Re: Auto-update versus "going green"

[Todd Clementz <clementz.7 () OSU EDU>]

Something to consider is if you utilize a DHCP server...when trying to bring
too many machines online, DHCP is overrun and not able to distribute to
large quantities of machines querying for address simultaneously.

Todd Clementz
Systems Engineer
Knowlton School of Architecture
The Ohio State University
614.292.8544

-----Original Message-----
From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
[mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Alan Amesbury
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 3:06 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Auto-update versus "going green"

Parker, Ron wrote:

> That is what we do. We wake the machines up every Thursday night at
> 11:00 to install patches, updates, etc. It is a strange sight to be 
> here late at night and see all the lab computers come on.
[snip]

Any idea what the inrush current does when all the machines power up
simultaneously?  I've noticed that some of the newer Dell servers (the R410,
for example) have the ability to randomly sleep before automatically
powering up after power loss.  The goal is to prevent a bunch of systems
from powering up simultaneously and generating a huge inrush current;
staggered starts are safer.

I suppose if you only have a couple computers per circuit it doesn't matter,
but some labs might be higher density than that.


-- 
Alan Amesbury
OIT Security and Assurance
University of Minnesota