PowerNet SNMP products make enterprise
UPS power management as easy as 1-2-3
Just as reliable power is critical to network operation, reliable power management is critical to network management. To ensure that your LAN/WAN continues to operate through today's power problems, you must be able to manage the power that runs all the devices on the enterprise network.
With the PowerNet SNMP family of products and APC UPSs, you can manage the power running the network. PowerNet SNMP products are designed to keep you in control of network power, even when the utility power is out of control. And by managing power, PowerNet helps you maximize network uptime since power has by far the highest failure rate of any network component. PowerNet SNMP provides the three critical components required for worldwide power management of both servers and internet equipment from a single network management console.
The PowerNet SNMP Adapter (shown here for Ethernet or Token Ring - left, and for Ethernet 10 Base-T - right, was a finalist in the Best New Networking Management category of ComNet's New Product Achievement Award.
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For Ethernet or Token Ring environments, PowerNet SNMP Adapters provide full SNMP power management of UPSs protecting internet equipment such as bridges, routers and hubs. The PowerNet SNMP Adapter makes an APC UPS SNMP Manageable from your network management system (NMS).
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For servers, PowerNet SNMP Agents or PowerNet SNMP Adapters furnish real-time UPS/power status information to popular NMSs. Whenever necessary, PowerNet SNMP Agents or Adapters also provide local server shutdown via a direct serial connection, whether the network is up or down.
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PowerNet SNMP Manager is a snap-in power management application to popular NMSs. It provides a powerful, easy-to-use graphical user interface for UPS management via SNMP.
To communicate via SNMP, a UPS requires an agent to translate UPS information into SNMP format and communicate that information over the network. For servers, APC offers SNMP adapters (hardware based agents) as well as SNMP agents (software based agents). Each approach has advantages and trade-offs.
Since they connect the UPS directly to the network, SNMP adapters do not rely on the server being functional in order to provide UPS communications. Using an SNMP adapter is fairly fault tolerant, as the UPS can report power conditions to the network management station, even if the supported server is locked up. Furthermore, that locked up server can be remotely rebooted via SNMP communication to the UPS.
PowerNet SNMP Agents use APC software running on the supported server to communicate with the UPS and translate information to SNMP format. They then utilize the server's network connection for communication over the SNMP based network. Since no additional hardware is required, this approach is very economical. It does not offer independent communication with the UPS when the server is locked up, however.
Pass through is an important feature in SNMP adapters. It allows the UPS to communicate directly to the supported server as well as to the NMS via SNMP. This ensures that the server can monitor the UPS to determine if safe system shutdown is necessary, while the UPS communicates to the NMS. If desired, it also provides for local UPS management in addition to SNMP based management.
If an SNMP adapter does not have this function, it should not be used in a server environment, as safe system shutdown is critical for servers.
All APC SNMP adapters provide pass through capability to ensure safe system shutdown AND SNMP communications in server environments.
