UNRAID Support for PowerShield UPS (Defender 1600VA)

[corfoto4]

Hello, I bought the PowerShield Defender 1600AV UPS today to use with my UNRAID server. (https://powershield.com.au/product/powershield-defender-1600/) And using the inbuilt UPS settings in UNRAID, it does not connect to this UPS.

I tested the PowerShield 650VA (https://powershield.com.au/product/powershield-defender-650va/) the day before and the inbuilt UPS settings worked.

Does anyone know how to fix this/why the 1600VA does not work but the 650VA does?

 

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I have tried out the NUT UPS plugin but it is showing me limited information. All I need to work is for the plugin or the inbuilt settings to show me the remaining battery time. This is to ensure that if I lose power I can switch my server off when the battery power remaining drops below 4min.

 

Edit: It appears that the battery remaining switch-off function works, but interprets the battery remaining level to be 0. I checked the UPS battery remaining level when I tested it and it told me I had 50min remaining left on battery. But the server initiated a shutdown straight away. I had the Battery Shutdown level to be when there is 4min remaining. I am not being shown the details such as battery time remaining by the plugin. Any reason for this?

 

Thanks

Edited October 1, 2021 by corfoto4

[JonathanM]

7 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

I can switch my server off when the battery power remaining drops below 4min.

This is the wrong approach IMHO.

 

There are multiple reasons, but bottom line it's much better to shut down the server after the power has been out for a minute or two, and leave as much battery remaining as you can.

 

Typical power outages fall into two categories, flickers and very short transitions lasting less than 30 seconds or so, and full blown outages lasting an hour or more.

 

A normal UPS without external battery capabilities is not meant to keep things running through a long outage, it's meant to allow safe shutdown ASAP.

[corfoto4]

How would turning the server off and leaving the UPS with spare battery capacity left over benefit me?

 

Once the server shuts down it doesn't start up by itself, I have to manually push the button and enter a passphrase.

 

If there is a way to start the server and enter a passphrase by itself once the power comes back, I would love to know how to do that.

 

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My UPS can support normal operation of the server for roughly around 25-40min.

 

Is it an issue if the UPS runs out of power during a power outage so that the server loses all power?

 

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Follow up question, is there any use for the server to tell the UPS to switch off after a power outage?

 

I'm still very new to battery backups and there is not much information out on the internet to explain everything. Any help would be fantastic.

 

Thank You

Edited October 1, 2021 by corfoto4

[JonathanM]

5 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

How would turning the server off and leaving the UPS with spare battery capacity left over benefit me?

The batteries in a typical UPS are SLA, which wear out much quicker if they are deeply discharged. So first benefit is longer lifespan of the batteries. They are wear items anyway, typically 3-5 years at best, so the nicer you can be to them, the better. Second benefit is how long before you can safely use your server again. Recharge rates are generally about 1 / 10 to 1 / 20 of the discharge time, so if you are running on batteries for 10 minutes, it's probably going to be 2 or 3 hours before they are full again. You really don't want to get in a corner where the power comes back on for a few minutes and you think the outage is over and turn on the server, only to have the power go out again and run completely out of battery.

5 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

Is it an issue if the UPS runs out of power during a power outage so that the server loses all power?

Sometimes you might get away with it, but uncontrolled power outs are notorious for causing file system corruption. You must always stop the array properly before removing power. That's the reason to have a UPS, to avoid losing power with the server still running.

5 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

 

Once the server shuts down it doesn't start up by itself, I have to manually push the button and enter a passphrase.

As it should be. The last thing you want is for everything to start back up without your permission and supervision, especially after a power loss. Who knows whether the power is going to be stable, they might have to cut it back off to complete repairs that they didn't get done or the grid might not be settled yet.

5 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

 

If there is a way to start the server and enter a passphrase by itself once the power comes back, I would love to know how to do that.

Why? That would mean if someone stole your server, your encryption passphrase would be conveniently entered for them, and all your files would be exposed. Encryption is a powerful tool, but it adds complexity that may not be worth the hassle. For example, an encrypted filesystem is MUCH harder to repair if it gets corrupted, so having full backups is that much more important.

5 hours ago, corfoto4 said:

 

Follow up question, is there any use for the server to tell the UPS to switch off after a power outage?

If the UPS properly supports it, yes, providing the server is the only piece of equipment connected to the UPS. Many people choose to keep their internet modem, router, and switches on UPS as well, that way when the power goes out they may still have a few minutes of internet if the outage doesn't take out your ISP equipment as well.

[corfoto4]

Thank you, I'll make the necessary adjustments.

 

I run a Jellyfin docker on the server which I can connect to outside my LAN so that I can access my media such as my photos. If I was away on holiday and a power outage occured, it would mean that I can't use or access Jellyfin until I return home to start it up again. My aim for the server was to function completely self sufficient so that I do not have to touch it at all and let it work itself.

 

The UPS was to ensure that it could allow a graceful shutdown and prevent it from crashing and requiring a parity check when it starts up again. And then I could get the sever to start itself up again when the power comes back online and the ups battery has reached full charge.

 

 

Do you think that these two ideas I have above are reasonable? I understand the reasoning behind the passphrase, but what if it I removed it and was not using one? Would the two ideas be reasonable?

[JonathanM]

Server grade equipment typically includes remote management capabilities, HP calls it iLO, Supermicro calls it IPMI KVM. When properly configured and secured through a VPN hosted on your router, you can log in remotely and interact with the keyboard mouse and monitor just like you are right in front of it, including the ability to power on the server.

 

If you don't have server grade equipment, there are products to add that ability.

https://pikvm.org/ https://www.kvm-switches-online.com/kvm-over-ip-gateways.html

 

You also need a secure connection to your LAN, one very good method is a router with VPN server built in, another with more moving parts would be an always on computer with commercial remote access software like teamviewer in host mode.

 

In any of these cases you need to make sure that when the power returns your ISP and router plus all related equipment get power back, so you can log in to the remote KVM and perform a controlled bootup of the server.

 

The tricky bit is dealing with power restoration, you need to make sure that if you tell the UPS to power down after the computer is shut down, it will turn back on by itself when power is returned.

 

[corfoto4]

Thank you, I will have to look into this.