Network management should follow the development trend of UPS power management

With the development of computer networks, the trend of "network is computer" is becoming increasingly obvious. It is crucial to make information flow in real time and be shared by people. High-quality power supply is the basis for the normal operation of the network. Therefore, to protect network equipment, we must first protect the power supply of the entire network, not only the host (HOST), router (ROUTER), switch (SWITCH), hub (HUB), but also the power supply of all interconnected devices that enable the normal operation of the network.

Intelligent UPS has become an indispensable member of the network. At the same time, with the rapid development of LAN, WAN, INTERNET, and INTRANET, many software networks, operating systems , and various hardware platforms have emerged. And because the interconnection of different networks is becoming a trend, how to centrally manage and monitor UPS working in different networks has become the technical focus of power supply manufacturers to provide high-end services.

Install a UPS adapter on the serial port of the UPS, and connect the UPS to the network as an independent node of the network. Do not use monitoring software on the powered host. The UPS has its own independent IP address and does not affect the resources of the powered host. The network administrator or authorized personnel can directly monitor the UPS through the network management software. Multiple computers can monitor one UPS, or one computer can monitor multiple UPSs. The managed UPS can be in the same LAN or in different LANs, and can even be managed through the INTERNET in cities around the world. This is undoubtedly a revolutionary leap for traditional UPS applications. Network management software mainly refers to the management software NMS for system administrators, such as HP OpenView, SUN Sunnet Manager, IBM Netview, NOVELL NMS, etc.

The network administrator can initialize the adapter through the hyperterminal. The UPS information agent software AGENT embedded in the adapter is responsible for the communication between the intelligent UPS information and the adapter card and records the UPS voltage, current, load, frequency, temperature and other digital quantities and some working status quantities. At the same time, the agent software and the network management software exchange information through the network, so that the administrator can remotely monitor the UPS in real time just like managing a computer.

When power failure occurs somewhere in the network, the UPS is treated as a network node. The agent software (AGENT) in the adapter can send sound, text, image and other alarm information to the computers of network administrators and relevant personnel in a timely manner according to the TPAP setting level set by the network administrator in advance, so that the network segment devices protected by the UPS connected to the SNMP adapter can be processed in time.

The latest processing method is to place a small automatic software shutdown program on the computer that requires software protection. When receiving TRAPS information, it can automatically shut down without supervision. The adapter's agent software can record the time and cause of UPS abnormalities, such as power outages, power recovery, UPS overload, UPS shutdown, etc. The administrator can also set a timer for remote UPS startup and shutdown operations (Shutdown, Reboot), and permanently save these historical records in the adapter for analysis.

Since the complex maintenance of professional network management software may affect network traffic and too much information will increase the network burden, a UPS network management software with relatively small information has become a market demand. At present, most of the major UPS manufacturers at home and abroad have timely launched professional management software UPSSNMPVIEW on the market, which is a network software based on TCP/IP. It is a special UPS management software with a small amount of information and almost no impact on network traffic. It can query UPS in various locations in turn at regular intervals. It conforms to the development trend of computer networks and is in line with the new direction of international UPS management development.