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derKestrel t1_iwzdy7l wrote

That is why server power supplies normally have these little wire clips to secure the power cable.

But in the past, no one had those.

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somewhereinks t1_ix03zbi wrote

In the early 80's I worked for a large telco that used a magnetic drum storage device (yes I'm old.) The drum was used to store long distance billing for a very large geographic area. It was also powered through a standard wall switch right by the door. One night the cleaner went to turn off off the lights and also turned the drum as well. No one noticed until the next morning. A lot of people got free long distance that night.

It's not the cleaners fault, the blame remains on the idiot that decided that a wall switch without a mechanical guard was a good idea.

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HilariousSpill t1_ix2c3ii wrote

That’s amazing.

A piece of duct tape is literally all it would have taken to prevent that. It’s not the right solution, but it would literally be that easy.

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M4NOOB t1_ix0lk16 wrote

They usually also have at least 2 power supplies and therefore at least 2 power cables for redundancy..

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derKestrel t1_ix157yx wrote

Unless one broke and you never got funds for a replacement...

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erudite_luddite t1_ix4a6k2 wrote

Haha, this is the answer! A casino in AZ decided to co-opt the back-up systems rather than fix the mains and when a "Flood Of A Century!!!"(1) flooded the basement, they were offline for months. They had fired their services provider the year prior and decided to manage in-house, to cut costs.

(1) It was a typical monsoon storm, happens > 100 times a century.

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Pinkfatrat t1_ix2pyf9 wrote

I have to laugh at this, because I remember when n+1 power supplies came out , they weren’t always a thing.

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katatondzsentri t1_ix0w9m6 wrote

Also two power supplies for a single server, ideally ppwered by two different power sources for redundancy...

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derKestrel t1_ix15c96 wrote

Ideally...

Depending on where you work, not really. When you can't get budget for a broken power supply because "there is still one in it"

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Antezulu t1_ix0digt wrote

I recently got an update bulletin and had to remove every power cable clip in one of our server rooms. That's gonna be fun later.

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