PowerChute Network Shutdown with multiple sites

[Anonymous user]

Is it possible to configure PowerChute Network Shutdown to work with multiple UPS that are in different sites? It seems that I would need to run an instance of PowerChute Network Shutdown in each site to get it working.

I have 3 sites, identical setups, 5 ESXi servers running off of 3000XL's.

[BillP]

you should be able to but is this a clustering scenario or something? i ask because normally the client should be physically powered by the unit it is plugged into and it doesnt sound like what you have if they are located in different physical spots.

[Anonymous user]

The servers in each site are clustered, but according to the documentation I am to install PCNS on the vMA server and not directly on the ESXi hosts....

[BillP]

yes, that's correct.

take a look at this article and let me know if you have any further questions:

1.) go here http://www.apc.com/site/support/index.cfm/faq/

2.) search for FA159784

let me know if that helps you or not.

[BillP]

Well, it can be done but it is not a good idea after clarifying with one of the PCNS experts. You could install PCNS in a redundant configuration and have UPS at different sites but I am not sure why that'd be a good idea - that would cause shutdowns at sites that have not lost power or possible server crashes

The other option if running PCNS 2.2.4 (cannot be done with 3.X) is install multiple instances (3 instances max) but the instances would only shut down the host and VMs if the you wrote a script to do so. PCNS as an instance only tells the UPS to shutdown not the OS so the scripts would be needed. We don't advise this either.

In your scenario, we suggest installing a vMA on 1 host at each site and installing PCNS on each of those vMAs. Once the vMAs and PCNS have been installed, you can then use the directions and scripts from FA159784 (in the knowledge base) to shut down all the VMs and host at that particular site.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks, that's what I was affraid of. I can't believe it won't support multiple configs.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

So I'm going to need a seperate vMA for each APC UPS I want to manage??