UPS R3000XR loosing serial connection with DL380G4

[abgev]

We have 10 identical racks installed in the field. They all contain a couple of DL380G4 servers in combination with the R3000XR ups.

After a while all of those UPS's are loosing connection with the server (HP power manager).
The power manager configuration says that there is nothing connected.

* A reboot or a shutdown of the server that is connected to the UPS (serial) does not solve the problem.
* A shutdown and power down (disconnect powercables) + reboot does solve the problem.
* the serial CLI feature in the ILO has been disabled.
* It can't be related to the power itself bacause the racks are located in different towns.

Any suggestions??

[nurascorpio]

Hi GV,

HP Power Manager Software or HP RPM uses serial Plug-and-Play (PnP) and/or a low, fixed baud rate (e.g., 2400) to discover an HP UPS attached to a serial port on the server, if baud rates are lower than 9600 baud then the Power Manager does not detect the UPS (i.e., allowing software to change port baud rate to 1200 to start the PnP sequence

If you could try to go to the Control Panel - Services - Stop cpq power management - then restart the service, since that the power service would start before the comm port is initalized, therefore it wouldnâ t talk to the UPS & fails.

Hope this helps :
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1014588

Regds
NS

[abgev]

Sorry but I already tried to stop and restart the HP power manager service.

Also, the problem is fixed after a complete shutdown, disconnect the power cables and reboot. I don't see a raeson why this action would have influence on the boot order.

[RGA]

GV,

Disabling of the iLO CLI is usually the fix for lost communications with the com port.

There is an HP Customer advisory regarding this. The only thing I would like to add is that when you disable the iLO CLI then save and exit the server will want to reboot or you must do it... at this time I remove power from the server for 20 to 30 seconds... This should clear iLO. iLO is after all suppose to be available if power is getting to the system.

Again, not sure if this will help but, has not failed yet with any other device plugged into the com port with sudden loss of communications.

Regards...

Link to advisory:(Does not mention Pulling Power)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=PSD_ES041112_CW01&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

[kwong_2]

GV,
I have the same problem with you too. I think is a serial port in motherboard got problem. May be you can try to connect through USB interface or Ethernet interface, that mean you have to replace the existing serial interface card in UPS with USB/Ethernet Interface Card.

[abgev]

Hi Kwong,

That's an interesting thought you have there (replacing the UPS serial port to USB).

Does anybody know if this is possible in the R 300XR UPS? I actually prefer to have a network communication port inside the UPS because I'm already using all of the USB ports on the DL380G4 server. (software protection dongles).

Thanks,

GV

[Rob Shupe · Accepted solution]

I just wanted to confirm that the above solution of disabling CLI in the iLO card setup, then shutting down the server, unplugging both power cables from it, waiting 20 seconds then plugging the power in and starting it back up worked for me. I hope this helps someone else.

[abgev]

Disabling the serial CLI in the ILO was known to me but that did not help. The one thing that I did not knew is that you also need to remove the porwer cables from the server.

I will see how it goes on.
Thank you all for your help.

[pang kwong luk]

GV,
I manage to sovle the problem by totally power off UPS and Server. All of our server able to detect UPS now.