restart NAS after power outage

[Anonymous user]

Hi,
I yesterday received my Back UPS BR550GI.
Attached to my NAS its operating fine and shutting down when a 50% battery level is reached.

Now my question: How can I restart my NAS, once power is re-established?
I thought the UPS will disconnect the device and then reconnect to enable boot.

If I manually disconnect my NAS from UPS and then reconnect it, the NAS will boot up.

Could you help me to achieve an automatic restart after power failure shutdown?

Thanks,
Wolfram

Message was edited by: wopl

[Anonymous user]

Not sure about your remark and questions...

Sure, the UPS continues to work on batteries (what else?) until power comes back... basically without any load
What LED's? What Beeps?

Wolfram

Message was edited by: wopl

[Anonymous user]

o.k., no probs...
yep, battery icon remains and 4-beeps continues (after UPS-caused shutdown of NAS).

When power comes back, UPS goes from battery to power state.
NAS does not boot - which I would like it to do.

NAS currently is a Thecus N5200 (will be replaced very soon)
Wolfram

[BillP]

if the UPS never goes to sleep - whether told to by software or whether it runs out of battery power, then I don't think this will work. the UPS needs to reboot itself, thus rebooting the NAS, to force the NAS back on. the UPS is telling the NAS to go to sleep at 50% battery power remaining but then if the power comes back on before the UPS goes to sleep but after the NAS shuts down, so lets say at 40% battery power left, the UPS does not turn off since utility power (it comes back online and never shuts down). this is the same issue with a server or any other type of device. the only way to get it to turn back on is manually, as you've found out. the UPS needs to go to sleep mode to tell the outlets to reboot and thus start the NAS back up.

here is some more info on how things work..

Shutdown time line, software not installed:

1. UPS goes to battery, the on battery beep sounds

2. The UPS will sound the on battery beep until it reaches the last few minutes of run time. The length of time depends on the load and how old the battery is.

3. When the unit reaches the last few minutes of battery life it will then sound its low battery alarm.

4. Just before the battery is completely exhausted the ups will turn itself off.

5. If the UPS went to battery due to a brown out the unit at this point will be in LVSM until the voltage becomes acceptable again.

PowerChute Personal Edition default shutdown time line:

1. UPS goes to battery and PCPE starts its preserve battery power counter.

2. When the counter expires it sends a command to the UPS to start counting its turn off delay and then commands the OS to shutdown.

3. The operating system shuts down and the UPS continues to count its turn off delay. (Once the UPS finishes counting its turn off delay it will reboot and nothing can stop this from happening.)

4. The UPS cuts power to the outlets then rechecks to see if the incoming power is acceptable. If it is not it waits there until power returns.

5. If the UPS went to battery due to a brown out the unit at this point will be in LVSM until the voltage becomes acceptable again.


hope this helps..you may be able to edit some settings using the software with a computer and then disconnect the computer if you don't want it attached all the time.

[Anonymous user]

o.k., this is much more complicated than expected
On my NAS PCPE is not running. I have a module that reads all APC values and shuts down my NAS based on battery-percentage or minutes of battery operation. Shutdown of NAS works reliably and well.

As there is no load, it will take hours until UPS will shut down (until battery is discharged). If during this time power is back again, the NAS (and UPS) will never restart.
I also prefer the battery-preserve mode... so shutting down my NAS at a whatever % of battery (or maybe minutes of battery operation).

UPS should see (threshold), that my NAS (master outlet) was shut down by going into battery mode.
Or there should be a timer within the UPS (timeout after NAS starting to go down), which I cannot find in my PCPE software.
Once power is re-established UPS "just" needs to disconnect power outlets (well, or basically reboot itself).

Sure, that this function is not available the way I need it?
This means there is no reliable way to start up my NAS again.
Would such function be supported by more expensive APC units?

Thanks for your help.
Wolfram

Message was edited by: wopl

[BillP · Accepted solution]

right, i understand that PCPE is not running on the NAS. none of the timers are adjustable via PCPE.

i can think of one decent way - look into the BH500NET UPS which allows someone on the same subnet cycle the power to outlets remotely. you shouldnt have to physically walk over to the UPS to do this but would need to login to the BH500NET.

i cant think of an automated way of doing this on any UPS if the UPS does not enter sleep mode at any point. unfortunately, PCPE needs to be running to control the UPS to shutdown and use the preserve battery power setting.

you can get into more expensive solutions with switched rack PDUs to control outlets and maybe bigger UPSs with other work arounds but they all work the same way - the UPS must cycle power to the outlets and to do that, it needs to go to sleep mode first.

[Anonymous user]

Hi,
I yesterday received my Back UPS BR550GI.
Attached to my NAS its operating fine and shutting down when a 50% battery level is reached.

Now my question: How can I restart my NAS, once power is re-established?
I thought the UPS will disconnect the device and then reconnect to enable boot.

If I manually disconnect my NAS from UPS and then reconnect it, the NAS will boot up.

Could you help me to achieve an automatic restart after power failure shutdown?

Thanks,
Wolfram

Message was edited by: wopl