Displaying items by tag: UPS
Monitoring UPS devices
From a layered design point of view, the monitoring base layer -or layer 0- includes all devices whose mission is creating a solid physic and environmental platform where upper devices and services could run.
UPS devices are a key part of this layer: from affording not only a continuous supply but also a quality signal to showing the consumption per line, they are a MUST BE when designing from datacenter to global monitoring strategies.
Why monitoring a UPS?
Many times, when getting data to start a monitoring project, I find that users claim "Really? Can it be monitored?", then I answer "it MUST be monitored".
Perhaps because UPS devices are in the border between computer and power supply worlds, in the limits where a vast, misterious land populated by volts, ampers and watts starts, the IT crowd deliberately or unconsciously doesn't pay them a bit of its attention.
However, all the IT hard -and thus soft- structure depends on them as suppliers of continuous, clean* power supply, just consider the costs in manpower and the amount of offline service clients of an unattended power cutoff in your CPD due to a unmonitorized out of service UPS.
All UPS are based on batteries as power storage devices and battery life is closely environmental temperature dependent, usually 21 to 25 Celsius degrees (depending on battery specs). In order to maximize their life you have two options: turning you CPD into a freezer spending lots of money in conditioning air maintenance, or monitoring their temperature and fit the environmental temperature to its optimal value... bet it, the last one wins.
Finally, monitoring the UPS output line values will allow you, without the need of using PDUs, knowing when you are reaching the UPS nominal limits or helping you to dimension the right device (and thus saving money) if you need to upgrade the current. And last but not least nowadays, monitoring the UPS input line value will allow you getting the overall** power supply consumption, and thus, the CO2 emission levels of your CPD.
...Well, and how do I get that info?
For a usual IT technician, first obvious option should be adopting a TUIN approach (Toothpicks Under Its Nails). Saddly UPS don't have nails.
Now seriously, you can rely on a propietary monitoring solution like those that some times manufacturers give or much more times they sell. If you have good friends and/or money to get it you will get a nice, colorful, program that only will be useful to monitor one kind of UPS. So if you have a diversified UPS park you will have to use more than one, and you will have to change it if you change the brand when upgrading it.
On the other hand, you can increase the value of your monitoring platform (read Nagios, Zenoss, OpenNMS or any other that supports SNMP traps and/or requests) adding UPS monitoring capabilities. You only need a UPS with SNMP capabilites: many of them have it out of the box, other can get it by mounting a network interface adapter.
When dealing with UPS SNMP MIBs you have, again, two options: basing your monitoring on private, manufacturer MIBs, or adopting an standard position and getting the needed info from the RFC 1628 MIB (formely UPS-MIB). First one is sweet and easy because the manufacturer might had chewed the meal to you, however you'll have to create a service set by manufacturer. Second one will require, in some cases, a higher scripting effort but it will work with all UPS supporting RFC 1628 MIB (that should be -if not all- the most).
As most of you -like me- like the extreme pain, let's go for the second one.
Summarizing
References
- The different types of UPS systems (Neil Rasmussen, APC)
(*).- Depending on the device characteristics, not all UPS improve the power signal quality. To know more about it check the fantastic Neil Rasmussen's white paper in references.(**).- Not counting air conditioning consumptions and stating that all CPD devices are attached to UPS network.
Weekly plugin: Powerware UPS working mode check
Nagios plugin for checking Powerware (Eaton) UPS working mode
Nagios Plugin released: Check of HP UPS working mode
Today we've released in our donwload site the Nagios plugin check_cpqups_mode. This plugin allows knowing the working mode and status of HP (Hewlett Packard) UPS devices supporting SNMP and CQPUPS-MIB.
Plugin manages the device reported information for stating the working mode as one of the following:
- Online: Working mode in which UPS is getting power supply in its input(s) and protecting the attached devices with the power supplied by its batteries.
- Offline: Working mode in which device is not getting power supply in its input(s) but devices are protected by batteries. Plugin interprets this state as three possible sub-states: Offline, offline with low battery power and offline with depleted batteries.
- Bypass: Working mode in which UPS is not protecting the attached devices, only transfering power from its inputs to its outputs.
Additionally to the working mode, plugin reports information about battery charge level and autonomy time, in minutes, based on battery level and UPS output consumption. User can set warning and critical thresholds based on both battery levels and autonomy time.
Plugin para chequeo de alarmas UPS liberado
Siguiendo la política de publicación de contenidos para su uso por la comunidad, esta semana hemos liberado un nuevo plugin para Nagios bajo licencia GNU/GPL: check_ups_alarms permite comprobar qué alarmas activas existen en un SAI con soporte al RFC 1628 (UPS-MIB) lo que, usado conjuntamente con el plugin check_ups_mode permite realizar una monitorización del SAI, si no completa, sí relativamente avanzada.
Estamos orgullosos de ver el soporte que estos plugins están teniendo en la comunidad de usuarios de Nagios: en menos de 24 horas el nuevo plugin ha obtenido más de 100 hits en la web de Nagios Exchange.
Invitamos a todos los usuarios de nuestros contenidos a que expreséis vuestra opinión, reportéis problemas o propongáis mejoras a través de nuestro blog o de la dirección de correo This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
check_ups_alarms plugin now updated
With the collaboration of Damien Feullet, one of the users of the check_ups_alarms Nagios plugin, we've been able to detect and correct one bug related to the plugin execution by the Embedded Perl (ePN) Nagios module dropping a message like this:
**ePN check_ups_alarms.pl: "Use of uninitalized value 4upsAlarmsPresent in numeric eq (==) at (eval 8) line 267"
The new release (0.3b) is now available, bug free, for being downloaded from our site. We want to sicerelly thank to Damien Feullet his collaboration reporting the detected bug.
Weekly plugin: Battery state on UPSv4 MIB compliant UPS
This week go back again with a new plugin. The turn this time is for check_upsv4_batteryage, a plugin for the UPSv4 MIB compliant UPS's and a Delta Electronics property.
check_upsv4_batteryage let us checking the condition and expiration date of a battery on a supported SNMP and MIB UPSv4 device. All Delta Electronics models and some Chloride models support this MIB.
check_upsv4_batteryage joins to check_upsv4_mode inside the released plugins for this MIB, in addition to the released plugins for UPSs of the UPS(RFC 1628) and xUPS from Powerware/Eaton MIBS. Plugin is fully embedded Perl compatible (ePN) and can be downloaded from our website or through Nagios Exchange.
We hope this contribution will be useful and your suggestions and comments are welcomed.
Plugin de la semana: Modo de funcionamiento en SAIs UPSv4
Últimamente el día a día no nos deja demasiado tiempo para liberar contenidos, pero tratando de ser fieles a nuesta cita semanal con la comunidad, aportamos un nuevo plugin para Nagios.
check_upsv4_mode nos permite chequear el modo de funcionamiento y nivel de autonomía (en tiempo y porcentaje de batería) en SAIs con capacidad SNMP y soporte al MIB UPSv4, propiedad de Delta Electronics. Todos los modelos de esta marca y algunos modelos de Chloride soportan este MIB.
check_upsv4_mode completa la serie de plugins dirigida a monitorizar el modos de funcionamiento en SAIs junto con el chequeo para dispositivos con soporte al MIB UPS o RFC 1628 (check_ups_mode) y dispositivos con soporte al MIB xUPS de Powerware/Eaton (check_xups_mode).
Una semana más esperamos que esta aportación os sea de gran utilidad. Esperamos vuestras sugerencias y comentarios.