UNIX Sysadmin Resources – UPS & Power Conditioning

This content was originally created, collected, and maintained by Stokely Consulting.
As of May 2005, it is being hosted and maintained by Bill Bradford.


UPS Information & Tools:

The Uninterruptable Power Source FAQ, maintained by Nick Christenson. If you’re looking into UPSs, read this first.
The UPS HowTo covers connecting a UPS to a Linux box, but has valuable information for all Unix versions. Great vendor reviews and technical info.
Monitoring an APC SMartUPS v/s with Solaris. Powerchute v/s does not support Solaris. Here’s how to make it work. From Doug Hughes of Auburn University.
NUT: Network UPS Tools: APC’s smart protocol describes the APC smart signalling protocol used by the higher-end APC units. Discusses cabling, the protocol, status bits, alert messages, registers, and more. Good reverse engineering work.

UPS Vendors:

APC, American Power Conversion, UPS manufacturer, provides PowerChute software for Unix and other operating systems. Cute but limited interactive tool for sizing the UPS you need. Good All About Power info. They have free downloads for their Unix PowerChute software.
Energy Systems, a UK company, supplies AEC uninterruptible power supplies and generators to the end user. They also supply maintenance contracts and replacement batteries for all makes of UPS. The site has a power calculator for many types of systems.
Liebert Corporation UPS maufacturer, provides software for Unix and other operating systems. Includes good white papers and tech info on their UPS and other power systems.
Minuteman UPS, from Para Systems, provides Uninterruptible Power Supplies for telephones, computers, and data communication devices. Free software for Linux/Unix. Their SizeMyUPS.com helps you determine the right size UPS that your gear needs.
Powercom, makers of online, line-interactive and offline UPS. UPS Monitoring software runs on Linux and Windows.
Powerware, an Invensys company, formerly Exide Electronics, bought Best Power, UPS manufacturer, provides software for Unix and other operating systems.
Sensorsoft Corporation makes CU to programmatically control the power to a remote device via a serial port, and Soft Thermometer to monitor temperature (read it in a window on your machine with their SCOM Serial Communications Tool) via your computer’s serial port. Neat! They also provide Soft Relay for remote control of equipment using UNIX or Windows.
UPS Systems Limited is one of the UK’s leading independent UPS distributors.