how to change settings on hundreds of pdus (eg.AP8953)

[Anonymous user]

Hi, I have a large system of APC pdus and i'm wondering how i can perform a mass update of settings on them eg. set radius, change admin password etc. I tried to use a cli script but there is a bug in setting secret for radius server so i need to find the other way to do that. I was thinking either about snmp but i cant find the exact oids responsible for setting radius or changeing admin password. Is there a such possibility to do that? Maybe somebody could help me in finding a resolution? Any php script? Telnet is disabled.
Many thanks,
Regards

[BillP]

hello,

the tools APC provides for this type of thing, which applies to PDUs, are outlined here: http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8979

your options are using our utility via FTP or if you can modify this program to use SCP (i havent exclusively looked into it) or if you have struxureware/isx central some place, it will also do it.

i don't think we can support a php script.

[Anonymous user]

With the same purpose of changing IP addresses (from 192.168 t 172.33) to about 30 devices, I have a new switch configure to do DHCP with the above mentioned range, if I unplug device from the old switch (192.168) to the new switch (172.33) if configure correctly, in theory this should work with Struxureware 7.4.3 and the device(s) will pick up a new IP address, but you must MOVE the devices to new switch (if you have one available)

My only question is if the devices that are in production (PDU's) may be power interrupted??

Any experts care to elaborate?

[BillP]

Hi Joe - in general, the answer is no, power won't be interrupted. There are a few notes to understand along with this though...

1.) As part of this change, the network management interface may need to reboot. I am not sure if you're just changing different DHCP ranges or if you are changing from static to DHCP addresses. If the network management interface does reboot, power won't be lost to the outlets which is the normal scenario.

2a.) My only concern would be if you have any active alarms on any PDUs. Especially with switched rack PDUs that provided outlet control, if you have internal "lost communication" messages or power supply faults on the PDUs, you could run into a problem when the network management interface reboots. This is because internal communication refers to the network management card and outlet relay boards. The management interface energizes the outlet relays which are normally open. If there are problems, during a reboot, the outlets could fail to hold the relays closed (to pass power to outlets) if the management interface can't hold the state through the reboot due to this type of hardware failure/alarm.

2b.) A similar related issue would be if the on board power DC power supplies have failed (switched rack PDUs have a primary and secondary) which would impact the ability of the management interface to energize the outlet relays.

Again, these alarms that would contribute to these scenarios in item #2 would be reported as critical through the network management interface on the PDU or through DCE (unless someone specifically disabled them) and in general, are rare, but can happen especially with older units or those that have been in service for several years.

Metered rack PDUs, while they have a network management card, don't need it to control outlet relays so these issues would not be of concern based on the different architecture. They will provide power output as long as you have input.

Metered PDUs would be AP78XX, AP88XX, or AP84XX series model numbers. Switched Rack PDUs are AP79XX, AP89XX, or AP86XX series model numbers.

Hope this helps and does not unnecessarily scare you 

[Anonymous user]

I am changing from static to Dynamic DHCP, the switch will hand the IP address to the devices automatically, I tested this with a couple Metered PDU's models 7861, 7862 and 7863 that were NOT in production so I did not noticed if they rebooted or not.

You did say that even if the NIC card reboots power won't be lost on metered PDU's, 

"(Metered rack PDUs, while they have a network management card, don't need it to control outlet relays so these issues would not be of concern based on the different architecture. They will provide power output as long as you have input.)"

The above one is my scenario, I am trying to find one PDU with the least amount of devices plugged in to test this and have a constant ping going  while I switch the Ethernet cable from my old switch to the new one so I can see if there is a power failure or not.

Thanks for your input on this Angela!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

You're welcome. Yes, Metered PDUs will provide power out regardless of network management interface's status unless there is a physical hardware problem with the wiring in the PDU or loss of input power to the PDU.

And yes, because you're changing the boot mode (manual/static to DHCP), there will definitely be a management interface reboot to apply it since it is a major config change.

P.S. Happy Halloween!