User's Manual UPS control system

1. First, check to see if apcupsd supports your UPS and operating system
(see Supported Operating Systems; UPSes and Cables).
2. Second, plan your configuration type (see
Choosing a Configuration Type). If you have just one UPS and
one computer, this is easy. If you have more than one machine being
served by the same UPS, or more than one UPS supplying power to
computers that are on the same local network, you have more choices
to make.
3. Third, figure out if you have one of the easy setups. If you have a USB
UPS, and a USB-capable recent Linux such as Red Hat or SuSE at
version 8.0, and you want to use one UPS with one computer, that’s an
easy setup. APC supplies the cable needed to talk with that UPS along
with the UPS. All you need to do is check that your USB subsystem
is working (see Checking Out Your USB Subsystem); if so, you can go
to the build and install step.
4. If you have a UPS designed to communicate via SNMP over Ethernet,
that is also a relatively easy installation. It’s in Advanced Topics (see
Advanced topics) mainly because it’s an unusual situation.
5. If you have a UPS that communicates via an RS232C serial interface
and it is a SmartUPS, then things are relatively simple, otherwise,
your life is about to get interesting.
(a) If you have a vendor-supplied cable, find out what cable type you
have by looking on the flat ends of the cable for a number, such
as 940-0020A, stamped in the plastic. Check the cables column
of the table of types (see type
table) to see if it’s a supported
type.
(b) If you don’t have a vendor-supplied cable, or your type is not
supported, you may have to build one yourself (see Cables). Here
is hoping you are good with a soldering iron!
6. Now you are ready to read the Building and Installing (see
Building and Installing apcupsd) section of the manual and follow
those directions. If you are installing from an RPM or some other
form of binary package, this step will probably consist of executing a
single command.
7. Tweak your /etc/apcupsd/apcupd.conf file as necessary. Often it will
not be.
8. Change the BIOS settings (see Arranging for Reboot on Power-Up)
on your computer so that boots up every time it gets power. (This is
not the default on most systems.)
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