Home / server / Questions / 168735
Accepted
microspino
Asked: 2010-08-10 19:28:12 +0800 CST

Server automatic power On/Off

  • 772

How can I automatically power off a server at 20.00pm and turn It On again at 8.00am in the morning? Is there any sw or hw tool that makò me able to schedule On/Off time?

The server could be anything Linux/Mac Os X/Windows.

EDIT: I mean something like this functionality of the fit-PC.

electrical-power

3 Answers

  1. I had a Dell poweredge that could do this... It never worked right.

    If you don't mind a bit (ok so by a bit I mean a lot) of tomfoolery here is an idea or three.

    Do this at your own risk

    1. Get a light timer. (You know like the one you use to turn on and off your Christmas lights.)
    2. Change the setting in the BIOS to start up after a power failure.
    3. Have the OS shutdown the computer at the desired time.
    4. Set the light timer to cycle the power just before the time you want the server to power up.

    Yeah, yeah there are tons of reasons not to do it this way. But it would work, for cheap.

    So could you do the same thing only less hokey? Sure.

    You are going to need a micro controller, some relays and a small power supply.

    1. Have the OS power down.
    2. Tie into the server's power led to an input on the micro controller.
    3. Write a program that check the status of the computer and the time. If the computer is off and it's time to power up close a relay that you connected to the power button.

    Don't want to open up that case? Have another server?

    1. Get an X10 device. (Secure? Not a chance. Effective? You bet.)
    2. Write a program to ping the server just before the start up time. If the ping fails cycle the X10 device.
    3. Set the BIOS to power up after a power failure.

    Hey look this guy did something similar. ;)

    Good luck with your tomfoolery!

    • 6
  2. Best Answer

    If the NIC and BIOS in your server support it, you should be able to enable Wake-on-LAN, then set another machine to send the magic packet at wake time. Though you might save more in the long run by buying processors (and switches) with "green" features that allow them to consume less power when not heavily used (the unused cores/ports stop drawing power, if I remember right).

    • 5

  3. You can't do this without support outside the OS. The OS can't turn the computer on when the computer is off. It might be able to bring it out of sleep or something close to sleep mode, but that's about it, and I haven't heard of an OS that wakes itself up on schedule.

    Some BIOSes support this. You can try to find one that does. I seem to recall that some Dells do.

    Some PDUs (Power Distribution Units... think very fancy network enabled power strip) support remote control of individual outlets; those are options also, but expensive.

    Hope that helps.

    • 1