APC Powerchute BE leaving tmp files in windows\temp directory

[BillP]

Hi All, We have 2 x DLA1500RMI2U units controlled by Powerchute business Edition, Basic Server Edition. Console version 7.0 build 119 on SBS2003 R2.

By using sysinternal procexp it appears pbeagent.exe is leaving UPSXXXXX.tmp files in the C:\Windows\Temp directory. Where XXXXX is digits.

Each file is exactly 144kb in size and a new one is created every 20 minutes. I can't view the binary contents in Notepad. Left unchecked, this will quickly fill up the lowly 12GB Dell OEM partition.

Has anyone ever encountered this before and if so is there something I can do to prevent these files from being created?

[BillP]

hello. i checked on this. 7.0 is very outdated but we do believe there was an issue with that back in the day.

i'd suggest you look into uninstalling the PCBE agent, server, and console, and re-installing v9.1 to remedy the issue. v9.1 will still support your UPSs.

to get the latest version, go to http://www.apc.com/tools/download/index.cfm and choose software upgrades - powerchute business edition. you'll see SFPCBE91 listed which is what you should download for your OS.

[BillP]

let us know if you still see issues. hope not though 🙂

[BillP]

Thank you. Yes it is a tad old. Shall download the upgrade. Thank you again.

[BillP]

I am a bit careful when it comes to uninstalling stuff off our server, so would like to see if there are any potential issues that may crop up. What I have so far is the SBS2003 R2 PDC with the Agent, Sever and Console on, installed to the second partition, and a Win2K3 server with an agent on. I have disk space issues on both servers primary C:a drives - about 1.7 - 1.9GB free disk space.

UPS #1 is attached to SBS2003 via USB
UPS #2 is attached to Win2K3 via USB

From reading the getstart.chm help file,

Can I just install over the old version or do I have to uninstall v7 then install v9.1? I cant see our node version from the build number above.

I have found some threads on this forum about uninstalling issues, particularly with remnants hanging around, requiring manual uninstall. I dont have any instructions to do that.

The order of install also seems to be important, I think one thread said agent, server then console?

Possibly a stupid question, I am hoping that uninstalling the PCBE software/agents won't immediately start a shutdown on either servers?

It appears that 9.1 installs a web based control panel at http://localhost/ - is that into IIS or does PCBE use its own http server like lighttpd or something?

As all this kit is fairly old, are there any pitfalls I may encounter? I have read through the Known Issues at http://swhelp.apcc.com/pcbe/commhelp/general/

[BillP]

hello.

• you need to remove the older versions completely first. if it does not work properly, we can provide manual removal instructions. that usually happens when someone installs it on an unsupported OS I find.

• When you remove the software, no auto shutdown occurs. the only thing is that if a power outage occurs at just this same time, the system would not gracefully shutdown when the UPS has low battery.

• when you reinstall, yes, you should do agent, server, then console. you can manage each agent individually if you want or only install the server and console on one of them and manage the second agent from the single server/console installation. up to you.

• in all versions of PCBE, you don't NEED the server and console. if you'd like, you can access each agent via https://:6547 (this operates over a different port, no 80 of course where IIS would be). in older versions, like yours, it defaulted to http://:3052 - when you have more than one agent you want to install and manage, server and console makes it handy to just have one GUI. the server searches for agent over the network and the console is just a GUI to view things.

• the only issue with the older software (which i haven't worked with in a while) may be the need for manual removal but other than that, i cant think of any specific items..

[BillP]

Hi, so I have upgraded PCBE, an agent on each server and server on one of them, console on a workstation. It appears to have upgraded fine. I shall keep an eye out on the windows/Temp directory for any more UPSxxxxx.txt files.

I did encounter some error messages/issues not mentioned here when re-installing:

1. When uninstalling the agent from our SBS box, it couldn't remove systemlogger/EventManager.dll - saying it was locked, I just clicked on ignore.
2. I had Visual Studio JIT Debugger error when trying to uninstall the agent after I got past (1) - I just exited the installer and tried again.
3. When trying to auto detect UPS, I got an Unhandled Exception error 0x80040707, DLL function call crashed AUTODETC.AutoDetect. Setup terminated
4. I had to manually select the comms port (SmartUPS / USB) - I did this for both the agents.

Will keep you updated on the temp directory.

Thank You
Oliver

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hi oliver,

thanks for the update.