The Raritan Blog

COVID, KVM, and WFH

Jessica Ciesla
October 26, 2020

In a report released last month by 451 Research, the overall prognosis for IT spending during the pandemic is not a good one. The report notes that their leading indicator plunged “. . . to the worst level over the last decade.” Given the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, and on small businesses in particular, it is no surprise that these overall gauges of spending in our industry are showing negative numbers. One of the few bright spots in the report, however, is the fact that the pandemic “. . . compels organizations to adopt work-from-home business practices,” a category that has seen a 41% growth amidst a sea of negative numbers. 

LX II Combination LCD Drawer and KVM-over-IP Switch

Jessica Ciesla
October 6, 2020

Economical Remote Management and At-the-Rack Access in a Single Product!

Do you need web-based, remote management of computer and networking equipment?   Do you also need at-the-rack access of computer equipment?    And would you like an economical, easy-to-use product that can do both?

If so, Raritan’s Dominion LX II – LED combination LX II KVM Switch and T1700-LED LCD drawer models can do all of that and more!

Power Tip #5: Identify Failing Power Supplies

Jessica Ciesla
October 5, 2020

Power supply failures are a leading cause of server failure. Additionally, most power supplies don't fail overnight but degrade over time. One key indicator of a degrading power supply is a declining power factor (PF). The PX3-5000 PDU series meters at each outlet. This metering monitors the power factor of each server. Most modern power supplies are rated for 85% (0.85 PF) or higher efficiency. Thus, setting a lower warning threshold for every outlet in use for a PF of 0.75 and a lower critical threshold for a PF of 0.65 can provide you with a preemptive alert to an impending power supply failure.

This alert can allow you valuable time to investigate and, if necessary, proactively turn the power supply off in a controlled scenario before an unexpected server outage occurs. This early alert can potentially help you to prevent a larger scale outage at the rack. Lastly, a degrading power supply over time consumes more power than average and can deprive power from other servers.

Power Tip #4: Create Additional Logins for All New Remote/Home Users

Jessica Ciesla
September 3, 2020

With more staff working from home, it is the best protocol to provide them with their own user accounts instead of sharing the default admin account. Having individual user accounts makes all actions traceable.

Power Tip #3: How to Safely Trigger and Test the Alerting System

Jessica Ciesla
August 31, 2020

While onsite staff might be unavailable to observe any on-premise issues, it is even more important to be assured that the alerting system you've set up works as intended. You can safely test the alerting setup without causing a real event.

We suggest you try this on just one PDU at first before all PDUs installed so you don't get flooded with alerts.

Setting up the test - lower the default thresholds for Inlet Voltage.

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