Planning for a Power Outage

Data centers shouldn't just be prepared for unexpected disasters. Sometimes, problems call you up and give you the forecast date and time of their occurrence.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [August 1, 2005]

It happened to San Diego, Calif.-based Aplus.Net in May of this year. The power company called and said that the power would be down for 12 hours during routine maintenance.

It's not just any power company either. The data center is near the base at Miramar, and is on the base's power grid. Ivan Vachovsky, president and founder of Aplus.Net, says the reliable military grade power supply was a key consideration when selecting a location for the company's data center.

The data center's diesel generators and Mitsubishi brand power supply kept the center running during the scheduled downtime from roughly 10:40 PM on Friday, May 20 until about 10:30 AM the next day. "We're happy with our power supply," says Vachovsky. "Of course, that does not mean that other power supplies are not good."

He adds that dealing with this sort of problem is why people pay for webhosting. "More and more people have dedicated internet connections at home and can host their websites there. The difference that we offer is security and protection from power failures and so on. That's why people are paying us."

So what was the power outage like? "For us, it was business as usual," he says. "We keep the tanks for the generators full of fuel all the time. We fire up the diesel generator every week to make sure it works, and we do regular maintenance work."

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