Do we need PowerChute Network Shutdown Setup for the actual virtual machine itself

[Anonymous user]

Good Morning,

I've recently set up a UPS 8000, configured the network management interface card, setup the OVA virtual appliance, and configured PowerChute Network Shutdown to point to my ESX Hosts, which it now knows about.

In the PowerChute Network Shutdown settings, I can see it has the option to shut down the VM's running on each ESX Host (see attached), but I've noticed that there is another tool an executable which you can install on the Windows VM which runs as a service.

Now, do I need this executable tool, seeing  PowerChute Network Shutdown running on the OVA Virtual Appliance is monitoring the ESX Hosts?

[BillP]

Hello,

You do not need to install PCNS on the VMs. The PCNS appliance will communicate with vCenter to power down the VMs. If you are not configuring with vCenter Server PCNS will communicate with the host/s to power down the VMs. 

[Anonymous user]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your reply, so when would PCNS be installed, for example when vCenter isn't available for a physical machine for instance?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Thomas

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hello,

If PCNS is configured with vCenter Server you add the hosts to the host protection list that should be powered down. PCNS will compile a list of VMs running on the hosts and power them down. Then it will tell vCenter Server to power down and finally it will tell the hosts to power down. This process is listed in the PCNS VMware User's Guide and in Application Note 180. 

If PCNS is not configured with vCenter Server you should install PCNS for each host. PCNS will communicate with the host during a power failure. The host will be commanded down and the host will power down the VMs that are running.

When configuring PCNS for VMware you have installation option. 1 - install PCNS on a standalone Windows Server (physical server not VM) and configure for VMWare. 2 - Install VMware vMA and install PCNS on it. 3 - Install PCNS Appliance (CentOS VM). In each instance you are given the option to configure for vCenter Server or Standalone host.  

The PCNS installation guide discusses these options.