What is the best way to monitor and send notifications from many Smart UPS devices?

[ljmartin4_at_wisc.edu_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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We are a Digital Controls Group specializing in high level automated buildings on one the largest research campuses in the nation.  We have field devices that perform smoke control functions and supervisory devices that send fire and security notifications from over 100 subnets.  We typically use an APC Smart UPS 750 to supply power to these field devices of which we have between 50 and 100 in the field.  What we do not have is a good way to monitor them.  I have recently started to determine the best course for monitoring these devices.  Our field devices themselves have a battery backup and will perform a proper shutdown upon loss of power
therefore we do not need to have applications telling our devices/PCs to shut down.  I am hoping to use something like Power Chute or some other app to monitor the Smart UPS 750s and the few other APC UPS devices.  I have set one Smart UPS 750 up to send email notifications and that works however it cannot send out a notification if it is offline where a central server could.  I am looking for the best option for a situation like ours where we only need to monitor the UPS and not have it shut down a PC/Server.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 12/1/2014

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Hi ljmartin4@wisc.edu,

Sorry for the delay in response.

Since you don't need to have any PCs involved, it may be best to look into Network Management Cards in each UPS (which go into the UPS SmartSlots) and then potentially StruxureWare Data Center Expert (http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=350) to monitor all of the Network Management Cards in your UPSs (which it does via SNMP). This assumes that network monitoring is the route you want to go versus something like dry contacts for monitoring. All of the UPS management options are available here- > APC Product Information for Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Typ... - I am referencing something like AP9630 or AP9631 for your setup which is under UPS Network Management Cards. The other group to look at would be Additional Management Cards and Options which covers other SmartSlot accessories that are not network enabled.

I hope this helps get you started. Let me know if you have any other questions.