11

First, not sure if this question belongs here or SU, so please advice accordingly before wildly down-voting or blasting me.

We have a UPS unit for which we recently configured to work on our network. The UPS unit uses an AP9606 network card, but also has what looks to be a serial port for terminal use (putty is awesome). I am NOT familiar with the latter. Long story short, I was able to configure network adapter using telnet. All was good.

For whatever reason, when we reboot our machine that we had configured for auto-shutdown with our UPS unit, the NIC on the UPS seemingly just dropped it's IP configuration (still trying to figure that one out). Ever since, any attempt trying to make contact with the NIC fails.

Steps attempted thus far:

  • I did manual arp entry to reach out to as per these instructions.
  • Hit the reset button, and the reattempted the previous step.
  • Ran WireShark while attempting previous steps to see if the NIC's MAC or IP appeared anywhere for ARP requests.

The only thing that seperates me from the UPS unit is 48p switch, so there shouldn't be any network filtering within the same subnet. I don't have any way of telling if the card is just wnt bad, or if I really have to attempt the serial as these instructions. Because we inhereted the UPS unit, this smart-signalling cable is nowhere to be found. However, I have here in hand a Cisco YC Cable that looks like it could work, but I am having hard time trying to find the wire configuration to see if they would match up. OTOH, getting this APC cable would also mean I would have to find an antiquated computer that also has a serial port.

Chad Harrison
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2 Answers2

10

Having configured a number of SmartUPSes with AP9606 in my time, I do not remember ever having had the need for an "APC-proprietary" serial cable. The documented pinout looks like a simple null-modem cable swapping the TX and RX pins:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|  Black APC 940-0024C Smart Signalling UPS Cable Wiring Diagram  |
|  This information is verified and tested to be 100% correct.    |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|       DB9M(UPS)            2m Cable          DB9F(Computer)     |
|       ---------            --------          --------------     |
|                                                                 |
|         (SHELL)<---------+----//----+----------------<(SHELL)   |
|                          |          |                           |
|                          -          -                           |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|       CHASSIS 9<--------------//---------------------<5 SG      |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|           TXD 2<--------------//---------------------<2 RXD     |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|           RXD 1<--------------//---------------------<3 TXD     |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|                          -          -             +--<1 DCD     |
|                                                   |             |
|                                                   +--<4 DTR     |
|    NOTES:                                                       |
|    Cable type is shielded 28AWG.                  +--<7 RTS     |
|    The DB shells are connected                    |             |
|    to each other via the shield.                  +--<8 CTS     |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|    Operation:     The UPS communicates with the Computer via    |
|    ordinary RS-232 serial protocol at 2400-8N1 with software    |
|    flow control. Jumpered pins in the DB9F connector are for    |
|    automatic or PNP cable identification by UPS software.       |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|                           Male (pins)        Female (holes)     |
|   DB9 RS-232  PC                                                |
|   type connector          1         5         5         1       |
|  ----------------       _______________     _______________     |
|  Pinout numbering       \  . . . . .  /     \  o o o o o  /     |
|  looking into the        \  . . . .  /       \  o o o o  /      |
|  end of the cable         -----------         -----------       |
|                             6     9             9     6         |
|                                                                 |
|  NOTE: Solder a wire to the metal shell for use as a FRAME-GND  |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

And instead of using a PC with a serial port, I would advise simply getting one of the PL2303-based USB-to-serial adapter cables - they work well for managing serial console stuff with nearly every OS released within the last 10 years.

the-wabbit
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  • So the proprietary element is just that the pc tide has two jumpered pairs, right? Should be irrelevant to the UPS, and yet, theis website has an FAQ entry for why the UPS turns off when a standard serial cable is connected. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Dec 05 '21 at 18:04
  • This answer is flat out wrong. If you look at the diagram, it is clearly NOT simply a null modem cable, which would have pins 2<=>3 and 3<=>2, instead of the quoted 1<=>3 2<=>2. It is definitely a proprietary pinout, and if you plug a normal cable in your UPS WILL shut down and you will have VERY UNHAPPY USERS if for example that UPS is powering a core network switch! – GargFunk Feb 02 '22 at 02:33
6

Well, it may be proprietary (in the sense of it being a non standard pinout), but you can find pinout diagrams if you know what you are looking for, and if you have a few inexpensive tools, you can also make one.

Here's a fairly simple one: This is the 0024C model:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|  Black APC 940-0024C Smart Signalling UPS Cable Wiring Diagram  |
|  This information is verified and tested to be 100% correct.    |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|       DB9M(UPS)            2m Cable          DB9F(Computer)     |
|       ---------            --------          --------------     |
|                                                                 |
|         (SHELL)<---------+----//----+----------------<(SHELL)   |
|                          |          |                           |
|                          -          -                           |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|       CHASSIS 9<--------------//---------------------<5 SG      |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|           TXD 2<--------------//---------------------<2 RXD     |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|           RXD 1<--------------//---------------------<3 TXD     |
|                         | |        | |                          |
|                          -          -             +--<1 DCD     |
|                                                   |             |
|                                                   +--<4 DTR     |
|    NOTES:                                                       |
|    Cable type is shielded 28AWG.                  +--<7 RTS     |
|    The DB shells are connected                    |             |
|    to each other via the shield.                  +--<8 CTS     |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|    Operation:     The UPS communicates with the Computer via    |
|    ordinary RS-232 serial protocol at 2400-8N1 with software    |
|    flow control. Jumpered pins in the DB9F connector are for    |
|    automatic or PNP cable identification by UPS software.       |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                 |
|                           Male (pins)        Female (holes)     |
|   DB9 RS-232  PC                                                |
|   type connector          1         5         5         1       |
|  ----------------       _______________     _______________     |
|  Pinout numbering       \  . . . . .  /     \  o o o o o  /     |
|  looking into the        \  . . . .  /       \  o o o o  /      |
|  end of the cable         -----------         -----------       |
|                             6     9             9     6         |
|                                                                 |
|  NOTE: Solder a wire to the metal shell for use as a FRAME-GND  |
|                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

Found Here

NickW
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