ryan80
asked on
APC Powerchute network shutdown
I have a APC 3000RM UPS that is powering about 10 servers. I also have a backup generator and an automatic tranfer switch for a serious poweroutage. I have not had powerchute network shutdown installed on the servers, but recently installed it just in case the generator does not kick on. However I ran into an issue today.
There must have been a surge or some momentary event that caused the UPS to switch to battery power. Becuase of the load, there was only 2 minutes of runtime left. this signaled to shutdown the servers. The APC then seemed to shutdown itself for a few seconds and then turned back on. This caused a few coldstarts on the servers that did not get a chance to shutdown properly.
now my question is why did the APC send out a shutdown command? What is the event that triggers this? I have the events on the powerchute agents set only to log event, so I am not sure what triggered them to shutdown.
If it is just the condition of low-battery that causes this to occur, where is the conditions for low-battery defined on the APC?
here are the events from the APC if they help:
3/24/2011 12:53:48 UPS: Turned on.
03/24/2011 12:53:44 UPS: Turned off.
03/24/2011 12:52:15 UPS: Started reboot sequence.
03/24/2011 12:49:15 UPS: Battery discharge condition cleared.
03/24/2011 12:48:13 UPS: Graceful shutdown by PowerChute ns from 192.168.1.14.
03/24/2011 12:48:12 UPS: Returned from a Low-Battery condition.
03/24/2011 12:48:12 UPS: Batteries discharged.
03/24/2011 12:48:11 UPS: Battery power is low and will soon be exhausted.
03/24/2011 12:48:11 UPS: Battery discharge condition cleared.
There must have been a surge or some momentary event that caused the UPS to switch to battery power. Becuase of the load, there was only 2 minutes of runtime left. this signaled to shutdown the servers. The APC then seemed to shutdown itself for a few seconds and then turned back on. This caused a few coldstarts on the servers that did not get a chance to shutdown properly.
now my question is why did the APC send out a shutdown command? What is the event that triggers this? I have the events on the powerchute agents set only to log event, so I am not sure what triggered them to shutdown.
If it is just the condition of low-battery that causes this to occur, where is the conditions for low-battery defined on the APC?
here are the events from the APC if they help:
3/24/2011 12:53:48 UPS: Turned on.
03/24/2011 12:53:44 UPS: Turned off.
03/24/2011 12:52:15 UPS: Started reboot sequence.
03/24/2011 12:49:15 UPS: Battery discharge condition cleared.
03/24/2011 12:48:13 UPS: Graceful shutdown by PowerChute ns from 192.168.1.14.
03/24/2011 12:48:12 UPS: Returned from a Low-Battery condition.
03/24/2011 12:48:12 UPS: Batteries discharged.
03/24/2011 12:48:11 UPS: Battery power is low and will soon be exhausted.
03/24/2011 12:48:11 UPS: Battery discharge condition cleared.
I agree with totallytonto.
I would run the tests on the UPS to see what it says about battery condition and run time.
I hope this helps !
I would run the tests on the UPS to see what it says about battery condition and run time.
I hope this helps !
ASKER
you are correct that the battery was at the end of its life. I replaced the battery yesterday and have not yet done a calibration on the new one. going by APCs website, I should get about 8 minutes of run time from the UPS.
However I dont know where you set the limits for the UPS. i looked around and am unsure of the setting that actually sends a shutdown signal to the servers. there are a lot of settings on the servers themselvees that will take an action (run script, shutdown) for certain events, but none of them are set to shutdown right now. so there must be a setting on the UPS itself that can be set to send out a shutdown. I know that there is a low battery duration, but that seems to a setting that shuts down the UPS itself. Do you know where the setting is that controls the point that a low battery level has been reached?
However I dont know where you set the limits for the UPS. i looked around and am unsure of the setting that actually sends a shutdown signal to the servers. there are a lot of settings on the servers themselvees that will take an action (run script, shutdown) for certain events, but none of them are set to shutdown right now. so there must be a setting on the UPS itself that can be set to send out a shutdown. I know that there is a low battery duration, but that seems to a setting that shuts down the UPS itself. Do you know where the setting is that controls the point that a low battery level has been reached?
to be honest I dont know where the setting is off hand on the network version of powerchute but with the load you have on the server the shutdown command would still be sent even if the battery was full.
You're probably best to give up on the software or reduce the load on the UPS.
You're probably best to give up on the software or reduce the load on the UPS.
ASKER
When I installed the software, I thought that I would have to enable a network shutdown event for the servers to be shutdown. If there is no way to disable this, than I will have to uninstall the software. It is nice to be able to look at the APC and see the servers that are connected to it (they are listed in the powerchute area). I was not expecting it to shutdown the servers since I had not set any events to shutdown in the network software.
As you said though, if there is no way to change the settings for when the UPS will shutdown the servers, than I will be giving up on this.
I should be able to get 8 minutes of runtime, from the UPS, but the runtime calibration is giving me errors right now. It is saying that the battery is not fully charged, even though it is showing at 100%. It is a brand new battery though so I will let it charge over the weekend and see if anything is different on Monday.
As you said though, if there is no way to change the settings for when the UPS will shutdown the servers, than I will be giving up on this.
I should be able to get 8 minutes of runtime, from the UPS, but the runtime calibration is giving me errors right now. It is saying that the battery is not fully charged, even though it is showing at 100%. It is a brand new battery though so I will let it charge over the weekend and see if anything is different on Monday.
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ASKER
The UPS is running at 67% load, so it is not overloaded. The runtime from the website is not the estimated maximum, but rather the time APC says that this model will run under the load that I have. You can enter the load that you have and it will give you the runtime per model.
the servers connected have a 2-3 minute shutdown time and the generator kicks on after about 2-3 minutes. So really I need 6 minutes of run time if everything goes perfectly, and I would prefer more along the lines of 8 minutes.
After looking at the documentation, it looks like the low-battery duration is the command that will send a shutdown to the servers, but it is not very clear. It says in the documentation that this is the time that it will continue to run on battery after a low-battery condition occurs.
Although no where does it say what defines a low-battery condition. Not very well documented. and pretty confusing. I am guessing though that this setting actually sets the low battery condition time?
the servers connected have a 2-3 minute shutdown time and the generator kicks on after about 2-3 minutes. So really I need 6 minutes of run time if everything goes perfectly, and I would prefer more along the lines of 8 minutes.
After looking at the documentation, it looks like the low-battery duration is the command that will send a shutdown to the servers, but it is not very clear. It says in the documentation that this is the time that it will continue to run on battery after a low-battery condition occurs.
Although no where does it say what defines a low-battery condition. Not very well documented. and pretty confusing. I am guessing though that this setting actually sets the low battery condition time?
also, I'd suspect the battery is dead or at the end of its life as it doesnt sound like its keeping its charge properly.