Nut upsuser - May 2014 - NUT + OpenBSD + dc2500cc + APC Smart-UPS SC620 = problem

Hi,

I am trying to set up NUT on a mini-ITX system running OpenBSD 5.5.

I have an APC Smart-UPS SC620 which runs perfectly well on Ubuntu,
with nut-2.2.1. Ubuntu system uses ASUS motherboard.

On mini-ITX system, I have Intel d2500cc motherboard with 4 serial ports.
I've tested ports by connecting them with a null-modem cable and running cu
in 2 terminals. Type in one terminal, output shows in the other, and vice versa.

I disconnect UPS from Ubuntu system, connect it to OpenBSD, try apcsmart 
driver, and in 15 seconds it comes back with a message "unable to detect 
an APC Smart protocol UPS on port /dev/cua01". NUT is installed from
OpenBSD
packages, version 2.7.1. APC Smart protocol driver 3.2 (2.7.1)

I suspect there is something special with serial ports on d2500cc motherboard
as I also tried, out of curiousity, apcupsd from OpenBSD ports, and it failed
to detect the UPS either.

I wonder if anybody else has successfully run NUT on d2500cc motherboard with
serial UPS? 

Thanks,

Kastus

On May 2, 2014, at 3:26 AM, Kastus Shchuka wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am trying to set up NUT on a mini-ITX system running OpenBSD 5.5.
> 
> I have an APC Smart-UPS SC620 which runs perfectly well on Ubuntu,
> with nut-2.2.1. Ubuntu system uses ASUS motherboard.
> 
> On mini-ITX system, I have Intel d2500cc motherboard with 4 serial ports.
> I've tested ports by connecting them with a null-modem cable and
running cu
> in 2 terminals. Type in one terminal, output shows in the other, and vice
versa.
Not sure if there is an easy way to do this in cu, but minicom has some defaults
for file transfer programs. Is there an easy way to transfer a file, and see if
characters get dropped under load?

Also, is that null-modem cable wired to test hardware handshaking?
> I disconnect UPS from Ubuntu system, connect it to OpenBSD, try apcsmart 
> driver, and in 15 seconds it comes back with a message "unable to
detect
> an APC Smart protocol UPS on port /dev/cua01". NUT is installed from
OpenBSD
> packages, version 2.7.1. APC Smart protocol driver 3.2 (2.7.1)
In the event we missed something with the new driver, can you try with
apcsmart-old?

I don't remember the details, but there were some changes related to how the
modem control lines are set up.

If you want to run the driver in debug mode, you probably only need to pass one
"-D" flag to see at what point the detection fails.
> I suspect there is something special with serial ports on d2500cc
motherboard
> as I also tried, out of curiousity, apcupsd from OpenBSD ports, and it
failed
> to detect the UPS either.
Does apctest from apcupsd have any better diagnostics?
> I wonder if anybody else has successfully run NUT on d2500cc motherboard
with
> serial UPS?

On May 3, 2014, at 5:20 AM, Charles Lepple wrote:
> On May 2, 2014, at 3:26 AM, Kastus Shchuka wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I am trying to set up NUT on a mini-ITX system running OpenBSD 5.5.
>> 
>> I have an APC Smart-UPS SC620 which runs perfectly well on Ubuntu,
>> with nut-2.2.1. Ubuntu system uses ASUS motherboard.
>> 
>> On mini-ITX system, I have Intel d2500cc motherboard with 4 serial
ports.
>> I've tested ports by connecting them with a null-modem cable and
running cu
>> in 2 terminals. Type in one terminal, output shows in the other, and
vice versa.
> 
> Not sure if there is an easy way to do this in cu, but minicom has some
defaults for file transfer programs. Is there an easy way to transfer a file,
and see if characters get dropped under load?
> 
I have not tried file transfer, I just typed in the terminal.
> Also, is that null-modem cable wired to test hardware handshaking?
It is actually a pair of DB9-RJ45 adapters connected with a regular cat5 patch
cord. I use these adapters to connect to serial port on servers, switches,
routers, etc., and I know it works there. All pins on the adapter are connected,
so it should support hardware handshake.
> 
>> I disconnect UPS from Ubuntu system, connect it to OpenBSD, try
apcsmart
>> driver, and in 15 seconds it comes back with a message "unable to
detect
>> an APC Smart protocol UPS on port /dev/cua01". NUT is installed
from OpenBSD
>> packages, version 2.7.1. APC Smart protocol driver 3.2 (2.7.1)
> 
> In the event we missed something with the new driver, can you try with
apcsmart-old?
Actually I tied that too, with the same level of luck, just forgot to mention
that.
> 
> I don't remember the details, but there were some changes related to
how the modem control lines are set up.
> 
> If you want to run the driver in debug mode, you probably only need to pass
one "-D" flag to see at what point the detection fails.
I used actually 5 "D"s, so the driver was pretty verbose, but it was
timing out at the very start of communication, like printing out 5 lines and
then timing out and giving up in 15 seconds.
> 
>> I suspect there is something special with serial ports on d2500cc
motherboard
>> as I also tried, out of curiousity, apcupsd from OpenBSD ports, and it
failed
>> to detect the UPS either.
> 
> Does apctest from apcupsd have any better diagnostics?
No, it timed out almost exactly the same as NUT apcsmart driver.
> 
>> I wonder if anybody else has successfully run NUT on d2500cc
motherboard with
>> serial UPS? 
> 
Now the good news is that I tried connecting UPS through USB-serial adapter
(with PL2303 chipset), and UPS was detected instantly, and everything worked.

I guess there is something wrong with serial ports on d2500cc, or maybe I am not
using them correctly. There are 4 ports on the board, 2 with DB9 connectors on
the back and 2 on the board itself. By default, port numbering starts from the
headless ones, so DB9s are com3 and com4. There is a special setting in BIOS
which swaps headless ports with DB9s, making DB9s com1 and com2. I tried all
combinations without any luck. What is strange is that OpenBSD kernel detects 2
ports only, not 4, so I do not exclude a problem with OpenBSD kernel driver.

Funny thing is that I picked d2500cc for this project precisely because it has
onboard serial ports trying to avoid the need to use USB-serial adapter, and in
the end I have to use the adapter, and it works. I still have to run full set of
tests including shutdown, etc., but I am pretty sure at this point that it will
work fine. So for now, the problem seems to be solved for me, maybe not in the
way I wanted, but I can control the UPS from my new OpenBSD firewall now.

If I have time, I will try to install Linux on this system and see if it can use
the serial ports on d2500cc.

Thanks,

Kastus