RE: UPS & AS/400 talking to each other -- MIDRANGE-L

- catching up on some old email (she is 5# 14oz and pretty as heck!).

On the back of your 400 in port J14.  Normally this port is in some obscure
corner of your 400.  Don't look in the normal card slots.

We've had a lot of problems in the past with improper cables.  Do extensive
testing.

When you plug the cable in your 400 should get a message to the effect that
CPI0962     80 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) now attached.

When you disconnect the cable from your 400 you should get a message to the
effect that
CPI0961     80 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) no longer attached.

If you cut power to the ups you should get a message like:
CPF1816     80 System utility power failed at &1.

If you restore power to the ups you should get a message like:
CPF1817     60 System utility power restored at &1.

But test this and don't take my word for it.

Other useful messages:
CPI0964     80 Weak battery condition exists.
CPI0973     80 Weak battery condition no longer exists.
CPI0963     80 System on auxiliary power.
CPI097A     60 System power restored at &1.
CPI0974     80 UPS has been bypassed.
CPI0975     80 UPS no longer bypassed.
CPI0994     60 System power is restored.
CPF181A     80 System power failed at &1.
CPP3500      0 Uninterruptible Power System reported a utility failure
CPP3501      0 Uninterruptible Power System reported power restored

Also  WRKSYSVAL SYSVAL(QUPS*)

We have our paging software set up to monitor this queue.

I like to take people into our computer room (currently supporting 8
AS/400s, lots of network equipment and a bank of wintel servers) and trip
the triple breaker to the room.  UPS starts screaming, the person is
grateful that I used my passcard to gain access, and then they leave as
soon as possible.  Hey, if it can't take a test, what good is it?  My only
fear is that I'll wear out the breaker.

And, any changes to QUPSDLYTIM are ignored after the power fails and prior
to the 400 dropping.  Let me repeat, if your power fails, you look at your
UPS and notice that it will run you for 45 minutes but your QUPSDLYTIM is
set to 10 - tough luck.  You'd better get power restored in 10 minutes or
your 400 is going down.  Changing QUPSDLYTIM will only take effect for the
NEXT time that your power fails.

And don't do the really stupid thing I did.  If you have a bank of white
racks and the only use for one rack is to run a tape drive, don't use the
rack emergency power off button to shut off the unneeded rack.  By God,
that darn switch will power off the rest of the racks.

Rob Berendt

==================
A smart person learns from their mistakes,
but a wise person learns from OTHER peoples mistakes.



                    "Bale, Dan"
                    <D.Bale@handleman.c       To:     <midrange-l@midrange.com>
                    om>                       cc:
                    Sent by:                  Fax to:
                    midrange-l-admin@mi       Subject:     RE: UPS & AS/400 
talking to each other
                    drange.com


                    09/21/2001 02:05 PM
                    Please respond to
                    midrange-l






This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Exactly what does this cable hook up to on the AS/400?  Do you have to
order a special card?

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From:         Alan Addison [SMTP:ahaddison@home.com]
> Sent:         Friday, September 21, 2001 3:06 PM
> To:           midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject:           RE: UPS & AS/400 talking to each other
>
> One also has to watch for the correct cable for the AS/400.  If you
> don't
> have the proper one, then the AS/400 will shutdown immediately on
> getting
> the signal from the UPS that it is on backup power
>
> Alan Addison
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
> [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Jim Langston
> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 2:35 PM
> To: midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject: 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
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