NUT package (2.8.0 and below)

frozensteel

Hey Dennypage,

I just switched from an older server to a newer server. Older server was running Pfsense 2.3.1 running a much older version of NUT. Backed up the configuration file, installed Pfsense 2.3.2 and restored the configuration file. I then installed the NUT package (Which is now 2.7.4_2) and now the service runs, and the UPS option is under the services menu, but the NUT option is still under the services menu. Is this option supposed to work? All it gives me is "404 Not Found nginx". The UPS tab also doesn't have the fancy bar graphics the older NUT package has. Is this supposed to be under the NUT tab? How do I fix it?

dennypage

I'm looking at how to automatically remove the old Services / NUT menu item. In the interim, this tells you how to do it manually:

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115349.msg650408#msg650408

dennypage

@frozensteel:

The UPS tab also doesn't have the fancy bar graphics the older NUT package has.

Both the old and the new NUT package have the same two bar graphs, UPS Load and Battery charge.

In the new package, you will find them on the status page (Services / UPS / Status). This page also shows full detail of what is reported by the NUT driver for the UPS. There is also a UPS Status widget for the dashboard which provides a abbreviated status listing including the two bar graphs.

frozensteel

So I did what you said and removed the following:


<menu>

<menu>
			<name>NUT</name>
			<tooltiptext>Set Network UPS Tools settings.</tooltiptext>
			Services
			<url>/ups_status.php</url>
</menu>

Restored only the package information (since my configuration has changed since this configuration file was used) and it worked like a charm.

However, this is the output I get from UPS Status:

![](https://s22.postimg.org/7ll45jiap/ups_status.png)

I wish it looked like the older version which was like this:

![](https://doc.pfsense.org/images/0/0d/Nut-status-example.png)</menu>

dennypage

The reason that you are not seeing bar graphs for load and charge is because they are not being reported for your UPS. The fields battery.charge and ups.load are missing from the UPS Detail section.

Best guess is that you want a different mib. I would try explicitly setting the ietf mib and see what it shows.

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115349.msg649477#msg649477

dennypage

Another indication that something may be wrong with the mib is that your UPS has a runtime of 136 hours. :)

frozensteel

Man do I want to buy you a beer! Added mibs=ietf to the "Extra Arguments to driver" field, saved it and BOOM!

That about wraps up all the issues!

Thanks :D

dennypage

@frozensteel:

Man do I want to buy you a beer! Added mibs=ietf to the "Extra Arguments to driver" field, saved it and BOOM!

Thanks :D

You are quite welcome. Glad it's working for you. While disappointing, 136 minutes of runtime is much more realistic than 136 hours.

How about a whiskey instead?

:)

bulldog5

Hi dennypage,

I'm having an issue with NUT on pfSense 2.3.2 and newest NUT pkg 2.7.4_2. My UPS is detected and displays the graphs just fine using the usbhid driver. I have my pfSense box set as Local USB master. My other freeNas server will connect to it just fine as a Slave. When I pull the wall plug. I see the WALL message "ups on bat" but it never initiates the shutdown command on the pfSense box itself, the remote NUT slave will get the shutdown command. If i plug the UPS into my Freenas box and set that as a master, and pfsense as a slave it works as expected. However I'd prefer pfsense being my Master control.

Any ideas are appreciated, I've spent a couple hours pulling my hair out thinking it was something with upssched.conf or NOTIFYCMD.

Thanks,

dennypage

When you say you pull the plug, are you leaving it pulled until the battery runs down?

By default, NUT will not initiate a shutdown until the UPS unit reports that the battery is low. Most UPS will not report a low battery until 10% or so. Depending upon your battery runtime, this can be a while.

I don't use FreeNAS, but I did take a quick look at their configuration. There is a configuration parameter titled "Shutdown mode" which if set to "UPS goes on battery" which will cause NUT to initiate a shutdown immediately when mains are lost. The other mode is "UPS reaches low battery" which is the default behavior of NUT and what the pfSense package uses. Given that most power disruptions are short term, this is generally desirable.

You can of course change this configuration with the pfSense package by placing directives in the advanced section for ups.conf. Here is an example of something you might want to do:

ignorelb
override.battery.charge.low = 50
override.battery.runtime.low = 600

This would tell NUT to initiate a shutdown if the battery level falls below 50% or the runtime falls below 10 minutes.

See the 'ignorelb' section in the ups.conf manual for details on this.

With some UPS you can also change the low battery condition settings in the UPS itself. You can determine this by running

  upsrw <upsname></upsname>

If the UPS supports configuring these variables, you will see values for battery.charge.low and battery.runtime.low.

See upsrw upsrw manual for details on using the upsrw command. Also see the forum post on running commands.

bulldog5

dennypage,

You're exactly right, I was pulling the main and tapping my fingers expecting the same would happen in 30seconds or so with no result. Its a CyberPower OR1500PFCRT2U, so at half load I've got about 17-18mins runtime.

Its a tough design decision to make. I'm at about 50% load with my pfsense, HP G6 VM box and FreeNAS server, and HP procurve switch. My original idea was to shutdown the two big boys, freenas and HP G6 pretty quickly, then keep the internet up requiring pfsense and the HP switch.

One other question I had, I've been seeing every 2hours or so COMMBAD COMMOK within 5second polls. I'm using the default usbhid driver. Have you seen this happen before? Is the UPS actually dropping out and establishing within the 5seconds?

dennypage

@bulldog5:

One other question I had, I've been seeing every 2hours or so COMMBAD COMMOK within 5second polls. I'm using the default usbhid driver. Have you seen this happen before?

I've not experienced this specific issue personally, but I have had some strange issues with CyberPower units. It could be the result of either a UPS issue or a USB issue. First thing I would check would be the physicals: good USB cable, direct connection with no hub, etc. Assuming that you are satisfied with the hardware connection, my only other suggestion would be to try increasing the pollinterval (ups.conf) to 5 or 10 seconds to see if that helps.

bulldog5

Its a brand new unit, literally just hooked it up yesterday. USB cable everything is good. It will be fine for hours. then it does a single UPS lost, UPS established.

(no tty) at 16:36 CDT…

Communications with UPS ups lost

(no tty) at 16:36 CDT...

Communications with UPS ups established

AR15USR

@bulldog5:

Its a brand new unit, literally just hooked it up yesterday. USB cable everything is good. It will be fine for hours. then it does a single UPS lost, UPS established.

(no tty) at 16:36 CDT…

Communications with UPS ups lost

(no tty) at 16:36 CDT...

Communications with UPS ups established

I get this same thing, when I switch usb ports it stops doing it. I think its a usb2 vs 3 thing, at least on mine..

stanthewizard

Hello

Nice nice feature with this plugin

When battery is low the NUT service does send a signal ?
Or I have something to do ?

Thanks for help

dennypage

When the UPS enters a low battery state NUT initiates a shutdown.

McFuzz

Hello!

Is there a tutorial to get email notifications to work? I have the checkbox ticked, but when I tested by putting the UPS on battery power (yanking power cord), it did not produce any notifications… I had it all working before upgrading to 2.3.2_1 and NUT upgrading to 2.4.7_2... but seems like things are a whole lot different now.

dennypage

Have you sucessfully tested emails in System Advanced / Notifications / E-Mail following the upgrade?

McFuzz

@dennypage:

Have you sucessfully tested emails in System Advanced / Notifications / E-Mail following the upgrade?

Yes I have - and indeed they are coming through. I have not done any additional configurations in the UPS Settings -> Advanced Settings section… am I supposed to configure anything there aside from ticking the checkbox?

dennypage

You did a save of the NUT settings after ticking the checkbox, yes?

Please post the contents of /usr/local/etc/nut/upsmon.conf.