UPS Monitoring

Your compute device needs a network connection and power to perform useful work.  You know your IT organization is monitoring the compute device for up/down status and performance statistics such as CPU, memory and hard drive utilization.  You feel good that you purchased and deployed an APC UPS in all your locations. While the UPS ensures good clean power from your commercial power provider, most importantly the battery becomes the champion as the power source for your compute device when commercial power is lost.   Are you monitoring your UPS so it is ready to meet your needs when you need it the most; and are you ready to take action when commercial power is lost?
 
To ensure that your UPS is ready when you need it, you want to monitor your UPS during normal operations.  During normal operations you want to check three important functions.  First you want to make sure your load is balanced if you have a three phase UPS.  An unbalanced load will shorten the useful life of the UPS.  Second, the battery replacement indicator is a must for your monitoring checklist.  You want to replace your battery prior to the end of its useful life.  Finally, output percent load.  Percent Capacity Load is an important data point to monitor to ensure the UPS battery can handle the load and provide the needed runtime in case of loss of commercial power. 
 
What about when commercial power is lost? Monitoring the UPS status will ensure you are the first to know about the incident.  The battery runtime remaining statistic (battery replacement indicator)  tells you how much longer your compute devices can run on the battery.  This is the time when you can take proactive action by shutting down non-critical devices to extend the runtime.  Best practice is to have your non-critical device group set before you have the outage and know the amount of load you can shed.
 
If you are not already monitoring your UPS, check out DCIM monitoring solutions  Look for a DCIM monitoring solution that has the capability to not only monitor your UPS but one that allows you to gracefully shutdown the IT Device operating system and turn off the power outlets.  Once commercial power is restored you can boot up the devices simply by turning the outlets on if you have the device set to “Boot on Power”.
 
What other UPS statistics do you feel are helpful to monitor?  Email us at [email protected] to let us know.