Is this "stupid" communications really some sort of on/off power good/power
bad idea?

I've seen people rig this kind of stuff up to the par. port. Its easy to
this strictly digital/binary stuff with the par. port.


-----Original Message-----
From: tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org
[mailto:tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of David Dyer-Bennet
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 3:24 PM
To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org
Subject: [TCLUG] APC back-ups UPS monitoring


I finally started trying to hook my two Linux servers up to my two APC
Back-ups UPSs last night (one's a 600, one's a 650).  I had monitoring
and shutdown working back in the old house with the old UPS and a
different version of Linux.  I'd forgotten how annoying the cabling
issues are.  Ick.  And I don't want to pay $40 each for cables, and I
don't *especially* want to run their Powerchute software, either.

Note that my two UPSs use "stupid" communications protocol, not
"smart".  There's actually a diagram in the Back-ups 600 manual
showing what each connection on the 9-pin port is (I believe from
reading how-tos and things that they 600 and 650 are about the same in
this; the 650 manual doesn't actually give a diagram, though).

The diagram actually looks like it would be better off with a pull-up
resistor on the line it uses to signal line power fail (the 600
manual, at least, describes that line and two others as open-collector
outputs).  (Note: It may have sounded like I understand those terms; I
don't really.  I'm a *software* person.  I took a computer instrument
interfacing course once in college, but raw transistors are just
weird; I kinda jumped from relays to digital logic.)

I'm trying to use the "powerd" in the RedHat rpm (2.0.2-1).  I'm using
motherboard serial port B, which is /dev/ttyS1 I'm really pretty
sure.  (I've got a modem on /dev/ttyS0, and that works; and I've been
using a breakout box, and changing things on /dev/ttyS1 with minicom
definitely changes the lights on the breakout box).

Using the detectups in that package (what a wonderful idea!), I can't
get it to notice the existence of the UPS.  I've tried configuring
several of the suggested cables from various how-tos using my breakout
box.  I've also tried simply jumpering various pins that detectups
says it monitors to ground, and to a hot line.  Nothing I've done has
gotten detectups to so much as twitch a finger.

Both my motherboard and my UPS have 9-pin connectors.  I'm using two
straight-through 9 to 9 cables (m to f, too), two 9-to-25 adapters of
suitable gender, and my breakout box which is 25 pin on both ends.  I
mention this in case it's somehow relevant.  I'm being careful to read
the cable instructions and use the 25-pin pin number not the 9 when
I'm jumpering at the breakout box.

Anybody have a clue they could spare?  I really want to have
auto-shutdown on power fail.  The more disk and databases there are on
these systems, the more I want it.  (Though it does help that most of
it's EXT3 filesystems now.)  And we've had half a dozen power
failures, at least three long enough to actually require a shutdown,
already this year.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net  /  New TMDA anti-spam in test
 John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net
        Book log: http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/Ouroboros/booknotes/
         New Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info
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