8000RT network configuration wizard

[BillP]

Hi,

I have just installed a Smart-UPS 8000RT and am trying to configure management for it.

The wizard scans and detects the device as not configured and then prompts me to provide IP address info for it, when i give it an IP address that i know is available it gives me the following error: "The IP address entered (192.168.3.200) is in use, please re-enter a new IP address."

Now i know this address is not in use, there is nothing on it to respond to a ping, it is not registered in DNS and that entire subnet is excluded from the DHCP scope. I have also tried a number of alternate IP addresses that i know are not in use but get the exact same error.

Please help....

[BillP]

Hi,

I have just installed a Smart-UPS 8000RT and am trying to configure management for it.

The wizard scans and detects the device as not configured and then prompts me to provide IP address info for it, when i give it an IP address that i know is available it gives me the following error: "The IP address entered (192.168.3.200) is in use, please re-enter a new IP address."

Now i know this address is not in use, there is nothing on it to respond to a ping, it is not registered in DNS and that entire subnet is excluded from the DHCP scope. I have also tried a number of alternate IP addresses that i know are not in use but get the exact same error.

Please help....

[BillP]

Dave,

How did the configuration go? Is everything up and running now?

[BillP]

the screenshot you posted is for configuring what happens when a shutdown is triggered based on any event. you want to click on Configure Events->UPS: On battery and click on the green dot in the column that says Shutdown System.

see my screenshots.

[BillP]

Welcome to the APC Forum Matt.

Our network management card by default is configured to acquire and IP address by either BootP or DHCP. From your post above you have mentioned that you have tried a crossover cable to connect the NMC into your Laptop directly, have you tried accessing the web interface using the IP address that shows in used?

Is this a brand new UPS and NMC or have you used it before? Finding either a desktop or a laptop with serial port is the best way to start with, using the APC Smart Signaling Cables (940-0024/940-1524) we can access the NMC interface using HyperTerminal or its equivalent and navigate through the menus until we see what was the configured IP address.

[BillP]

do you know if it was ever in use? does it tell you what MAC address has it?

can you try to assign the settings via the local connection through the wizard? does it still give that error?

as far as i know the wizard is working with DHCP requests and thats how it assigns the address to the card. you could maybe try ARP?

i wouldnt give yourself a headache with the wizard if you believe the IP address isnt in use.

[BillP]

Thanks for the reply, i have been on holiday for a week so have only just picked this up....

The address i'm assigning has never been in use, infact i have tried 3 addresses that have never been in use, they are on a subnet that in reserved for server room equipment only and are not in a DHCP scope.

Yes the wizard is giving me the MAC address.

I will try to find a laptop with a serial port and Serial cable to attempt a local connection.

[BillP]

Ok, there is only one serial port on this UPS which is already connected to the share UPS device.

So what i have done is to install the configuration wizard onto a laptop and plug the laptop with a Modem cable into the configuration port on the share UPS but this is just reporting "unable to open communications port".

Is this because the UPS already has services running over it's serial port?

Am i missing something here?

Message was edited by: J.Keen

[BillP]

Setting staggered shutdown times is exactly what i want to do, but i do not see where i enter these times in seconds?

I have attached a capture of exactly what i see on the configure shutdown page within PCNS.

I guess i could write a shutdown script with a timer in it but should a power outage be restored the script will not abort the shutdown process which i would expect powerchute to do.

Message was edited by: J.Keen

[BillP]

yeah, you cannot use a simple (basic) port on the Share UPS to do this. you need to use the port right on the UPS or use the advanced port which can communicate bi-directionally with the UPS.

[BillP]

I am using the port labelled "serial management" the "Advanced" port has a server plugged into it which i have also ran the wizard from with the same results.

Also i ran an ARP -a on a server on the same VLAN but could not find the UPS's MAC address in the returned list.

do these UPS's carry a default network name?

Message was edited by: J.Keen

Message was edited by: J.Keen

[BillP]

ok well something just clicked here. you should not be using a Share UPS with this UPS. the network management card is supposed to be used in conjunction with powerchute network shutdown where as a Share UPS is used with powerchute business edition.

i'd have to say we get rid of the share ups and just strictly work with the network management card here.

what LEDs are currently on the network management card?

they dont have a default network name and they also come set to DHCP requiring a cookie (option 43 on a DHCP server) which you can disable if you access the card OR set up the cookie.

[BillP]

Thank you so much for your help, i now have the network management card pretty much configured and some of the IP addresses for servers being protected by this UPS added but i am not sure how to give individual uptime instructions to servers.

I have installed the network shutdown application and i can see that i can log in to connected servers and give .bat files to be ran on shutdown but i cannot see how i give individual uptimes?

Once again Thank you for your help!

[BillP]

you'd want to look into configuring staggered shutdowns, you'd want to configure the UPS: On battery event through the powerchute network shutdown interface on the servers. you could set a server to shutdown after being on battery for X number of seconds.

if you want ALL the servers to shutdown at the same time, you could adjust the low battery duration setting on the network management card. this is when the UPS indicates to all clients connected it has a low battery and will force a shutdown no matter what. so, if you set that value to 10 minutes, for instance, when the UPS has 10 minutes of runtime remaining, it will send a shutdown signal and all of the servers will shutdown. this of course only requires one setting change on the UPS network management card where as if you want to stagger shutdowns, you need to login to each client and configure the events you want to shutdown on.

hope this helps!

[BillP]

This is most helpfull thankyou, does PCNS support VMWare ESXi?

How can i give you points for helping me out? You are a credit to this forum!

[BillP]

yes, PCNS now supports VMWare ESXi.

[take a look here|http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=127]

The version labeled for ESX includes ESX and ESXi versions as a bundle.

dont worry about the points but i appreciate the comments. usually you can mark a response correct or helpful.

[Anonymous user]

I have just put an SURT10000XL into our new server room, connected it to our network and ran the Device IP Configuration Wizard to find that I have got the same "IP Used" issue.

I disconnected and connected my laptop to the UPS directly with a crossover cable and got the same error. I reset the card and tried again with only my laptop and the UPS in a network and it still states that every IP address is used.

THIS HAS TO BE A BUG

It cannot be my network as it is not connected to anything other than my Laptop. So for all IP addresses to be used cannot be true.

I am yet to find a desktop with a serial port to try and get around this bug.

Any thoughts of things to try would be gratefully received.

Matt.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your reply.

It is a brand new UPS.

If it is set to default to DHCP then it should be getting an address when I connect it to the network. But when I run the Device IP Configuration Wizard it does find a card that has not been set up. It would appear therefore that it is not getting an address through DHCP.

I can try the serial cable interface as I have found a desktop on the floor that has a serial port.

Your comment about trying the web interface doesn't make any sense to me as the whole point of my post was that I couldn't allocate the UPS with an IP address, so where would I point my browser?

[BillP]

Matt,

I forgot to mention that the default DHCP requires you to have a cookie on your DHCP server. If this cookie is not setup on your DHCP server the card won't be able to get a DHCP IP. The Device IP Configuration Wizard will search your network for any unconfigured APC network enabled device and it will prompt you to enter the IP settings, it identifies each device through it's MAC address.

Unfortunately the MAC address can be located on the card itself, this would require you to switch the unit on bypass mode and then removing the card. Here is the knowledge base article that can help you with the procedure --> [http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=946].

Regarding the web interface I was thinking earlier if you can try to open that IP address that is used already using a web browser and see what error would come up.

[Anonymous user]

I managed to get a PC into the server room and connect via a serial cable (after downloading Hyperterminal, why did Microsoft bin that?).

The UPS now has it's IP.

The bug is still that it keeps returning the error that the IP is in use when trying to set a static IP address through a network connection.

Never mind, all sorted now.

Thanks.

M.

[BillP]

i can say that with any NMC2 (AP9630, AP9631, AP9635) the Device IP configuration Wizard does not work when trying to configure the card locally. it will work and has been tested when assigning an IP address over the network to one of these cards.

[BillP]

Hello Dave,

What kind of ethernet cable are you using to connect your laptop to the NMC? Are the two directly connected or is there a hub/switch/router in between? If they are directly connected to one another please make sure that you are using a crossover cable before using the Device IP Wizard or the ARP command. If you have a serial port on your laptop you can use the serial cable that came along with the UPS it's eitheer a 940-0024x or 940-1524x wherein X would be a letter. Once you've loaded the APC wizard just click on next and use the second option which is Locally and then key-in your desired IP settings.

Message was edited by: JonPro

[Anonymous user]

I am gettng this very same error with an SUA1000XL. Also, I've just got a single ethernet cable connected to it from a laptop.

This seems to be some sort of bug.

[BillP]

if you have a gigabit ethernet card, you dont need to use a crossover cable.

it is not likely there is a bug with the device manager and network management cards. it has been tested of course. i find many people have issues with the device IP configuration wizard because of network issues.

also, its important to note that it does not work on cards that have been previously configured, only brand new ones out of the box.

[BillP]

with which version of the device IP wizard? if its v 5.0.0 then i could verify and have an issue logged against it to get it fixed.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I had the same problem when trying to use an IP address startng with 10. and a 16 bit mask.

I used one with 192.168.x.x/24 and it works.

It's an annoying bug.