"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

[ringfinger]

Hey Guys... I work in a 2000/2003 networked environment with 30+ servers. Lately we've been having some issues with multiple PowerEdge series servers and their specific functions. I have found that the enabled NIC on every server has the option to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" within the Power Management tab checked. Why in the world would this be checked on a server??? I understand that it could be default from the driver, but this just seems insane. Curious if you guys think this could be the solution to some of my problems. Although it seems unlikely the server would ever not be busy enough that windows would shut down the power to the device, I suppose it is likely.

[tain]

You could try changing the setting on one (non-critical) server and see if it helps. Without knowning the roles of the servers in question, as a general rule servers don't need/use power management of that sort.

A thorough description of your problems would help as well

[ringfinger]

Well most of the issues we have I really can't get into, but thanks for the offer. I've turned off the option on the majority of our servers, barring any major disaster I think we're going to be alright It just seems odd that the option would be checked by default from the device driver.

[RogueSpear]

I think that the option simply turns off the power to the NIC if there is no live wire plugged in. So long as your server is plugged in to the network you should be fine. I always disable the option myself with the idea that perhaps it would be just one less thing that the OS would have to keep track of. It's one less thing to go wrong. It probably has no real benefit at all, but it makes me feel better

It's probably is crossover code that spans multiple versions of Windows and has it's roots in portable computers. My wife's laptop for instance has both a built in Intel Pro 100 and a Broadcom 802.11b/g adapter. Most of the time she is connected via wireless, so why power the NIC? Going along those lines, I know plenty of people who run Windows 2003 Server as their main desktop OS for a variety of reasons. So they probably appreciate having the feature available to them as well.

[ringfinger]

Thanks RougeSpear!