remote power control

[Kwan Lowe]

On small sites, we have servers (linux rh 8, 9, or fc 4) acting as
> internet routers, with a lan on one nic and an ethernet dsl modem on
> another nic.
> Sometimes the internet connection is lost and there no way to get it
> back but to reset the modem (even rebooting the server doesn't make it,
> it's really a modem frozen problem)
> Instead of paying somebody to drive there and pull the AC plug from the
> socket then push it in again, I decided to find some Remote Power
> Control device which could allow the server to do that by itself when it
> decides the modem is frozen.
> I found some sort of such devices on the net :
> - iBoot : http://www.connectworld.net/data_center/remote_reboot.HTM
> - Sentry :
> http://www.servertech.com/products/RemotePowerManagement/SentryIPM-2/
> - Sensatronics : http://www.openxtra.co.uk/product.php/34/1/
> - Adder : http://www.adder.com/main.asp?id=508_2075_23632&mode=Description
>
> Basically they seem to fit my needs, there are some important
> requirements though :
> - the device must handle 220V/50Hz AC
> - the device must be able to be connected to the linux server, either
> via ethernet ip, serial rs232 or usb and handled by it
> - the device must accept commands via linux script (being as simple as
> some "echo value > /dev/ttySx" or as complex as some "wget
> http://device-ip-address/cgi/power?state=on") and must not require a
> browser with a java applet or whatever that can't be scripted
>
> I'd appreciate any advice and experience about such solutions, or other
> for those who had addressed the same problem in a different way

Here are some really old notes to something I did a few years ago:
http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/dsl_reboot.html

It uses X10 devices available at Radio Shack and elsewhere to reboot a hung modem.
This is 110V stuff, but 220V may be available.

-- 
* The Digital Hermit   http://www.digitalhermit.com
* Unix and Linux Solutions   kwan at digitalhermit.com