start after power failure feature? Better yet, how would it start a server after a clean shutdown? Is there something that I'm missing? Or is EVERYONE just posting to a thread without reading past the topic...
Click to expand...

While not cheap, they do make PCI cards that plug right into your computer and will allow remote power on/off and KVM access after a clean shutdown, or if the system "hung" while booting.

http://www.aten.com/products/productItem.php?model_no=IP8000
http://www.raritan.com/products/kvm-over-ip/eric-g4/
 
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