Question: How to shutdown multiple ESXI Hosts with 1 UPS???

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DBayPlaya2k3

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MiniKnight

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I wonder if you could use one of those intelligent web power strips DBA talks about to do this?
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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With APC you can get an Ethernet card for the UPS. Then you provision a list of hosts in the UPS management console to send shutdown notifications to via IP instead of over a USB cable.

Don't know about your CyberPower UPS but I would presume they offer Ethernet interface options and the method is similar.
 

herby

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Aug 18, 2013
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I have an Eaton UPS and use their Intelligent Power Manager software on an old laptop to shutdown my XenServer hosts and NAS. It has a plugin for XenCenter and I believe vSphere.

It does a good job with the XenServers but unfortunately I have to shutdown my NAS with a batch script that it runs after shutting everything else down.
 

DBayPlaya2k3

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Nov 9, 2012
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With APC you can get an Ethernet card for the UPS. Then you provision a list of hosts in the UPS management console to send shutdown notifications to via IP instead of over a USB cable.

Don't know about your CyberPower UPS but I would presume they offer Ethernet interface options and the method is similar.
Yeah I thought about something like that but for home use wouldn't that be somewhat expensive?

I mean I think $250.00 or below would be a good goal for this but I don't think I want to spend $400 or above for the ups + network card ?

Any idea on doing this for less than $250.00?
 
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DBayPlaya2k3

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Nov 9, 2012
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Houston
I have an Eaton UPS and use their Intelligent Power Manager software on an old laptop to shutdown my XenServer hosts and NAS. It has a plugin for XenCenter and I believe vSphere.

It does a good job with the XenServers but unfortunately I have to shutdown my NAS with a batch script that it runs after shutting everything else down.
what model of ups do u have?
 

33_viper_33

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Aug 3, 2013
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With APC you can get an Ethernet card for the UPS. Then you provision a list of hosts in the UPS management console to send shutdown notifications to via IP instead of over a USB cable.

Don't know about your CyberPower UPS but I would presume they offer Ethernet interface options and the method is similar.
I do this with a with a APC SUA1400RM2U and now with an APC SMX1500RM2 with external battery. Works very well. The SUA14002U can be found for <$150 with management interface + new batteries on ebay. The SMX is a lot nicer with multiple zones to turn separate equipment on and off via schedule and can be had for ~300 + Batteries. It also adds an external battery option and is far more efficient with its digital switching. The SUA1400 works well but sucks ~70W with nothing plugged in due to its non-switching transformer. The first 50w or so are free (doesn't raise power consumption beyond the transformer’s requirements. But that means 10-20 watts are consumed by the UPS.

If cost is important to you, take a look at the efficiency curves. Often, smaller UPS' are better for home or light load environments. I spent the extra money when I had to purchase a new UPS since 70w idle was a bit crazy to me. The extra cost of the UPS will be offset in power after a year or so in service. Note, with the SUA's single power node, the UPS shuts off completely and draws ~10w to power the management interface. I run my entire rack off the same UPS and don't always want the whole thing to shut down. Running the 70w UPS for a wireless switch is not efficient. So pending your application, the more expensive UPS may be justified.
 
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DBayPlaya2k3

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33_viper_33 that's awesome I'll look into that as well. I also much rather an efficient ups n I can see the value in that. Is the APC software that's required for shutting down VMware hosts free? I wasn't sure about eBay for ups purchases just due to shipping costs since batteries weigh a lot but I'll check it out. Thank you
 

33_viper_33

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Aug 3, 2013
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33_viper_33 that's awesome I'll look into that as well. I also much rather an efficient ups n I can see the value in that. Is the APC software that's required for shutting down VMware hosts free? I wasn't sure about eBay for ups purchases just due to shipping costs since batteries weigh a lot but I'll check it out. Thank you
Most of the ebay auctions are without batteries due to shipping cost. You probably don’t want the old batteries anyway since they are usually shot. The basic shutdown software is free for windows. The management software is not. For ESXi hosts, everything is free. You only need to tell the host to shut down and allow the host to automatically shut down or sleep each guest. You will need to add a vMA VM to you host and configure it. This is kind of a PITA with different version compatibility being an issue. I used a guide the first time but utilized the latest software and vMA version and failed. I eventually tried using the exact versions of everything the guide used and it work. It’s been a while since I configured it but will need to do again in January. I will create a guide at that time if someone else doesn’t beat me to it.

UPDATE:

This is not the exact guide I used but looks similar: http://blog.rebelit.net/295
When I did it, there was no documentation for ESXi 5.0 so I had to muddle my way through it. This will hopefully be better.

Also take a look here for http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1007036

If efficiency is a primary concern, size the UPS to only as large as you need and aim for the peak efficiency in the curve. If you don't know how big your system will be some day, the larger UPS may be better. I almost purchased a 1000VA since this is probably plenty for my application. To get the battery life up, the SMX with external battery was my plan. In the end, I found a deal for an SMX1500rm2u with external battery pack, environmental network card, and newish batteries for $500 shipped. I couldn't pass it up.
 
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PigLover

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Yeah I thought about something like that but for home use wouldn't that be somewhat expensive?

I mean I think $250.00 or below would be a good goal for this but I don't think I want to spend $400 or above for the ups + network card ?

Any idea on doing this for less than $250.00?
I bought my APC network cards used on eBay for $25 each. They are still available under $25, shipped, as long as you are willing to go with the old models and only 10mbit or 100mbit Ethernet (but why would you need speed for this?). Example here: APC Powernet AP9605 SNMP Adapter 10Base T | eBay

Getting a UPS with smartslot for under $400 is trickier. They are available used but battery condition is somewhat of a crap-shoot. I did end up getting a 3000VA 2U APC for $400, local pickup, with brand new batteries via Craigslist so I got a chance to inspect it first a check the batteries. The smaller UPS (1500VA 2U) was $300, shipped, on eBay and I got lucky with good batteries.

It certainly can be done for $400. $250 is more of a challenge but not completely outside being possible.
 
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herby

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what model of ups do u have?
I have an Eaton 5SC 1500. It turned out to be a little overkill: my trusty kill-a-watt was dying and would read high, but it's nice to have headroom.

My typical load is ~270w according to the UPS about 25%

It's USB only but I've been thinking of using a Raspberry Pi as a sort of poorman's network card.
 
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NetWise

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All you need to do this is something that can:

A) get notification of the failure - snmp trap, serial/usb passthru, whatever
B) software that processes that
C) powercli to action on it and do your shutdown.

I have some scripts I've built for APC SmartUPS based ones to shut down a full rack but as long as the software can 'run command' you're golden. I'll see what I can post later on.
 
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Chuckleb

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You could also use submerging like NUT (network ups tools) which has clients for all operating systems. You can have that trigger shutdowns when it detects a ups event.