Two UPSs with Nine servers split between them

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

Bit of a speculative post.

We have a SmartUPS 5000 with 9 servers, (3 with dual PSUs) plugged into two multi plugs. This obviously overloaded the UPS.

We have purchased a SmartUPS 3000XL and have now split the load between them.

I'd like to split the 3 dual PSU servers to have one power supply from each UPS.

We are due a management card for the new supply, so i was wondering how i'd configure Powerchute if the 3 dual PSU servers have a connection to each UPS, which both would have different IPs?

Cheers
Stu

[Techie_apc]

You are welcome Stu!

Have a nice day!

:)

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

Bit of a speculative post.

We have a SmartUPS 5000 with 9 servers, (3 with dual PSUs) plugged into two multi plugs. This obviously overloaded the UPS.

We have purchased a SmartUPS 3000XL and have now split the load between them.

I'd like to split the 3 dual PSU servers to have one power supply from each UPS.

We are due a management card for the new supply, so i was wondering how i'd configure Powerchute if the 3 dual PSU servers have a connection to each UPS, which both would have different IPs?

Cheers
Stu

[Techie_apc]

Stu,

It is very easy to install the PCNS software to listen to the two different NMCs during power failure. You can install the PCNS software through a Custom installation.

Custom:
PCNS is installed and listens for UPS events from two or more Network Management Cards.
Designed for graceful, unattended shutdown with redundant UPS systems.
PCNS treats all UPS units as one, meaning shutdown will not occur unless both UPS units switch to battery or report an event that requires shutdown.
A custom installation requires:
Two UPS units of the same product family (ie. Smart UPS)
Matching firmware on all Network Management Cards being monitored.

Additional info:

In PCNS, the configure events page can be configured to shutdown or run a command file based on several different types of events. (for example, if you wanted this particular server to shutdown after the UPS had run on battery after 1 minute to preserve battery power, you could do that on the configure events page.) by default, it will always shutdown though based on the low battery duration that you have set in the network management card. For configuration settings based on the low battery duration, this should be configured under Server name->Configure shutdown which states: When Power Chute shuts down your operating system, it will use these settings. Use the Configure Events page to select which events will cause the system to shut down.

So, if you have the low battery duration set to 10 minutes in the management card, the runtime should hit 10 minutes, and then your server with PCNS will receive this notification from the management card. Then it will run the command file and after 3 minutes, proceed to do a graceful shutdown.

If you want to shut something down at a different point other than the low battery duration, i would suggest configuring UPS: On battery event. So you could configure the UPS to shutdown (or even run a command file, notify a user) to happen after the UPS has been on battery for x amount of seconds.

I hope that this helps. Happy Thanksgiving day!

[Anonymous user]

Hi Techie.

Thanks for the reply and sorry i couldn't comment until now.

That's good to know, but how is it done? I have already ran it as a custom set up and ran it as a 'single ups device' (i think).

If I leave it as default, is the graceful shutdown already set up and if there was a power cut now it would shutdown without me having set anything up? I am unable to test this until the new management card arrives as we have no time for any testing at the moment.

When the management card arrives for the new SmartUPS 3000, will PowerChute see it as another UPS as i could only see space for one UPS address.

Cheers
Stu

[Techie_apc · Accepted solution]

Stu,

The PCNS Custom installation will not work unless you have the NMC installed into the other Smart UPS smart slot. Once you installed the NMC into the other Smart UPS, reinstall the PCNS through the Custom installation and let me know if you have any issues.