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RE: newer ups howto




I'd like to share some personal experience with UPS on Linux.

At work we purchased Advice UPS as they claimed that they do support
Unix and Linux... As it turned out later, their "support" means that
we must buy very expensive replacement serial cable, and the software
for Linux. The software is really piece of crap. It's bad written,
supports only "dumb" interface, hard to configure, etc. It does takes
our server down in case of prolonged power outage however.

At home (it's home office actually) I bought TrippLite rack-mount UPS.
It is quite expensive. It has software for Linux available on their
web site, but the cable for it is again quite expensive. However I was
able to buy simple null-modem cable, cut it in half and solder it
again with the right pinout... Found the schematic on the net. Really
simple and works like a charm. The software for TrippLite is quite
good. It support smart UPS interface, and works in client/server mode.
I have also Windows 2000 machine connected to the same UPS, and
program on Linux knows to tell Windows to shut down when needed. Also
client on windows can manage UPS on Linux. The only problem I saw with
it is that it takes too much CPU time, apparently polling the serial
port all the time.

I know that MGE and APC have good UPSes with Linux support, but I
don't have first-hand experience with them, and don't know if/where
you can buy them in Israel.

Haim.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-il-bounce@cs.huji.ac.il
> [mailto:linux-il-bounce@cs.huji.ac.il]On Behalf Of Shaul Karl
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 2:53 AM
> To: Ishai Parasol
> Cc: Linux - IL Mailing List
> Subject: Re: newer ups howto
>
>
> >
> >
> > > > Hi
> > > >
> > > > Can someone point me to a new ups howto (the only one
> i can find is from
> > > > 1997).
> > >
> > >
> > > As far as I know you will not find anything newer in the LDP.
> > > It does explains the essentials of UPS handling quite well.
> > >
> > > Perhaps you would like to share what are you aiming at?
> > >
> >
> > I'm planing to buy a ups device in order to help my
> computers to survive the
> > winter's electricity breaks, but I don't know anything about it:
> > installation, hardware compatibility, software - what for
> & howto, etc. I
> > had some hard time finding this kind of information, I'll
> be glad to get a
> > url or two and ofcourse hardware recommendations and where to buy.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ishai.
> >
>
>
> If you have time do read the UPS HOWTO. Although old, it
> will help you
> grasp the basic notions, which is what you need when buying a UPS.
>
> How much power would you need the UPS to support? The
> computation of
> this number might be not as simple as its looks, mainly
> because power
> supplies and monitors tends to draw larger amount of current when
> powered up.
>
> A URL for one of many UPS software is
http://www.exploits.org/nut. It
also has a responsive user and devel mailing lists.

I am using an advice UPS (http://www.advice.co.il) to which I added a
driver for the nut. However only the basic UPS functionality works,
mainly because I do not have the full protocol. Another thing about my
driver is that I need to update it since the nut's internals are
getting modified. It does currently work, but I do not know for how
long will the nut coordinator be patient with me. And this brings us
to
the usual fact with hardware: try to get a hardware for which its
specifications and protocols are opened.

Now the UPS HOWTO suggests one should buy a dumb UPS. Mine is smart.
Yet I am not sure that if I would have to buy a UPS again I would not
go for the dumb ones: They tend to be smaller in size, cheaper and
their protocol is much simpler (and thus it is more likely that it
will
be opened). It also needs quite basic C knowledge in order to have a
dumb UPS supported by the nut, provided that you know the (simple)
protocol it uses. However, as far as I remember, there are no dumb UPS
that can backup large power consumption.

Ah, one more thing. The last paragraph refers to serial controlled
UPSs. There are also USB ones, for which I am not sure what is the
state of Linux software support. I know that the nut have a usb
driver,
but I do not know how generic it is and how good it is. I am also
unsure for the Linux support for in PC UPS card, nor how good they
are.

--

    Shaul Karl
    email: shaulka (replace these parenthesis with @) bezeqint,
           delete the comma and the white space characters and add
net



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