two smart-ups and time before servers shutdown

[Anonymous user]

hello,

first thing, i'm sorry for my english, is not perfect, and i'm new with APC's products.

We have two ups for 5 servers on windows, these servers have powerchute network shutdown install and each ups have a management network card. For shutdown the servers, we have configured, for the event "ups on battery", different time for each servers for shutdown (because the servers have to be shutdown in a specific order)

When we cut the power for testing, the 5 servers shutdown in the same time, when the first servers have to be shutdown. we have done some tests and it's always like that. because it's in the PNS and not in the MNC that the time was configured, we don't understand why it doesn't work like we want. have we missing something ?

another question, after the 5th servers was shutdown, the two ups powered off, is this normal ? the nmc send a power off signal to the ups ?

thanks for your help.

[voidstar_apc]

>
When we cut the power for testing, the 5 servers shutdown in the same time, when the first servers have to be shutdown. we have done some tests and it's always like that. because it's in the PNS and not in the MNC that the time was configured, we don't understand why it doesn't work like we want. have we missing something ?
>

Try looking at the "Configure Shutdown" page in PCNS. Is the box labeled "Turn off the UPS after the shutdown finishes" checked?

>
another question, after the 5th servers was shutdown, the two ups powered off, is this normal ? the nmc send a power off signal to the ups ?
>

If the checkbox mentioned above is checked, PCNS will tell the NMC to start a shutdown of the UPS after turning off the server. The reason for this is if the UPS stays on and power eventually returns, the servers will not turn back on. On the other hand, if the UPS turns off and later power returns and the UPS turns back on, then any computer configured to turn on after a power failure will turn back on.

So the question is: How do I stagger my server shutdowns?

If you do not command the UPS to turn off after the shutdown, then you can stagger the shutdowns via the time on battery event and all is good.

If you want the UPS to turn off after the last server shuts down, you can tell only the last server to turn off the UPS, however this leaves a hole if power returns after the first server shuts down but before the last one does.

So what I sometimes recommend is starting the shutdown when you want the first server to shut down. Have PCNS tell the UPS to turn off. But use the "The command file needs this much time to complete (seconds)" field in PCNS to stagger the other server shutdowns.

[voidstar_apc]

>
My first question, about the time before shutdown after the ups is on battery is still "open" or may be it's link to the UPS shutdown by one of PCNS ?
>

I'm not sure what you mean by the battery being "open" but I assume you're asking about why your other computers shut down even though their time-on-battery durations had not been exceeded.

When the UPS starts a shutdown for any reason, PCNS will safely shut down the attached computers to prevent data loss or corruption. So what probably happened in your case was that as soon as the first server starts a shutdown due to the time on battery, it told the UPS to shutdown which causes all the other servers to shutdown as well.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

hello,

first thing, i'm sorry for my english, is not perfect, and i'm new with APC's products.

We have two ups for 5 servers on windows, these servers have powerchute network shutdown install and each ups have a management network card. For shutdown the servers, we have configured, for the event "ups on battery", different time for each servers for shutdown (because the servers have to be shutdown in a specific order)

When we cut the power for testing, the 5 servers shutdown in the same time, when the first servers have to be shutdown. we have done some tests and it's always like that. because it's in the PNS and not in the MNC that the time was configured, we don't understand why it doesn't work like we want. have we missing something ?

another question, after the 5th servers was shutdown, the two ups powered off, is this normal ? the nmc send a power off signal to the ups ?

thanks for your help.