Power Redundancy¶
Network gear is only as reliable as the power feeding it — a power blip taking down the switch or firewall is a worse failure than almost any config mistake. This page covers the physical-power side that complements network-level redundancy (WAN failover, spare switches, etc.).
UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)¶
Every piece of critical gear — Netgate, core switch, and ideally the Ruckus APs' PoE source — should sit behind a UPS, not run straight off wall/generator power:
- Runtime, not just protection: a UPS is not only about surviving a momentary blip — check its rated runtime at your actual load and confirm it covers a realistic outage, not just a few seconds.
- Load-test in advance. A UPS that hasn't been checked in months may have a degraded battery that fails exactly when needed.
- Don't daisy-chain power strips beyond their rating into a single UPS outlet — a classic way to trip a breaker or overload a UPS.
- Generator power: if the supply is a generator, prefer a line-interactive or online (double-conversion) UPS — cheap standby units with simulated (stepped) sine-wave output can see generator frequency drift as bad power and transfer to battery over and over, draining themselves before the outage they were meant to cover.
UPS Integration with the Netgate¶
The Netgate 6100 MAX can connect to a supported UPS via USB and trigger a clean shutdown on low battery, preventing filesystem corruption from an abrupt power loss — see Netgate 6100 MAX Administration.
Dual Power Supplies (PSU)¶
Where the hardware supports it, feed each PSU from a different circuit or UPS where possible. Dual PSUs fed from the same single point of failure only protect against a PSU hardware failure, not a circuit/UPS failure. Note: the Netgate 6100 MAX has only a single 12VDC power input (threaded locking barrel connector), so its power redundancy has to come from upstream — a UPS, or an automatic transfer switch (ATS) fed from two circuits.
Circuit Planning¶
- Label which devices are on which circuit/UPS in your documentation
- Know the amperage rating of the available circuits before assuming you can run everything from one
- Keep critical infrastructure (Netgate, core switch) on a separate circuit from non-critical loads (chargers, lighting) where possible, so an unrelated overload doesn't take the network down with it
Testing Before Deployment¶
Verify periodically, not just once when the gear was new:
- UPS battery tested under actual load, not just "powers on"
- Confirmed runtime is sufficient for a realistic power-outage scenario
- Dual-PSU devices confirmed to actually fail over (pull one PSU's power and confirm the device stays up)