Unraid/Other Server APC UPS for Dummies?

[khigh]

Hi all,

 

This actually goes a little beyond just Unraid, but it looks like a lot of you are very versed in UPS, so I'm hoping I can get some pointers. I think my current status is "Newbie with information overload". My Past UPS experience is to just hook up a UPS cable to a Windows desktop and do the power settings.

 

Here's my setup - three machines involved total, but only two actually need to be managed.

 

1) 12TB Unraid box

2) Ubuntu 10.4 Server LTS (Mostly content acquisition, management, and indexing)

3) Windows 7 primary desktop/work machine (This machine doesn't need to be managed per se. I'm thinking I'll just plug its consumer grade UPS into my new enterprise UPS and reap the benefit of a little extra runtime after the servers go down, but any sort of management stuff I could see/do with it would be nice).

 

UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1400 NET (newly delivered - sitting on my porch)

 

Poring through the documentation that came with it in my overloaded newbie state, I THINK the way to go there is to drop the whole bag of documentation and software into archives and largely ignore it in favor of apcupsd (stop me at any point if/when I'm wrong).

 

Should I go ahead and hook up the serial cable to one or other of my servers? What would a network management module buy me? I see they can be had for about $10. Would I ignore the serial connection then? Any benefits?

 

I get that there's a master/slave thing going on with apcupsd. Is the specialized package for Unraid equipped to handle that, or does it expect to be the only machine? The Ubuntu machine, being the general little workhorse would be the natural choice to take care of that sort of thing. If so, I'd install apcupsd on both machines and just go from there?

 

Will I be able to do any sort of management or whatnot from the Windows machine?

 

Anything else I'm overlooking?

 

Thanks for your time and any enlightenment,

Kevin

 

 

 

 

 

 

[khigh]

Welp - I got it. It just took a little doing since Ubuntu makes some decisions about what it thinks you're trying to do, and the Unraid package maker does something similar, you just have to dig through and get it talking to each other. This is the view from Unraid, knowing it's a slave. The last three lines are the same from either machine, as those values are cumulative.

 

STATUS  : ONLINE SLAVE

LINEV    : 118.3 Volts

LOADPCT  :  24.9 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  53.0 Minutes

 

[Joe L.]

Welp - I got it. It just took a little doing since Ubuntu makes some decisions about what it thinks you're trying to do, and the Unraid package maker does something similar, you just have to dig through and get it talking to each other. This is the view from Unraid, knowing it's a slave. The last three lines are the same from either machine, as those values are cumulative.

 

STATUS   : ONLINE SLAVE

LINEV    : 118.3 Volts

LOADPCT  :  24.9 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  53.0 Minutes

 

If you can post the .conf file changes needed, I might be able to add them to the unMENU package as a potential choice without you (or others) having to hand-edit it.

 

If you made changes to your apcupsd-unmenu-package.conf file, you'll want to add a line in it:

#AUTO_UPDATE=NO

Otherwise, the next time you check for unMENU updates, your modified version will be replaced with the "official" version.

 

I was going to respond to your earlier post that apcupsd is already acting as the "master" and does "broadcast" to other instances of apcupsd running that might be listening.  Several users of unRAID have their desktop and laptop PCs running the window's version of apcupsd and have them shut down automatically upon notification over the LAN.  (obviously, this requires the switches/routers between them be powered by the UPS too)

 

Joe L.

[PeterB]

This is the view from Unraid, knowing it's a slave.

 

I have my UPS usb connection to unRAID and my Ubuntu (desktop) machine connected as slave via the network.

 

unRAID does exactly what it is intended to do - shuts down gracefully before the UPS powers itself down.

 

What I haven't managed to achieve yet is the settings for the Ubuntu machine to shut down.  From the Ubuntu desktop I can use APCUPSD Monitor to view the UPS status - I just haven't worked out how to configure it to shutdown.

[khigh]

If you can post the .conf file changes needed, I might be able to add them to the unMENU package as a potential choice without you (or others) having to hand-edit it.

 

If you made changes to your apcupsd-unmenu-package.conf file, you'll want to add a line in it:

#AUTO_UPDATE=NO

Otherwise, the next time you check for unMENU updates, your modified version will be replaced with the "official" version.

 

 

I wound up making several changes on the Unraid side, but most were unrelated (Mostly shutdown stuff - I want a quick shutdown. My power goes off either for two seconds or two+ hours - not much in between. I don't have any need for a running media server during an outage). I broke it at one point and had to start over. I'm just now getting to the point with .Nix that I'll just dive in and try something without someone holding my hand. Does UPSNAME affect it? I'm not sure what all exactly I did on that end, but that was one.

 

The main thing that got me was on the Ubuntu side in the value for NISIP. After reading countless times that the default value is 0.0.0.0 (correct since my Unraid is on two subnets), I somehow kept glossing over that section in the actual .conf file to see that the Ubuntu apt install had set it two 127.0.0.1 so I was getting "NOCOMM" (I think that's what it said - that was the gist of it).

 

I never did wind up installing anything on the Windows machine. A monitoring tool would be nice, but I don't want it to actually "do" anything, so I didn't bother.

[S80_UK]

I have my UPS usb connection to unRAID and my Ubuntu (desktop) machine connected as slave via the network.

 

unRAID does exactly what it is intended to do - shuts down gracefully before the UPS powers itself down.

 

What I haven't managed to achieve yet is the settings for the Ubuntu machine to shut down.  From the Ubuntu desktop I can use APCUPSD Monitor to view the UPS status - I just haven't worked out how to configure it to shutdown.

 

Hi PeterB

 

I am in the exact same position but with a Windows 7 machine slaved from my unRAID box which is connected to my APC Back-UPS 800.  unRAID detects the UPS and will power down cleanly.  The Win 7 machine is running apcupsd as a service and correctly detects apcupsd on unRAID via the network and reports the UPS status.  It also pops up balloons when then the mains / UPS status changes, but I cannot figure out what needs to change in the configuration to force the Win 7 box to shut down.  I have tried changing some timings but to no effect.  The Win 7 box sometimes runs unattended and so a clean shut down would be nice.  I am sure it's possible - I am just missing a couple of steps.

 

If you find anything please share - I will do likewise.

 

Les.