Help needed with Network Mgt Card config

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

The settings below in the Shutdown section. I would like to confirm / check that the following:

1. It (the settings) will apply to all the servers it connect to
2. The shutdown of the server will only start after the low battery occurs at the UPS (after a continuous period of power failure).
3. How is low battery determined?
4. What's Shutdown Delay and Max. Required Delay?
5. And the rest of the terms : Sleep Time, Min. Battery Capacity and Return Delay?

-------------Settings--------------

Shutdown

Start of Shutdown

Low Battery Duration: 02 minutes
Shutdown Delay: 180 seconds
Maximum Required Delay: 2 minutes
Basic Signaling Shutdown: Disable

Duration of Shutdown

Sleep Time: 0.0

End of Shutdown
Minimum Battery Capacity: 00%
Return Delay: 00 seconds

-------------------End of Settings----------------


Thank you.

Regards,
Daryl

[BillP]

hello,

1. It (the settings) will apply to all the servers it connect to

these are the settings for the UPS itself. have you installed the powerchute network shutdown software on each of your servers? if so, by default, the servers will wait until the low battery value is reached (which is a default of 2 minutes). this means when the UPS has 2 minutes of runtime remaining, it will send a unicast message to all registered powerchute clients to begin shutdown. if your clients take longer than 2 minutes, you can do some configuration on the servers itself to customize the shutdown timing rather than doing it on the UPS itself for all attached clients.

2. The shutdown of the server will only start after the low battery occurs at the UPS (after a continuous period of power failure).

yes, that's right. so in your case, when 2 minutes is remaining, as i mentioned, a shutdown will start. if your server takes longer than that, you should make some adjustments to either the low battery duration on the network management card (if all servers take 5 minutes for instance) or customize the settings in the powerchute software on each server.

3. How is low battery determined?

i am not sure what you mean. this also might be noted in the help file of the network management card. the UPS has a certain amount of runtime. low battery is determinted by the amount of minutes you set in this screen.

4. What's Shutdown Delay and Max. Required Delay?

shutdown delay is just another delay you can factor in to add more time during the shutdown sequence. max required delay is a value that the network management calculates after polling each powerchute client thats registered with it for its settings and seeing if any attached client needs longer than the low battery duration. this would be to try and help you prevent any hard shutdowns. i'd check the help file on an the NMC for an explanation too.

5. And the rest of the terms : Sleep Time, Min. Battery Capacity and Return Delay?

try the help file first and let me know if you have any questions. ill give a quick note here though. sleep time has nothing to do with a shutdown when on battery. it is the amount of time the UPS will sleep if you command it to sleep. don't ask why its on this screen 🙂 - i think only because it will follow those delays when you tell it to sleep and turn your servers off before the sleep time. minimum battery capacity is a setting available on some UPS models. what this means is after an outage, the UPS will charge up to X% before it turns back on to avoid turning on/off during an outage where if the UPS isnt fully charged, and then your servers turn back on, when the power goes out again potentially, it might have no charge to support the load and ultimately cause a hard shutdown. return delay is another delay you can factor in on the UPS returning online, sort of the opposite of shutdown delay.

[BillP]

Please provide the following details:

• Part# & serial# of the UPS


• Network Management Card model#, serial# and firmware details.


• The version of Powerchute Network Shutdown installed on the servers

Note: Most of the explanations of the terms you're looking for can be found by opening the Help page in the Network Management Card interface.

[Anonymous user]

Not to hijack this thread but like the OP I had similar questions recently when setting up my NMC and PCNS for a 3 server ESXi cluster. i picKed a winna could you clarify a few things for me?

I am trying to figure out exactly when the NMC will send the shutdown signal to the PCNS clients. I have a pair of SMT3000RM2U in a redundant configuration and load is distributed almost evenly between both. So to calculate how long the servers would run for before receiving the shutdown signal would you take (runtime remaining) - (low battery duration) - (Maximum required delay + 2 mins) - (power off delay)? So for me currently that would be 17 - 8 - (2+2) - 1 = 4 mins of server run time before it receives the PCNS shutdown. Which means 11 minutes of shutdown time (I am realizing that is far too conservative if my calculations are correct).

My second question is do I need to do anything in PCNS under Configure Events to have the server shut down properly? The only thing I see that makes sense is Runtime:Exceeded. I can have that checked on to shut down the PCNS operating system.

Thank you in advance for assisting me with these questions.

Rob

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hello,

someone gave me the attached document - take a look there. and also, all of the delays and stuff are explained in the help file right in PCNS, probably better than i can retype here. let me know if you have questions with that.