PowerChute for ESXi on vMA doesn't shuts ESXi down

[CsRobert_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 12/1/2009

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Hi!

We have purchased a SUA-2200 UPS with a Network Management Card to support our single ESXi 4 server. We have a problem with the PowerChute when we installed it on the vMA (Vmware management assistant) of our ESXi. The PowerChute on the vMA receives shutdown signal from the NMC and it shuts down the vMA ONLY the PowerChute could not shuts the ESXi down so the guest virtual machines could not get the graceful shutdown signal from the ESXi.
We went through the documentation and done the following:

1. Installed the PowerChute to the vMA correctly
2. Initiated VIFP so the vMA can run commands without authentication requirement
3. Opened the required ports for the communication with iptable on the vMA
4. Configured the PowerChute and make sure that the communication between the vMA and the NMC is correct
5. Set the "Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown" in the vSphere to allow the VM shutdown for the ESXi when shutdown occurs

As I said the PowerChute can receive the information from NMC and shuts down the vMA only. But when the vMA shuted down the ESXi still leaves Powered on.

Have you experienced any problem like this with the vMA and the Powerchute? Or do you know what might be the problem in this case?

Thank you for the answers!

Robert

[Erasmus_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 12/1/2009

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Make sure you are following the procedure fully that is outlined here, and also please read the information in this [Knowledge Base|http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=10727]. There are some known issues with non-licensed ESXi installations not being able to shut down properly, and the latter KBASE covers this.

[CsRobert_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 12/2/2009

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Thank you for the answer!
I've checked our setting again as the KB describes them, but it had been set correctly. In our case we have ESXI 4.0 and the RCLI replaced by the vMA. Has the PowerChute still got problems in this free licensed ESXi 4.0 version?

Do you know how we can check that the powerchute performs graceful shutdown in ESXi? Because with it I can narrow down this shutdown issue.

Thank you!
Robert

[Erasmus_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 12/2/2009

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Yes, you need a purchased license of ESXi to use with PCNS, as PCNS is totally reliant on RCLI to perform the shutdown procedure/script, as the K-Base states.