Multiple UPS’s connected to one server for monitoring only?

[motox2k_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/11/2011

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Hi,

New to forums and I wonder if anyone can help? for our comms racks we have four ups’s 2 x 1500’s and 2 x 1400’s, I’m unable to install or connect the UPS’s to the comms equipment so I have built a server that sit’s within one of the cabs and all four UPS’s connect to this machine (2 x serial, 2 x USB).

I have just purchased Powerchute Business Edition (5 Node version) thinking this would allow me to monitor the 4 UPS’s from this machine but in reality the 5 licenses allow me to monitor 5 servers, this is the obosite of what I need.
Any idea’s on how I can achieve what I require?

Cheers

Stu

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 3/11/2011

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when you say monitor - do you mean for the server to look at all the UPSs and only shutdown when all four shutdown or do you want to just be able to monitor UPS status information from all four units at one time and you do not need a graceful shutdown? how many of the UPSs is the server connected to for power?

[motox2k_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/11/2011

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thank you for the reply

I just monitor the ups status for all four devices, (Load, health etc etc) and then send an email if any issues are found. the server is connected to only one of the ups's for power.

Cheers
Stu

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 3/11/2011

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hmm, ok well..there may not be a really cheap way to do this.

if you want to do monitoring via USB or serial, you'd need to have a server/OS running with PCBE attached to each UPS. this may be cheaper in the long run but not physically feasible.

more expensively but a cleaner solution would be installing a [APC Network Management Card|http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=98] in each UPS so you can monitor each UPS via the network remotely. based on what you need, i recommend looking at AP9630. on the one server you want to shutdown, you can install the free Powerchute Network Shutdown and when installing the software, provide it the network address of the Network Management Card in the UPS it is attached to for power so that when the UPS is running low on battery or based on a specific configuration you complete, the NMC will send a shutdown signal over the network that the PCNS software will pick up and initiate a graceful shutdown on the server. PCNS also must be compatible with the server you are running for this to work. here is the compatibility chart -> http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SJHN-7AYQNP_R21_EN.pdf

hope this helps. i cant think of any other way to do what you need to unfortunately.