NUT as slave, Synology as UPS-server, some different error messages

Mr. Jingles

G'day all lovers of the finest firewall in the world ;D

I am having trouble getting this situation to work. In another thread I asked if apccupsd could do this which appeared not to be possible 'the easy way', but luckily fellow member Gogol replied what worked for him. Of course, it doesn't work for me :P

I'll quote first:

@gogol:

@Hollander:

G'day Danilo ;D

Could I ask a question? I have an APC-UPS (SmartUPS 1000), which connects to a Synology NAS via a USB-cable which has some (I don't know which one yet, but Synology runs Linux) UPS-server running. So the APC-UPS sends a signal to the Synology when there is a power problem, after which the Synology can shut down itself and the other Synology NAS-ses I have via LAN. Would your package be able to act as a slave towards the Synology also? As in:
APC-UPS: power problem signal to Synology NAS 1
–----------> Synology NAS 1 (UPS server monitoring software)
-------------------------------> signal to other Synologies: shutdown
-------------------------------> signal to pfSense: shutdown

If so, what would be the settings in your package to accomplish this? I have been poking around, but to be honest: I have no clue :-[

Thank you in advance for your answer ;D

Bye,
[/quote]

I have done this with the NUT package. The USB cable from my backups ES700 is connected to a Synology NAS and this NAS acts as a server for my Pfsense box.
Works like a charm:

On your NAS check shutdown UPS and enable Network UPS Server

In Permitted disk stations enter IP adres of your Pfsense box (Lan IP address in most cases)

In the NUT package settings set Remote UPS

And Remote NUT ups settings set name to "ups", Remote address to you NAS IP, User "monuser" and Password "secret"

Thats all there is. But don't forget that with a power failure your network doesn't have power too, so your switch must be connected to the UPS too (that's what I forgot while testing) :D

So I have told Synology pfSense is allowed as a slave. I created a user 'monuser' in Synology also, made him even admin there so he has sufficient rights, and explicitly added a firewall rule in the Synology to allow access from the UPS.

In NUT, I entered the settings per the screenshot attached. I tinkered around a little bit with the type of UPS to see if it works, but it doesn't.

There are multiple problems it appears:

There is the 'ERROR: Data Stale!'. I found some threats in this forum about dealing with that by changing config files. I didn't do that yet, since there are more intriguing errors as well:
/usr/local/libexec/nut/upsdrvctl start
This Belkin device (050d:3201) is not (or perhaps not yet) supported
by usbhid-ups. Please make sure you have an up-to-date version of NUT. If
this does not fix the problem, try running the driver with the
'-x productid=3201' option. Please report your results to the NUT user's
mailing list <nut-upsuser@lists.alioth.debian.org>.

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.37 (2.6.5)
USB communication driver 0.31
No matching HID UPS found
Driver failed to start (exit status=1)
Network UPS Tools - UPS driver controller 2.6.5</nut-upsuser@lists.alioth.debian.org>
This is weird, since I didn't tell it it was a Belkin, I told it it is an APC Smart-UPS (1000).

And if gets even stranger:
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/nut.sh start 
$ /usr/local/etc/rc.d/nut.sh start
kill: No such process <---- I made this bold, but that appears not allowed within [ code ][ / code ].
UPS: ups@192.168.2.41 (slave) (power value 1)
Using power down flag file /etc/killpower

Broadcast Message from root@pfs.workgroup
        (no tty) at 10:52 CET...

Communications with UPS ups@192.168.2.41 lost
So, I am not really sure how to get this working. Would anybody be willing to help me out of my misery ( ;D).

Thank you in advance,

Bye,

gogol

Did you test your NUT ups settings first with the pfsense box directly connected with a usb cable to the ups?

You don't need a "monuser" on Synology. This is the default user to login to the NUT server on the synology NAS.

In the attachments my settings for my UPS:

Schermafbeelding-2014-01-08-om-8-jan.01.27.54.jpg

Mr. Jingles

Thanks very much for your reply, Gogol ;D

I tested it connecting directly pfSense <-> SmartUPS. NUT recognizes it. But as soon as I point it to the Synology it just comes back with the ERROR: Data Stale, and the errors mentioned previously. I tried every APC-UPS model in the list in the NUT-GUI, but the error remains the same.

The Synology in itself works fine; this Syno controls two other Synologies also, UPS-wise, and that just works.

So I have no clue :'(

2014-01-08_142449.jpg_thumb

2014-01-08_143858.jpg_thumb

Mr. Jingles

More pics:

2014-01-08_144021.jpg_thumb

2014-01-08_144033.jpg_thumb

gogol

What is in your system log (upsmon)?

Mr. Jingles

Thank you for your reply, Gogol ;D

There are several messages for 'upsmon' in Status/System Logs/General:

Jan 8 14:32:22 upsmon[75026]: UPS [ups@192.168.2.41]: connect failed: Connection failure: Operation not permitted
Jan 8 14:32:22 upsmon[74937]: Startup successful
Jan 8 14:32:22 upsmon[66702]: upsmon parent: read
Jan 8 14:32:00 upsmon[61573]: upsmon parent: read
Jan 8 14:32:00 upsmon[61900]: Signal 15: exiting
Jan 8 14:31:41 upsmon[61900]: UPS ups@192.168.2.41 is unavailable
Jan 8 14:31:36 upsmon[61900]: Communications with UPS ups@192.168.2.41 lost
Jan 8 14:31:36 upsmon[61900]: UPS [ups@192.168.2.41]: connect failed: Connection failure: Operation not permitted
Jan 8 14:31:36 upsmon[61573]: Startup successful
Jan 8 14:31:33 upsmon[21416]: Signal 15: exiting
Jan 8 14:30:36 upsmon[21416]: Poll UPS [ups@localhost] failed - Data stale
Jan 8 14:30:31 upsmon[21416]: Poll UPS [ups@localhost] failed - Data stale
Jan 8 14:30:26 upsmon[21416]: UPS ups@localhost is unavailable
Jan 8 14:30:26 upsmon[21416]: Poll UPS [ups@localhost] failed - Data stale
Jan 8 14:25:31 upsmon[21416]: Communications with UPS ups@localhost lost
Jan 8 14:25:31 upsmon[21416]: Poll UPS [ups@localhost] failed - Data stale
Jan 8 14:23:36 upsmon[21393]: Startup successful

(There were lots of these messages, I removed all the duplicates to make it readable).

I was looking for the ups conf files, but I am still looking where they are ;D

gogol

I have the default settings in Synology NAS for firewall and QOS. Did you made changes there?

Mr. Jingles

@gogol:

I have the default settings in Synology NAS for firewall and QOS. Did you made changes there?

Thanks ;D

I don't use QOS, and the firewall is disabled in the Synology. It doesn't matter, it doesn't work. But there is something very strange going on:

Today I set up Syslog server on the Synology, as I want to see what my switch is doing. I told my switch and pfSense to send the logs there. The switch happily does, but pfSense does not:


Jan 10 15:00:16 syslogd: kernel boot file is /boot/kernel/kernel 
syslogd: sendto: Operation not permitted

So pfSense NUT can not talk to the Synology, and now syslogd also can't. But the switch can, and so can my desktop-PC's, my HTPC's, my tablet and my smart phone.

I have no idea how to debug that :-[

P3R

I would start by going through the firewall rules in detail. It sounds as if the Synology is out of the allowed ip address range…

gogol

Yes, I would look also to the firewall rules and network settings on the pfsense box. As I have shown it is possible and I have tested it with cutting off the power to the UPS (without removing the plug from the wall socket). I can get "stale data" also, but that is when they don't see each other.

Mr. Jingles

@P3R:

I would start by going through the firewall rules in detail. It sounds as if the Synology is out of the allowed ip address range…

@gogol:

Yes, I would look also to the firewall rules and network settings on the pfsense box. As I have shown it is possible and I have tested it with cutting off the power to the UPS (without removing the plug from the wall socket). I can get "stale data" also, but that is when they don't see each other.

Thank you to the both of you ;D

Well shoot me if you want to, it works now and I have no clue what I have done (I've had an accident with brain damage and suffer from short term memory problems, this is not a joke, so it is hard for me to remember what I do if I don't write it down immediately). I have been doing a lot of things in different packages, cleaning up firewall rules, and so on. And this morning I tried it again. Not only is NUT now working, but surprisingly pfSense now also is sending syslog messages to the Synology syslog-server :o

So once again thank you very much for helping me ;D

Might I ask one final thing: NUT now shows like the attached screenshot. That isn't too much. But I was more wondering: where do you configure when pfSense needs to shut down when it gets a signal from the UPS-server in the Synology NAS?

I mean: in the Synologies I can tell each Synology to shut down x seconds/minutes after the main Synology sends its signal, but I don't see where you configure that in NUT? Or don't you? If not, what does it do then? Shutdown immediately after it receives the signal? Because that isn't necessary; I have power outages from time to time, that last seconds. My APC UPS can handle the machines for over an hour, so pfSense should not shut down in the first second, but only if there isn't power again say after 5 minutes.

Thank you again ;D

nut_works.jpg_thumb

gogol

You don't have to do anything. Synology NAS sends a system halt command and waits for pfSense to halt and then shutdown itself and stops the UPS and then when the power comes back both machines startup.
I have set mine to shutdown after 5 minutes, because in the Netherlands when we have a power failure it lasts for a minimum of 60-90 minutes.

P3R

@gogol:

Synology NAS sends a system halt command…

I agree.

…and waits for pfSense to halt...

To do what? Would it stay up beyond it's configured shutdown time if the halt signal (what kind of signal is that?) from pfSense never arrives?

…and then shutdown itself and stops the UPS...

I don't think it could happen in that order but more importantly, is there really a shutdown command available from the monitoring system (in this case the Synology) to shut down the UPS (and then with the UPS starting to supply power again when main power is restored I assume)?

I would have expected a normal consumer UPS to signal loss of power to the monitoring system but have no means of shutting down the battery power and also not to be able to power the protected systems back up again? If I'm wrong, please explain how that works.

I'm not trying to scare anybody or looking for a fight here, I'm only very interested to understand the details so please enlighten me if I have have misunderstood things.

gogol

You are probably right about the order of my words or the order of the events ;)

I thought I have read somewhere on Synology forum or article that a Synology NUT server waits for the other Synology client for shutdown ( maybe by pinging or so or not receiving polls at 5 second interval anymore). So I assume pfsense with NUT behaves the same.

I did only tested once with my settings and after cutting the power I watched first my pfsense box receiving a halt command after 5 minutes and then the Synology NAS starting to halt and then the UPS switches off. I know the UPS switched off because a monitor connected to the pfsense box and UPS stayed on with the text that the system has halted while the Synology NAS was halting until the UPS and the NAS and switch switched off.

I hope it is more clear now. :)

Mr. Jingles

G'day all lovers of the finest firewall in the world ;D

Would anybody happen to know what this error means:

Poll UPS [ups@192.168.4.37] failed - Write error: Operation not permitted

The 4.37 is the Synology that acts as the UPS server. Yesterday I was literally flooded with this (a couple of 100 emails about this), and normally I also get these a couple of times a week.

Google didn't help me any further. I am trying to understand who is trying to write what to where and who is messing around with that ( :P). In NUT the light is green, the synology also doesn't complain about anything UPS-related, so I am, at least temporary, once again completely lost.

Thank you for any help ;D