Trouble with NUT and BackUPS XS 1500 via USB…

Fred Fredburger

The only cable I have for the UPS is the RJ45-USB cable (940-0127B). Looks like there is an RJ45-DB9 cable (940-0128D) available. Pinout located here. Looks like one of the parts isn't available at my local Radio Shack, so I think I'll just order the cable.

rsw686

I just did a quick google search. Found the following.

"Repetitive stale status - Loss of communication

Some models might report repetitive stale status, for 1 sec or less. This is due to a small and temporary flood of the UPS µcontroler.

To solve this point, simply add "pollinterval=15" in ups.conf. Also change the value of MAXAGE to 20 in upsd.conf, and optionally DEADTIME to 20 in upsmon.conf. You might adapt these values according to your tests and configuration."

Let me know if adding this to your config solves the problem. If so I will update the NUT package, either adding a way to modify this value, or defaulting the poll interval to 15 for usb ups.

Please not that changing setting via the webugi nut confiuration page or rebooting will overwrite those files. You will have to modify those files with the webgui daignostics -> edit file or console and then start and stop the service with the status-> services page or from the console.

Fred Fredburger

Thanks for the tip! I'll give this a shot tomorrow at work and post my results!

Thanks again!

Fred Fredburger

Doesn't look like it worked. I changed my /usr/local/etc/nut files to the following (new lines marked with <<)…


user=root
[APC_XS_1500]
driver=newhidups
port=auto
pollinterval=15 <<


ACL all 0.0.0.0/0
ACL localhost 127.0.0.1/32
ACCEPT localhost
REJECT all
MAXAGE 20 <<


MONITOR APC_XS_1500@localhost 1 monuser mypass master
MINSUPPLIES 1
SHUTDOWNCMD "/sbin/shutdown -h +0"
POWERDOWNFLAG /etc/killpower
DEADTIME 20 <<


starting newhidups
Network UPS Tools - UPS driver controller 2.0.5
Network UPS Tools: 0.28 USB communication driver 0.28 - core 0.30 (2.0.5)

Detected a UPS: American Power Conversion/Back-UPS RS 1500 FW:8.g9 .D USB FW:g9
Using subdriver: APC/CyberPower HID 0.9
starting upsd
Network UPS Tools upsd 2.0.5
Connected to UPS [APC_XS_1500]: APC_XS_1500
starting upsmon
Network UPS Tools upsmon 2.0.5
UPS: APC_XS_1500@localhost (master) (power value 1)
Using power down flag file /etc/killpower

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:04 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost lost

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local                                     
        (no tty) at 10:05 CDT...                                               

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost established                      

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:05 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost lost

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:05 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost established

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:06 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost lost

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:06 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost established

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:06 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost lost

Broadcast Message from admin@pfsense.local
        (no tty) at 10:06 CDT...

Communications with UPS APC_XS_1500@localhost established

Fred Fredburger

@Fred:

Doesn't look like it worked. I changed my /usr/local/etc/nut files to the following (new lines marked with <<)…
user=root
pollinterval=15 <<
[APC_XS_1500]
driver=newhidups
port=auto

After looking at the man page for ups.conf I moved the pollinterval to the global area of the .conf rather than the UPS area. I reran nut.sh start but it didn't make any difference.

rsw686

Well only thing I can think of is compiling the NUT developmental newhidups driver to see if that addresses the problem.

Fred Fredburger

Well, I got my 940-0128D cable in the mail, but I don't know what settings to choose (or what to modify ups.conf with).

The link I posted earlier, for the pinout, says set it to dumb/940-0128A but it says communication lost then ups unavailable.

Any ideas?

dotdash

I bet you already changed the model to 'back ups generic' or somesuch from 'back ups usb', but you could try the 'backups pro cable' for grins. Try both smart cable and dumb cable and see if anything works…

Fred Fredburger

After doing every combination of APC Back-UPS (generic)/APC Back-UPS RS (generic)/APC Back-UPS Pro (cable)/APC Smart-UPS (cable), Generic type, and Cable type I ended up with zero options working.

So, I decided to check my dmesg and noticed that it doesn't show a ttyd0. ::) Duh. I'm gonna reboot the firewall after hours and check the COM port setting in the BIOS.

Also, I'm a little confused with the two different drop-downs (generic type and cable type). Do I only worry about the generic drop-down if I choose a UPS that says (generic)? Do I only worry about the cable drop-down if I choose a UPS that says (cable)? Which is the "smart" cable and which is the "dumb" cable?

Thanks!

rsw686

You only need to worry about the cable or generic drop down if the ups type you select has it in parenthesis. The serial ports listed in the webgui should be the ones on your system as I parse the dmesg output.

Fred Fredburger

I don't see any ttyd0 listed in my dmesg.boot. ???


Copyright (c) 1992-2006 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE-p2 #0: Fri Jun 16 01:03:36 UTC 2006
    sullrich@builder.livebsd.com:/usr/obj.pfSense/usr/src/sys/pfSense.6
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.20GHz (2192.90-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0xf29  Stepping = 9
  Features=0xbfebfbff <fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>Features2=0x4400<cntx-id,<b14>>
real memory  = 535248896 (510 MB)
avail memory = 514191360 (490 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <dell  2400 ="">ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 1
ioapic0 <version 2.0="">irqs 0-23 on motherboard
wlan: mac acl policy registered
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.16.16 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
acpi0: <dell 2400 ="">on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x808-0x80b on acpi0
cpu0: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
acpi_button0: <power button="">on acpi0
pcib0: <acpi host-pci="" bridge="">port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib0
agp0: <intel 82845g="" (845g="" gmch)="" svga="" controller="">mem 0xe8000000-0xefffffff,0xfeb80000-0xfebfffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
agp0: detected 892k stolen memory
agp0: aperture size is 128M
uhci0: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-a="">port 0xff80-0xff9f irq 16 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb0: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-a="">on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-b="">port 0xff60-0xff7f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb1: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-b="">on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-c="">port 0xff40-0xff5f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb2: <intel 82801db="" (ich4)="" usb="" controller="" usb-c="">on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <intel 82801db="" l="" m="" (ich4)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0xffa80800-0xffa80bff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb3: EHCI version 1.0
usb3: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2
usb3: <intel 82801db="" l="" m="" (ich4)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">on ehci0
usb3: USB revision 2.0
uhub3: Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub3: 6 ports with 6 removable, self powered
pcib1: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 30.0 on pci0
pci1: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib1
xl0: <3Com 3c905B-TX Fast Etherlink XL> port 0xde00-0xde7f mem 0xfe9fde80-0xfe9fdeff irq 16 at device 4.0 on pci1
miibus0: <mii bus="">on xl0
xlphy0: <3Com internal media interface> on miibus0
xlphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
xl0: Ethernet address: 00:50:04:7f:04:be
xl1: <3Com 3c905B-TX Fast Etherlink XL> port 0xde80-0xdeff mem 0xfe9fdf00-0xfe9fdf7f irq 17 at device 5.0 on pci1
miibus1: <mii bus="">on xl1
xlphy1: <3Com internal media interface> on miibus1
xlphy1:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
xl1: Ethernet address: 00:50:04:7f:08:3f
xl2: <3Com 3c905B-TX Fast Etherlink XL> port 0xdf00-0xdf7f mem 0xfe9fdf80-0xfe9fdfff irq 18 at device 6.0 on pci1
miibus2: <mii bus="">on xl2
xlphy2: <3Com internal media interface> on miibus2
xlphy2:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
xl2: Ethernet address: 00:50:04:7f:0a:b2
bfe0: <broadcom bcm4401="" fast="" ethernet="">mem 0xfe9fe000-0xfe9fffff irq 17 at device 9.0 on pci1
miibus3: <mii bus="">on bfe0
bmtphy0: <bcm4401 10="" 100basetx="" phy="">on miibus3
bmtphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
bfe0: Ethernet address: 00:0b:db:c2:ee:2c
isab0: <pci-isa bridge="">at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <isa bus="">on isab0
atapci0: <intel ich4="" udma100="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xffa0-0xffaf mem 0xfeb7fc00-0xfeb7ffff irq 18 at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata1: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci0
pci0: <serial bus,="" smbus="">at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
speaker0: <pc speaker="">port 0x61 on acpi0
fdc0: <floppy drive="" controller="">port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0
fdc0: [FAST]
pmtimer0 on isa0
orm0: <isa option="" roms="">at iomem 0xc0000-0xcb7ff,0xcb800-0xcbfff,0xcc000-0xcc7ff,0xcc800-0xccfff,0xcd000-0xce7ff,0xce800-0xcffff on isa0
atkbdc0: <keyboard controller="" (i8042)="">at port 0x60,0x64 on isa0
atkbd0: <at keyboard="">irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sc0: <system console="">at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
sio0: type 8250 or not responding
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <generic isa="" vga="">at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 2192896684 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
Fast IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
ad0: 38166MB <wdc wd400eb-75cpf0="" 06.04g06="">at ata0-master UDMA100
acd0: CDROM <lite-on ltn486s="" 48x="" max="" yds6="">at ata1-master UDMA33
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a</lite-on></wdc></generic></system></at></keyboard></isa></floppy></pc></serial></ata></ata></intel></isa></pci-isa></bcm4401></mii></broadcom></mii></mii></mii></acpi></acpi></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></acpi></acpi></power></acpi></dell></version></dell ></cntx-id,<b14></fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>

rsw686

sis0, sis1, etc are your serial ports which correspond to /dev/ttyd0, etc

sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
sio0: type 8250 or not responding
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled

Looks like they are not configured in the bios.

I don't have my other box running, but to show you my embedded box shows

sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x30 on isa0
sio0: type 16550A, console
sio1 at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa0
sio1: type 16550A

Fred Fredburger

Yeah, fter I got back from lunch I checked the dmesg and saw the lines with the 8250s that said they weren't enabled. I'm currently trying to coordinate a time with everyone in the office as to when I can reboot.

Any ideas as to which UPS/cable I should try with an APC BackUPS XS via serial?

Fred Fredburger

I just rebooted and went into the BIOS and enabled COM1.

When I rebooted I got this in my dmesg…
_ sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A_

I set it to APC Back-UPS (generic) and tried generic type 1. After it saved the status said On Line. ;D THANKS EVERYONE!

Generic type 2 gave Low Battery and type 3 gave On Line. I don't know the difference between them, but I figured that 1 was 1 for a reason so I put it back to that.

I couldn't get either the APC Back-UPS (cable) or APC Smart-UPS (cable) to work with either cable.

Would that indicate that the cable I got is just a simple/dumb cable?

Now I gotta work on getting our other *nix boxes to connect to NUT and shutdown when NUT says so.

A little off-topic for this thread, but does pfSense provide any mechanism to send WOL packets to a list of servers when it boots? It'd be nice if it could do that, so NUT will signal our servers to shutdown and pfSense would turn them back on after the firewall was up for xx minutes.

dotdash

@Fred:

A little off-topic for this thread, but does pfSense provide any mechanism to send WOL packets to a list of servers when it boots? It'd be nice if it could do that, so NUT will signal our servers to shutdown and pfSense would turn them back on after the firewall was up for xx minutes.

For this I think you could create a batch file and call it via shellcmd in the config.xml
Maybe have it wait and then call wol after a few minutes. Perhaps use wol -f to wake a list of macs specified in the file. It will run everytime you reboot the box, but no harm in trying to wake up a server that's already on…