CentOS - Feb 2009 - (a) WinPower RPM available? (b) where to install if use tar.gz file?

Two quick and simple questions; I want to install the "WinPower"
software for my new UPS. On their web site, they have a tar.gz file
available for download. I know the reasons for staying with RPM, if at
all possible. I''ve Googled and Yahood for
""WinPower"+RPM+Linux and
get hits, but no obvious RPM. I tried "yum install winpower" and the
response was "no package winpower available" (rpmforge is one of the
yum repositories I use, so it''s not there, with that name).

(a) Is an RPM available for it? (If so, where and what''s the name?)
(b) If I need to download the tar.gz file and install from that, it
looks from their documentation that they install into
/opt/MonitorSoftware     Is it better to install into /usr/local or
into /opt? What is the recommendation for a CentOS box, when
installing non RPM software? Where best to install non RPM stuff? TIA!

>I tried "yum install winpower" and the
>response was "no package winpower available" (rpmforge is one of
the
>yum repositories I use, so it''s not there, with that name).
It''s not, but that search method could be expanded:
# yum list \*winpower\*
# yum list \*win\*
# yum list \*win\* |grep -i <you get the picture...>
etc etc

Try Apcupsd, it is a very complete enterprisable package that just runs
well.

jlc

On 2/27/09, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
wrote:
>>I tried "yum install winpower" and the
>>response was "no package winpower available" (rpmforge is one
of the
>>yum repositories I use, so it''s not there, with that name).
>
> It''s not, but that search method could be expanded:
> # yum list \*winpower\*
> # yum list \*win\*
> # yum list \*win\* |grep -i <you get the picture...>
> etc etc
>
> Try Apcupsd, it is a very complete enterprisable package that just runs
> well.
Thank you. I will give apcupsd a shot. We don''t have any APC units,
but, possibly, it will work with our UPS. If not, I will try to get
WinPower running properly. I will also try your suggestions for
searching with yum.

>Thank you. I will give apcupsd a shot. We don''t have any APC units,
>but, possibly, it will work with our UPS. If not, I will try to get
>WinPower running properly. I will also try your suggestions for
>searching with yum.
I forgot to mention Network UPS Tools (NUT). That also works with many.
jlc

Lanny Marcus wrote:
...
> (b) If I need to download the tar.gz file and install from that, it
> looks from their documentation that they install into
> /opt/MonitorSoftware     Is it better to install into /usr/local or
> into /opt? What is the recommendation for a CentOS box, when
> installing non RPM software? Where best to install non RPM stuff? TIA!
I prefer /usr/local and that seems to be more common, but either should 
work.  As for tarball installs - to be avoided if possible - there''s 
always checkinstall.

Name   : checkinstall
Arch   : i386
Version: 1.6.0
Release: 3.el5.rf
Size   : 82 k
Repo   : rpmforge
Summary: CheckInstall installations tracker
Description:
CheckInstall keeps track of all the files created or modified by your
installation script ("make install" "make install_modules",
"setup",
etc), builds a standard binary package and installs it in your system
giving you the ability to uninstall it with your distribution''s
standard package management  utilities.

Phil

On 2/27/09, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
wrote:
>>Thank you. I will give apcupsd a shot. We don''t have any APC
units,
>>but, possibly, it will work with our UPS. If not, I will try to get
>>WinPower running properly. I will also try your suggestions for
>>searching with yum.
>
> I forgot to mention Network UPS Tools (NUT). That also works with many.
NUT is the one Anne is trying to get to work with her Leibert (sp?)
UPS.  I will try apcupsd first. On Wikipedia they say it works with
some OEM UPS too. Possibly with ours.... Thanks!
I did search on yum with your search suggestions, but no joy.

On 2/27/09, Phil Schaffner <Philip.R.Schaffner at nasa.gov>
wrote:
> Lanny Marcus wrote:
>> (b) If I need to download the tar.gz file and install from that, it
>> looks from their documentation that they install into
>> /opt/MonitorSoftware     Is it better to install into /usr/local or
>> into /opt? What is the recommendation for a CentOS box, when
>> installing non RPM software? Where best to install non RPM stuff? TIA!
>
> I prefer /usr/local and that seems to be more common, but either should
> work.  As for tarball installs - to be avoided if possible
Phil: Thank you.   /usr/local    if I need to install tarballs. Which
I avoid, if possible!

 - there''s
> always checkinstall.
>
> Name   : checkinstall
> Arch   : i386
> Version: 1.6.0
> Release: 3.el5.rf
> Size   : 82 k
> Repo   : rpmforge
> Summary: CheckInstall installations tracker
> Description:
> CheckInstall keeps track of all the files created or modified by your
> installation script ("make install" "make
install_modules", "setup",
> etc), builds a standard binary package and installs it in your system
> giving you the ability to uninstall it with your distribution''s
> standard package management  utilities.
Wow. Thank you!  I will install Checkinstall, in a few minutes. We
have fresh Colombian coffee in the kitchen. Colombian Beer is also
very good. We are *big* fans of the Space Shuttle program.    Lanny

On 2/27/09, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
wrote:
>>I tried "yum install winpower" and the
>>response was "no package winpower available" (rpmforge is one
of the
>>yum repositories I use, so it''s not there, with that name).
<snip>
>
> Try Apcupsd, it is a very complete enterprisable package that just runs
> well.
Apcupsd apparently runs with some of the UPS not made by APC, but
looks like it will not work with mine. Here''s what''s in the
Service
data for apcupsd:

apcupsd (pid 6568) is running...
Error contacting host localhost port 3551: Connection refused

I''ll stop that daemon, uninstall it and install nut. I like the name
better and hopefully it will work with this UPS.....

On 2/27/09, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
wrote:
>>Thank you. I will give apcupsd a shot. We don''t have any APC
units,
>>but, possibly, it will work with our UPS. If not, I will try to get
>>WinPower running properly. I will also try your suggestions for
>>searching with yum.
>
> I forgot to mention Network UPS Tools (NUT). That also works with many.
I''ve got the package below installed now. Is that the right one?  Now,
I need to RFM to find out how to configure and run it....

Running Transaction
  Installing: perl-UPS-Nut                 ######################### [1/1]
Installed: perl-UPS-Nut.noarch 0:0.04-1.el5.rf
Complete!

Lanny Marcus wrote:
> I''ve got the package below installed now. Is that the right one? 
Now,
> I need to RFM to find out how to configure and run it....
it''s only part of it, typically there are 3 nut packages, one for
perl, one for the main nut, and one that contains cgi scripts(sometimes
another one specifically for usb).

First I would check what version of NUT your installing and try to
validate whether or not your UPS is supported by checking the homepage:

http://www.networkupstools.org/

I''ve been running NUT against APC and Cyberpower UPSs for about
8 years now. I especially like the CGI interface where I can
aggregate several UPSs from different systems into a single web page
that I can monitor without needing authentication.

Sample: http://portal.aphroland.org/
(I hacked the cgi up years ago so I could embed it in pages, and
still pass w3c validation, wee)

nate

On 2/27/09, Lanny Marcus <lmmailinglists at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 2/27/09, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com> wrote:
<snip>
>> I forgot to mention Network UPS Tools (NUT). That also works with many.
>
> I''ve got the package below installed now. Is that the right one? 
Now,
> I need to RFM to find out how to configure and run it....
>
> Running Transaction
>   Installing: perl-UPS-Nut                 ######################### [1/1]
> Installed: perl-UPS-Nut.noarch 0:0.04-1.el5.rf
> Complete!
I doubt  the one above is the correct one. Lots of stuff available for
nut, but I''m not sure which is the right one for me and where to get
it. (CentOS 5.2, 32 bit). If I can''t get this to go, I will download
the tarball for WinPower (45.2 MB) and install that over the weekend.

On 2/27/09, nate <centos at linuxpowered.net>
wrote:
>> I''ve got the package below installed now. Is that the right
one?  Now,
>> I need to RFM to find out how to configure and run it....
>
> it''s only part of it, typically there are 3 nut packages, one for
> perl, one for the main nut, and one that contains cgi scripts(sometimes
> another one specifically for usb).
>
> First I would check what version of NUT your installing and try to
> validate whether or not your UPS is supported by checking the homepage:
Nate: Thank you. I will RFM the documentation for nut (hopefully I can
download a .pdf file for it)  and then try to get the right packages.
If it doesn''t support my UPS then I''ll download the 45.2 MB
tarball
for WinPower. Lanny

On 2/27/09, Lanny Marcus <lmmailinglists at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 2/27/09, nate <centos at linuxpowered.net> wrote:
<snip>
>> First I would check what version of NUT your installing and try to
>> validate whether or not your UPS is supported by checking the homepage:
The Nicomar Electronics  UPS we bought a few weeks ago (made in
Bogota, Colombia) is not on their list. I suspect nut might work with
it, but, maybe not....
 <snip>

I just finished downloading the WinPower tarball (from Taiwan).  45.3
MB.  I will install it over the weekend.

Thanks much to everyone! Greatly appreciated

>Apcupsd apparently runs with some of the UPS not made by APC, but
>looks like it will not work with mine. Here''s what''s in
the Service
>data for apcupsd:
>
>apcupsd (pid 6568) is running...
>Error contacting host localhost port 3551: Connection refused
That doesn''t mean it can''t contact your ups, that means you
have it setup
wrong:)

What interface does your ups use? Serial, ether, usb? What model #?

jlc

>I''ve got the package below installed now. Is that the right one?
No
>Running Transaction
>  Installing: perl-UPS-Nut                 ######################### [1/1]
>Installed: perl-UPS-Nut.noarch 0:0.04-1.el5.rf
>Complete!
Slow down a bit son, anything with a "Perl-" in the front is, well, a
perl
module:)

You should have done a yum info first.

# yum info perl-UPS-Nut.noarch
Name   : perl-UPS-Nut
Arch   : noarch
Version: 0.04
Release: 1.el5.rf
Size   : 24 k
Repo   : rpmforge
Summary: Perl module to talk to a UPS via Network UPS Tools (NUT) upsd
Description:
perl-UPS-Nut is a Perl module to talk to a UPS via NUT (Network UPS Tools) upsd.

This package contains the following Perl module:

    UPS::Nut

Looks like rpmfind doesn''t show any for RHEL :/ You might have to roll
your own.
Let''s try and get Apcupsd working first, your config was wrong to start
so its worth
trying again.

jlc

Hi,

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 19:39, Joseph L. Casale
<JCasale at activenetwerx.com> wrote:
> Looks like rpmfind doesn''t show any for RHEL :/ You might have to
roll your own.
> Let''s try and get Apcupsd working first, your config was wrong to
start so its worth
> trying again.
NUT RPMs seems to be available from EPEL. NUT 2.2.0 is available for
CentOS 5. Here are the i386 RPMs:
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/repoview/nut.html

HTH,
Filipe

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 7:32 PM, Joseph L. Casale
<JCasale at activenetwerx.com> wrote:
>>Apcupsd apparently runs with some of the UPS not made by APC, but
>>looks like it will not work with mine. Here''s what''s
in the Service
>>data for :
>>
>>apcupsd (pid 6568) is running...
>>Error contacting host localhost port 3551: Connection refused
>
> That doesn''t mean it can''t contact your ups, that means
you have it setup
> wrong:)
>
> What interface does your ups use? Serial, ether, usb? What model #?
Serial port communications. It is made by Nicomar Electronics in
Bogota, Colombia. 750 VA Line Interactive UPS.  The software they say
to use (WinPower) is apparently widely used, by Belkin UPS and many
others.
The WinPower software download site is in Taiwan, so now I wonder
whether or not they just sell the software to the OEMs or if they
manufacturer the UPS and put a brand name on them and ship them from
Taiwan....

apcupsd was very easy to install with yum and the documentation for it
is easy to download. nut is a different story and not so easy to know
what to download.  And, I didn''t see a .pdf file I could download with
the nut documentation.