33_viper_33 that's awesome I'll look into that as well. I also much rather an efficient ups n I can see the value in that. Is the APC software that's required for shutting down VMware hosts free? I wasn't sure about eBay for ups purchases just due to shipping costs since batteries weigh a lot but I'll check it out. Thank you
Most of the ebay auctions are without batteries due to shipping cost. You probably don’t want the old batteries anyway since they are usually shot. The basic shutdown software is free for windows. The management software is not. For ESXi hosts, everything is free. You only need to tell the host to shut down and allow the host to automatically shut down or sleep each guest. You will need to add a vMA VM to you host and configure it. This is kind of a PITA with different version compatibility being an issue. I used a guide the first time but utilized the latest software and vMA version and failed. I eventually tried using the exact versions of everything the guide used and it work. It’s been a while since I configured it but will need to do again in January. I will create a guide at that time if someone else doesn’t beat me to it.
UPDATE:
This is not the exact guide I used but looks similar:
http://blog.rebelit.net/295
When I did it, there was no documentation for ESXi 5.0 so I had to muddle my way through it. This will hopefully be better.
Also take a look here for
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1007036
If efficiency is a primary concern, size the UPS to only as large as you need and aim for the peak efficiency in the curve. If you don't know how big your system will be some day, the larger UPS may be better. I almost purchased a 1000VA since this is probably plenty for my application. To get the battery life up, the SMX with external battery was my plan. In the end, I found a deal for an SMX1500rm2u with external battery pack, environmental network card, and newish batteries for $500 shipped. I couldn't pass it up.