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Apc Network Shutdown Technical

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13 views2 pages

Apc Network Shutdown Technical

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aviation
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Service & Support Page 1 of 2

World Wide

Technical Note #T81


Technical Description of PowerChute Network
Shutdown's
Communication Process

Technical Description of PowerChute


Network Shutdown's
Communication Process

Abstract

APC's Web/SNMP Management Card and PowerChute Network Shutdown allow remote
shutdown of multiple systems from a single UPS over a network. Awareness of network
availability, scalability to large numbers of clients, limited impact on network traffic, and a
reliable architecture are of prime concern for such a system. This paper describes how
the Web/SNMP Management Card and PowerChute Network Shutdown communicate
with each other to address these concerns.

© 2000 American Power Conversion. All rights reserved.


This document and all the information contained herein are the property of American Power Conversion. This document shall
not be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or used, in whole or in part, or used as the basis for the manufacture and sale of
items without the written consent of American Power Conversion.

Background
Historically, many UPS installations were on a one server to one UPS basis, which drove
communications over dedicated serial lines. Two trends have been changing this dynamic; re-
centralization of servers and more reliable networking technology. As customers power multiple
servers or workstations from one UPS more often, reliable network-based shutdown capability is
increasingly critical in the event of an extended power outage. This technical note outlines various
challenges to reliability and the approaches that are necessary to ensure safe shutdown.

Network availability
Availability of the network is obviously a key requirement for network-based shutdown solutions.
Power protecting the network equipment itself such as switches, routers, and hubs is essential to
ensure communications in the event of a power outage.
Despite power protection, if the network should become unavailable (for whatever reason), the
shutdown clients on the protected servers or workstations must be able to detect this and take
appropriate action.

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Service & Support Page 2 of 2

Since many customers implement network shutdown within a single segment, APC's Web/SNMP
Management card performs UPS Status Update within the local network segment (via a UDP
broadcast). It is important that this be implemented in a fashion that does not generate an undue
amount of network traffic. UPS Status Updates include very small amounts of information, are limited
to a few hundred bytes once every 20 seconds, and are limited to the local segment , therefore it does
not adversely affect network traffic. If the PowerChute Network Shutdown clients do not receive a UPS
Status Update within 1 minute, they can be configured to respond by automatically shutting down their
systems (under the assumption that the network is no longer available).

APC's Network Shutdown solution also takes into account that customers have varying network
architectures and some may wish to power systems that are not on the same network segment as the
Web/SNMP Managment card. To accomodate this, once a minute the Card sends an Individual
Client Notification (via an a "Unicast") to each client IP address that is outside of the local network
segment. Since Unicasts are not guaranteed to occur, PowerChute Network Shutdown includes a
UPS Status Propagation feature. All PowerChute Network Shutdown clients in the target segment
that receive an individual notification will attempt to relay a UPS Status Update to other clients within
their segment, provided a UPS Status Update has not yet occurred. Once the first client sucessfully
sends a UPS Status Update, the other clients are barred from sending one. This ensures that only
one broadcast will occur in the segment (limiting network traffic), and ensures redundant
communication (essentially using the PowerChute Network Shutdown clients as proxies for the Card).

Authentication
Communications between the Card and PowerChute Network Shutdown uses an MD5-based
authentication scheme. This scheme ensures the password phrase is never compromised, that the
UPS Status Update originated from the Card, that the UPS status has not been modified, and that the
UPS status is not being "replayed". Likewise, shutdown signals from the servers are also validated in
this manner. This scheme does not encrypt any UPS status data, prevent most denial of service
attacks, or guarantee that a brute force attack will fail to determine the password phrase. A well
configured firewall and solid security policy is integral to the security of any network.

UPS Turnoff
The last step for a UPS after shutting down all attached systems is to turn itself off (to allow for a
minimum level of charge to ensure protection when power returns, for instance). APC's Web/SNMP
Management Card's Client Shutdown Coordination feature proactively coordinates the shutdown of
all attached clients before allowing the UPS to power off, ensuring graceful shutdown has occurred
and avoiding the scenario of ungracefully dropped loads. Additionally, if there is a requirement to order
shutdown of various clients, PowerChute Network Shutdown allows individual delays for each client.

Environment changes
Any complex system that requires initial configuration should take into account that customer's
requirements change over time . PowerChute Network Shutdown's Configuration Conflict Detection
feature automatically detects situations where the UPS runtime has decreased (for instance, due to
additional servers being installed and protected) to a point shorter than the individual client shutdown
delays.

Conclusion
Robust communication and a robust architecture are key for any network-based shutdown solution.
APC's approach of Individual Client Notification, Redundant Status Propagation, Authentication,
Shutdown Coordination, and Configuration Conflict resolution ensure reliable, coordinated behavior of
all affected nodes in the event of an extended power outage, thus increasing availability and time-to-
recovery.

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