Topic: setting up a new APC SmartUPS with SME8

[wdepot]

We recently had to replace our old APC UPS with a new one and I'm having trouble getting the new unit working with nut. The new unit is an APC model SMT1000RM2U and I noticed that apcupsd also lists that it doesn't work with this model. It would be nice to be able to have the server perform a controlled shutdown when the power goes out and the UPS battery gets low but I'm not sure how to do this with the new unit. Does anyone happen to know if the PowerChute software included with the unit will work with SME8 64 bit? The compatibilty list at http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z5QEV/ASTE-6Z5QEV_R38_EN.pdf only lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux but since CentOS 5.8 has its roots in Red Hat, if I am recalling correctly, I was wondering if it would work to provide the desired shutdown on battery low. If anyone can provide suggestions on how to get this working I would appreciate it. The UPS connects to the server computer via USB.

[Jáder]

SME8 is RHEL5...as SME7 is RHEL4.
So if HCL list your APC as supported, just follow instructions for RHEL5 (32 or 64bits makes no difference).
If you need to change something to it start to work, ask here.
There are lots of people available to help.
But you must state your problem, just say "it do not work" do not allow anyone to help you.
Report what you did and exact error message and problem.

Good luck.

I'm proud user of one APC SUA1500 and have several SUA1500/BR1500 running on clients: all using APCUPSD

[wdepot]

Nut was emailing me the following message every five minutes until I finally gave up and stopped the service:

UPS UPS@localhost is unavailable

I tried

config setprop nut Model apcsmart

to change it from the default of usbhid-ups but that didn't help anything.

I've never had a problem with any of the previous APC UPS devices that we've used with our server until we got this one. At least now I know I can use the software they provide if I have to.

[nicolatiana]

APC is changing many things in recent model.
PCBE is unuseful without X11 (Gnome or KDE).
apcsmart concerns only SMART-UPS series on COM,  USB (maybe) and network.
Try this: http://wiki.contribs.org/Uninterruptable_Power_Supply:APC
and this: http://wiki.contribs.org/Uninterruptable_Power_Supply:LatestGeekery (this install an updated NUT)
Maybe you get more satisfaction.
For any future need it's good advice to perform a compatibility check before purchase.
 
Nicola
 

[wdepot]

Thank you nicolatiana! The instructions you linked to for updating Nut to the latest version seem to have solved my problem. After following the update instructions and setting the status for nut to enabled I did an expand-template for everything in the templates/etc/ups folder just for good measure. This time when I did service nut start I got an OK for Starting UPS driver controller where previously I had been getting a FAILED message. Best of all I haven't been getting the UPS UPS@localhost is unavailable email every five minutes. It obviously pays to use up to date software with new equipment. It makes me wonder why SME8 hasn't been updated with the newer stable version of Nut (2.6.5) instead of the included version 2.2.2.

[janet]

wdepot

It makes me wonder why SME8 hasn't been updated with the newer stable version of Nut (2.6.5) instead of the included version 2.2.2.

So the best thing you can do to have that "question" answered, & for the benefit of all sme users, is to lodge a bug report under the NFR (New feature request) category against sme8.0.
That way hopefully someone capable will be prompted to include the latest nut version in sme8.x
Please do so as your way of "contributing" to sme. You will need to open a new account at bugzilla using your email address as login, link at top of forums (if you do not already have an account).

[nicolatiana]

This comes from the mainstream distribution: NUT 2.2.x is the default package of Centos 5.x (and corresponding Redhat) and maybe the same release you can get from Ubuntu repositories.
This is the package I manage in my Centos 5.8: nut.x86_64 2.2.2-1.el5 (With a Back-UPS Pro 900 USB still works fine, luckily).
So follow Janet advice about NFR . .. . .
 
Nicola