VM /ETC

Stefanschuller.com has a great post on getting APC Powerchute to work correctly with ESX servers.

“APC has a guide on how to do this but it doesn’t totally cover the installation for VMware ESX 3.0.x. For example it forgets to tell you about the firewall in ESX 3 that blocks some ports that need to be open to make the Powerchute Network Shutdown agent communicate with your APC ups (with network management card option installed)”

Check out the detailed instructions at

The post also provides some useful links:

• Link to APC’s installation guide

• Link to a VMware discussion about how to set up Powerchute in ESX which branches out into some extended support. There is also some threads covering the general strategy of whether to install the pcns application on each VM or leverage the shutdown options of ESX to orderly power off VMs.

• Link to download the various pcns versions

All these commands are performed at the command line on the console or by using a SSH client (using SSH client allows some nice copy and paste action).

Firstly open the firewall ports
esxcfg-firewall -o 80,tcp,out,”APC PowerChute Port 80″
esxcfg-firewall -o 3052,tcp,out,”APC PowerChute Port 3052″
esxcfg-firewall -o 3052,tcp,in,”APC PowerChute Port 3052″
esxcfg-firewall -o 3052,udp,out,”APC PowerChute Port 3052″
esxcfg-firewall -o 3052,udp,in,”APC PowerChute Port 3052″

Then install the APC Network Shutdown Software
rpm -ihv pcns-2.2.1-100.i386.rpm

Then configure the software
/usr/local/bin/PowerChute/PCNSConfig.sh
Type 3 and press enter
Type in the IP address of the Management Card and press enter
Port 80
Enter the Username, Password and Authentication Phrase
Repeat for the second management card
Answer No to registering another management card
Answer Yes to starting the service

Now you can configure the event actions etc by pointing your web browser to http://servername:3052/

Other commands
/etc/rc.d/init.d/PowerChute stop
/etc/rc.d/init.d/PowerChute start
To uninstall, type rpm -e pcns

MOST IMPORTANT SETTING OF ALL (IMHO)
Once logged on to the web interface
Click the ComputerName link
Specify the Configure Shutdown settings
UNTICK Turn off the UPS after the shutdown finishes.
Click Apply

This step is EXTREMELY important, otherwise once this server has shutdown it will power off the UPS regardless of other servers connected to the UPS.

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