[dc-ops] Low-End Switches with Dual Power

[Express Web Systems]

> Does anyone have a good recommendation for a 1U (or similar) managed
> switch
> with dual power inputs, preferably A/C?
> 
> We have a lot of data center customers that have dual power on all
> their
> servers but their switches are single feed, creating a single point of
> failure.  These are customers that manage their own equipment and don't
> want
> to spend for the level of equipment like Cisco 4000 or 6000 that have
> redundant PSU's.
> 
> 	-Scott

Scott,

What about an RPS system (obviously cisco specific)? You connect the RPS to
one feed and the PSU of the switch to the other feed. You can even feed
multiple switches off the same RPS unit, however most of the RPS I have seen
will only power one switch at a time (which is a flawed concept), but would
still work.

As Matt indicated, we also use APC ATS units to provide A/B power feeds to
devices with only one power supply. It does have the flaw of only protecting
against provider side outages though, as Matt mentioned. We are willing to
take a minor hit in the event of a hardware failure and just keep a cold
spare for the simpler access switches in the network.

Tom Walsh