Temperature Monitoring and Server Shutdown

but what might work is to thermostatically interrupt the main power to the room, then the UPSs will send the command to shut down the servers.

A friend of mine works for one of the local school systems. He is their head custodial supervisor. He has environmental readings of the boiler room that he can access through the internet, and it will page him if temps/humidity climb above or fall below his settings. He's been using this environmental monitoring equipment/software for over 2 years now and loves it. Head on over to...

www.netbotz.com
or
www.newpig.com

They should have something that will suit your needs.

Check out this link
http://www.activexperts.com/activmonitor/functions/temperature/

I know APC (and probably other companies) makes a variety of equipment to monitor a number of environmental variables. Most have the ability to send alerts in a variety of ways and have the ability to shut down equipment as necessary.

You can both view your network room from a browse and it monitors temprature in the room and will e-mail or call your cell phone when the temp is above your set limit, ex. 79 degrees, etc.

http://www.guardbotz.com/default.asp?source=google

faradhi, I have run across a software package called ServersCheck that can monitor your servers and they have environmental sensors as well. I am looking into this for our server room as it is similar to yours (no-one around at nights or weekends). This seems like an economical solution to our problem and it might work for you as well.

I appreciate the replys. I will post here what we purchase.

Hi

We use a product called Netbotz to monitor the environment in our server room and send alerts to our phones. The netbotz units include temperature, humitity, smoke, fire, video. If you use it with the server it will maintain your logs for an extended time. Stand alone they usually overwrite in 24 hours. They can be upgraded to include all kinds of sensors like: unfloor water sensors, remote cameras, door triggers (if someone opens the door to the server room, it logs it or snaps a picture with the video feed). More than I am remembering, but they have been a life saver for us. We went through the same thing that happened to you. A base model is like $1500 which is cheap protection for 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars. Good luck.

We recently purchased a temperature monitoring solution from Avtech called TemPageR. I did some research on this myself a couple of months ago and this is why I bought Avtech's solution:

1. The software that comes with the unit is made by the same company that makes the temperature monitoring unit. So, if there are any problems, you won't get the run-around with each vendor blaming the other.
2. The software that comes with the unit called PageR enterprise is VERY powerful. You get a limited license for free with the unit and in addition to monitoring for temperature, it can monitor other things like your Exchange servers, SQL servers, etc.
3. The cost of this product was much better than some other solutions I researched (I paid about $260 - but I got a discount because I work in a university).

Even the best and most well-conditioned offices face considerable temperature gaps when it comes to the server room. When traditional air conditioning can't accomplish your cooling needs, a highly efficient portable air conditioning system may be what you need.

A portable AC is a moving cooling unit designed to offer the same heat relief as conventional cooling systems. Designed for mobility, a portable air conditioner is small and compact. Discreetly fitting into even the smallest server room, the portable cooling unit is the smart business solution to a widespread problem.

Ideal for spot cooling, portable air conditioners provide economic cooling that is ideal for all environments, especially server rooms.

I'd recommend using a SNMP temperature monitor. Set a SNMP trap to a trigger program which would then issue the shutdown command accross the network. Something like the HWg Poseidon 3268 or 2250 would be suitable. As extra fail-safe also get the HWg-PowerEgg which will shut down the power from mains on a 5 minute delay from the SNMP Trap.