NUT package (2.8.0 and below)
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I recall my Eaton 5PX throw OB (on battery) and LB (low battery) at the same time, even with a large runtime remaining. In your UPS configuration you can configure the shutdown timers as Denny mentioned. Heres my 5px shutdown parameters.
If at 20% your UPS is failing to shutdown pfSense its likely your batteries are toast. Even new UPS can sit on shelves for sometime so worth testing before putting into production use.
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@q54e3w said in NUT package:
I recall my Eaton 5PX throw OB (on battery) and LB (low battery) at the same time, even with a large runtime remaining. In your UPS configuration you can configure the shutdown timers as Denny mentioned. Heres my 5px shutdown parameters.
If at 20% your UPS is failing to shutdown pfSense its likely your batteries are toast. Even new UPS can sit on shelves for sometime so worth testing before putting into production use.
Thank you for the screen shot.
Under on battery, the values of 1800 seconds and 20% does that mean both of those values have to be met before the ups Initiated a shuts down?
If I wanted pfSense to shut down at 30% battery, would I pull the mains and see time remaining at 30% and input that value in to remaining time and shut down duration?
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@Sir_SSV Been quite some time since I set this up so memory may be fuzzy but i recall its a 'OR' not 'AND'. You could stick 30% in percentage field and a small number in the time and it should shutdown (or flag LB & OB) at 30%.
Set it to 95% or something to test with to save running batteries up and down.EDIT: I just checked the manual and TL;DR
The first shutdown criteria initiates the restart of the shutdown sequence.
- If remaining time is under (0 to 99999 seconds, 180 by default) is the minimum remaining backup time
from which the shutdown sequence is launched. - If battery capacity is under (0 to 100%); this value cannot be less than that of the UPS and is the
minimum remaining battery capacity level from which the shutdown sequence is launched. - Shutdown after (0 to 99999 minutes, not validated by default) is the operating time in minutes left for
users after a switch to backup before starting the shutdown sequence. - Shutdown duration (120 seconds by default) is the time required for complete shutdown of systems
when a switch to backup time is long enough to trigger the shutdown sequences. It is calculated
automatically at the maximum of Shutdown duration of subscribed clients but can be modified in the
Advanced mode. - If battery capacity exceeds Minimum battery level to reach before restarting the UPS after utility
restoration
- If remaining time is under (0 to 99999 seconds, 180 by default) is the minimum remaining backup time
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@q54e3w said in NUT package:
@Sir_SSV Been quite some time since I set this up so memory may be fuzzy but i recall its a 'OR' not 'AND'. You could stick 30% in percentage field and a small number in the time and it should shutdown (or flag LB & OB) at 30%.
Set it to 95% or something to test with to save running batteries up and down.EDIT: I just checked the manual and TL;DR
The first shutdown criteria initiates the restart of the shutdown sequence.
- If remaining time is under (0 to 99999 seconds, 180 by default) is the minimum remaining backup time
from which the shutdown sequence is launched. - If battery capacity is under (0 to 100%); this value cannot be less than that of the UPS and is the
minimum remaining battery capacity level from which the shutdown sequence is launched. - Shutdown after (0 to 99999 minutes, not validated by default) is the operating time in minutes left for
users after a switch to backup before starting the shutdown sequence. - Shutdown duration (120 seconds by default) is the time required for complete shutdown of systems
when a switch to backup time is long enough to trigger the shutdown sequences. It is calculated
automatically at the maximum of Shutdown duration of subscribed clients but can be modified in the
Advanced mode. - If battery capacity exceeds Minimum battery level to reach before restarting the UPS after utility
restoration
At the moment, FreeNAS shuts down after it has been on battery for 5 mins (configured via FreeNAS).
I would like pfSense to shut down when battery is approx 30% and the ups to shut down when it hits the low battery state of 20%
Will have to play with a few of these values. I read through the ussr manual prior but damn it confused me!
- If remaining time is under (0 to 99999 seconds, 180 by default) is the minimum remaining backup time
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@Sir_SSV said in NUT package:
At the moment, FreeNAS shuts down after it has been on battery for 5 mins (configured via FreeNAS).
I would like pfSense to shut down when battery is approx 30% and the ups to shut down when it hits the low battery state of 20%
Staggering shutdowns like this may not be what you want. The problem comes when a system has initiated shutdown, but the mains return before the UPS enters a low battery state. Without a low battery state, the UPS will not cut / restore the load, and there will be nothing to trigger a restart of the system. It’s often better to configure the UPS and then let it manage shutdown.
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@dennypage said in NUT package:
@Sir_SSV said in NUT package:
At the moment, FreeNAS shuts down after it has been on battery for 5 mins (configured via FreeNAS).
I would like pfSense to shut down when battery is approx 30% and the ups to shut down when it hits the low battery state of 20%
Staggering shutdowns like this may not be what you want. The problem comes when a system has initiated shutdown, but the mains return before the UPS enters a low battery state. Without a low battery state, the UPS will not cut / restore the load, and there will be nothing to trigger a restart of the system. It’s often better to configure the UPS and then let it manage shutdown.
During my testing over the weekend, this is what I noticed.
I have since scheduled a shut down of both FreeNAS and pfSense close to the low battery of the ups (20%).
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I'm having a bit of trouble with the nut daemon starting when pfSense restarts from a complete shut down.
I found an earlier post and tried entering the below:
Extra arguments:
snmp_retries = 10
snmp_timeout = 2Get the error in System Logs
Poll UPS [Eaton] failed - Driver not connected
Removed the above Extra Arguments and entered the below:
ups.conf:
retrydelay = 30
maxretry = 20Get the error in System Logs
Data for UPS [Eaton] is stale - check driver
UPS [Eaton] data is no longer staleand it repeats the above error constantly until the service is stopped/restarted.
Once pfSense starts, if I manually stop and restart the service everything works ok!
Is there something I am doing incorrectly?
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@dennypage said in NUT package:
@Sir_SSV Please see posts here and here
Make sure that the UPS is configured to use a static IP address, and that you are addressing the UPS by IP address and not by DNS name.
Thanks for the tip!
I had pfSense serving an ip address to the UPS via DHCP. I think the problem is the UPS boots very quickly and pfSense takes a little longer (UniFi switches take even longer again). The UPS wasn't being served it's allocated IP address in enough time and hence was causing the nut daemon to hang (and subsequent System Log errors and email alerts).
I removed the UPS from pfSense DHCP server and changed the Network settings via Eaton gui to Static and assigned an IP address on the UPS vlan . When pfSense starts, because the UPS has already started (and has it's own IP) the nut daemon can talk with the UPS and automatically update the status.
Final testing has been completed with both pfSense and FreeNAS shutting down once the UPS is at 24% and the UPS shutting down at 20% (factory set by Eaton).
Happy that everything has worked out and big thanks to everyone that helped
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@Sir_SSV You're welcome.
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I have an APC BX1000M that I recently connected to my pfsense box, running on an apu2c4, via usb cable. NUT is set to use usbhid as the driver.
apcupsd detects the UPS straight away and can poll it on demand, however NUT is not able to poll the device it seems. The logged messages apparently show that a login does occur, but then connection is immediately lost.
Jun 17 18:51:42 upsd 37544 Startup successful Jun 17 18:51:44 upsd 37544 User local-monitor@::1 logged into UPS [apcups] Jun 17 18:51:44 upsmon 37226 Poll UPS [apcups] failed - Driver not connected Jun 17 18:51:44 upsmon 37226 Communications with UPS apcups lost Jun 17 18:51:49 upsmon 37226 Poll UPS [apcups] failed - Driver not connected Jun 17 18:51:49 upsmon 37226 UPS apcups is unavailableI'm hoping this is a simple case of me overlooking something obvious, as so far my reading of this topic, the manual, and Google-fu has not gotten me anywhere, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
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@turboturtle The "login" is the upsmon process connecting to upsd. It doesn't indicate anything about the actual UPS driver.
You are missing log entries for the driver itself. Look for entries matching "usbhid-ups" which is the NUT device driver for USB.
To address the most commonly experienced issue... if this is a fresh NUT install, you will need to either disconnect/reconnect the USB connection or reboot pfSense to have correct permissions on the USB port.
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@dennypage reboot did it, thanks!
Interesting to note however, there were no log messages about the driver itself - nothing matched "usbhid-ups".
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@turboturtle said in NUT package:
Interesting to note however, there were no log messages about the driver itself - nothing matched "usbhid-ups".
The log entries may have rolled off. The default log retention is somewhat small.
Glad it's working for you.
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Hi - I have a Cyberpower OR700, which I previously had on my pfSense system using USB. I added the RMCARD205 and am now trying to connect to NUT via SNMP. My initial setup in the NUT menu only specifies the UPS IP (set static in the pfSense DHCP) UPS Type (Remote SNMP) and UPS name.
pfSense/NUT does see the UPS and reports the status, but the amount of data is much less than when I connected via USB.
I am using SNMPv1, although the UPS has SNMPv3 available. I'm not sure if that would make any difference?
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@newberger A quick google search for "NUT RMCARD205" finds this in the NUT issues list: Support CyberPower RMCARD205
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@dennypage, thanks. I googled many topics around NUT SNMP setup, but not that specific query on this card. In reading it, it appears that more information is available if the ‘private’ SNMP community is used, but I can’t tell if it’s working correctly. Also, I had seen other RMCARDs are supported and was unsure how compatible this card would be with that support. Are you saying this card isn’t going to work yet?
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@newberger said in NUT package:
Also, I had seen other RMCARDs are supported and was unsure how compatible this card would be with that support. Are you saying this card isn’t going to work yet?
You'll have to read through the NUT issue to understand what currently works and what will work better after direct support is added.
The issue seems pretty active, and they appear to be looking for help... nudge.
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@dennypage Thanks - I'll follow the thread and help out, if possible.
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Hi everyone, sorry my first post here is an ask for help but.. well I need some help!
I have a slightly older APC Back-UPS 1500 RS UPS connect via a USB cable and have managed to get the basics of NUT working as a server (on pfSense) to shutdown itself as well as a remote FreeNAS and Ubuntu machine.My problem is that when power is restored, as soon as the host that talks to the UPS starts to boot up (i.e. immediately after going through POST) it triggers the UPS to go on battery (despite being plugged into the wall with AC power on) which it then stays on until the battery dies. Clearly this is not great for any machine attached that started at the same time as the firewall came up so trying to resolve this for a clean startup. If I leave the system to do it's thing it will sit there cycling; power up, trigger UPS to go on battery, continue booting, battery dies, abrupt shutdown, power up, rinse and repeat.
I've just moved the UPS from my rack to my study to do some more testing and I'm experiencing the same behaviour running the NUT master on a ubuntu test machine.. seems unlikely now it's anything specific to the pfSense iteration.
I'm hoping someone with experience configuring NUT and UPS's here might know what the issue since it seems like either a driver config option I've not set or something to do with startup / shutdown / init scrips etc that is a whole other kettle of fish to get my head around! In desperation I installed the windows utility (on a windows machine) to see if there were any behaviour options I could set on the UPS but there was nothing.
Again, apologies this isn't really a pfSense specific issue (other than ultimately I want the UPS managed by it). Alternatively if anyone could just give me the keywords to search on google for the behaviour I'm trying to stop that would be a great start!
Thanks,
DaveEdit: Just tried apcupsd which I think works as I would expect so I guess I have a partial workaround but will need to see if I can get that to notify NUT on FreeNAS.. but that's definitely outside the scope of this forum!
