28 Sep
2006
28 Sep
'06
10:32 a.m.
On Thu, 28 Sep 2006, Mark Tapley wrote:
*accept* power via a standard 120V wall socket built
into its back.
The problem with that arrangement is that it implied the existence of
a "power adapter cord" with a normal 120V wall plug (with two exposed
blades) on either end.
Not just a bad dream -- I've seen this done. Once.
An ISP "datacenter" where the previous guy apparently had the
"brillant"
idea of "power patch cables". (Hey, it works for networks, right?)
The servers were all plugged into one of those long metal power strips
bolted to a wire rack. The power feed for these ran to a piece of plywood
with lots of standard wall outlets mounted on it. The wall outlets had
their screw terminals wired to the input wires of the power strips.
Fairly long double-male power cords were then plugged in between the
plywood/outlet "patch panel" and various UPSes and wall outlets.
ie:
(Wall outlet) =------= (Outlet)------(Outlet) =------(Server)
Because the double-headed power cords were so long, and running behind the
racks, it took some time to realize exactly how this was all hooked up.
As soon as this piece of gear was shown to my dream
incarnation, I started yelling "No! NO! That shouldn't exist!" and
trying to take a big pair of shears to it to eliminate the safety
hazard.
And that was basically my reaction -- it went rather like this:
1) Hmmm... which UPS is this plugged into?
2) Hey, that's odd...
3) Oh that's not good at all!
4) Attention! We will be having an unscheduled server outage.
5) Pull breaker
6) Take picture (I'll have to scan the polaroid the next time I find it)
7) Lots of rewiring and cutting cables in half.
I *wish* it had only been a bad dream.
--Ian