How to connect a HP3000 serial UPS to HP PowerManager running on Linux, virtualised under ESX 4.1

[AndersGustafsso]

Hi!

I have seen a lot of questions on serial ports on ESX so I just thought I'd share this:

My ESXi 4.1 host, a HP ML350 has only one serial port and that is mapped to a NW 6.5 server, running FaxWare, so.. Where do I connect the UPS? A Digi adapter will set us back 150€...

But, I had a rather ancient USB to Serial converter, so ancient that "Linux Kernel 2.4.10 and above already includes built-in drivers for PL-2303H."

So plug the converter into the host, add an USB controller and the USB device to the guest. Only problem is that it shows up as /dev/ttyUSB0 and the PowerManager setup expets /dev/ttyS0..9. Too bad

But, you just have to stop DevMan and edit DevManBE.ini, change the port and restart DevMan for it to work.

[AndersG]

Answering my own post here, just to add info:

To get DevMan to recognise the UPS and add required info into DevManBE.ini, it needs to find the UPS once, so you either connect it to an available port, then run Setup, then edit the ini-file, or easier:

1. Remove the existing ttyS7: rm /dev/ttyS7

2. Link ttyUSB0 to ttyS7: sudo -ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyS7

3. Install, selecting ttyS7

4. Edit /usr/local/DevMan/DevManBE.ini:

[Comm]
Port=/dev/ttyUSB0
CC=0

5. Restart DevMan

Note that the port link will not survive a reboot, so it is a temporary measure, just to get DevMan installed.