PCNS 2.2.4 on ESX 4.0 shutdown assistance

[BillP]

We have an APC Smart-Ups 1500 attached to an HP DL360 G7 Server running ESX4.0. I need assistance configuring the NMC to shutdown the two guest OSes and then ESX host afte running on battery for 15 minutes and then automatically powering back up after power has been restored. I have both Power cords to server plugged in to the Main Outlet Group on the APC. I have installed and configured PCNS 2.2.4 successfully. Here is some information on our setup:


APC SMT1500 (Smart-Ups 1500) SN# AS1046122131 (Firmware ID17UPS 05.0)
NMC 9631 w/Environment Sensor

HP Proliant DL360 G7
OS - ESX 4.0

Two Guests running Win2003 STD SP2


APC NMC - 192.168.1.10
ESX - 192.168.1.15
Guest 1 - 192.168.1.20
Guest 2 - 192.168.1.21

[BillP]

these articles should help you get started:

1.) installing -> http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10330 or http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9920

2.) configuring -> http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10380

[BillP]

Thanks for the links...all have been followed exactly. I am more in need of how to actually configure the NMC to send the shutdown command to ESX after being on battery for 15minutes allowing enough time to gracefully shutdown both guests and ESX, then boot back up after power has been restored. I have the NMC 2.0 User Guide, but there are many very confusing/conflicting statements and we have spent weeks trying to make this work correctly.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

all of that sort of happens automatically. take a look at this document -> http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/TDOY-5UQVBV_R2_EN.pdf

it discusses how the NMC and PCNS talk to each other over the network. you may want to login to PCNS as described in the earlier documents i provided to configure your ESX's PCNS installation to shutdown after the UPS has been on battery after the 15 minutes part of your setup.

booting back up after utility power is restored to the UPS is the default setting. as long as the BIOS of the host ESX box is set to "last state" or "always on," it should back on automatically once the UPS wakes up from sleep mode, which is what it goes into when it discharges its battery and waits for utility power.

all of the settings in the NMC that you need to review are on the UPS tab-> Configuration-> Shutdown section of the NMC. the "low battery duration" is the amount of runtime remaining when the UPS will signal everything attached that it is going to shutdown in X minutes. the default is generally 2 minutes on most UPS models. if you install PCNS and don't do any special configuration, your PCNS clients will shutdown when the UPS hits this low battery duration. thus, you should just need to login to your ESX PCNS configuration as I mentioned and configure the UPS On battery event to shutdown the system after the event lasts for 15 minutes. once that happens, then you follow that document that tells you how to have ESX shut down your guests.

let me know if you need more help..

P.S. - I guess the other option I forgot to mention, since your ESX guests are bridged to the same network as ESX, is just installing the regular free version of windows PCNS on those and have those operate on the network and talk to PCNS and shutdown when you want them to. it may be safer to do it by having ESX shut them down though just incase ESX shuts down first for some reason..