3rd party UPS

[Chandru Khemani]

I am having difficulty getting Onlinet Version 4 working on HPUX 11.0

It is a Powerware 9315 UPS.
I have been able to get Onlinet Version 4
working on AIX 4.2.1 without issue.

Ultimately, I can't get serial communication working to the UPS. I tried K360, K260, and D380 all with the same result (core dump).

Any help is appreciated.

[Edward Alfert_2]

The documentation says it support hp-ux from 10 to 11.00
http://www.powerware.com/Products/Software/Onlinet/onli40unix.asp

did the program install correctly but you just can't get the serial communication to work? or did you get some errors during install?

I don't use OnliNet but do you configure it within the program or do you have to edit HP-UX files /etc/ups_conf ... instead of manually editing it you can use SAM.

SAM > Periferal Devices > Uninterruptable Power Supplies

Then "Action" menu
Then "Add" option
Then pick the serial port

then when you exit SAM, it restarts the UPS daemon.

[Mark Vollmers]

I think that you can't use SAM for any UPS other than the HP one. we have an APC UPS and use the powerchute software with it, and I couldn't get serial communication with it until I disabled the SAM UPS function. Once I did this, I could use the powerchute software to talk to and control the ups just fine. I'd check and make sure that SAM is not interfering with it.

Mark

[Chandru Khemani]

Hi Ed/Mark,

Powerware has been unable, thus far anyway, to verify the workings of Onlinet V4. Though as you state, it is advertised clearly.

You definitely want to disable the UPS software
via smit. Safe to comment out the line in /etc/inittab for UPS:
#ups1::off:rtprio 0 /usr/lbin/ups_mond -f /etc/ups_conf

HP Support helped me to verify serial connection to UPS is valid using kermit.

Seems like some sort of a software issue at this point.

Thanks for your help!

[James A. Donovan]

Just wondering if your issues with Onlinet were ever resolved.

The guys in charge of the project to tie our UPS's into a system where we can safely shutdown our systems in the event of power outage are recommending this software. Your post here makes me nervous that while it may work for their equipment, it may not do squat for my HP-UX N/L servers.

I'd appreciate any feedback you could provide...

[Chandru Khemani]

Hi Jim,

We are still struggling with the Onlinet V4.
They are shipping me a new serial cable today.

I have tried 4 different HPUX 11.0 hosts and
2 different AIX 4.2.1 hosts.

I'm not sure about the cable because I can communicate in terminal mode to the UPS.

And if I disconnect the cable altogether, the messages are very clear as to the disruption to communication. If the cable is connected, it seems like there is some level of communication between the UPS and host.

We used to resell smaller UPS to our customer with older Version of Onlinet and Failsafe for
AIX and both packages worked fine.
Neither are an end all, but for notification and automatic shutdowns they both worked.

Ken