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    XenServer and APC UPS protection

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    xenserver ups apc protection vms windows
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    • DustinB3403D
      DustinB3403
      last edited by

      I wonder if this could be integrated into XO some how.. . .

      travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • travisdh1T
        travisdh1 @DustinB3403
        last edited by

        @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

        I wonder if this could be integrated into XO some how.. . .

        Ah, here we go the Mint repos have apcupsd-cgi. Which is a web interface. Even if it's not already implemented, it shouldn't be to hard to integrate it as an add on.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DustinB3403D
          DustinB3403
          last edited by

          Hrm... I'll take a look into it.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DustinB3403D
            DustinB3403
            last edited by

            I wonder if APCUPSD works with networked UPS as well..

            As that would be the goal, completely skip USB integration and go to the network.

            travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • travisdh1T
              travisdh1 @DustinB3403
              last edited by

              @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

              I wonder if APCUPSD works with networked UPS as well..

              As that would be the goal, completely skip USB integration and go to the network.

              I think it can, but I haven't set that up. Would be silly to me if it couldn't, but I've seen to many silly missing things in my life already, one more wouldn't be a surprise.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DustinB3403D
                DustinB3403
                last edited by

                Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • travisdh1T
                  travisdh1 @DustinB3403
                  last edited by

                  @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                  Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                  Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                  XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                  Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                  XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                  JaredBuschJ DustinB3403D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • JaredBuschJ
                    JaredBusch @travisdh1
                    last edited by

                    @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                    @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                    Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                    Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                    XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                    Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                    XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                    Right, you tell the hypervisor to shut down. Its normal process should already be setup to handle graceful shutdown of the guests.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • JaredBuschJ
                      JaredBusch
                      last edited by

                      @DustinB3403 also depending on the model of your UPS, you could go with an Raspberry Pi and either NUT or APCUPSD to monitor the UPS and send the shutdown command to XS.

                      DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • DustinB3403D
                        DustinB3403 @travisdh1
                        last edited by

                        @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                        @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                        Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                        Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                        XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                        Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                        XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                        No I didn't miss the point, the official way to do this from Citrix is to dedicate a physical windows system. That was my point.

                        travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DustinB3403D
                          DustinB3403 @JaredBusch
                          last edited by

                          @JaredBusch said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                          @DustinB3403 also depending on the model of your UPS, you could go with an Raspberry Pi and either NUT or APCUPSD to monitor the UPS and send the shutdown command to XS.

                          I considered this, but don't have any to work with.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • travisdh1T
                            travisdh1 @DustinB3403
                            last edited by

                            @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                            @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                            @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                            Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                            Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                            XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                            Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                            XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                            No I didn't miss the point, the official way to do this from Citrix is to dedicate a physical windows system. That was my point.

                            They must have a reason for it, but, why? Just, why? Is this another "Software RAID is bad" scenario from them?

                            DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DustinB3403D
                              DustinB3403 @travisdh1
                              last edited by

                              @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                              @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                              @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                              @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                              Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                              Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                              XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                              Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                              XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                              No I didn't miss the point, the official way to do this from Citrix is to dedicate a physical windows system. That was my point.

                              They must have a reason for it, but, why? Just, why? Is this another "Software RAID is bad" scenario from them?

                              Yeah I don't know, the ups monitoring solution is use a Windows system, install the software and connect xencenter to your servers.

                              DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • DustinB3403D
                                DustinB3403 @DustinB3403
                                last edited by

                                @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                                Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                                XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                                Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                                XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                                No I didn't miss the point, the official way to do this from Citrix is to dedicate a physical windows system. That was my point.

                                They must have a reason for it, but, why? Just, why? Is this another "Software RAID is bad" scenario from them?

                                Yeah I don't know, the ups monitoring solution is use a Windows system, install the software and connect xencenter to your servers.

                                Which to me seems insane, the hypervisor should support this without the need to use a Windows system.

                                Although it's simple, it just seems like a poor solution.

                                JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • JaredBuschJ
                                  JaredBusch @DustinB3403
                                  last edited by

                                  @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  @travisdh1 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  @DustinB3403 said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                  Yeah.. my issue is that XS integration with USB means you either have to grant all VM's access to the device, or nothing at all.

                                  Which is what I'd want to avoid. Having to dedicate a Windows system just to operate XC in the event of losing power, while simple, seems really stupid and expensive, not to mention dangerous has you have to have a system connected to your hosts using the root credentials through XC, but it most likely would be completely un-monitored.

                                  XO's emergency mode is a good solution, but it requires action from an administrator.

                                  Either you completely missed my point, or I wasn't very clear.

                                  XenServer shuts down the guests for you, no need for them all to have access to the usb.

                                  No I didn't miss the point, the official way to do this from Citrix is to dedicate a physical windows system. That was my point.

                                  They must have a reason for it, but, why? Just, why? Is this another "Software RAID is bad" scenario from them?

                                  Yeah I don't know, the ups monitoring solution is use a Windows system, install the software and connect xencenter to your servers.

                                  Which to me seems insane, the hypervisor should support this without the need to use a Windows system.

                                  Although it's simple, it just seems like a poor solution.

                                  Does a shutdown command to XS from an SSH session initiate the guest shutdowns?

                                  If so, any UPS monitor tool will work because they can all initiate commands.

                                  DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • DustinB3403D
                                    DustinB3403 @JaredBusch
                                    last edited by

                                    @JaredBusch Yes SSH works to shutdown a host and guest.

                                    BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • BRRABillB
                                      BRRABill @DustinB3403
                                      last edited by

                                      @DustinB3403

                                      This is what I started playing with. Have you seen this yet?

                                      Comes with a script and everything.

                                      https://pantsmanuk.org/2015/04/apcupsd-running-on-citrix-xenserver-7-0/

                                      DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DustinB3403D
                                        DustinB3403 @BRRABill
                                        last edited by

                                        @BRRABill said in XenServer and APC UPS protection:

                                        @DustinB3403

                                        This is what I started playing with. Have you seen this yet?

                                        Comes with a script and everything.

                                        https://pantsmanuk.org/2015/04/apcupsd-running-on-citrix-xenserver-7-0/

                                        I haven't seen that, but I will definitely take a look, nice find.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • DustinB3403D
                                          DustinB3403
                                          last edited by DustinB3403

                                          Here is the original article that PantsManUK converted for his installation. The article is from 2013, so it is is out of date. This is very much worth trying. If I get the chance I'll test it in my lab at home.

                                          Quoted from with pertinent parts highlighted from

                                          Citrix Xenserver does not include UPS / UPS services or setting options.

                                          The Windows version:

                                          From a host with Xencenter installed, The following command posted to shut down a VM:

                                          Xe.exe -s <XenServer-IP> -u root -pw password vm-shutdown vm = VM name
                                          However, why should a VM host system be dependent on another Windows host for a shutdown in case of power failure?

                                          My conclusion: NOT recommended, if UPS can be operated directly at the Xenhost (USB, Network or Serial connection)

                                          The Linux variant:

                                          In Linux, the apcupsd solution is called , which is actually contained in each distribution, or can be installed by repository. Stupid only the Xenserver (stripped down CentOS) is not the case. However, it is possible to manually install and customize the RPM package from the official CentOS repository on the Xenserver. However, in order to shut down the VM guests, mail notification, message in the Xencenter, several steps, more precisely script adaptions are required.

                                          Apcupsd at the Xenserver, an overview:

                                          Apcupsd, Daemon from CentOS
                                          Apcupsd.conf, customized configuration file, calls vm_shutdown.sh, log entry in Xencenter application.
                                          Vm_shutdown.sh, Shutdown of all VM guests on the local Xenserver (only local VMs if Xenserver in pool !!)
                                          Sendemail, package for simple SMTP sending the UPS status mails
                                          Mailconfigs, changeme; commfailure; commok; offbattery; onbattery; sendemail.conf

                                          Xenserver apcupsd Installation Instructions (Using Tar File):

                                          As always, "at your own risk", the operation of a Linux host with shell commands should be common ๐Ÿ˜‰

                                          1. Download the tar file to the Xenhost

                                          Cd ~
                                          mkdir apc
                                          cd apc`````` wget http://www.flurweg.net/linux/xenserver/apcupsd/xenserver6_apcupsd.tar
                                          2. Unpack files

                                          Tar xvf xenserver6_apcupsd.tar
                                          3. Installing apcupsd

                                          Yum localinstall -nogpgcheck apcupsd-3.14.10-1.el5.i386.rpm
                                          3. Error message in Xenserver version 6.2: Error: Can not find a valid base for repo: citrix

                                          Solution: Open the /etc/yum.repos.d/Citrix.repo file and temporarily disable this repository:

                                          [ 
                                          Citrix ] name = XenServer 6.2.0 updates 
                                          mirrorlist = http: //updates.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/6.2.0/domain0/mirrorlist #baseurl 
                                          = http: //updates.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/ 6.2.0 / domain0 / 
                                          gpgcheck = 1 
                                          gpgkey = http: //updates.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/RPM-GPG-KEY-6.2.0 
                                          enabled = 0
                                          
                                          1. Back up the existing / original configuration files

                                          Mkdir -p /etc/apcupsd/org
                                          cp /etc/apcupsd/ * /etc/apcupsd/org
                                          5. Copy the new configuration files (overwrite: YES [y])

                                          Cp -f /etc/apcupsd/ * /etc/apcupsd/
                                          6. Customize the mail settings in /etc/apcupsd/sendemail.conf

                                          Nano /etc/apcupsd/sendemail.conf
                                          7. Install the Sendemail

                                          Cp usr /bin/sendemail/usr/bin/sendmail
                                          chmod + x /usr/bin/sendemail
                                          8. Testing the notification via e-mail, for example. With:

                                          Sh /etc/apcupsd/changeme
                                          9. Customize the apcupsd.conf configuration

                                          (The included apcupsd.conf is configured for a Smart APC-650 via USB interface)

                                          About apcupsd:

                                          UPS Check communication, output values:

                                          Apcaccess
                                          Configure APC UPS:

                                          Apctest
                                          However, the service has to be terminated before, (do not forget after the configuration!)

                                          /etc/init.d/apcupsd stop
                                          apctest
                                          /etc/init.d/apcupsd start
                                          Other tips:

                                          Xenserver firewall, unblock port:

                                          If you want to read the values โ€‹โ€‹of the UPS connected to the Xenserver (NISIP) from another Linux host with installed CGI-Multimon, the Xenserver firewall stands in the way. You must open Tcp Port 3551 by editing the / etc / sysconfig / iptables file, the line: "-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -dport 631 -j ACCEPT" and Reinsert it. Change the port to 3551 in this copied line:

                                          -A RH firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -dport 3551 -j ACCEPT
                                          Then restart the iptables service:

                                          /etc/init.d/iptables restart
                                          On the Multimon host under /etc/apcupsd/hosts.conf enter the Xenserver IP.

                                          APCUPSD Multimon on Debian host with lighttpd:

                                          Installation:

                                          Apt-get install lighttpd apcupsd-cgi
                                          CGI on lighttpd Enable web server:

                                          Lighty-enable-mod cgi
                                          Cgi-bin Create symlink:

                                          Ln -s /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ /var/www/cgi-bin
                                          Create short line with redirection:

                                          Mkdir /var/www/apc
                                          /var/www/apc
                                          nano index.html
                                          The directory /var/www/apc creates an "index.html" with the following content:

                                          Enter the Xenserver Host into the Multimon Page in the /etc/apcupsd/hosts.conf file:

                                          MONITOR 192.168.8.6 "Xenserver"

                                          travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • travisdh1T
                                            travisdh1 @DustinB3403
                                            last edited by

                                            @DustinB3403 That's a lot of stuff to do rather than just fixing the /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo file. The line

                                            mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=os&infra=$infra
                                            

                                            needs replaced. For XS7

                                            mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=7&arch=x86_64&repo=os
                                            

                                            Then you just need to run

                                            yum --enablerepo=base install apcupsd sendmail
                                            
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