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UPS Shutdown of XRAID
I’m very concerned about losing the data on my XRAID in the event of a power failure. Let’s say I’m editing and want to take a lunch/call/smoke break/etc. Just after I leave the office, the power goes out and my UPS kicks in. The Mac (OS 10.4.8) will auto-shutdown the system after 5 minutes. Great. My big question is how does it properly shutdown the RAID? A proper manual shutdown requires you first eject the drive, then shut it down either through RAID Admin (I’m on v1.5) or with the power button on the back.
Is there a script or something that will say, “after 5 minutes on battery, save and close all apps (except RAID Admin), shut down RAID in RAID Admin, then eject all mounted drives, then shutdown”?? If so, where do I find it?
Am I totally overthinking this or is this a valid concern? I’ve always heard there’s tremendous potential for disaster if a RAID isn’t properly shutdown. Letting a battery backup eventually die and therefore shutting down the RAID sounds like the same thing as not having one at all (if you’re not there within 10 minutes of the power going out). Thanks in advance, Brian
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6 Replies
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If you are so concerned about it, never you leave your computer unattended with the Raid attached. Simply save, quit FCP and unmount the drive. Remount when you get back.
You could also hire a monkey or gerbil to shut everything down every time the UPS screams it’s mating call. Think Pavlovian, it won’t take long to train an animal if there’s treats involved.
[Aujom Productions] “I’ve always heard there’s tremendous potential for disaster if a RAID isn’t properly shutdown.”
Seriously, where did you hear this information? The only real potential is if you are reading/writing to the RAID and you pull the plug, and then you might only lose what you were reading and writing. There’s always tremendous potential of every system failing, and there’s also Murphy’s law. Do your best to take care of your RAID (like run it protected and with a UPS) but you cannot predict a power outage, the future or screwed up mishaps that are beyond your control. Let’s just hope you are there when and if the power goes.
Does your building have a history of power outages?
Jeremy
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i dont think you had to be so snide. i’m interested in an answer to this question too. i run a 4 seat Xsan system, so shutting down FCP and ejecting the RAID is not an option. the APC UPS i bought for the Xserve Server and RAID array offers auto shutdown scripting for PC only via a serial cable, but not for Mac. i was not able to find a Mac option for this. but if anyone knows, i would be very interested.
thanks
e
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I would take this question over to the Apple xSan forum here on the Cow.
The folks who know about the tricky parts of configuring a SAN for things like catastrophic power failure hang out over there.
Best,
Tom Meegan
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[Eric Hansen] “i dont think you had to be so snide.”
Sorry, I guess our senses of humor differ and I surely didn’t mean to be snide. I would like nothing more than a trained gerbil to fix all my problems…A sick sense of humor none the less.
[Eric Hansen] ” i run a 4 seat Xsan system, so shutting down FCP and ejecting the RAID is not an option.”
Got it, sounds like a backup generator is what you need. Also, in regards to the original poster, he made ti sould like once he leaves the edit suite, there’s no one around to turn off the computer in a power outage. If you have a 4 seat XSAN, there’s 4 people that come to mind for a proper battery powered shutdown.
[Eric Hansen] “i was not able to find a Mac option for this. but if anyone knows, i would be very interested.”
A mac serial cable? either this (rs-232)
https://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/usa19hs/homepage.spmlor this (9 pin, rs-422):
https://www.keyspan.com/products/usa28xg/homepage.spml -
Will do, thanks! Unfortunately there are only two of us in the office regularly so some type of automatic shutdown would be a huge help. What if the other guy is off and I have to take a dump? Shut down the whole RAID everytime? What if I had bad shrimp?
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[Aujom Productions] ” What if I had bad shrimp?
“Then a power outage won’t mean much to you anyway, not as much as TP anyway.
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