Does 9606 card handle DHCP? Would someone supply a manual?

[Anonymous user]

Basically, my short question is does the 9606 work with DHCP? Also, would someone supply a manual.

The long story. I just started working at a new shop and their power went out for 2 hrs, the other night. We have 2 racks with servers on two APC1500va, with AP9606 cards in them. No ethernet connected nor serial. The ups supplied power for about 7 minutes ... and then it got ugly. Real ugly. Servers started slamming up and down or at least trying. I finally 'fat fingered" each server and once the power came back I restarted the servers and brought the services back up .. all is well. We had a generator going ... with in 2 minutes, but apparently the power was too 'dirty' for the UPS's . We had a Black Diamond Switch (BDS) .. no ups .. and it handled the 'dirty' power just fine.

So my boss says well maybe we should configure the 9606 cards to send notices to us and also be able to notify each server to go through it's own graceful shutdown. So I am going to run a wire from our BDS to one of these cards, but he wants to know, if it (the card) handles DHCP.

I bet the once I read the manual and then get into the software, things will be obvious ... just kidding.

I've been reading about going to this newer card ... 9617... but I want to familiarize myself with this a bit more - first.

Thanks -

[Anonymous user]

Cool U R still there 🙂 Yes I have the cord correct. Tomorrow, we are going to connect a PC (vs the xp image on my MAC) to the APC serial port and try HT again - we will still be using the usb adapter. The story I am getting, is these are all factory default, so supposedly never been configued. I know this will be something simple 🙂 When I brought up HT the first time, I had all the rube stuff ... don't see anything when I type and then the new line on carriage return wasn't there. I addressed each with, parameters in ASCII setup - send line ends with line feeds .. echo type chars etc. The status light ... the upper right hand corner of the eth port on the 9606 card ... is "green". I will report on the activity light (upper left corner relative to eth port) after tomorrows test.

Thanks alot -

[BillP]

no problem. let me know what you find out.

[Anonymous user]

Okay ... this is just an update - don't want to be percieved as a slacker 🙂 I tried every which way but crazy, with my Toshiba XP but could not get HT to communicate with the APC serial port. I am connected, but it is not speaking. I think the problem is I can only find COM3. Oh and I tried putty too ... usually, I use this to connect eth to servers, but figured I would try the serial avenue and it would let me enter COM1, but would allow me to set. It (putty) did allow me to enter and set COM3, but same result with Mr. Uncomunicato on the APC serial end.

So I switch back to my MAC and use ZTerm ... apparently COM1 is available here and boom I am in. So I am now stepping through your procedures and will report back and if all goes well ... you may get me off your back :-))

I really appreciate all your help!

Thanks -

[BillP]

good to hear that you got it working.

let us know if you need anything else 😉

[Anonymous user]

Hi -

Okay we are good to go. We have some sub-domain/route issues with the network architecture, but when I assigned a cureent ip, I got in fine. So I am back reading the ncard manual, so once they get the ip's organized, I will be able to take advantage of the communication that is available between the server and the UPS card -9606.

I am finally going to sign off. If I have other issues, I will post anew.

Thanks to "i picKed a winna" and discussion forum ... this is great.

Sincerely -
Wotan

[BillP]

hi,

this card i believe technically just does BOOTP.

the manual is attached to this post.

[Anonymous user]

Thx - Much appreciated.

I also, ran across this on another post here:

Hyperterminal is a built-in function on most Windows operating systems. Before using hyperterminal, any services using the com ports must be stopped. For example, if you are running a serial version of APC's PowerChute software, the APC UPS service must be stopped prior to running Hyperterminal. Then, follow these instructions:

**Please note that if you have the scroll lock on, Hyper-Terminal may not communicate properly with an APC UPS or
accessory.

Connect UPS to serial port using Smart-signaling cable (940-0024)
Run HyperTerminal
Configure port settings to: 2400 bps, 8 databits, no parity, 1 stopbit, and no flow control.
Save changes.
Press enter to display username prompt.
Use "apc" for username and password.
You are now in the control console.
Choose "Network"
Choose "TCP/IP"
Choose "Boot mode"
Change Boot mode to "Manual"
Set the system IP, subnet mask, and default gateway.
Accept changes.
Press ctrl-C to return to main menu.
Log out of console to save changes.
Now, you can remotely log into the NMC using web access or Telnet.

This actually refers to the 9617 card - but I think it may be the same for 9606?


Thanks again -

[BillP]

Some of the AP9606 menus are worded slightly different but its very similar to the AP9617.

i checked and to change the boot mode, you should be able to use hyperterminal with the same port settings and cable.

Then:

-Option 1 for network
-Option 1 for TCP/IP
-Option 4 for BOOTP (if you arent going to use a static IP)

I have a card that I cant change from manual settings with a static IP to see any changes in the menu but once you get to that menu I mentioned in the steps above, it should be self explanatory.

Let me know if you have any questions when you get that far.

[Anonymous user]

Hi -
Here is what we have tried.

First we setup network line in the same sub-domain from pc with wizard to APC 1500av - card9606. We run the wizard doesn't find anything . Looks for a long time. We have about 12 of these ups (all attributes the same.) but they have no serial or ethernet connection. So this is the only one on the network.

Then we disconnect the eth wire and manually connect my laptop via (apc 9606 ) serial cable directly to the ups. (Side note here: my boss gave me a serial cable, and said it would work ... I plug the cable into a usb adapter and go from usb on my MAC and then to the apc ups serial port. Yes a MAC, I am running a Virtual image of my old XP on this image and connecting through that ... man I hope that is not going to be problem ) I fire up hyper-terminal (HT) and seem to connect. I hit return a bunch of times, but get nothing but the cursor.

I then go throught the same HT procedures except with the eth wire in the 9606 card. Nothing ... except the cursor.

Then I disconnect the HT session and fire up the wizard. BTW this is the this is the wizard I downloaded here:

http://www.apcc.com/tools/download/software_comp.cfm?sw_sku=SFDIPW301&id=202&family=&part_num=&swfam...

The wizard has a second window, (if you hit next before it finds anything), it has 2 options search via eth or search via serial. I choose serial ... nothing.

Any idears? Also, I was just thinking the serial option in wizard, may not apply to the serial port on the usb but perhaps a serial port actually on the card. Should I pop the card out and get the MAC address?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hi,

generally the wizard only works for cards that have never been configured - thus brand new out of the box. I am not 100% sure it works for AP9606 either and with an AP9606 being fairly old, I am guessing its been configured at some point in its lifetime and it wouldnt find the card after searching the network. you are right in saying you can try to use the wizard to configure the card locally but i would try and work with hyperterminal personally.

you need to make sure the serial cable is the APC 940-0024 or 940-1524 cable. no other cable will work. the port settings for most UPSs are 2400, 8, none, 1, no flow control. dont forget to double check your COM port. after hitting enter a couple of times, you should get a User Name: prompt.

USB to serial adapaters too sometimes are troublesome so that may be a point of failure.

what LEDs do you see on the card for both status and link?