Home Lab Equipment: On or Off

Question for you fine folks with a home lab setup:

Do you shut down your lab equipment every night or leave it on?

Im wondering what most people do here to take care of their lab equipment. Here's my thing, I have 4 PCs that are always on and it never really crossed my mind how much power it consumes. It's just an accepted practice at my home that the PCs remain on 24/7.

But since I've collected and built my lab, I got into the habit of turning all of the routers and switches off when not used and turning all of them on when practicing (4 to 5 devices at a time). This usually happens 2 to 3 times a day. It starts becoming a pain to do it over and over. And i'm considering just leaving them on all the time since i use them so often.

What do you all think?

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Comments

nel

I can see many lazy student protesters coming your way any second !

Seriously though. When i am not using something i always turn it off, unless of course im going back to it in 5 mins or something. besides lets face it, it doesnt take a few switches and routers long to boot up.

So Stop being lazy man!

dynamik

I have to agree with nel. Turn your stuff off when you're not using it. If flicking all those power switches is that taxing, just get a power strip and control them from that.

Four computers and lab equipment will definitely bump up your electric bill as well. It's probably only a few dollars a month, but it adds up.

aragoen_celtdra

nel wrote:

I can see many lazy student protesters coming your way any second !

Seriously though. When i am not using something i always turn it off, unless of course im going back to it in 5 mins or something. besides lets face it, it doesnt take a few switches and routers long to boot up.

So Stop being lazy man!

Haha! You called it! But I wouldn't say it's laziness. Let's just say... "Time is Precious"?

dynamik wrote:

If flicking all those power switches is that taxing...

I blame it on the fast food revolution, microwave, and instant coffee - all for the good of convenience and look what it has turned me into.

Four computers and lab equipment will definitely bump up your electric bill as well. It's probably only a few dollars a month, but it adds up.

Huge point there. Like I said I never did pay attention to how much power my four PCs consumed before and as such I just learned to live with it. But now that I have more potential power-guzzling devices, I started to really re-consider.

I don't mind turning them off, I just wanted to hear from your opinions if there is much difference in power consumption (based on your personal exp) as i've never measured how much power they can potentially use up.

Aside: hey dynamik, i added you to my blogroll, if you don't mind.

nel

I blame it on the fast food revolution, microwave, and instant coffee - all for the good of convenience and look what it has turned me into. icon_lol.gif

On the note of fast devices....i see tefal have brought out a kettle which boils water in 3 seconds

even more cups of tea and coffee now ! haha

mikej412

I have a Cisco Switch and Router always running as part of my home network -- so I always have something I can jump on and try things out on. Plus I can jump on Dynamips on my laptop or some of the PCs that are running 24/7.

For the rest of the home hardware lab, I use remote Ethernet power controllers, power strips, or the one/off switches.

There was a previous Do you turn off your home lab when not using it? thread.

mgeorge

I never turn my CCIE lab off, I let alot of people use it for free typically
but for those who pay get priority over other free users

Paul Boz

I have a 3640 and a 2950 running 24x7 for my internet but everything else gets shut down unless it's outside the realm of dynamips or I'm labbing from home.

Vito_Corleone

I leave mine on for the most part. I prefer to be able to Telnet to it as soon as I want to try something, versus having to go into the room and turn it all on first.

yukky

I have everything plugged into a power strip, and also turn devices on and off manually from the back. I live in a small place, so I have no place to escape from all the noise!

phreak

I have the rack on a power strip to turn it on, and when im not using it i turn it off. I get my ass chewed out because of the noise it generates to begin with not to mention my wife thinks it draws a huge amount on the power bill when i use it for 4 hours every night.

I did get told that I can put it in the garage on its own circuit and leave it on all I want..... ????? I said ok but didnt ask about why its ok to have it on all the time then vs now.

lol

Women.... Gotta love them.

aragoen_celtdra

nel wrote:

I blame it on the fast food revolution, microwave, and instant coffee - all for the good of convenience and look what it has turned me into. icon_lol.gif

On the note of fast devices....i see tefal have brought out a kettle which boils water in 3 seconds even more cups of tea and coffee now ! haha

Oh dude! My wife's got this kettle thing where she pours a full cup of cold water in and in a matter of seconds the whole thing is boiling

Hahaha...

Bringing back the issue at hand

, there's a good point in bringing this up because power consumption is one of the costs that we probably don't factor in seriously enough in accounting for how much we "invest" in our education. Like Dynamik said, a few dollars a month adds up. On the other hand, being able to quickly access your gear quickly enough (and from) anywhere could also mean more productive time in your learning process.

phreak

Indeed!!!

The best thing I have seen is the APC remote controlled power strips. It's a power strip with an Ethernet connection so you can control the whole thing. I think some models (maybe all of them? ) give the option of turning certain power recepticals on and off individually.

The other option would be to invest in a "server class" UPS system that has a web access card or port on it. They always give you the option of being able to turn on and off the electrical outlets on the back of the UPS.....

dtlokee

Do the planet a favor and turn it off whren you're not using it!

Like phreak said you can get a managed power strip that you can use remotely to turn your lab on and off. They only cost about $50 on ebay and are worth it. The 5 minutes it takes for a router to boot isn't enought to justify leaving it on all the time wasting electricity = wasting money.