APC UPS on Debian Etch

This article describes, how you can monitor a APC UPS unit on Debian Etch.

1. Install apcupsd

aptitude install apcupsd

2. Configuration

vim /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf

If you connect the server to the UPS unit with an USB cable use:

# USB configuration
UPSCABLE usb
UPSTYPE usb

If you connect the server over ethernet use this configuration:

# Network configuration
UPSCABLE ether
UPSTYPE snmp
DEVICE IP_OF_THE_UPS:161:APC:private

You should read the „MINUTES“ and „TIMEOUT“ options.
MINUTES=3 means the system shutdown on 3 minutes remaining on the USV. TIMEOUT 0 disables shutdown after X seconds on battery.

3. Enable configuration

vim /etc/default/apcupsd

ISCONFIGURED=yes

4. Start apcupsd

/etc/init.d/apcupsd start
apcaccess status

This should show you some details about the USV and the state of the USV. (See screenshots)

5. Install Webinterface

aptitude install apcupsd-cgi

http://IP_OF_YOUR_SERVER/cgi-bin/apcupsd/multimon.cgi

6. Using CACTI

Look at the cacti forum http://forums.cacti.net/about15908.html for some templates to monitor your APC unit with cacti.

If you using an USB connection you should use the cacti apcupsd template. http://forums.cacti.net/about14481.html
You can query several apcupsd servers over the network or on localhost. Read the installation readme and the posts in the cacti forum. You have to change the script path in the check file and i have to remove the „content“ line from the scripts.