Simultaneous use of USB and Serial Signaling Ports for Windows and IBM Server Graceful Shutdown

[jnbanda]

Hello to all,

I found a post by @BillP that seems to answer my question, but I wanted to verify that it would work for our scenario.

https://community.se.com/t5/APC-UPS-Data-Center-Enterprise/simultaneously-use-usb-serial-and-network... 

We intend on purchasing an SMT1500C model for 1 Windows server and some switches/firewall equipment. We also have an IBM Power9 Server (AS/400) that runs off another UPS by Eaton (which does not have a relay card installed for signaling, unfortunately). We want to use the APC SMT1500C UPS for signaling both the Windows server and the IBM server. The Windows server would use the USB port, and the IBM server would use the Serial port with the needed signaling cable bundle.

Will the APC UPS be able to send out the signals simultaneously on both the USB and Serial ports?

P.S. - Our Eaton UPS has a slot for the missing relay card needed for the IBM server, but Eaton has told us that we would need to shut down the UPS before installing that card, and we can't allow a shutdown to occur right now.

[BillP]

@jnbanda 

You can connect an AS400 system to the serial port and a Windows system to the USB port using PCBE simultaneously. You should review the FAQ and document listed below.

https://www.se.com/ww/en/faqs/FA159551/

http://www.apc.com/salestools/SMAN-946MPK/SMAN-946MPK_R2_EN.pdf

The PowerChute server should be shut down last if it is sending a signal to the UPS to turn off the outlet group or the entire UPS. If you are not configuring PowerChute to power down the UPS, you will need to restart the servers manually if AC is restored before the battery drains.