Network a UPS

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How-To: Network your UPS

Posted Jul 25th 2006 7:33PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: Features, Networking

Lately, the power grid appears to have gone to hell. An Uninterruptible Power Supply(UPS) just isn't an optional piece of equipment anymore -- it's not for nothing that very decent UPS has a computer interface port. If your computer is connected to the port, and the software is set up, the UPS can tell your computer to safely shut down before the battery runs out.

Got a couple of machines sharing a UPS? In today's How-To, we'll show you how to use your network to shut down all of the computers plugged into it and keep your precious data safe.

In order to set up your UPS to run two (or more) machines, you'll have to use a network connection to tell the other machines what to do. Step one: don't forget to connect your network hub or switch to your UPS! For today's how-to, we'll have a machine running Ubuntu Linux and a machine running Windows XP. The UPS is connected to the Linux box via serial (or USB) cable. The Linux box will supply UPS status information to the Windows machine. When we're done, both machines can safely shutdown during an extended power outage.

Newer APC units seem to be including USB cables. Most of the older APC UPS units (like our handy BackUPS 500) have a serial port. If you need to build a new serial cable like we did, a quick visit to pinouts.ru may provide the info you need to make it.

If you just have a single Windows machine, you can use XP's basic UPS functionality. (We always find that installing less software is a good thing.) Just open up the power control panel and click on the UPS tab. Configuration is simple, but not very flexible -- even a little annoying in that it doesn't include a method to test your UPS without shutting down the machine. We'll cover setting up a network client on the Windows box later.

Installing Network UPS Tools under Ubuntu Linux is easy. Open the synaptic package manager (inder the System->Administration menu) and search for 'nut'. Select the package for installation and click on Apply.

To get things going, we have to create and edit five configuration files on our Linux box.

Edit /etc/default/nut with your favorite editor (example: sudo vi /etc/default/nut). Change the options to match above (i.e. no to yes).
Create and edit /etc/nut/ups.conf - (sudo vi /etc/nut/ups.conf)
The configuration is pretty simple. The compatibility list is a good place to start. Check the compatibility list to find out what driver/upstype to specify. For our APC BackUPS, it just the generic UPS driver, and we used serial port ttyS0.
It should look like this:
[deskups]
driver=genericups
port=/dev/ttyS0
upstype=2

Once that's configured, you can run upsdrvctl start to see if your UPS driver is working.
We had to do a quick chmod 777 /dev/ttyS0 command to get things going. If you have two serial ports, you may need to try using /dev/ttyS1 instead.

Create and edit /etc/nut/upsd.conf. (sudo vi /etc/nut/upsd.conf)
Our remote Windows box is located at ip address 10.0.0.57, change it to suit.
If you want to allow your local network, put in the network address (i.e. 10.0.0.0/24)
ACL all 0.0.0.0/0
ACL remote 10.0.0.57/32
ACL localhost 127.0.0.1/32

ACCEPT localhost
ACCEPT remote
REJECT all

Create /etc/nut/upsd.users. Put the following:
[monuser]
password = USERPASS
allowfrom = local
upsmon master

Create /etc/nut/upsmon.conf, add the following:
MONITOR ups-a-name-o@localhost 1 monuser USERPASS master
SHUTDOWNCMD "/sbin/shutdown -h +0"
replace MASTERPASS with your master password.

Get a copy of the latest WinNUT here. Download and install it in the usual fashion. At the end of the installer, the WinNut configuration tool will start.

Click the Edit button next to the configuration file path.
In the first blank line, add the following
MONITOR deskups@10.0.0.10 1 upsmon USERPASS slave
deskups is the name of the UPS.
10.0.0.10 is the ip address of our Linux box.
The 1 says that 1 UPS must be running for the box to stay up.
USERPASS is the password from the upsd.users file.
slave tells the box to shut down ASAP so the master can shutdown first.
Save the file and close notepad.
Go back to the configuration tool and hit Apply and start WinNUT.

For testing, just push and hold the button to the Test position. You'll get several notifications on the Linux box, and a pop-up should appear on the Windows machine. Once everything is working happily, open the WinNUT configuration tool and set it to run as a service that starts up automatically. The Ubuntu services should start up thanks to the changes made to /etc/default/nut.

If you have a pair of Windows boxes you'd like to do this with, that's tough. Ok, we do have a few tricks: we've had good luck connecting GPS units up to multiple hosts serial ports just by wiring the ports together. You might be able to do a similar hack, but we haven't tested that one. So don't come crying to us if you break it.

Otherwise, that should be that. Let the rolling brownouts and blackouts begin!

Google Groups : microsoft.public.office.setup

Google Groups : microsoft.public.office.setup

Close all applications.
2. use the regedit utility (Click Start->Run and type regedit and click Ok) and delete the subkeys starting with 9040 under this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products
Also, please go to the following registry key:
Delete all the 9040 started subkeys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Prod­u cts
-AND-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\User­D ata\\Products
Delete all the subkeys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Patc­h es
-AND-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\User­D ata\\Patches
Where is like S-X-XX-XX.
3. Remove all Office program files. Note: For the documents/templates/etc, please back up them.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
4. Restart your system and then reinstall Office 2003.
5. If it prompts for previous qualifying product, insert your Office 2000

Installer won't go away

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Office 2003 keeps trying to install on every boot up.
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" noWrap bgColor=#b71c0c>Jim Zimmerman
Jan 28 2004, 10:24 pm show options
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.office.setup
From: "Jim Zimmerman" ...@nowhere.com> - Find messages by this author
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 05:24:05 GMT
Local: Wed, Jan 28 2004 10:24 pm
Subject: Office 2003 keeps trying to install on every boot up.
Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Show original Report Abuse
Upgraded XP machine running Office 2000 to Office 2003. Now, every time the computer boots up it starts the Office 2003 installation. Any ideas as to what causes this?
Thanks
' noWrap bgColor=#005a9b>"Steven Liu"
Jan 29 2004, 6:58 pm show options
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.office.setup
From: stev...@online.microsoft.com ("Steven Liu") - Find messages by this author
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 01:57:09 GMT
Local: Thurs, Jan 29 2004 6:57 pm
Subject: RE: Office 2003 keeps trying to install on every boot up.
Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Show original Report Abuse
Hi Jim,
I think the Office 2003 may be not installed well.
First, let's try to remove the Office 2003 from the Add/Remove Programs and then reinstall it again.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
1. Close all applications.
2. use the regedit utility (Click Start->Run and type regedit and click Ok) and delete the subkeys starting with 9040 under this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products
Also, please go to the following registry key:
Delete all the 9040 started subkeys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Prod­u cts
-AND-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\User­D ata\\Products
Delete all the subkeys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Patc­h es
-AND-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\User­D ata\\Patches
Where is like S-X-XX-XX.
3. Remove all Office program files. Note: For the documents/templates/etc, please back up them.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
4. Restart your system and then reinstall Office 2003.
5. If it prompts for previous qualifying product, insert your Office 2000 setup disk. The application will detect this and pass the previous product examine.
I hope the information helps. If anything is unclear, feel free to let me know. I'm glad to be of further assistance.
Thanks for using Microsoft News Group!
Sincerely,
Steven Liu [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Partner Support
MCSE 2000
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
End of messages

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REAL WAY MS Mobile 5.0

Windows Mobile 5.0 & ActiveSync

We have a few Windows Mobile 5.0 devices appearing and need to get them hooked up to our Exchange 2003 system. We have the infrastructure already in place as we use Outlook Web Access and Outlook Mobile Accesss. We have our front-end servers load balanced and port 443 mapped through from the outside world.

Like its predecessor Windows Mobile 2003, WM 5.0 lacks a wide selection of trusted root certificates installed by default. If you’re using a non-maintream or self-issued certificate you’ll need to do a little extra configuration to get ActiveSync working over the air. With WM 2003 there was a tool to disable certificate checking but it’s not compatible with WM 5.0. Instead follow these instructions:

In Internet Explorer go to your Outlook Web Access site and ensure your certificate is installed. To check the name of it you can double click on the padlock icon in the bottom right of the browser.

Now in the Internet Options in IE go to the Content tab and click the Certificates button.

Now go to the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities and find your certificate.

Select the certificate and click on the Export button. Follow the wizard and select ‘DER Encoded Binary x.509′ when prompted.

Choose a suitable file name and finish the wizard.

You’ll now need to copy the exported certificate to your PocketPC device either via a memory card or by USB. Once it’s on your PPC simply tap it with the stylus and follow the prompts to install it.

With the certificate successfully installed you should be able to synchronise over the air.