Looking for opinions.
Was unaware UPSes even talked to the computers they power, thought they were just backup batteries
They can connect via USB so you can do things like perform a clean shutdown when it loses power
Don’t forget rs232 and Ethernet! 😁
I’m picking a brand for a service offering HaaS. And am hoping I can find a brand that has central management.
Yep even mid range ones did so way back in the early 90s. It was a common fairly cheap feature that used rs232 mostly. In those days non unix systems did not care as much if powered down without warning. So us early (me 1996) Linux users really found it useful to have the ups initiate shutdown before it died. Windows users of the time only tended to worry if they had the PC running when not sat their. Few had internet at home in the early 90s and those that did were dil up. So for many it was not worth the cost when you could just turn off the PC if a power cut was long term.
Now with most people using laptops for casual use. I really cant imagin anyone buying one without the feature.
It’s possible for them to tell the computer to shutdown when the battery is getting low
If the computer gets notified that the battery has been activated, then it can save files, gracefully exit programs, etc. before power loss
My cyberpower UPS works well. There’s a service you can run to shut your computer down or whatever when it goes to battery power (check arch wiki) but it also works with GNOME (its displayed how a laptop battery would be displayed, but its labeled as a UPS) and it works well with NUT too.
I was happy with my cyber powers for years, but then the batteries died (official replacement batteries, after 3 years - the originals lasted 5) and the ups just stopped even passing power through. This is someone’s old blog about this https://blog.networkprofile.org/cyberpower-ups-avoid/
I have 3 cyber power UPSs on my network and I haven’t had any issues with them. The web interface isn’t the best but it does it job
There’s also a linux command line interface for at least business class cyberpower UPSs. (Not sure on consumer end.)
Worked like a charm for me on a headless machine.
Their PowerPanel Personal and Business editions both seem to work with all of their UPS models. I used to run PowerPanel Business on a basic tower-style model.
Just get one that is supported by N.U.T and have N.U.T handle your shutdowns.
…and what better brand than EATON, which sponsors the NUT project IIRC.
I’ve used both APC (via apcupsd) and EATON (via nut), both work great.
Using NUTS, about every one of them, I’m using APC and TrippLite
Agreed; I have two Cyberpowers that NUTS works well with. That said, I hate configuring NUTS. It’s like the sendmail of power supply management systems. I’m not aware of any others, though, so it’s what there is.
Oh, and Home Assistant plays really well with NUTS!
I agree, configuration is text files like good old sendmail, what a nightmare memory, IIRC there was even books about configuring sendmail…
Anyway NUTS works well, at one time I even installed it on my ASUS router and set it as a IP server, and from a windows PC using winNUT I was able to see it.
I have good expreience with APC and Legrand. Small chinese noname brands are a hit or miss, but mostly miss.
Check the nut compatibility list: https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html
