A P P E N D I X A - Installing and Configuring an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

A P P E N D I X A

Installing and Configuring an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Sun Remote System Control (RSC) Version 2.2 cards include a battery that supplies power to RSC for a short period of time after a complete power failure. To extend the time you can use RSC, connect the host power cord to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). SunExpress trademark sells several suitable UPS devices.

Note - RSC hardware on Sun Enterprise 250 servers does not include a battery.

This appendix provides an example of installing and configuring an American Power Conversion SmartUPS 1000 with PowerChute plus 4.2.2 software, for use with RSC. The UPS uses RSC software on the server to record events and generate alerts.

How to Install the UPS

1. Install the UPS as documented in the SmartUPS Quick Reference Guide.

2. Install and configure PowerChute plus monitoring software as documented in the SmartUPS document Software Installation: Instruction Sheet.

3. Connect the UPS to one of the server serial ports.

How to Configure the UPS to Record Events and Send Alerts

PowerChute plus software allows you to run a command file or shell script whenever a designated "event action" occurs. See "Configuring Actions" in the PowerChute plus User Guide. Use the command rscadm send_event to log events and send alerts to RSC from the server.

1. Log in to the server and start the PowerChute plus application.

2. Choose Event Actions from the Configuration menu.

3. In the Event Actions dialog box, click on an event that you want to notify RSC about (for example, UPS On Battery).

4. Select the Run Command File and then click on the associated Options button.

The Run Command File dialog box opens.

5. Using a text editor, create a command file with the following content:

rscadm send_event -c "UPS: UPS On Battery"

You can use any message string in place of "UPS: UPS On Battery". Be sure to enclose the message string in double quotes.

Use the -c option to send an alert and also record the event in the RSC event log.
To log the event only, do not use the -c option.

6. Save the file as /usr/platform/platform-name/sbin/ups_batt.com.

You can obtain the string to use for platform-name using the Solaris command
uname -i. For example:

% uname -i

SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R

7. Type the name of this file into the Run Command File dialog box.

8. Enter an integer for Seconds Before Executing.

This value will normally be 0.

9. Click on OK.

10. Repeat steps 2 through 9 for each event for which you want to create a log entry or send an alert, using appropriate content and command file names.

11. Click on OK in the Event Actions dialog box to confirm changes.

12. Choose Exit from the PowerChute plus System menu.