Where to begin with remote UPS configuration?

[guillaumesoucy]

Hi everyones!

First, happy new year to all!

I have a question, I want to build more servers for a total of four but I'm not interesting to have 4 UPS, what I want to do it pick a 42U rack and put all my four rackmount FreeNAS servers in it and put also networking equipments, KVM and other machines such web servers and maximum two UPS, one only for powered my four FreeNAS servers and another UPS for all other equipments.

So my main question is, what I need to do to for connect my FreeNAS servers to a single UPS? I know I need a interface card and install it to the UPS but what I need to configure at the software side? I heard on this forum about snmp but I'm not sure if its the good way to configure network UPS to multiples FreeNAS Server.


Thanks to all for helping!

Guillaume

 

[Ericloewe]

I know I need a interface card

Not at all, if the PSU is connected to a computer running NUT (like FreeNAS or pfSense). You can just log on to the NUT server from the other NUT-enabled computers.

 

[guillaumesoucy]

You mean I just need one FreeNAS server connected to a UPS and the other FreeNAS servers will connect to which is connected to the UPS by USB?

 

[Ericloewe]

You mean I just need one FreeNAS server connected to a UPS and the other FreeNAS servers will connect to which is connected to the UPS by USB?

Yes.

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_services.html#ups

The one with the UPS is the Master, the others are Slaves.

 

[guillaumesoucy]

Ok and if I absolutely want to use a NIC on my UPS, can I simply set the UPS mode on each FreeNAS to slave and enter the IP/port of the UPS?

 

[Ericloewe]

Ok and if I absolutely want to use a NIC on my UPS, can I simply set the UPS mode on each FreeNAS to slave and enter the IP/port of the UPS?

Probably not. The UPS itself would have to support NUT.

Some specific UPSes might be compatible if NUT has a network driver for them. apcupsd is supported to some degree with NUT, but it doesn't seem to work with FreeNAS.

 

[guillaumesoucy]

What I need to do if I want the FreeNAS servers and the UPS communicate together?

 

[guillaumesoucy]

There was a way to connect the four FreeNAS servers to a single UPS using a NIC installed at the UPS? I read I can use SNMP but I'm not sure how to setup it.

 

[depasseg]

You are making this much more complicated than it needs to be. Step 1 is to get the UPS and Freenas (or any other server compatible with NUT) up and running as Master. Step 2 is to configure all your other freenas and other servers (capable of running NUT) as slave. Step 3 - there is no step 3.

You can use a NIC in your ups for monitoring and SNMP if you wish, but a serial or USB cable is much simpler. (both of my UPS's have NIC's, but I have them configured via USB to my freenas for the reason I mentioned above).

That's probably the extent of support you will get from this forum. Any SNMP/UPS NIC specific stuff should be addressed with that HW manufacturer.

 

[guillaumesoucy]

Hi depasseg!

Thanks for the advice! I will do what you saids but it will be a bit different, I will put a cheap Norco 2U chassi in the rack with all required stuff in it except an HDD and will install FreeNAS on a USB stick and the UPS will be connected directly to it and put my four other FreeNAS servers containing data at slave mode. The additional FreeNAS build will be used only for connecting the UPS. It will be more simple that way.

 

[tvsjr]

It's more simple to build a completely separate box just to be a USB connector? That's a massive waste of power and money for nothing!

Let's assume you have 4 boxes, named freenas1 through freenas4. Set freenas1 as master, plug the UPS in to that box... set 2-4 as slaves talking to freenas1... done.

 

[depasseg]

Yep, what tvsjr said. I can't imagine any way that having a single server just to use as a UPS connector makes sense. But I'm willing to be proved wrong.

 

[gpsguy]

^^ what the other 2 guys said.

Out of curiosity, is this equipment in your apartment or at the colo facility?

 

[anodos]

If I have two UPS that are large enough capacity, I prefer to connect redundant PSUs in servers to separate UPS. I.e.

PSU-A -> PDU-A -> UPS-A
PSU-B -> PDU-B -> UPS-B

And then balance out load for non-redundant other equipment between them.

 

[guillaumesoucy]

And for the shutdown mode, if by example I want all the servers shutdown after 1 minutes of no power, will I need to set the shutdown mode at UPS goes on battery and the shutdown timer on the master machine or on the slave machines?

 

[depasseg]

You must set each one individually. Master/slave just enables notification of UPS events, not control.