Halted Netgate 4100 UPS boot on mains restore
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I have a number of Netgate 4100's installed at remote locations powered by APC UPS's and connected to them via USB. When the Apcupsd tells the pfSense hardware to Halt the resulting load on the UPS becomes incredibly small and the UPS has the ability to continue providing power for a longer period of time. If the mains are restored after the 4100 has been halted but before power to the 4100 has been cut am I mistaken in assuming the 4100 will be basically stuck and require human intervention?
What is the best configuration for a 4100 on a UPS to avoid site visits during such a scenario?
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@arri Do you have "Kill on Power Fail" checked?
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@steveits I do not have that box checked (yet) as it wasn't clear to me what exactly will happen (and for that matter when exactly) "Hibernate UPS on powerfail" is performed. So I looked it up in the Apcupsd manual:
Only if you cannot insert the appropriate code in the halt script, when you start apcupsd, normally from the /etc/rc.d/init.d/apcupsd script, use the --kill-on-powerfail option. This will cause apcupsd to program the UPS to shutoff the power just before it (apcupsd) does the system shutdown. Please note that this is not the most ideal solution. Read on to understand why.A very important consideration is that you must set the EEPROM in your UPS so that it waits a sufficient time for the system to halt before it shuts off the UPS power.
When using a USB connection, apcupsd automatically sets this value to 60 seconds. When using a serial connection to a SmartUPS, you must configure the value in the UPS EEPROM by hand using apctest.
It sounds like the Kill on Power Fail happens at the same time as the Shutdown Behavior is initiated as defined by threshold value in Battery Level. Then it is up to the Netgate device to complete its default shutdown behavior in less than 60 seconds if using a usb connection to the UPS. 60 seconds after initiating the shutdown behavior the UPS will stop delivering power to the battery protected outlets (presumably even if mains were restored in that 60 second window) until the mains have been restored so that any connected devices will boot upon mains restoring.
Am I understanding this correctly? If so, thanks for pointing me toward it as it sounds like what I need!
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@arri That’s how I read that too.
