PowerChute and managing multiple machines with one ups

[BillP]

I'd first like to state that I'm confused. Next I'd like to give a description of my setup. I have two APC UPS's, one smart-ups 3000xl and one 3000xlm, but I am going to focus on the 3000xl in this post. Connected to the 3000xl are 3 servers.

On the software side I have my server installed, my agent installed, and my console installed and everything works great. I can see the voltages over time and the temp and on and on. Now I would like to manage a second server that the 3000xl is powering, and finally a third. I thought I could hook the usb cable up to one of the machines connected to the ups and then install the agent on all the machines attached to the ups, but the agent wants direct communication with the ups on every machine. This means in my current possition I can only manage one of the three machines attached to my 3000xl.

I'd just like to know what I have to do to be able to manage the other two machines.

[BillP]

Hi,

By default, the cards are set to DHCP/BootP. They also require option 43 to be set on the DHCP server which basically means the card requires a cookie from the DHCP server before it will accept the address. You will either need to enable this on DHCP server if you have one on your network or serial in to disable the option. If you do not have the serial cable (which you noted), you can try the ARP method of setting the network address. I will post that below. Sometimes the wizard doesnt work correctly and it is not worth the headache to play with it.

Here is the how to do the ARP method:

Address resolution protocol (arp) can also be used to configure the NMC. The MAC Address of the NMC is needed for this method of configuration. The MAC address is located on the quality assurance slip that shipped with the NMC, and is also located on a white sticker on the NMC itself. From a computer on the same subnet as the unconfigured NMC, follow these instructions:

Open up a command prompt and type the following (replacing and with actual values):

Arp-s

**MacAddress format: xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx**

On Mac OS X: sudoarp-s

Next, use Ping with a size of 113 bytes to assign the IP address defined by the ARP command.

For the IP address defined in step 1, use one of the following Ping commands (*this is a crucial step or this will not work*):

Windows command format: ping -L113
LINUX and Mac OS X command format: ping -S113

Now, you can Telnet to the card by typing: Telnet
Use "apc" for username and password.
You are now in the control console.
Configure / apply any additional changes.
Log out to save changes.


*[This was taken from K-base ID # 3061 which lists all the methods of configuring the management card|http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3061]*

More info on option 43 on a DHCP server:
The network management card by default will require the DHCP server to respond with Vendor specific information if it fails to accept the address it will log the reason in the EVENT log.

The correct cookie should be set under option 43 on the DHCP server, the cookie can be broken down into three fields, the TAG field, the LENGTH field and the DATA field, the TAG field in the APC cookie is 01, the LENGTH field (LEN) is 04 (this specifies the length of the data field) the DATA field is 31-41-50-43, this represents 1APC , the complete Cookie is

OPTION 43 = 0x01 0x04 0x31 0x41 0x50 0x43


If the card is expecting the vendor specific information to be received and it is not it will accept the IP and then release the address after a short period of time, this is to prevent the card from using up multiple IP’s within the address allocation pool.

[BillP]

Hi Scotty

You are correct that you would need a physical serial connection between those two additional computers and your SmartUPS 3000XL. To achieve this with your existing PowerChute Business Edition, you would need to buy this: AP9607CB

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP9607CB

This card will install in the slot at the rear of your UPS. The UPS will need to be completely shut down during this installation, so plan for a little downtime.

The card ships with two gray "simple signaling" cables. These will allow your 2nd and 3rd computers to receive status updates from the UPS to accommodate graceful shutdown.

You only need to install the PowerChute Business Edition Agent on those two additional computers. You'll then need to add the two new agents to the server via the Console application. Once this is done, you'll have all 3 computers working properly with the UPS.

As for the 3000XLM, that unit has a network management card installed, so you would not use PowerChute Business Edition at all. You would instead use PowerChute Network Shutdown which works over your IP network at your site. Let us know when you're ready to discuss that separate project.

[BillP]

Thank you for the informaiton, it has been very helpful. I just have one more question. The agent I installed on the server is setup to use the usb cable option. It appears that this expansion card uses a serial connection. Will I be able to use both my current usb connection and the serial connection?

[BillP]

The Interface Expander card will be providing two additional simple signaling ports for the additional computers. Those 2 new computers will be using the provided 940-0020 gray serial cables for their agent communication to this UPS.

You can continue to use the USB port to connect to your first computer.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Ok, since I can't do anything more with the 3000XL I'd like to talk about the 3000XLM a little bit.

I downloaded the Device IP Configuration Wizard in an attempt to assign an ip address to the 3000XLM, but it never discovered the device. I reset the card to defaults by holding the reset button for 15 seconds and I still was unable to discover the device. I also downloaded the network shutdown program that you meantioned as well, but I'm unable to use that until I know the IP of my device. I don't have a serial cable to configure it that way so I'm hoping there is still a way I can configure it through the tcp/ip method. We are using a 172.16.x.x network here. What are the default settings given to these cards? I can't find it in any of the documentation. All I could find was that if it was on the same subnet it would discover the card, but it never mentions what that subnet is or the proper method to reset the card for that matter.