[geeks] Remote power management on the cheap

[der Mouse]

> What would be a cheap solution for remote power?  What I need is the
> ability to reset a machine (when it is hard frozen) on the fly, on
> the cheap :-)

How important is a slick-looking box around the answer?  How important
is CSA (UL, etc, depending on where you are) approval?

I wanted something of the sort myself recently (I was going away for
three weeks, and one of my machines had a history of wedging every week
or so).  A handful of resistors, a capacitor, a relay, a power cord,
two connectors, and some soldering, and I had myself exactly that.
Plugged into a serial port and a spare disk power connector, and when
the serial port drops DTR for more than about 30 seconds it opens the
power circuit.  Raise DTR and shortly thereafter it restores power.

But I built it myself, on a piece of wood with a strip of solder
terminals.  I'd be happy to give you the circuit, if you want, but...

> What I'm looking for is a cheap way to reset a couple of machines I
> have colocated in a rack (without paying the rather exuberant fee the
> upstream provided would charge to provide their own power management)
> -- basically a "power strip over ip".

...I suspect that wouldn't be suitable for you (interface is serial
rather than IP, and you'd need a box to put it in to keep your hosting
provider from wigging out).

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