PowerChute 2.2.4 - vMA on ESXi

[Anonymous user]

Hi All,
I've not seen any information regarding my question. If its a duplicate thread, please accept my apologies. Thanks

I am testing PowerChute 2.2.4 on one ESXi 4.1 host and vMA 4.1. Everything works just fine and I can access the PowerChute Network Shutdown site.
My question is that since vMA resides on the ESXi host, in case of power outage host will start shutting down all VMs residing on that host. Once vMA is shutdown, how PowerChute is going to communicate with the host?
Also, in the cluster environment – what is the best practise? Install one instance of vMA/PowerChute on each host?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Anonymous user]

Hi All,
I've not seen any information regarding my question. If its a duplicate thread, please accept my apologies. Thanks

I am testing PowerChute 2.2.4 on one ESXi 4.1 host and vMA 4.1. Everything works just fine and I can access the PowerChute Network Shutdown site.
My question is that since vMA resides on the ESXi host, in case of power outage host will start shutting down all VMs residing on that host. Once vMA is shutdown, how PowerChute is going to communicate with the host?
Also, in the cluster environment – what is the best practise? Install one instance of vMA/PowerChute on each host?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[BillP]

I apologize if it wasn't that successful. I just had a customer thru the forum that also has some questions with scripting. One thing that he did earlier is to make sure that the script is run by the Administrator account. Have you tried this?

[Anonymous user]

Well, its not your mistake. 🙂
Anyways, the script file has full access to "the world". Also, I just ran the script again and it didn't work.

[Anonymous user]

Hi JonPro,
I logged onto PowerChute to test the script with "@START" one more time before implementing it to our production.
And, guess what - it fails. 😞
Nothing has changed since it worked last time. When I run the script from within vMA, it works just fine. But nothing happens on the host or virtual machines when I try to triger following events from PCNS:
1 - Communication: PowerChute cannot communicate with the Management Card
2 - Communication: Management Card cannot communicate with the UPS

So far, I've used:
1- @START" " "full path to the script"
2- @START "full path to the script"
3- "full path to the script"
4- full path to the script

Number 2 worked for me the first time. Any ideas? Thanks

[BillP]

On a Windows Environment, I normally put in the entire path where the command file can be found i.e. "C:\Files\CMD\scripts.bat". During my testing I have noticed that you should follow the 8-character naming convention during the old days. Hope this would work for you. Also I have included some APC knowledge base below.

[A command file is not running within PowerChute Network Shutdown|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2441/kw/pcns%20command%20file]
[PowerChute Network Shutdown for UNIX/Linux is not running shell scripts/command|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1175/kw/pcns%20command%20file]

[BillP]

Good day,

I would like to share the following information that I was able to find on our APC Knowledge Base. Thought it might not answer all of your questions but I hope it can help you out.

[Installing PowerChute Network Shutdown 2.2.3 and 2.2.4 on VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5, 4.0, and 4.1|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10330/kw/vmware]
[Procedure for running PCNS 2.2.4 installtion patch on VMware vMA 4.1|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11144/kw/vmware]
[VMware ESXi server not shutting down when commanded to by PowerChute Network Shutdown.|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10727/kw/vmware]
[Helpful troubleshooting tips for PCNS 2.2.X on VMware|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11293/kw/vmware]
[How to install PowerChute Network Shutdown 2.2.3 and 2.2.4 on VMware ESXi 3.5, 4.0, and 4.1|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10309/kw/vmware]
[Configure PowerChute Network Shutdown to shutdown virtual machines on VMware ESX and ESXi|http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10380/kw/vmware]

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your research JonPro!
I've gone through all of KB before posting the question.
I did manage to find the answer at the following locaiton:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1721626#1721626
Thanks again!

[Anonymous user]

Now, i've another question about setting up shutdown script on PowerChute Network Shutdown web interface side.
I want to run the script to shutdown the VMs and hosts gracefully. My question is in what format do I put the full path to the script in?
This is what I put in under"Full path to command file": */opt/APC/PowerChute/group1/bin/shutdown*
where "shutdown" is the script that is taking care of shutdown.

I called APC 2nd level support but even they are not sure abou the format. My case is still open with them.
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

Message was edited by: abaig@cortex.net

[Anonymous user]

Thanks JonPro!
The first link is for windows.
I've gone through second document as well. My PCNS is installed on vMA4.1 and followed all the instructions as listed.
But still no dice. I can run the script just fine from the vMA console but when it comes to PCNS I don't know in which format APC is suggesting to put the command file.

[BillP]

I apologize, I do not have a vMWare Machine to test this. But I would like to check, does the command file contains a single line? On a regular Windows environment, the command file should only contain one line. In the event that you'll have a multi-line command/batch file you need to create another command file that would call that multi-line command file. I hope this helps.

[Anonymous user]

Correct!
I had a perl script that was put in a shell script because it was multline.
The path I'm putting in a single line path.

[BillP]

If this still won't work, I will ask around on how it is done on vmWare.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks!
That'll be much appreciated.

[Anonymous user]

Hi JonPro,
I found a little piece of information in the document for PCNS 2.2.4 Release Notes located at the following URL
http://www.apc.com/prod_docs/results.cfm?DocType=User+Manual&Query_Type=99&fam_id=127
-------------------------------------------
The document says:
Problem/Issue:
Command files do not run properly when called by PowerChute Network Shutdown. The command file stops before all of the statements have executed.
Solution: The command file must use the @START command to run executable programs, and use the full path name of the program. Path names that include spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Arguments for the executable must be outside the quotes.

For example, if you must run HyperTerminal and Backup in your command file, use the syntax:

@START "c:\Program Files\Windows NT\hypertrm.exe" arguments
@START c:\Winnt\system32\backup arguments
--------------------------------------------
I have came across this document before but it was only related to Windows systems.
In my despair, I decided to give it a go and to my excitement and surprise it WORKED!
For my script to work on vMA, I entered:
@START "\opt\APC\PowerChute\group1\bin\"

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Wow!

It is nice to know that you got it working. Isn't it mentioned on one of the knowledge base that I gave you before? But thanks for giving us an update, this would be a great help for anyone who might be facing and would be on the same situation like you.