Things to consider when buying PDUs

I like PDUs that allow you to remotely power on/off individual outlets as needed.


Units that allow you to use some form of restraint to prevent plugs being inadvertently unplugged. How practical that is will depend somewhat on the style of plugs used in your part of the world.


You hit the big ones.

I'd add to your list:

  • Include temperature/humidity monitoring (Especially if you're managing the datacenter)
  • Multi-Branch
    • Multi-Infeed if you want to power every rack off more than 1 breaker/more than 1 UPS system
  • Remote-Managed (switchable outlets)

For what it's worth we used ServerTech's "Sentry SMART CDU" line at my last company. They cover all of the above items at varying price points. I'm pretty sure APC and others have equivalent hardware though.