HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Introducing the HP PowerTrust UPS Monitor/iX
by Bob Berliner
Commercial Systems Division
With MPE/iX Release 5.0, HP introduces software support for a new method
of system power failure protection for the new HP 3000 Corporate Business
Systems Series 991 and 995, and for the HP 3000 Systems Series 9X8.
Instead of using the standard Battery Backup Unit hardware used in
previous HP 3000 systems, the Series 991 and 995 systems will use the HP
model A2998A PowerTrust UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) unit, and the
Series 9X8 systems will use the HP model A2941A PowerTrust UPS unit.
The A2998A HP PowerTrust UPS is a 3 KVA rack-mounted UPS unit. The
A2941A HP PowerTrust UPS is a 600 VA floor-standing UPS unit. These
units are the first members of a family of HP PowerTrust UPS units being
introduced onto HP 3000 systems. Future HP 3000 systems following the
Series 991, 995, and 9X8 are also expected to use HP PowerTrust UPS units
for power failure protection.
The formal name of the new MPE/iX software subsystem that manages the
PowerTrust UPS units is "HP PowerTrust UPS Monitor/iX". For brevity, the
remainder of this article uses "UPS" to refer to the PowerTrust UPS
hardware, and "UPS Monitor/iX" to refer to the PowerTrust UPS Monitor/iX
software.
Introduction to UPS Powerfail Protection
The introduction of the UPS onto HP 3000 systems is an evolutionary step
in providing system protection against utility power failures. In a
minimal UPS-based system, the degree of power failure protection is
equivalent to that of the traditional Battery Backup method systems.
This means that the HP 3000 system simply pauses for up to fifteen
minutes of AC power failure, then resumes normal operation from the point
of interruption when the AC power is restored.
To expand a UPS-based system, you can add more UPS devices to the system
to supply reserve power to selected system peripherals such as disks,
tapes, and printers. Depending on how much of the system equipment is
provided with UPS power, the system can be designed to run a partial or a
full workload "non-stop" through limited periods of AC power failure,
instead of only pausing and then resuming operations.
Features and Benefits of the UPS Hardware
The A2998A UPS for Series 991 and 995 systems and the A2941A UPS for
Series 9X8 systems offer the following features and benefits:
* Each UPS provides at least fifteen minutes of full rated load
reserve power, providing the batteries are fully charged.
* Each UPS contains internal battery charger circuitry that keeps
the batteries fully charged while AC input power is present, and
that recharges batteries drained by their use during a power
failure, once AC power has been restored.
* Each UPS contains hardware logic that continuously monitors the
conditions of the UPS internal hardware (such as battery charger
operating condition, battery state of charge, high temperature,
etc.) and the conditions of the external environment that can
affect UPS operation (such as input AC power failure, excessive
demand for output power, etc.). This makes it possible for the
UPS to detect hardware problems that have occurred, or conditions
that could lead to hardware failures, and to report them by an
audible alarm built into the UPS.
The UPS logic can also automatically shut off the UPS power
circuits in certain malfunction cases, such as excessively high
temperature or power overload conditions, to prevent damage to the
UPS and computer equipment.
* Each UPS also contains a serial I/O communications interface that
the UPS uses to communicate UPS hardware and environmental status
conditions to the host HP 3000 computer.
In conjunction with the UPS Monitor/iX software, this I/O
interface enables the host HP 3000 computer to detect UPS problem
conditions, and then to notify the HP 3000 system operator so that
corrective actions can be taken.
Introducing UPS Monitor/iX Software
This MPE/iX release introduces the UPS Monitor/iX software subsystem as
an integral component of the MPE/iX Fundamental Operating System (FOS).
This new software component takes advantage of the UPS hardware's ability
to communicate UPS status conditions to the host system.
After you install Release 5.0 of MPE/iX on an HP 3000 system with UPS
hardware devices installed, and you set up the system I/O configuration
to add the UPSs as I/O devices on the system, the UPS Monitor/iX software
automatically begins to execute each time the MPE/iX system is started.
UPS Monitor/iX software continuously monitors the conditions of all of
the UPS devices on the system while the system is running. Any time that
any configured UPS on the system notifies the HP 3000 of a UPS problem
condition, or of the correction of a previous UPS problem condition, UPS
Monitor/iX both notifies the system operator of that condition and makes
an audit-trail recording of that condition in the system log file.
UPS Monitor/iX also emulates the HP 3000 system power failure recovery
behavior that is already familiar to users of past and present HP 3000
systems that use the Battery Backup method of power failure recovery.
When utility AC power has failed and then has returned, UPS Monitor/iX
broadcasts a system-wide power failure recovery message to all active
user terminals and to the system console.
Features of UPS Monitor/iX.
* Standard, built-in component of MPE/iX Release 5.0 FOS.
No separate product purchase or product installation steps are
needed. UPS Monitor/iX is automatically installed whenever MPE/iX
Release 5.0 is installed.
* After a one-time initial setting of the system I/O configuration
to account for the UPSs attached to the system, execution of UPS
Monitor/iX is fully automatic.
There are no commands to enter nor jobs nor programs to run to
activate UPS Monitor/iX. The UPS Monitor/iX software runs
automatically each time the system is started.
* Provides continuous monitoring of all of the UPSs on a system for
all UPS problem conditions.
* Notifies the system operator via system console messages whenever
a UPS device signals a problem condition, and whenever a UPS
device confirms that a problem condition has been corrected.
* Maintains an audit trail of UPS problem conditions and their
corrections by making corresponding entries in the system log
file.
* Consumes very little of the system's resources, and is very
unobtrusive.
Since UPS problem conditions are quite infrequent, most of the
time the UPS Monitor/iX software is merely in a waiting state,
ready to receive problem notifications from the UPS devices, but
not burdening the HP 3000 system with demands for CPU time or
memory resources.
* Automatically adjusts itself for past and present HP 3000 systems
that use Battery Backup power failure protection.
When installed on a system that has no UPSs, UPS Monitor/iX
recognizes that there are no UPS devices to monitor, and so it
shuts itself off immediately after the system starts up. In this
way it consumes no run-time system resources at all on non-UPS
systems.
I/O Interface Hardware Requirements
Each UPS to be monitored by UPS Monitor/iX must appear as one
asynchronous serial I/O device on the system, connected to the HP 3000
computer via one asynchronous serial I/O interface port.
I/O interface hardware requirements for the connection of UPSs depend on
the HP 3000 system model and on the number of UPSs to be attached to the
system, as follows:
* For the HP 3000 Series 9X8 systems, the I/O interface port for the
first UPS on the system is automatically provided as a standard
part of the system's SCSI/LAN/Console I/O interface.
* If more than one UPS is to be attached to an HP 3000 Series 9X8
system, then an HP DTC/3000 (Data Communications and Terminal
Controller) hardware interface must be present on the Series 9X8
system. Each UPS beyond the first UPS requires one serial I/O
port on a DTC/3000 interface.
* For HP 3000 Corporate Business Systems 991/995, an HP DTC/3000
interface is always required for connection of UPSs. Each UPS
needs one serial I/O port on a DTC/3000.
For Further Information
For further information about UPSs on HP 3000 commercial systems, please
refer to the following documents:
* Performing System Management Tasks (32650-90004)
* Configuring Systems for Terminals, Printers, and Other Serial
Devices (32022-61000)
* For HP 3000 Series 9X8LX systems, HP 3000 Series 9X8LX Computer
Systems: Getting Started (B3813-90003)