RE: UPS & AS/400 talking to each other

We had ordered a UPS for our AS/400 and I started looking at the
system settings for UPSes and asked the same question you did,
how the heck does the AS/400 know how much power the UPS has?

I received the AS/400 UPS and got my answer, there is indeed a
communications cable that goes from the UPS to a special port
on the AS/400.

My understanding, without this cable, the AS/400 has no idea
it's even on a UPS.  So CALC would be ignored, and any other
settings dealing with UPSes.

You should look at your UPS and see if there is a communications
connector on it (I seem to recall it was a db9, although it might
of been a 25 pin).  If it doesn't, your UPS is probably not
designed with the AS/400 in mind.

Also, since the AS/400 shut down immediately upon the power to
the building being shut down, that makes me think your UPS is
not powerful enough to run the AS/400.  Most likely the AS/400
power supply saw a drop of AC voltage below it's minimum safety
limit and shut off (I could be wrong on that, but I know that's
how many other computer's power supplies work).

I think you have a little research to do on both your current
UPS and it's capabilities, and what the AS/400 requires for a
UPS.

Regards,

Jim Langston

Message: 1
Subject: UPS & AS/400 talking to each other
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 12:57:52 -0400
From: "Bale, Dan" <D.Bale@handleman.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Reply-To: midrange-l@midrange.com

Somewhat related to my last post on SPCN...

I noticed that my QUPSDLYTIM system value is set to *CALC.  How does the
AS/400 know how much juice is left to be able to determine whether it
needs to start shutting down?  Is there another cable that allows the
UPS and AS/400 to communicate this information?  I don't think our UPS's
have that, or if they do, they were never set up to do this.  If a comm
cable is required, then what is the effect of the *CALC setting?

Background for all this:  Last night, one of our branches cut power to
the building to install a new A/C unit (unbeknownst to us), relying on
the UPS to keep all of the computer equipment up for the "short" time
that the electricity was going to kept off.  I was told by the branch
manager that the AS/400 lost power immediately after the building power
was turned off.  While the building power was off, we powered the AS/400
back up, so this is how I know that the AS/400 was attached to the UPS.
The IPL was proceeding when the UPS got completely drained 15 minutes
later and then all equipment on the UPS went down.  Main power was
restored shortly thereafter, the AS/400 IPL'd normally (!), got a signon
screen within 20 minutes (a normal IPL for this box), nothing "damaged"
as far as I could tell.

Lessons learned:  Don't power the AS/400 back up until after main power
was restored.  WHAT THE @#%* WAS I THINKING?

Dan Bale
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
D.Bale@Handleman.com