Integrate UPS with MSR

[wmarcolin]

I have a Tripp-Lite UPS (https://www.tripplite.com/smartpro-lcd-120v-1500va-900w-line-interactive-ups-avr-tower-lcd-usb-10-outlets~smart1500lcdt) that connected by a USB cable to my computer, reports various power supply and failure information, as shown in the panel below.

The application I installed runs Java and opens the console to send the information.

Has anyone tried to bring the information into the MSR? Or even a VeraPlus?

Thanks.

[toggledbits]

An integration requires something to talk to, and in my experience, most of these desktop applications for home/SOHO UPS systems don't offer anything. So first question is to find out if the application publishes a web service or has other similar capabilities.

Failing that, you can use a NUT (Network UPS Tools) server, which can be configured for client access so that other systems in your network that are NUT-compatible can get UPS status info. But, you probably will not be able to run NUT and the Tripp-Lite app side-by-side, as they will both want authoritative control of the serial (USB) port. So going down this path, you'll have to use NUT as your control software for the UPS on your Windows system.

I use NUT on Linux (and I have a Reactor controller for it that I can publish). I know nothing about it on Windows.

[kfxo]

@toggledbits said in Integrate UPS with MSR:

I use NUT on Linux (and I have a Reactor controller for it that I can publish). I know nothing about it on Windows.

I would be interested in trying out the NUT controller if you publish.

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

As always Patrick, thank you for your attention.

I will follow your recommendation at the weekend and see if I can then have control by NUT, if this is possible then I communicate to you with your usual kindness to help us to then have access via MSR.

Thank you very much and I will inform you next week.

[toggledbits]

OK. I had to cobble-up some documentation, and I'm a bit swamped this week so forgive any spelling and grammar transgressions arising from my haste.

NUTController build 22151 can now be downloaded from extras and the docs are here.

[kfxo]

@toggledbits

Getting this error in the log when restarting Reactor after performing the installation steps for NUT controller. I am on Reactor 22149 installed on Ubuntu in Docker.

[latest-22149]2022-06-01T16:54:36.344Z <Structure:INFO> Structure#1 loading controller interface nut (NUTController)
[latest-22149]2022-06-01T16:54:36.345Z <Controller:CRIT> Controller: failed to load nut implementation /var/reactor/ext/NUTController/NUTController.js: [TypeError]TypeError: Incompatible base version; is 22125, requires at least 22145
[latest-22149]2022-06-01T16:54:36.346Z <Controller:CRIT> TypeError: Incompatible base version; is 22125, requires at least 22145
TypeError: Incompatible base version; is 22125, requires at least 22145
    at Function.requires (/opt/reactor/server/lib/Controller.js:327:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/var/reactor/ext/NUTController/NUTController.js:9:53)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1103:14)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1157:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:981:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:822:12)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:168:29)
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:197:25)
    at async Promise.all (index 0)
    at async ESMLoader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:337:24)
[latest-22149]2022-06-01T16:54:36.346Z <Structure:ERR> Structure#1 controller nut (NUT) skipped, implementation could not be loaded.

edit: Fixed in build 22152. See below.

[toggledbits]

Whoops! Sorry. I'm using a slightly newer version of some classes. Fixed now, 22152 build of NUTController available for download.

[kfxo]

@toggledbits said in Integrate UPS with MSR:

Fixed now, 22152 build of NUTController available for download.

Confirmed fixed. Thanks.

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

NUT installed and running, it was a long way, I had to install VirtualBox and create a Linux VM because I couldn't find anywhere how to have NUT for Windows.

Now I see that to install NUTController you have to be Linux too? If your answer is yes, then I will have another huge journey, move the MSR from Windows bare-metal to this VM I created, and we will have to read a lot of manual, I know nothing of Linux.

[toggledbits]

It should run fine under Windows. Just create an ext directory in your Reactor install directory, unzip the archive, and copy the NutController folder into ext. If you look at the install.sh script, all it does is install dependencies using npm, so instead of running the script, just run the npm command manually:

npm i --no-save --omit dev

Configuration steps are the same, but depending on how your VM is configured, you may need to do some network tricks in VirtualBox to make sure that NUTController can access the IP port of your NUT server in the VM. Can't help you there. VirtualBox is not my jam.

[SweetGenius]

@toggledbits said in Integrate UPS with MSR:

22152 build of NUTController available for download.<

Thanks for publishing this. I am now using it on MSR Synology docker. Love it.

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

Hi Patrick

Well, I got all the installations done, and NUT is connected to the MSR.

Looking at the Reactor log, no error:

[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:18.147Z <Structure:INFO> Structure#1 loading controller interface nut (NUTController)
[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:18.158Z <default:null> Module NUTController v22152

[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:18.272Z <Structure:INFO> Starting controller NUTController#nut
[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:18.276Z <NUTController:NOTICE> NUTController#nut connecting to NUT server at "192.168.33.25":3493
[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:18.278Z <NUTController:INFO> NUTController#nut started NUT client connection; waiting for ready

[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:19.258Z <NUTController:INFO> NUTController#nut connected and ready!
[latest-22149]2022-06-07T04:07:19.260Z <NUTController:NOTICE> Controller NUTController#nut is now online.

In the VM using the command: upsc smart1500lcd@192.168.33.25 shows all the UPS data.

So, my difficulty as can be seen on the first screen, that I don't get the detailed UPS information in the MSR.

[toggledbits]

You are not searching correctly in the Entities list. Your UPS name does not have "nut" in it. Rather than seaching for entities containing the word "nut", clear all fields and select your NUTController instance in the controller filter field.

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

Perfect, and thanks again!!!

[wmarcolin]

Hi!

A query, my NUT service stops working recurrently, and when I make the query upsc myups@localhost I get the message Error: Data stale.

To get it working again I have to run upsdrvctl start to restart.

Has anyone experienced this difficulty?

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

Okay, job done, UPS > NUT > MSR > HE

The only thing that bothers me is that the UPS drive stops working without explanation, and I had to put a routine in crontab for it to restart every 10 minutes, I find this horrible but it was the only solution from everything I read, and I am not the only one to do it.

[toggledbits]

Does the NUTController's system entity show that the connection is down when that happens? If so, and NUT is running on the same host as MSR, it's probably pretty easy to just write a rule that restarts the NUT service when the controller has been marked down for X minutes (sustained for).

[wmarcolin]

@toggledbits

The NUT and MSR are in the same HW, but NUT is in a Linux VM, and MSR I run in Windows.

I was able to build a rule in MSR that analyzes 3 attributes of NUT, that if they stay without changing the content in 5 minutes gives me an alert of failure.

Strange, when I look at the service, it is all active, what crashes is the UPS driver, so I have to run

upsdrvctl stop
upsdrvctl start

Now, is it possible via Windows MSR to trigger a command in the Linux VM to do this restart? It would avoid having to crontab, only reboot in real failure conditions, and not every 10 minutes.

Thanks.