Speaking of power-fail recovery, we use a 10KvA UPS under
what was a 3.4 KvA load which could be depended on to give
us about 40/45 minutes.  Unfortunately, a few more devices
(including a DEC Alpha and about 6 assorted LM file servers)
were added to the circuitry just before our Engineering
Department decided to extend independent power generation
testing from 45 minutes to 1 hour (followed by switching
back to mains, and continuing to run the diesel generator
against a 750KvA load bank for another 4 hours).
 
Needless to say, the computer rooms with UPS don't get their
juice from the diesel generator.  With UPS it was decided we
were 'covered' and could survive.  Mistake #1 -- with electricity,
calculations have to be accurate, comprehensive, and frequently
reviewed.
 
Anyway, to make a long story short, we exhausted our batteries
both UPS and CPU, and had to do a RS at last power test.
Unfortunately, a crucial switch in one of the many (UB)
network boxes failed and it was about an hour before the
DTCs could be brought back up.  As a result, the spooler
seemed to go into a permanent sleep and nothing we did could
get access to the system printer (or any other printer).
DTCs are controlled by HPOV, so we tried resetting them,
then power-cycling them ... no dice.
 
Another RS fixed everything, but ...
 
Was there anything else that could have been done?  Maybe just
a simple network stop and start?
 
Ron
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