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I'm about to deploy a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine with the Hyper V role. I'd like to get away from having to use a network management card with my APC UPS as I'm only shutting down 1 server (it just seems like an unneeded point of failure). I'd like to look into using apcupsd instead.

  1. Will this work properly if I use a serial connection?
  2. Have you got it working yourself?
  3. How is the SNMP monitoring? I really like being able to easily monitor my UPS with SNMP when powerchute is installed. Will I be sacrificing this completely?
  4. Is the network management card really the way to go with this? If so, why?

Bonus question: Is there a better UPS out there that I should be recommending in the future?

Jason Berg
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1 Answers1

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Unfortunately, no responses on this. So I just tested it out myself. Here's my results:

  1. This will work properly. You must use a serial connection. USB is not going to work.
  2. Yes I got it working and am now using it for a couple of installs with no problems. I also tested it out in a lab and shutdown worked perfectly
  3. No SNMP monitoring. This is rather unfortunate. The only way to use any SNMP monitoring software like Nagios is to have a network management card installed or use the PowerChute
  4. I really don't see a whole lot of reasons to use a network management card if you're only working with one server. I could be missing something though.

Another note: Make sure you set Hyper V to shutdown DCs on shutdown instead of suspend them. Otherwise, your clocks are messed up for a few minutes following a power restore. Machines other than DCs should not have this problem as they should be syncing their time from the Hyper V server.

Jason Berg
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  • +1, Also I know you only have 1 host; but if you have DCs on another computer ever, and you suspend/save a VM DC, it can cause major problems in AD replication and you can end up with mild corruption. – Chris S Jul 06 '10 at 02:04
  • I'm not so sure suspending a DC can cause corruption in most instances. Microsoft only seems to mention corruption caused by pausing it for longer than the tombstone period (90 or 180 days). http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794 I've seen other mentions elsewhere that say you shouldn't pause but never seen a reason why. Hmmmmm...maybe it's a good ServerFault question - http://serverfault.com/questions/157994/why-shouldnt-a-domain-controller-be-suspended-or-paused – Jason Berg Jul 06 '10 at 21:55