Can anyone confirm that the APC Smart-UPS SMT1500i works with FreeNAS?

[CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet]

I'm going around in circles trying to find a quality UPS that will play nice with FreeNAS and my Seasonic 660XP2. I've checked the NUT support list and the SMT1500i is listed specifically but there are several 1500va models. I've tried seeing if I can buy one of the 1500va units that's list by NUT but the search results I'm getting are too generic to be trustworthy.

Back to the SMT1500i. It ticks all the boxes apart from knowing for certain that it plays nice with FreeNAS and my PSU. The SMT1500i does have a USB port for management, so failing someone being able to vouch for the SMT1500i's compatibility, is it reasonable to assume that there's a good chance that it'll work with the usbhid-ups driver?

On a side note, if anyone can recommend a high quality UPS that'll work with FreeNAS and my PSU, in either a tower or rack form factor and for less than £400; I'd be grateful.

 

[dlavigne]

Were you able to get your answers?

 

[CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet]

I contacted a local retailer to ask them whether they could confirm that it's compatible and if they said it was and it proved not to be, whether I could return the UPS. The guy I emailed asked his boss and he also contacted APC on my behalf. Both APC and his boss said that any APC UPS from the last five years or so, that has a USB port, should be compatible.

I'll be buying the PSU at some point next week. I was actually planning to update this thread once I've confirmed that it's fully compatible. I also plan to detail which drivers it does or doesn't work with and whether it works with my PSU... perhaps we could have a UPS compatibility thread on the forums where users lists UPSs that they have personally confirmed as compatible.

 

[dlavigne]

perhaps we could have a UPS compatibility thread on the forums where users lists UPSs that they have personally confirmed as compatible.

That's a good idea.

 

[CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet]

That's a good idea.

I'm just thinking about the best way to go about it. To be honest, my knowledge on the subject is... well, limited at best. I don't want to propagate any bad information and I want to make sure that I've tested the UPS properly. I also want to come up with a template for the required information in order to make the responses easier and quicker to read. Any advice (from you or any other users) on the testing methodology or the layout of the thread would be appreciated.

Getting back to the SMT1500i, I took delivery of mine today and after first (reRTFM and then) checking that the UPS was detected as FreeNAS booted, I then did the basic setup by following the methodology of this guide. Once that was done, I had the UPS perform a self test, that to my understanding makes the UPS switch onto battery power for ten seconds. My server didn't bat an eye and the WebGUI console showed what the UPS was doing at each step of the process. I still need to test whether FreeNAS will shutdown gracefully once it detects that the UPS is in a low battery state.

[EDIT] I just wanted to add that one thing that I've consistently read is that connecting a UPS to a powerstrip isn't a good idea. I haven't got to the root of the reasons behind this so far but as I'll be connecting the UPS to the wall, it's a non issue for me.

Another thing I've read in several places is that test the UPS by pulling the wall plug is a bad idea as it removes the UPSs ground. I'm guessing that this is largely targeted at US users and those of you from countries that have electrical outlets without on/off switches.

As I'm in the UK, all my sockets have on/off switches so I tried to find out if there's any harm in simply flipping the switch. I haven't found anything totally conclusive yet but it's logical that it wouldn't cause any harm and a user by the name of "windso (Eaton)" over at Spiceworks posted the following comment.

One reminder I like to give our sales guys and customers: When you test the UPS don't unplug it! Unplugging the UPS disconnects it from ground. This is a pretty bad scenario in general. Also, on some models (hopefully not too many) the plugs can actually have power backfeeding from the UPS.

Instead, get a surge strip you have lying around and plug the UPS into the surge strip. Then you can toggle the on/off switch on the strip. If you UPS is larger, you can flip the breaker off.

Unless I find information to the contrary, I'll test the SMT1500i tomorrow by flipping the switch on my wall socket.