NAME

clone - UPS driver clone

NOTE

This man page only documents the specific features of the clone driver. For information about the core driver, see nutupsdrv(8).

DESCRIPTION

This driver, which sits on top of another driver socket, allows users to group clients to a particular outlet of a device and deal with this output as if it was a normal UPS.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS

This driver supports the following settings:

load.off=command

Recommended. Set the command on the "real" UPS driver that will be used to switch off the outlet. You need both load.off and load.on in order to power cycle the outlet. Otherwise, shutting down the clients powered by an outlet is a one way street (see IMPORTANT).

load.on=command

Recommended. Set the command on the "real" UPS driver that will be used to switch on the outlet. You need both load.off and load.on in order to power cycle the outlet. Otherwise, shutting down the clients powered by an outlet is a one way street (see IMPORTANT).

load.status=value

Recommended. Set the variable on the "real" UPS driver that will be used to indicate the outlet status (i.e. on/off). If not specified, the clone driver will attempt to keep track of the outlet status, but this is less reliable.

offdelay=num

Set the timer (in seconds) before the outlet is turned off after the shutdown condition (OB LB) for this outlet is met or a command to shutdown was issued. Defaults to 120 seconds.

ondelay=num

Set the timer (in seconds) for the outlet to switch on in case the power returns after the outlet has been switched off. Defaults to 30 seconds.

mincharge=value

Set the remaining battery level when the clone UPS switches to LB (percent).

minruntime=value

Set the remaining battery runtime when the clone UPS switches to LB (seconds).

IMPLEMENTATION

The port specification in the ups.conf(5) reference the driver socket that the "real" UPS driver is using. For example:



  [realups]


     driver = usbhid-ups


     port = auto


  [clone-outlet-1]


     driver = clone


     port = usbhid-ups-realups


     load.on = outlet.1.load.on


     load.off = outlet.1.load.off


     load.status = outlet.1.status


     [...]

IMPORTANT

Unlike a real UPS, you should not configure a upsmon primary mode for this driver. When a upsmon primary sees the OB LB flags and tells the upsd server it is OK to initiate the shutdown sequence, the server will latch the FSD status and it will not be possible to restart the systems connected without restarting the upsd server.

This will be a problem if the power returns after the clone UPS initiated the shutdown sequence on it’s outlet, but returns before the real UPS begins shutting down. The solution is in the clone driver, that will insert the FSD flag if needed without the help of a upsmon primary.

CAVEATS

The clone UPS will follow the status on the real UPS driver. You can only make the clone UPS shutdown earlier than the real UPS driver, not later. If the real UPS driver initiates a shutdown, the clone UPS driver will immediately follow.

Be aware that the commands to shutdown/restart an outlet on the real UPS drivers are not affected, so if you tell the real UPS driver to shutdown the outlet of the clone UPS driver, your clients will lose power without warning.

If you use service management frameworks like systemd or SMF to manage the dependencies between driver instances and other units, then you may have to set up special dependencies (e.g. with systemd "drop-in" snippet files) to queue your clone drivers to start after the "real" device drivers.

AUTHOR

Arjen de Korte <adkorte-guest@alioth.debian.org>