simultaneously use usb, serial and network connectivity?

[BillP]

Hi

After being told just now by the APC support agent that "I don't have time to go into detail" I have turned to this forum.
We are looking at purchasing a new UPS. Looking at the two suitable units I have a few questions. The two possible options are:

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT2200I

and

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA2200RMI2U

I asked the representative what the differences between the two were as they both have the same power output capacity according to the individual spec pages. He responded "one has an LCD panel and is more modern the other is rackmount". Great! Really helpful...

The product comparison is useless. If I select the above models and then click on compare I am told that the only Interface Port option for the SMT2200I is the SmartSlot. This is clearly wrong as the pictures and manual depict a USB and serial port (via rj45)

However, I cannot find anywhere in the manual that states that the USB and serial ports cannot be used simultaneously. I know that on our older APC UPSes we can only use one interface at a time but is that still the case on these newer models? We will also require a network card for network shutdown of some VMs so ideally I'd like to use network, USB and serial simultaneously. Network for the VMs, serial for the RAID and USB for the one Mac server.

Does anyone know if this is possible, please?

Regards

Stuart

[BillP]

stuart,

if you'd like to PM the name of the rep who did not handle this properly, that'd be great. i'll follow up with UK support management.

in regards to your questions..

on the newer SMT/SMX units, yes, you can use the USB and serial ports simultaneously. this is not supported on older UPS models that begin with SU or SUA.

the main differences that I can think of between these units are, SMT/SMX Smart UPS utilize the proprietary Microlink Communication Protocol and SU/SUA/older UPSs, use UPS-Link to talk internally and to software, etc.

Another difference I noted above too about the UPS and serial connections, as well as their type that you noticed is different.

Here is some more info as well: http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10816

[BillP]

Hello

Thanks for your response and sorry for the delay in replying. I didn't receive an email notification to your response so perhaps I haven't configured my forum settings correctly.
I'm sorry but I can't remember the name of the agent that I spoke to via the online chat feature. I thought I would receive an email transcript of the conversation once we'd finished but I didn't so unfortunately I don't think anything can be done to follow that up.

Regarding the new UPS, I purchased one SMT3000 and will be purchasing another one very soon if the SMT3000 performs as expected. I shall be connecting it to the Mac server via USB and the RAID via serial tomorrow so I will post back here if that doesn't go to plan.

Best regards and thanks for your assistance.

Stuart

[Javik_apc]

This is an interesting thread. Is there a place where simultaneous use of USB and serial is discussed in detail?

It seems like using different interfaces could result in conflicted UPS control signals, unless there is some sort of two-way communication going on between the devices on different interfaces.

On a different, but also interesting note, is there a way to connect multiple computers to one UPS via a hub, and the UPS sees all the different computers and can communicate with them as a group, as with USB/serial simultaneous-use?

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

>
On a different, but also interesting note, is there a way to connect multiple computers to one UPS via a hub, and the UPS sees all the different computers and can communicate with them as a group, as with USB/serial simultaneous-use?
>

The best way to do that is to put a Network Management Card (NMC) like the AP9630 or AP9631 into the UPS and connect the computers and the card via ethernet. Make sure the ethernet hub is powered by the UPS 🙂 Then install the free PowerChute Network Shutdown software on each of the computers. That will allow you to control the UPS from any computer using your web browser, and during a power failure, the UPS will safely shut down the computers.

You can [test drive the NMC|http://testdrive.apc.com/] to get a feel for what it's like.