Some of our largest systems run Windows because it supports engineering applications that we use regularly. These applications have unattended runs that often take between ten and fifteen hours to complete. We have taken the recommendation of the application supplier and equipped these Windows machines with UPS protection for 30 minutes at full load.
The UPSs are Ethernet connected. A support application on the Windows engineering machine communicates with the UPS to detect and address any facility power failure. The long run engineering application is then suspended at a restart point and the system is shut down. We initiate job completion manually from the suspension restart point after the system has reliable power and is rebooted.
If we wanted to protect our CentOS systems from facility power failure in a similar way, is there operating system or other standard support that we might employ? Most of the Linux-based applications are not as critical as the engineering applications on the Windows machines. There is a significant amount of processor idle time on several of the CentOS systems during non-work hours when the systems are unattended. Several CentOS systems are supported currently with UPSs, but they run out and the system loses power if it is unattended.