ESX3.5 working with UPS to perform a clean shutdown...

[hillda01]

Hi,

Is there any way in ESX3.5 to communicate with a UPS to shutdown gracefully in the event of a power outage.

And obviously shutdown the VM's prior to the ESX box shutting down...

Regards

Dave

[paul_xtravirt]

If you are using an APC UP's - the powershute software can be used - an agent can be installed on to the ESX server which will power down the host should there be a problem with power. The agent is meant to power down VM's, however, people have reported issues with it not working properly. It is only supported by using a network module in the UPS. I will be configuring one shortly myself

A good thread on forum with information on this, can be found here -> http://communities.vmware.com/thread/127518

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[hillda01]

We are using the APC RT10,000VA UPS's or should that be UPI??

What UPS's are using?

I saw a network module on the back of the UPS and just thought it was for remote management.

Regards

Dave

[paul_xtravirt · Accepted solution]

OK, so this should be your UPS here?

There is an option available for a management card on the options page.

If you look at this page -> and download this zip file from it -> the requirements and installation instructions are all there for VMware.

I will be using a much smaller UPS that is only looking after two servers; it is an APC RT5000.

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[ShouldEye]

I suppose you can also use a simple program like upsmon or NUT () to monitor the UPS status through the serial port.

You can shutdown the VM's using:

vmware-cmd vmfs/volume/vmfslabel/VMName/VMName.vmx stop trysoft

or

vmware-cmd vmfs/volume/vmfslabel/VMName/VMName.vmx stop hard

To get a list of all the vm's you can execute: vmware-cmd -l

Before you shudown the ESX server you should ensure the state of all VM's is off (in a loop). To get a VM's state execute: vmware-cmd /vmfs/volume/vmfslabel/VMName/VMName.vmx getstate