Monitor UPS for AC power loss

[Lisa Dingman]

Can someone advise me as to how to set up our system to monitor for a UPS power loss. We have an itanium rx6600, hpux 11.31, and a r5500 UPS. The ups has a serial connection to connect it to the HP server. It came with software HP Power Manager and HP UPS Management module. After much research and reading I am more confused than ever. Is there some way we can monitor for power loss with what we have. Our vendor said they believed we needed to purchase an additional piece for the UPS in order to do so. Has anyone/is anyone doing this and would you be willing to share your process. Thank you in advance.

[TTr]

There are two separate taks here. One is to monitor the UPS itself as a separate piece of hardware. This is what the UPS software is about. It monitors the battery status, charge level, etc. You need to have a management station (maybe a PC) to install it and it probably interacts with a centralized monitoring system such as openview and that 's what the vendor was refering to additional pieces.

The second task is what you want to do with your server if there is a power failure. You probably want to issue a server shutdown if the UPS lost power. So the server needs to monitor the UPS and check its status as well. Fo that you need to
1. connect the UPS with the server via the serial cable
2. Setup the /etc/ups_conf file and ensure that the device for the second serial port of the server is in the file. Also tune the shutdown delay and timeout values depending on how long the UPS will sustain server power during a power loss.
3. connect the serial cable from the UPS to the server (second serial port on the server).
4. Enable the ups_mond service by uncommenting the ups line in /etc/inittab and issue an "init q" to apply the change.
The ups_mond is a daemon that checks the ups via the serial connection. if the UPS loses power, the ups_mond find out and issues a server shutdown.

[Torsten.]

@TTr:

This UPS will not be monitored by ups_mond! Not compatible!

@Lisa:

Connect the serial cable to the most right serial port of the server. Install HP power manager and point to the correct serial device (path 0/0/1/2). Select an unused web port for the software. Configure and monitor the UPS via a web browser.

[Torsten.]

see also

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/power-protection/software/power-manager/sup_oss.html

[Lisa Dingman]

Do I install the software on the HP, am confused because I read somewhere to install the software on a pc that is powered up by the ups. I have a cd that came with the ups and on it, it has:
HP Power Manager 4.2
HP UPS Management Module 1.2

The cd says 'for unix ' refer to the readme file and the readme file only references Windows, not hpux. I do have the ups serial connection leaving the UPS and into the rightmost serial port on the HP. Thank you for the link, I do have that. I think I have confused myself with all the research I have done. Put a call into HP and someone called me just a few minutes ago and said that typically the software that comes with the UPS is pc based, not unix. Do you know what I can do to verify the port is active, or that the 6600 sees the ups connected and then how I could verify the software is for UNIX.

[Lisa Dingman]

Forgot to add,
I had read several articles about the ups_mond, power on_off - so I take it that procedure will not work?

[Lisa Dingman]

This might not be the correct post, but can you please explain what an ERM is, the output from the UPS is dependent upon whether you have an ERM connected.

[Lisa Dingman]

My director is sure there is something you can do on the HP via unix to monitor, I am thinking it is the instructions you posted including the file /etc/ups_conf. I need to verify that this can/cannot be done with HPux 11.31 and itanium rx6600. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Torsten.]

Don't touch the ups_mond, this will not work with this UPS model.

In the link I posted you will find the hp-ux software, just install the manager and agent.

[Lisa Dingman]

Thank you all, I will do so and let you know the outcome.

[Lisa Dingman]

I am in the process of installing the hp power manager on the HP. A prompt comes up for a port to use for web communications with a default of '80'. Is there a way that I can tell if this port is already being used, can I accept the defaults. I have absolutely no knowlege of networking so would appreciate any help you could offer.

[Torsten.]

This is the port for the web server. IMHO port 80 is not a good choice, select another!

You can check for free ports using "lsof".

[Lisa Dingman]

Thank you will do, when it asks me for a serial port to search for device the two choices are: should it be 1p0 - but it is not listed? I could be thinking incorrectly though. Please advise.
1) /dev/tty2p0
2)/dev/tty3p0

However this is the following data:output of /etc/ups_conf file and isoscan:
# @(#)
shutdown_delay_mins:1 shutdown_timeout_mins:5
upstty:/dev/tty1p0 # Port 2 for UPS rs-232

# ioscan -fun -C tty
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
====================================================================
tty 0 0/0/1/0 rmp3f01 CLAIMED INTERFACE PCI class(255,0) (103c1303)
tty 1 0/0/1/1 rmp3f01 CLAIMED INTERFACE PCI SimpleComm (103c1302)
tty 2 0/0/1/2 asio0 CLAIMED INTERFACE PCI Serial (103c1048)
/dev/diag/mux2 /dev/mux2 /dev/tty2p0
tty 3 250/1 asio0 CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in RS232C
/dev/diag/mux3 /dev/mux3 /dev/tty3p0

[Brian Vo]

Lisa,

Find UserGuides for HP PM and HP MM here:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/power-protection/rpmp.html

-HPPM is a power management SW solution. Install on a dedicate management server and use it to monitor UPS and other shutdown agents (installed for each server need to be protected in case power loss).

-HPMM is a HW solution (your new UPS would come with a HP module in its slot). All management SW is embedded in the module. All you need is to install agent on every protected server.

Brian

[Lisa Dingman]

It looks like the software installed, thee were the last messages. If I do a grep for DEVMANBE shows process running. Can anyone tell me where to go next, how do you access the software now?
Is your UPS connected to a network? [yN]: n
Please select a serial port to search for a UPS device on:
1) /dev/tty2p0
2) /dev/tty3p0
[1]: 2
Looking for serial devices:
Trying: SerialHID
Trying: Pro UPS
Trying: XCP
Found XCP Device (Model R5500 XR) at 19200.

Starting UPS Device Manager Service:
EXE : DevManBE
done.

# ps -ef |grep DevManBE
root 15855 1 0 10:47:37 pts/0 0:00 /opt/DevMan/DevManBE daemon
root 15921 8420 0 10:49:50 pts/1 0:00 grep DevManBE

[Lisa Dingman]

According to the docs which are a tad confusing, you should get a message 'Would you like to start HP Power Manager?', yet I got Starting UPS Device Manager Service: EXE: DevManBE. Have I done something wrong? I apologize for my ignorance, am very new to this and flying by the seat of my pants so to speak.

lease select a serial port to search for a UPS device on:
1) /dev/tty2p0
2) /dev/tty3p0
[1]: 2
Looking for serial devices:
Trying: SerialHID
Trying: Pro UPS
Trying: XCP
Found XCP Device (Model R5500 XR) at 19200.

Starting UPS Device Manager Service:
EXE : DevManBE
done.
You have mail in /var/mail/root

[Lisa Dingman]

I think I might be making a little headway. If I go to a browser and to the ip address of our server it gives me a login box for HP Power Manager, however I tried using root login and pw and that will not work, can someone tell me where I would find that information please.

[Lisa Dingman]

Brian,
Thank you, I do have the manuals and believe it or not have been trying to decipher them. I installed the HP PowerManager on our rx6600, so was that incorrect? Are you saying that we need to have a separate dedicated server to install HPPM on, and that it won't work the way I have done it? I did install and can find it going to IP address but won't take username and password, but for all I know it may not be correct. If we cannot install HPPM on our server we might be better off with the hardware solution. I appreciate all of everyone's help.

[Lisa Dingman]

Brian,
I apologize, to clarify, you are saying that the ups r5500 came with the module inside neccessary for hppm. Our vendor told us we needed to purchase another part to make this work, I am thinking it is what you are referring to? Is there a way I can check to see if we have it?

[TTr]

It looks like the power monitor service is running. You can try connecting to it. Use a web browser (a PC in the same network as the rx6600) and point it to your rx6600 server. You should get a login screen, the default login is "admin" and the password is also "admin"

[Lisa Dingman]

Thank you guys, have made my life much easier. Have HPPM installed and set up, now just have to figure the ins and outs. I thought it had an option to run certain scripts before shutdown but don't see that option can anyone tell me if they have used this software to do that. I have written scripts that shut down our database gracefully and would like to program this so that if there is a power failure we can do that, not sure if this has this capability.

[TTr]

> I thought it had an option to run certain scripts before shutdown but don't see that option

If the power montor issues a server shutdown, the server will go through its shutdown rc sequence (in /sbin/init.d and /sbin/rc3.d, rc2.d, rc1.d etc). So if you put your database shutdown scripts in the rc sequence they will be executed.

[Lisa Dingman]

I found in the 'Attached Devices' tab there is an option to 'Run Command Procedure(SDScript)' so am wondering if this is where you could script a shutdown procedure. ALso this is probably obvious to most of you but right now the only devices attached is the 'Management Server' on Load 1, is this our rx6600 or the HPPM? I just want to be sure. It also gives you an option to run command procedure. I take it you add the devices you have attached for the load segments, for ex we have a tape library powered from Load Segment 1, so do you add those devices here?

[TTr · Accepted solution]

> 'Management Server' on Load 1, is this our rx6600 or the HPPM

That's the rx6600. You can have other servers on the other loads and you can control their shutdown from the rx6600 by installing the power manager agent software on those servers.

> for ex we have a tape library powered from Load Segment 1
You can not control the tape library from the power manager software. If power is lost, it will stay up running for up as long as the battery in the UPS sustains power.

[Lisa Dingman]

Do you have to put the shutdown command in the SDScript for the management server along with the other scripts to shutdown everything gracefully or is this something the HPPM does automatically? It sounds like this is done automatically, just want to verify.