NUT package (2.8.0 and below)

Sir_SSV

@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%).

Sir_SSV

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 = 2

Get 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 = 20

Get the error in System Logs

Data for UPS [Eaton] is stale - check driver
UPS [Eaton] data is no longer stale

and 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?

dennypage

@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.

Sir_SSV

@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

dennypage

@Sir_SSV You're welcome.

turboturtle

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 unavailable

I'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.

dennypage

@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.

turboturtle

@dennypage reboot did it, thanks!

Interesting to note however, there were no log messages about the driver itself - nothing matched "usbhid-ups".

dennypage

@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.

newberger

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?

dennypage

@newberger A quick google search for "NUT RMCARD205" finds this in the NUT issues list: Support CyberPower RMCARD205

newberger

@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?

dennypage

@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.

newberger

@dennypage Thanks - I'll follow the thread and help out, if possible.

uk_dave

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,
Dave

Edit: 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!

dennypage

@uk_dave A few questions:

Are you using running the current version of pfSense (2.4.5)?
Are you using the current version of the nut package (2.7.4_7)?
Do you have anything in Advanced Settings? In particular, any of these?
- ignorelb
- override.battery.charge.warning
- override.battery.charge.low
- override.battery.runtime.low

uk_dave

@dennypage Thanks for replying,

Running 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64) of pfSense and 2.7.4_7 of the NUT package.

I'm currently doing this testing on a fresh install of pfSense, all I had added to the config was:

USB Type: Local USB
UPS Name: ups
Driver: usbhid
ups.users: [remoteuser]
password = upsmon
upsmon slave

Here's my UPS: BR1500GI

I have disabled the master / slave behaviour of the UPS so all 5x sockets on the battery backup side should be in the 'Battery backup outlets with surge protection only' mode. I was assuming that NUT tells the UPS to shutdown and therefore having 5x sockets I can use rather than 3x was preferable.

Thanks,
Dave

dennypage

@uk_dave said in NUT package:

BR1500GI

Can you post output of upsrw and upsc for the device please?

uk_dave

@dennypage Output below:

[2.4.5-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/root: upsrw ups
[battery.charge.low]
Remaining battery level when UPS switches to LB (percent)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 10

[battery.runtime.low]
Remaining battery runtime when UPS switches to LB (seconds)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 120

[input.sensitivity]
Input power sensitivity
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: medium

[input.transfer.high]
High voltage transfer point (V)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 294

[input.transfer.low]
Low voltage transfer point (V)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 176

[ups.delay.shutdown]
Interval to wait after shutdown with delay command (seconds)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 20

[2.4.5-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/root: upsc ups
battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.charge.warning: 50
battery.date: 2001/09/25
battery.mfr.date: 2015/03/19
battery.runtime: 771
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 27.3
battery.voltage.nominal: 24.0
device.mfr: American Power Conversion
device.model: Back-UPS RS 1500G
device.serial: 3B1512X15061
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.synchronous: no
driver.version: 2.7.4
driver.version.data: APC HID 0.96
driver.version.internal: 0.41
input.sensitivity: medium
input.transfer.high: 294
input.transfer.low: 176
input.voltage: 245.0
input.voltage.nominal: 230
ups.beeper.status: disabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 878.L4 .I
ups.firmware.aux: L4
ups.load: 29
ups.mfr: American Power Conversion
ups.mfr.date: 2015/03/19
ups.model: Back-UPS RS 1500G
ups.productid: 0002
ups.realpower.nominal: 865
ups.serial: 3B1512X15061
ups.status: OL
ups.test.result: No test initiated
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d
[2.4.5-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/root:

Thanks again :)

dennypage

I don't see anything troubling in your upsrw or upsc output.

@uk_dave said in NUT package:

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.