Confused about properly setting up PCNS

[Anonymous user]

Hi all, getting mixed responses from fellow colleges and forums I have been reading. What I have is 3 Smart-UPS SRT 8000's with 29 physical servers some of which are ESX hosts and 2 SAN devices. I have PCNS 4.2 for VMWare installed and have all hosts discovered, and PCNS installed on the physical servers. In order to shut these down gracefully what is the best way? Currently we are sitting at 1hr run time and would like to start shutting down when batteries are about 30 minutes remaining to ensure they turn of in time. Issue I have is how does the VM host shut down the VMS? We have about 117 VM's running, does the PCNS client need to be on each or the VMhost sends commands to turn off when the software tells it to?

A lot to ask, but being asked to install this 15 years after business started is making this challenging. 

[BillP]

Hi,

On 8/28/2018 7:03 PM, Tom said:

I have PCNS 4.2 for VMWare installed and have all hosts discovered, and PCNS installed on the physical servers.

Question, do you have PCNS on the Windows server configured for communications with vCenter Server and do you have PCNS configured for 3 redundant UPS?

For information on PCNS and redundant UPS see page 4 of the User's Guide and Application Note 98   

I will make the assumption that the above is true. PCNS is configured for redundant UPS and with vCenter Server. With that being the case, the simples solution is to set the low battery threshold on each NMC to 30 minutes. When the UPS falls below 30 minutes of runtime the NMC informs PCNS. When PCNS see that 2 of the 3 UPS have fallen below 30 minutes of runtime a critical alarm is triggered and the shut down process will start.

You should configure PCNS to shut the VMs down and set the delay to accommodate the time needed to shut all of the VMs down. In the image below I have the VM shutdown delay set for 2 minutes and VM start up delay of 2 minutes.

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PowerChute will wait for the VM shutdown delay to elapse and then begin to power down the hosts. The host will be powered down base on the order they appear in the host protection list. See page 10 of the User's Guide for more information. 

For more information on on PCNS and VMware see Application Note 180 and the User's Guide. 

[Anonymous user]

A few more questions for clarification as this seems to be a large undertaking. If AC power was restored, does PCNS shutdown sequences stop the process or does it have to finish powering everything down. Also is creating your own shutdown command file best practice or should we rely on PCNS to send the commands. 

[BillP]

Hi,

On 9/4/2018 12:07 PM, Tom said:

A few more questions for clarification as this seems to be a large undertaking. If AC power was restored, does PCNS shutdown sequences stop the process or does it have to finish powering everything down.

Once PowerChute has started the shutdown process it must be complete. Once the system/s are down they can then be powered back up. 

On 9/4/2018 12:07 PM, Tom said:

Also is creating your own shutdown command file best practice or should we rely on PCNS to send the commands. 

I recommend using the once provided with the software. They have been tested in our labs and by many, many other users. 

[Anonymous user]

Thanks Bill! Final 3 questions (hopefully)

Can PCNS be installed on SAN devices (Nimble)? 

Second question is about DRS on our VM Ware and PCNS. Within the software it has you choose then select timings for migrations. We're confused because we have it set to full automation within Vsphere, why do we also have to tell PCNS to do the same thing? We've read the instruction pages 31 on and its not making sense - probably over thinking it. 

Final question, there a way to test configs, shutdown sequences etc. without actually pulling the power? 

Thanks again!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi,

On 9/17/2018 7:46 PM, Tom said:

Can PCNS be installed on SAN devices (Nimble)? 

No. Here is a link to the compatibility chart. http://www.apc.com/whitepaper/?um=200

On 9/17/2018 7:46 PM, Tom said:

Second question is about DRS on our VM Ware and PCNS. Within the software it has you choose then select timings for migrations. We're confused because we have it set to full automation within Vsphere, why do we also have to tell PCNS to do the same thing? We've read the instruction pages 31 on and its not making sense - probably over thinking it. 

You need to set the migration delay so that PCNS will wait the delay before attempting to power down the VMs. If you do not while DRS is moving the VMs PCNS will be powering them down.

On 9/17/2018 7:46 PM, Tom said:

Final question, there a way to test configs, shutdown sequences etc. without actually pulling the power?

You can trigger the process via the NMC. Open the NMC interface and go to Control - UPS. Depending on the UPS model you can tell the UPS to reboot,  turn off UPS, reboot outlet groups, or turn off outlet groups. Then select signal PowerChute clients and the NMC will inform PCNS that it needs to start the power down process.