rackmount managed PDUs

Fri Sep 26 00:05:49 UTC 2008

At 06:13 PM 9/25/2008, Adam Rothschild wrote:

>Another vote for APC here.  We've deployed many hundreds in various
>receptacle configurations, and n'er any failures.  The build quality
>is definite cut above the competition, some with interiors that look
>like they were assembled from duct tape and Radio Shack kits. :-)
>
>As a word to the wise once you make it past the purchasing stage, the
>software and IP stack is a bit fragile.  No show-stoppers, mind you,
>just some items here and there which underscore the need for a proper
>management infrastructure and OSS.

We've had issues with their code being fragile, failing to respond at 
times. Most recently, one of our AP7932's decided someone else was 
using the web interface and would not let me log in. Fortunately, I 
was simply checking on power consumption, not trying to reboot 
something. But it reminded me of a serious shortcoming. You can add 
user accounts so specific people can power cycle only their stuff, 
but the web interface appears to be limited to one user at a time, 
not very helpful.

I'll probably wind up connecting the serial ports to a terminal 
server to ensure access (serial port seemed to still work when web, 
telnet and ssh refused the login). And we're looking at other brands 
as options for future deployments. Would be interested in hearing 
from folks who've tried the newest Raritan power stuff.

>(For starters, you'll want to make sure you're running the latest
>firmware, as outlets and entire SNMP OID trees have been known to
>'vanish' on earlier builds.  Make sure they're ACLed tightly, as even
>the smallest amount of stray packets or concurrent access will make
>the unit unhappy.  And if you need to provide "remote reboot"
>functionality to customers, create your own interface, or consider one
>the off-the-shelf solutions, Ubersmith DE being a popular choice,
>given the above constraints...)

Ah, so yep, I see you've confirmed that concurrent access is a total 
non-starter with these, as I had guessed. Nice products, but agree 
their IP interfaces are lacking. And yes, you can hide them behind 
other software, just too bad you have to.

Dan 