understanding how NMCs relate to PDUs

[BillP]

I am somewhat familiar with using Network Management Cards in UPSes (SmartUPS, Symmetra, Silcon).

This is what I think I know:

NMC1 ==> AP9606

NMC2 ==> AP9617/9618/9619

I've just started to acquire APC in-rack PDUs and APC end-of-row PDUs.  And I'm struggling to map what I know about UPS mgmt cards to the mgmt cards installed in the PDUs.

Question #1:  Are the PDUs equipped with NMC1 / NMC2 also?  Or do they use a different line of cards?

In-rack PDU:

SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: APC Web/SNMP Management Card (MB:v4.1.0 PF:v6.4
.0 PN:apc_hw05_aos_640.bin AF1:v6.4.0 AN1:apc_hw05_rpdu2g_640.bin MN:AP8841 HR:0
2 SN: 5A1516E01497 MD:04/14/2015)
SNMPv2-MIB::sysObjectID.0 =OID:PowerNet-MIB::masterSwitchrPDU2

PowerNet-MIB::sPDUIdentModelNumber.0 = STRING: "AP8841"

End-of-Row PDU:

SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: APC Web/SNMP Management Card (MB:v4.0.6 PF:v3.7
.5 PN:apc_hw03_aos_375.bin AF1:v3.7.2 AN1:apc_hw03_xrdp_372.bin MN:0G-9354-01 HR
:0C SN: PD1447110229 MD:11/18/2014)
SNMPv2-MIB::sysObjectID.0 = OID: PowerNet-MIB::isx24ModuleHalfRackPdu

PowerNet-MIB::apcLocalDisplayIdentModelNumber.0 = STRING: "AP9233"

Question #2:  Is there a way to equip this End-of-Row PDU with a more modern card?  AOS 3.7.5 has minimal support for https (uses RC4 ciphers, which modern browsers refuse to accept).

--sk

[BillP]

Hi Stuart,

You're a little off in your assumption.. let me explain. These are ordered from oldest to newest technology.

• Web/SNMP Card -> AP9606
• NMC1 -> AP9617/AP9618/AP9619
• NMC2 -> AP9630/AP9631/AP9635

AP9606 is very old now and is found in older MasterSwitch products (predecessor to Rack PDU, original environmental monitoring units), and AP9606 is the SKU that also went into UPSs. It offered 1.X, 2.X, and 3.X versions of firmware which are different from any other products and firmware versions I'll list below.

NMC1 products are embedded in many products including AP7XXX series Rack PDU, the "End of Row" PDU you reference, some large Modular PDUs, some UPS brains such as Symmetra PX 160kVA, NetBotz 200, Rack Automatic Transfer Switch and a few other devices. The AP9617/18/19 models are the variants that go into a SmartSlot whereas these other products I mentioned, have mini embedded versions of the same card. The firmware versions for this card are 1.X, 2.X, and 3.X which most devices have these days - 3.something.something. (As I noted, this 1.X, 2.X, 3.X referenced is different firmware than for the AP9606.)

NMC2 products are embedded in many products too including AP8XXX series Rack PDU products, AV Power Filter, a model or two of the Modular PDUs, and of course you can stick these in most UPSs using the SmartSlot version of AP9630, 31, or 35. The firmware versions on these products are 5.X.X and 6.X.X.

So, your AP8841 (in Rack or what we just call Rack PDU) has an NMC2 and your end of row PDU uses an NMC and your end of row PDU has an NMC1. The end of row PDU you've queried the model of its display - AP9233, not the model of the PDU itself but I can tell by xrdp that this is a modular PDU.

In general, we are working on converting some/most products from NMC1 to NMC2 and the end of row PDUs will be included with that. What is planned is a spare part upgrade to switch over the brain specific to these devices. You could contact your local technical support for options on that as I think for the modular (end of row) PDUs, it will actually be ready/available by sometime this month. I would suggest following up later in June rather than right this second based on what I've heard.

For NMC1, AOS 3.9.X (3.9.0/3.9.1/3.9.2) is the latest AOS we offer right now with TLS 1.0 support and as you noted, some of the ciphers are dated. We have efforts going on to address this either by upgrading the brain or hardware (depending on unit type) as I noted or potential future firmware upgrades depending on the application.

NMC2 you should have no issues with since it supports more modern ciphers, no RC4, and offers up to TLS 1.2 for HTTPS access.

The UPS versions and the embedded versions just have different form factors depending on what device you install (or where they are pre-installed) but they offer the same technology and low level OS. Some devices allow the card to be removable at some level and others do not.

I hope this helps and answers your questions. Let me know if I missed anything or if you thought of any other questions.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much for the detail in this response Andrea -- I appreciate your giving me the larger context.

That answers my questions.  I'll ping my local rep later in the summer.

--sk