Attempting to idiot-proof a network reboot - WIP

I'm basically a beginner at Arduino. I've worked through a few tutorials and exercises to make leds blink when I want them and relays move a bit here and there. I have plenty of experience with old school electrical/soldering etc. What I am hoping to build, and if it works, build many copies of, a user-friendly network reboot box.

I work for the IT department of a decent size chain of stores, thirty-five in my district, and each has a fairly basic network for the registers, time clock and office PC. When the network hiccups, I get the call and have to walk people through rebooting their network by unplugging the modem, switch and firewall, then plugging those things back in the correct order and at the appropriate time. For instance: Plug the modem in and wait for it to fully reboot, then plug in the switch and finally the firewall (which takes a solid 10-15 minutes to completely reboot and lock in on our main server). Then the network is properly reset.

This should be a very basic exercise in listening and following instructions and it makes me want to tear my hair out with all the various ways that our store managers find of screwing it up. I will tell them, 'Wait five full minutes, then plug in the modem only.' and inevitably two minutes will go by and I will get the call that everything is plugged back in and still not working. Well, duh.

Here's what I want to make with an Arduino brain. A simple power relay box with one single button and an led light. When the button is pushed, all the power is interrupted and then reapplied in the correct order at the correct time and finally, the little led light comes back on and tells them that it is done.

I found an Instructable project called the Plugduino that I will be using as some inspiration as well as several other tutorials, but I wanted to see if people here had any comments or suggestions.

If you are competent and qualified to deal with the mains electricity safety aspects the programming should be simple if all you need to do is switch on several relays at predetermined intervals.

Will you want the Arduino to check for signals that tell it that a particular device has restarted and is functioning? if so do you know how to access those signals?

...R

When the button is pushed...

I suggest two buttons far enough apart they cannot be pushed using one hand. Otherwise, the next support nightmare will include things like...

I was moving that power strip gadget and everything just shut off. What do I do?

I think Jimmy keeps "accidentally" pushing the button to screw with us. Can you make it so the button has to be pushed twice?

Robin2 - I don't think I need to have any feedback from the devices themselves. I can actually remotely monitor when the network comes back online. The difficulty is that I cannot remotely control the people pulling plugs out of an outlet. I've explained to some in the past about pulling power plugs and had them completely disconnect the Ethernet cables.

Coding Badly - I am guessing you have had some experience in these matters. I have a saying that as soon as I make something idiot-proof, the universe sends me a more clever idiot.

Acorazar:
Robin2 - I don't think I need to have any feedback from the devices themselves. I can actually remotely monitor when the network comes back online. The difficulty is that I cannot remotely control the people pulling plugs out of an outlet. I've explained to some in the past about pulling power plugs and had them completely disconnect the Ethernet cables.

Coding Badly - I am guessing you have had some experience in these matters. I have a saying that as soon as I make something idiot-proof, the universe sends me a more clever idiot.

Too true. I usually put it as: Once I think it's idiot proof, along comes a fully certified idiot to prove me wrong.

Acorazar:
Robin2 - I don't think I need to have any feedback from the devices themselves.

I'm not sure from this whether you still have some questions?

...R

I am guessing you have had some experience in these matters.

Well, the equipment was typically larger, louder, more expensive, more lethal, and tended to make large craters when something went horribly wrong but, yes, I do have some experience designing foolproof # user interfaces.

# I say "foolproof" instead of "idiot-proof" because managers / employers / coworkers tend to keep "idiots" away from things that make craters (but not always).