ACSC101 - FTP upload is truncating file

[BillP]

This question was originally posted by Mike on APC forums on 1/4/2015

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ACSC APP v3.5.6
AOS v3.6.1

I've had the FTP upload feature enabled, to collect data and allow me to analyse the performance over an extended period.

I went to use the data today and produce all the pretty graphs, only to find that the file is truncated to match the live data available on the crac  unit itself.

I mean... what is the point of automatically uploading the data, if the upload is going to obliterate the stored history?

With my UPS units, there is an option to start a new file every day, presumably so that this doesn't happen, but no such feature exists on the crac.

This makes it hard to get any long-term information if fine granularity is required.

Is there is fix for this ? 

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 1/5/2015

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Can you confirm your FTP server supports/has FTP append enabled? I was under the impression the Network Management Card's data log rotation file upload would just append to the same file name if that was enabled which would alleviate the problem you mentioned.

Though, you mentioned ACSC101 as your cooling unit? For these units with v3 firmware, I believe they added the option for unique file name in a later AOS version (I just checked a cooling unit with v3.7.3 which is what I am basing that comment on and it supported Unique File Name which is what option I think you're saying your UPSs have) so I need to ask our cooling tech support if this unit has a newer firmware available with AOS v3.7.X. I don't see one available unfortunately - the only newer versions I see contain an update to the ACSC APP and not the AOS (APC Operating System).

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Mike on APC forums on 1/5/2015

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Hi,

I'm just using IIS-6.0 for the ftp server, and there is not much there to configure - usually just either works or doesn't. I believe that appending rather than overwriting should not be an issue, but admit that I'm not 100% certain on that point.

There is actually no option for unique files in the CRAC version of AOS, as there is with the UPS version of AOS.

Please see the attached screen-cap of the Data Log Rotation tab.

I'm running AOS v3.6.1 and ACSC APP v3.5.6  because these are the latest I could find listed on the APC site, and I didn't want to try loading something else in case I totally screwed the unit. If the ACSC101 will support a later version of AOS then I'm willing to give it a shot, but I'd want to be sure I'm doing the right thing before I try that.

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 1/5/2015

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Sorry I was unclear. I was basically saying what you said. I don't see the Unique File Name option in that firmware on the unit I have and was assuming that was what you were referring to when you noted you have a different option on your UPSs. 

I also don't see a newer firmware with a newer AOS but I will double check with our cooling team tomorrow regarding this unit and what may or may not be coming in the future. 

I also am not too familiar with IIS FTP but I will see if I can find anything else out. 

Edit: There is no newer firmware available for this model and it does not appear like a new update is in progress either. I am going to see if I can find out more about the data log rotation on our side and confirm it uses the FTP APPE command. And see if I can find anything on IIS.

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 1/5/2015

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I found some general information on how our data log rotation works:

By design, the NMC records the last row of the data log that it uploaded after a successful offload of the data log through the data log rotation functions. If the user decides that (s)he wants to delete parts of the data log, then they will never get the missing parts back. What will happen is that when the card offloads the data log again, it will start at that last row it left off at and append those values.

For sake of this example, we will include ID numbers (these are not visible in the data logs to the user): When the card does it's initial unique data log rotation, it sends rows for ID's 0000 through 0399. The pointer is now at ID 0400. The card, at it's next rotation, will offload rows with IDs 0400-0799 (or a shorter list if you manually perform the log offloading). Now let's say you've intervened and deleted rows 0201-0399 in the data log that is sitting on your FTP server before rows 0400-0799 get pushed. The NMC does not parse out which lines are missing - it will continue at row 0400 regardless of what's missing from the file to which it is appending.

So this gives a little detail on how the rotation works.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Mike on APC forums on 1/5/2015

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Hi,

This perhaps gives some information on how it is SUPPOSED to work.

However, this is not what is actually happening with my ACSC101.

Instead, it appears to be over-writing the file with the current "live" data, rather than appending as it should.

I have the interval frequency set very low (to try and find out why it is cycling on-off so often) and so the datalog on the CRAC is always full and dropping records as new ones are added.

This means that every time the FTP file is "updated" and being over-written, I am losing all of my historical data.

(Actually, because the CRAC doesn't do a nice smooth push-pop of newest-oldest records, but instead seems to kill the oldest half when it hits full, and then starts to grow the log again... this means that depending on when you view the log and/or saved file, it can be as bad as only having the most recent half-log details available).

FYI: I'm not touching the datalog file on the FTP server, and if I need to view it, I simply make a copy and work with that.