I have the following:

 

Untangle gateway UTM

Unraid server

ubuntu server

Linux voip server

 

I have everything on APC UPS.

 

I'd like an elegant solution to have my ubuntu box notify me that it is running on UPS. At that point I would then securely dial in and shutdown my servers if the power is going to down for an extented period of time

 

can someone suggest some solutions?

Apcupsd can be installed on all the machines and all but one instance of it set to listen on the LAN to learn of the power outage.  That one remaining server can be connected directly to the UPS. It can send on the LAN a notification to all the others when power is lost to have them shut-down.

 

There is no need for you to dial in at all.

Ideally, I think that having apcupsd on each box would be the best solution.

 

However, I'm not comfortable with the idea of installing apcupsd on each box just because I'm not sure how each box would interact with apccups.

 

For example, Untangle updates itself transparently, and if the update halts the apcupsd service I wouldn't know until it's too late. Each box also has it's own "routine" it wants to go through when shutting down and I don't want to have to maintain five individual apcupsd installs so they play nice on that machine.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to maintain apccupsd on all these unique boxes would add too much maintenance to my already full-time job of maintaining my home automation environment. The wife gets upset with every new addition

 

I was thinking I would plug one of the APC's into the Ubuntu box, and when power goes out apcupsd sends me an email. Then I could Remote Desktop into the Ubuntu box and shut everything down from there.

 

What are your thoughts on this Joe?

Ideally, I think that having apcupsd on each box would be the best solution.

 

However, I'm not comfortable with the idea of installing apcupsd on each box just because I'm not sure how each box would interact with apccups.

 

For example, Untangle updates itself transparently, and if the update halts the apcupsd service I wouldn't know until it's too late. Each box also has it's own "routine" it wants to go through when shutting down and I don't want to have to maintain five individual apcupsd installs so they play nice on that machine.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to maintain apccupsd on all these unique boxes would add too much maintenance to my already full-time job of maintaining my home automation environment. The wife gets upset with every new addition

 

I was thinking I would plug one of the APC's into the Ubuntu box, and when power goes out apcupsd sends me an email. Then I could Remote Desktop into the Ubuntu box and shut everything down from there.

 

What are your thoughts on this Joe?

Completely up to you.  You asked for an elegant solution.  You having to remotely connect and shut down the other PC's is not elegant. 

 

What happens if the mail is sent while you are asleep?  Are the UPS have enough run-time capacity to power the equipment until you awake in the morning?  If not, your solution is not the most "elegant" I can think of.  If you are afraid of installing scripts and add-ons, then you probably should not.  You are best to let each just deal with the extended power outages on their own, and have the UPS carry them over the short power blips.

 

Joe L.

Yeah, your right Joe. I might be travelling without Internet access and then I'm cooked.

Can you point me toward some good dcuments outlining how get the one UPS sending a shutdown command to all machines?

 

I'll hit up the untangle forums and see if someone has had success with apcupsd on that platform.