I have APC Smart-UPS SMT1500. It contains a SmartSlot that accepts a network management card that allows the UPS to be connected to the switch (or router) instead of plugging the USB cable from the UPS to a computer. That said, I also have APC AP9630 UPS Network Management Card 2.
My goal is to configure my UPS to shutdown all my Macs (MacBook Pros and Mac Mini) during a power failure.
This is how I do it…
- After installing the network management card to the UPS, plug the network cable from the network management card to the switch (or router). An IP address will be automatically assigned to the card. Let’s just say, the resolved IP address is 192.168.0.100.
- Plug the Mac’s power plug to the UPS.
- Download Apcupsd and install it on your Mac.
- At the end of the installation, you will see
/etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf
file on your screen. Do not click on the “restart” button yet. - In that file, change the following lines:-
UPSCABLE smart UPSTYPE snmp DEVICE 192.168.0.100:161:APC:public BATTERYLEVEL 95
The
DEVICE
value isIP:PORT:VENDOR:COMMUNITY
, all you need is to change the IP address and leave the rest of to be the same.Based on the documentation,
BATTERYLEVEL
,MINUTES
, andTIMEOUT
work in conjunction… basically, the first that occurs will cause the initiation of a shutdown. So, since I want my Mac to shutdown right away during a power failure, I set myBATTERYLEVEL
at 95%. When the UPS’s battery level drops before that mark, it will initiate the shutdown process. - Save this file and reboot your machine.
- After rebooting the machine, to ensure the Apcupsd daemon is getting signals from the UPS, run this command:-
sudo apcaccess
You should see your Apcupsd configuration and the UPS information, like this:-
APC : 001,050,1249 DATE : 2013-09-24 20:09:37 -0500 HOSTNAME : goliath VERSION : 3.14.10 (13 September 2011) darwin UPSNAME : APCUPS CABLE : Ethernet Link DRIVER : SNMP UPS Driver UPSMODE : Stand Alone STARTTIME: 2013-09-24 18:29:28 -0500 MODEL : Smart-UPS 1500 STATUS : TRIM ONLINE LINEV : 125.0 Volts LOADPCT : 0.0 Percent Load Capacity BCHARGE : 100.0 Percent TIMELEFT : 335.0 Minutes MBATTCHG : 95 Percent MINTIMEL : 150 Minutes MAXTIME : 0 Seconds MAXLINEV : 126.0 Volts MINLINEV : 125.0 Volts OUTPUTV : 110.0 Volts SENSE : High DWAKE : 000 Seconds DSHUTD : 000 Seconds DLOWBATT : 10 Minutes LOTRANS : 106.0 Volts HITRANS : 127.0 Volts RETPCT : -1073742588.0 Percent ITEMP : 28.0 C Internal ALARMDEL : No alarm BATTV : 27.0 Volts LINEFREQ : 60.0 Hz LASTXFER : Line voltage notch or spike NUMXFERS : 0 TONBATT : 0 seconds CUMONBATT: 0 seconds XOFFBATT : N/A SELFTEST : OK STESTI : OFF STATFLAG : 0x0700000A Status Flag MANDATE : 06/17/2013 SERIALNO : AS1325121222 BATTDATE : 06/17/2013 NOMOUTV : 120 Volts NOMBATTV : 3221224708.0 Volts HUMIDITY : 3221224708.0 Percent AMBTEMP : 3221224708.0 C EXTBATTS : -1073742588 BADBATTS : -1073742588 FIRMWARE : UPS 08.3 / MCU 14.0 END APC : 2013-09-24 20:10:00 -0500
- Finally, pull the UPS plug from the wall to simulate a power failure. Once the battery level drops below your threshold, your machine will begin to shutdown in a minute or so.
Useful Information
If you tweak the Apcupsd configuration in /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf
file, you will need to restart Apcupsd daemon:-
sudo /Library/StartupItems/apcupsd/apcupsd restart
Hi,
Any idea if this will work with an Eaton UPS, by using DEVICE value IP:PORT:Eaton:COMMUNITY ?