How do we link multiple servers and PCs to APC Smart UPS?

[Anonymous user]

Hi
We have several APC smart UPS's , some old , some new ... and we never got round to setting them up correctly. Now we have recently experienced a powercut we discovered that all PC's that were connected to the UPS did not power down gracefully. so we need to take act to prevent this in future.

Reading online it appears our main UPS (APC Smart 2200) has a serial and USB interface, where only one device can be connected .

We have 8 servers connected to this UPS (some are running Windows 2003 or XP) , so my question is;

How do we connect all 8 of these servers to the interface, so it can communicate with the UPS, so when there is a power outage, the servers will gracefully powerdown when the battery is running low?

Thanks

[BillP]

hello,

take a look here and read through the options: http://forums.apc.com/spaces/7/ups-management-devices-powerchute-software/forums/general/4961/powerc...

let me know if you have any questions but i'd suggest you look at the APC Network Management Card option with PowerChute Network Shutdown.

[BillP]

Good day!

Look into installing a [Network Management Card|http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=98] in your Smart UPS so you can install [Powerchute Network Shutdown|http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=127] on your servers. Check the [compatibility chart|http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SJHN-7AYQNP_R38_EN.pdf] for server OS compatibility.

[Anonymous user]

APC used to make a fan-out device for Multiple server shutdown called a "Share-UPS". I believe it had 8 serial ports...Otherwise, you can use IP based network driven shutdown. Good luck!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

yes, the Share UPS still is out there, I think, but it may cost more than the UPS Management Card and does not provide nearly as many features. but if serial shutdown is required for some reason, that'd be your option.

[rbcomputers]

Ultimately, you would want to use a Network Management Card. However, you could use apcupsd for UPS' without network management cards. Essentially, you run apcupsd on one computer/server as a server instance. The other computers/servers connect to the apcupsd on the apcupsd server instance. Apcupsd has binaries for Linux, Windows, and OS X. You can alternatively download the source files as well.