The Loft Datacenter

Most of the HDDs of the various PCs dotted around the house are in various states of filling up or already full. So I've decided to upgrade the network to include some attached storage. Quite a lot actually, 4TB in RAID 1 from Iomega (same as this but without the cloud).

All fine and dandy. But buried in the user guide for the NAS box was the statement that it needed to be protected by a UPS. So back to the web to pick up an APC Back-UPS 350A. I calculated that this, the smallest capacity model that APC produces, would be enough to keep the NAS going for a while. The other benefit of this model is that it can automatically power off the NAS via a USB connection.

In order to make the NAS visible to all the household computers it needs to be attached to the wireless router, which is located in the loft in order to give a good signal across the house. There is also a TV signal amplifier up there and only two 13A sockets. Fortunately the UPS will ease this situation as it has four IEC 60320 output sockets.

First job then is to buy an IEC 60320 C14 shrouded plug and fitting this to an old four socket extension lead that I had lying around. So we will have four 3-pin 13A sockets available all on UPS. The UPS will also surge protect the phone line and the whole wiring set up will look like this.