Comms lost - again

[SE-SJA]

Hello.  I'm wondering if anyone runs into an issue where Smart-UPS devices will show "Comms Lost" in the dashboard for a network connected UPS that still has network connectivity.  I run into this on occasion and it's a little frustrating since it happens out of the blue.  I can ping the 2 devices that are currently showing offline, I don't see any traffic being blocked by the firewall, and also confirmed the network switch sees the devices and shows data being downloaded.

Why does this happen and how can this be corrected so this communication isn't lost?  This defeats the whole purpose of having a subscription with SE, being alerted in the event that there is a power loss or other issue.  I am 45 minutes away from the client so resetting the network interface onsite isn't ideal.  Also, I did reset the network interface on one of the devices but it doesn't solve the issue with this connection not being stable.

Anyone run into this often and have any tips for correcting this.

SE, why does this happen and how can this be fixed so we are getting the services we are paying for.

[Teken]

I suggest the following action items for the best outcome:

Support: Contact APC Technical Support so this issue is officially tracked and provide all the relevant logs.

Firmware: Review this APC FAQ and consider updating the UPS Firmware (IF) in warranty to insure all Smart Connect fixes have been applied from encryption to connectivity:

https://www.se.com/ca/en/faqs/FA357414/

DNS: Validate DNS routes are properly handled. If not switch to another DNS to see if there is a change in behaviour.

Track: When this problem first appeared on the portal and the frequency of detected outage vs the unit.

Request APC Technical Support provide you a service outage report as the problems may very well be server side issues they haven’t identified or resolved.

Switch / Firewall: Monitor if there are dropped packets seen at the switch port. More often than not this will narrow down and isolate the possibility from bad cable, failing port, NIC.

Pinging a devices NIC offers absolutely no guarantee as to hardware state, OS status, etc. It simply provides you a snap shot in time as such running a continuous ping and reviewing the return delay interval to see if the time increases, decreases, varies, etc.

Provides more insight as to (current connection) while using other network tools to help isolate possible root cause(s).

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