What is a UPS and Why You Should Have One
What is a UPS?
An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS for short, is a system consisting of a set of batteries that rests in between servers and the mains electricity supply. So now you know what a UPS server is, here’s why they’re so important? Plugging your server into a UPS ensures that if power is lost at any point, the server recognises the drop in power and shuts down safely.
UPS servers are a critical feature of any data centre design. Depending on the size of the batteries, UPSs can continue providing power for hours. Finding the right UPS system for your data centre and servers can seem complicated, but with expert guidance during the data centre build you can ensure all your data is protected through an effective disaster recovery plan.
Why are UPS Critical?
Shutting down the servers in your data centre needs to be done carefully. When they lose power without warning, this is highly likely to lead to a wide range of issues. You may need to spend valuable time restoring backups and even potentially rebuilding the server; time that you could spend investing in other critical areas of your business.
Imagine you're working on a presentation on your laptop, but something knocks on the charger and unplugs it from the mains electricity. Eventually, your laptop’s battery is going to run dry and the computer is going to shut down and all the work you’ve done could be lost. However, as your laptop isn’t running on the mains electricity, but its battery, once the charger becomes unplugged you have time to save and backup all of your work.
Think of a UPS system like a laptop battery. No matter what happens, a power cut or natural disaster that causes a power outage, your servers will continue running long enough for you to ensure no mission-critical data is lost. UPSs provide continuity of power when there’s a mains failure and they also prevent any power fluctuations from affecting the servers. They protect servers from voltage spikes, mains frequency instability and harmonic distortion, and input voltage reductions. UPSs are a comprehensive solution to easily preventable utility power problems.
Why are UPS Critical?
Shutting down the servers in your data centre needs to be done carefully. When they lose power without warning, this is highly likely to lead to a wide range of issues. You may need to spend valuable time restoring backups and even potentially rebuilding the server; time that you could spend investing in other critical areas of your business. Imagine you're working on a presentation on your laptop, but something knocks on the charger and unplugs it from the mains electricity. Eventually, your laptop’s battery is going to run dry and the computer is going to shut down and all the work you’ve done could be lost. However, as your laptop isn’t running on the mains electricity, but its battery, once the charger becomes unplugged you have time to save and backup all of your work.
Think of a UPS system like a laptop battery. No matter what happens, a power cut or natural disaster that causes a power outage, your servers will continue running long enough for you to ensure no mission-critical data is lost. UPSs provide continuity of power when there’s a mains failure and they also prevent any power fluctuations from affecting the servers. They protect servers from voltage spikes, mains frequency instability and harmonic distortion, and input voltage reductions. UPSs are a comprehensive solution to easily preventable utility power problems.
When setting up your data centre or server room, before you choose the right UPS server, you need to assess the efficiency of the unit at full and part loads. Any systems you install need to be designed for your server’s critical IT load to reduce system losses and avoid energy wastage. You also need to ensure your UPS is scalable, so it grows alongside your servers as your business expands. Getting your UPS server right offers many advantages to your data centre or server room, as well as your wider business.
Advantages of Using a UPS?
Increased Efficiency
A UPS makes your data centre much more energy-efficient greatly reducing the environmental impact your servers have. When your servers are more energy efficient this ensures your operations are greener. Reducing your business’s carbon footprint, not only benefits the environment but also lowers your energy bills too. With a correctly sized UPS system, you can increase the operational efficiency of your data centre and reduce energy wastage. This not only decreases running costs but lowers the heat output of the servers which lessens the load on your data centre’s cooling systems. When the UPS is supporting an energy load profile within its optimal range this helps increase the energy efficiency of your data centre.
Cost-Effective
Installing a UPS server is a cost-effective solution to energy issues. Previously, power outages could cause unplanned downtime, data losses, and massively reduce productivity which can all cause your business to incur costs. The right UPS system can secure you a long-term ROI and save you valuable time. As part of your data centre build, you should install a UPS server instead of maintaining your own in-house UPS server. Power surges and outages are both issues that can cost you in the short and long term. Having a UPS as part of your data centre saves your company money as you avoid any power issues affecting your servers.
Avoid Server Losses
Unfortunately, a disaster can occur at any time, whether it’s a storm that causes a power outage or a power cut. Without a UPS system as part of your data centre, if these unpreventable events occur your server may lose power entirely. This can cause data losses and unplanned downtime. A UPS ensures power continuity across mission-critical equipment, acting as a defence against potential electrical problems such as spikes, surges, and dips in power, not only complete power outages. UPSs switch the server to an alternative power supply before electrical anomalies can cause any damage. This ensures glitches and surges do not impact your servers and provides you with enough time to shut down the systems safely.
Do I Need a UPS?
Maintaining 24/7 uptime should be a big priority for your IT systems. Having a reliable UPS enables you to remove the risk of electrical anomalies causing unplanned downtime, allowing your business to continue operations as normal. If you’re installing a data centre, a UPS server is a critical feature.
At Infiniti IT, our expert team has years of experience installing cost-effective, energy-efficient UPS servers as part of data centre builds. We can match the right UPS server to your data centre, so you experience all the advantages they offer. As well as UPS installation, we offer an uninterruptible power supply decommissioning service. This includes the delivery of your new technology and the safe uninstallation, decommissioning, and removal of your old systems.
Infiniti IT UPS
Never think power problems are something your business has to put up with, discover how Infiniti IT can build a data centre that benefits your organisation in the short and long term. Find out more about our UPS servers today, call us on 01993 774444 or visit our contact page and fill in an enquiry form.
