UPS agents and ESXi

[J-D]

Hi all those who have UPS's that require agents.

With ESXi we can't install an agent anymore. We currently use HP UPS's which have pretty good software but do not work with VMware API's as far as I know.

Sure there can be workarounds by using scripts etc but we prefer to keep it simple. The UPS agent requirement is the only barrier for us before we go for ESXi.

Are there vendors who use VMware API's? Does anyone know if HP will release new agents/API config?

Thanks in advance!

[schepp]

Hi,

we're using APC UPS. APC just released their Powerchute Network Shutdown for free, which can be installed on VMwares VMA to shutdown ESXi servers.

It's running fine for us in a mixed ESX + ESXi environment.

Regards

[J-D]

k, interesting to know APC developed something you can install on the vMA but that makes the vMA single point of failure... if that VM would be down and you get a power issue, then your ESX'es won't shut down.

The former APC and HP agents were installed on every ESX and the UPS's (even redundant UPS setup) could notify the ESX'es directly

For ESXi it seems still no really good solution.

[J1mbo]

Set up something else to run a ping monitor on the vMA to cover that basis.

[J-D]

True, and there are scripts you can develop too etc but it's all a workaround.

We're holding off ESXi as long as hardware UPS vendors don't have a way to communicate with the hosts. We'll see in a few months when we'll install vSphere 5 (with its first update)

That part is still physical world...

[J1mbo]

The problem is that it could be anything from issuing a shutdown command to ESXi directly (as I demonstrated on TechHead, this is very simply and would need the UPS Management Board to send only three packets to the ESXi host) to an ordered guest level shutdown which may itself require special action for running jobs, for example array or snapshot based cross-site replication, database imports or anything else.  Then there is the question of when to shutdown, which might depend as much on thernal limits as on battery capacity.

So for many (most?) vSphere based scenarios this needs some careful planning and scripting, regardless of the triggers in place.  Or a generator

[J-D]

yes, a generator would solve all our issues :smileygrin: unfortunately most small customers (SMB in Europe is a lot smaller than SMB in America) don't have the budget for that.

IMHO the UPS implementation in vSphere could have been done better. For a correct shutdown order, we indeed need to pay special attention. And if HA is active the "automatic VM startup/shutdown" feature gets disabled, so you have to enable it again. Also if you create a shutdown order, then VMotion VM's, then order is lost. I mean a VM with priority 1 on host A, becomes a VM in random startup order on any other host.

According to me VMware should have made that "automatic VM startup/shutdown" setting a cluster-wide setting, not only at the host level.

But then again big companies have a generator or a closet filled with UPS'es that can run several hours and have a warning system by SMS....so I guess this is low priority

[schepp]

The PCNS for vMA supports clustered and multi UPS usage too.

And why should your vMA be down? It's a small CentOS which is really hard to break. In case of a hardware failure it's running in a HA cluster, plus it is monitored by Icinga.

You don't need vMA btw. There is a normal linux version of PCNS. So you could install it on multiple linux servers around the globe with it and configure it to run a script that shuts down your ESXi servers if you're paranoid

If you're not able to kill the problem with money (I'm working at an university, we're poor too ), you have to do a workaround or minimize the single point of failure. For us the HA + Monitoring is enough to trust the vMA.

Regards

[JamesTessier]

HP released new software in June called HPPP (HP Power Protector). HPPP is a protection agent that will load on a vMA on a licensed version of an ESXi host. This software works with their new G2 UPS product line 1500 VA through 7000 VA. HPPP is available free of charge, shipped with HP UPSs.

[JamesTessier]

Eaton has a shutdown agent, Intelligent Power Protector (IPM), that installs on an ESXi vMA. Athough this works well with a standalone ESX / ESXi solution, it does not fare well in HA mode. As suggested by one of the VMware tech team members, Eaton uses their Intelligent Power Manager (which plugs in to vCenter) to enable a vMotion and / or a host shutdown from vCenter using VMware APIs as long as the ESXi server is a lecensed server. Intelligent Power Manager can read power input from UPSs through industry standard MIBs. When using IPM plug-in to provide ESXi shutdown, a shutdown agent is not required on the ESXi servers.

Eaton's IPM is available through VMware's ISV marketplace, or can be downloaded free of charge - for up to 10 nodes - from Eaton's website. http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Power-Management/Software-Drivers/Intelligent-PM.asp

[J-D]

hey thanks for the info, I'll look into that, see how it goes.