PCNS not powering off UPS/Outlet

[klosz007]

Hello,

Here's my config:

SMT750I (Smart-UPS) with NMC v3

It protects my homelab server running ESXi 8.0 with multiple VMs on it.

One of the VMs on it is PCNS 5.0 virtual appliance, configured to run in standalone mode (so no vCenter, no license required).

PCNS is conifgured to start shutting down ESX after 3 minute delay in 'On Battery' state and then power off UPS (or Outlets).

First part works fine - after utility power loss and 3 minute delay ESX shuts down.

Unfortunately later on UPS (or Outlets, depends on what I set in PCNS) does not power off. They basically stay on until battery is exhausted and power output does not trip (to restart the server) if utility power returns before battery is discharged. Of course in NMC option of "Restart when power is restored" is selected.

IN PCNS logs I can see that:

UPS has switched to battery power.

UPS critical event: On Battery

Shutdown sequence started on Host xxx in response to UPS critical event: On Battery.

PowerChute is turning off outlet UPS Outlets on UPS yyy

Shutting down Host xxx

(next messages are PCNS startup messages when VM boots up).

So there is message about switching off UPS Outlets but UPS does not seem to react to it. No messages on UPS LCD, no counters, anything. Nothing in NMC event logs about initiating UPS or Outlet power off sequence.

Everything works fine if I trigger UPS or Outlet actions from NMC itself - then it does what I ask it to do, switches off Outlets, uses delays etc. etc.

I started to wonder whether it is acceptable to have PCNS running as VM on the same ESX host that it protects/powers off. Maybe PCNS is shut down by ESX before it manages to do something else ?

Some of my settings:

PCNS UPS on Battery delay - 180 secs

NMC

Low Battery duration 5 mins

Outlet Power off delay: 300 secs

Outlet Reboot duration: 300 secs

Outlet Power on delay: 300 secs

Outlet Min return time: 600 secs

It takes less than a minute to shut down my ESX server.

It takes roughly 9 mins to boot everything up completely (VMs start in sequence).

What am I doing wrong ?

Thanks

[klosz007]

No one responded but I figured it out. It was a kind of timing issue. I had to make PCNS VM start early in ESXi VM autostart configuration (so that ESXi starts it first and shuts it down as the last VM) and add some 'shutdown delay' in ESXi VM autostart option. Then it all started to work. Clearly when PCNS commanded ESXi to shutdown all VMs and then shut itself down, it all happened too quickly for NMC to catch or confirm reception of UPS shutdown command.