APC Smart UPS network shutdown issue
- by Rob Clarke
Here is a bit about our setup:
We have 2x Smart-UPS RT 6000 XL units with network management cards
We are running Powerchute from a network server
Powerchute is connected to the management cards of both UPSs
UPSs are set to do a graceful shutdown via Powerchute when the battery duration is under 20 minutes
We also have a command file that runs with Powerchute
Although our setup is redundant we do not have an equal load on each server due to APC switches for single power devices
The problem is that as we do not have an equal load on each server the batteries drain at different rates. This means that the UPSs both get to the specified low battery duration at completely different times. The problem here is that UPS 1 may have run down to 5 minutes and is in desperate need of initiating a Powerchute shutdown - UPS 2 still has 25 minutes of runtime so no shutdown is initiated. Consequently UPS 1 goes down and takes all the servers with and then shuts down UPS 2 as well! What we need to happen are 1 of either 2 things:
Powerchute initiates the shutdown as soon as either UPS reaches the 20 minutes low battery duration setting - and doesnt wait for both
The UPS with the heavier load expends its entire battery but does not shutdown both UPSs and lets the load be switched across to the UPS that still has runtime remaining. That way when the UPS that still has runtime reaches its low battery duration it can proceed with the graceful shutdown via Powerchute.
Hope that makes sense, any help is greatly appreciated!
