"Is the best way to check done by killing the AC power? Randall
>From a System Admin / Operations Manager perspective, there's nothing better >than a real life load test. Also, ideally you test it when the systems it's >providing backup power to when their under their heaviest workload and when >they're not to get a good baseline. Most UPS units these days will have a web interface or if not that at lease an LED panel with some buttons that should be able to provide some info on backup battery health, capacity, time, etc. Presuming these are Linux systems, I'd recommend looking into APCUPSD, which should be in all Linux distro package repositories. Here's the pkg description from the Debian repos: "apcupsd provides UPS power management for APC products, including most BackUPSseries models (including USB), SmartUPS V/S, SmartUPS (NET/RM), and Matrix series. It controls and monitors the status of UPS and allows your computer to run fora specified length of time on UPS power, and then executes a controlled shutdown in the case of an extended power failure." The controlled shutdown in the case of extended power failure is a key feature to maintain system health & functionality.
