Power Settings Best Practices?
Being new to the K1000 I am still trying to work my way though the best ways to use it. Power conservation is an area I could use some advice for those of you that have gone before...
Will a PC "wake up" from standby if the Kbox sends a script to it?
Will a PC "wake up" from hibernate if the Kbox sends a script to it?
Same questions for patches
I am trying to find a balance between having PCs conserve power but still get the needed nightly processes done.
Any other thought you might have on what works for you would be appreciated.
Will a PC "wake up" from standby if the Kbox sends a script to it?
Will a PC "wake up" from hibernate if the Kbox sends a script to it?
Same questions for patches
I am trying to find a balance between having PCs conserve power but still get the needed nightly processes done.
Any other thought you might have on what works for you would be appreciated.
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Posted by:
bowlesrice
13 years ago
HFG,
There are a few features of an updated k1000 that are useful in power management: WOL & scheduling a WOL event, which was described by the previous reply; "Shutting down a windows system" script that is a factory default under Scripting>Scripts; "Power Management Wizard" under Scripting>Configuration Policy. In regards to the "shutting down a windows system script," you might want to add a proccess check task that verifies explorer.exe isn't running. This will prevent shutdowns while someone is still logged in or locked.
From web research and in-house testing with an EZ KillAWatt meter, which measures KWH for single or multiple devices, desktops and large LCD screens should be first on your power management implementation. With Windows XP, I've found that powering off the desktops for 8-10 hours per night can show significant operational expense savings or a 275+ node network over the life cycle of the workstation. This is enough time for a business day + patches, etc. If you use localized virtual desktops and update them at night, this is a different scenario.
In our office, most people take their laptops home, so their power schemes are a little more insignificant, but I still power off their monitors/screens after 15 min of idle with the Power Management Wizard script I modified. Most laptops only use 15-45+ watts during moderate usage. I do not use GPO to control their screensaver timeouts. I've found that people can be picky about that setting and prefer to control it themselves.
For future purchases, you can plan for energy star compliant devices by using this list and link: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bulk_purchasing.bus_purchasing#off This doesn't make a huge difference or quick ROI, but if you need to replace desktops, laptops, LCDs anyway, might as well get the most efficient ones if they're quality and the cost is comparable.
There is a catch with the k1000's native, WOL (scheduled event) feature; you may have difficulty broadcasting the WOL across routers, vlans, and switches without some careful configuration. According to KACE, the k1000 will "use the device's last known IP address and loop over the possible subnets from */16 to */32, sending a packet to the broadcast address for each subnet." With subnet directed broadcasts over routers, please ensure you filter correctly to avoid external attacks. Otherwise, you can look into WOL with a 3rd party application.
I hope some of this information is helpful and good luck with your Green IT initiative.
There are a few features of an updated k1000 that are useful in power management: WOL & scheduling a WOL event, which was described by the previous reply; "Shutting down a windows system" script that is a factory default under Scripting>Scripts; "Power Management Wizard" under Scripting>Configuration Policy. In regards to the "shutting down a windows system script," you might want to add a proccess check task that verifies explorer.exe isn't running. This will prevent shutdowns while someone is still logged in or locked.
From web research and in-house testing with an EZ KillAWatt meter, which measures KWH for single or multiple devices, desktops and large LCD screens should be first on your power management implementation. With Windows XP, I've found that powering off the desktops for 8-10 hours per night can show significant operational expense savings or a 275+ node network over the life cycle of the workstation. This is enough time for a business day + patches, etc. If you use localized virtual desktops and update them at night, this is a different scenario.
In our office, most people take their laptops home, so their power schemes are a little more insignificant, but I still power off their monitors/screens after 15 min of idle with the Power Management Wizard script I modified. Most laptops only use 15-45+ watts during moderate usage. I do not use GPO to control their screensaver timeouts. I've found that people can be picky about that setting and prefer to control it themselves.
For future purchases, you can plan for energy star compliant devices by using this list and link: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bulk_purchasing.bus_purchasing#off This doesn't make a huge difference or quick ROI, but if you need to replace desktops, laptops, LCDs anyway, might as well get the most efficient ones if they're quality and the cost is comparable.
There is a catch with the k1000's native, WOL (scheduled event) feature; you may have difficulty broadcasting the WOL across routers, vlans, and switches without some careful configuration. According to KACE, the k1000 will "use the device's last known IP address and loop over the possible subnets from */16 to */32, sending a packet to the broadcast address for each subnet." With subnet directed broadcasts over routers, please ensure you filter correctly to avoid external attacks. Otherwise, you can look into WOL with a 3rd party application.
I hope some of this information is helpful and good luck with your Green IT initiative.
Posted by:
dchristian
13 years ago
hfg,
The KBOX will not auto wake any machines.
If you do need a machine to be up and running send a wake on LAN message.
Distribution -> Wake on LAN
Just remember that WOL must be enabled in the BIOS.
The KBOX will not auto wake any machines.
If you do need a machine to be up and running send a wake on LAN message.
Distribution -> Wake on LAN
Just remember that WOL must be enabled in the BIOS.
Posted by:
cmccracken
13 years ago
hfg,
So far I've just set a day when I ask our users to leave their PCs on for the night to be patched. I fiddled with WOL for a little bit, but wasn't able to consistently wake up our PCs. If your PCs are from Dell, most of the new ones in the past few years can be set to wake themselves up at a certain time in BIOS. Dell also offers a BIOS config tool that can set the BIOS options without physically going to the PC (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?releaseid=R200703&deviceid=19801&fileid=278576). The only problem I had with the BIOS wake up was that it could only wake up each night, or each weeknight.
Casey
So far I've just set a day when I ask our users to leave their PCs on for the night to be patched. I fiddled with WOL for a little bit, but wasn't able to consistently wake up our PCs. If your PCs are from Dell, most of the new ones in the past few years can be set to wake themselves up at a certain time in BIOS. Dell also offers a BIOS config tool that can set the BIOS options without physically going to the PC (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?releaseid=R200703&deviceid=19801&fileid=278576). The only problem I had with the BIOS wake up was that it could only wake up each night, or each weeknight.
Casey
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