APC Powerchute USB on both Mac and Windows

B

BenInBlack

Pro
I just got new APC battery backup unit, it comes with software that communicates with the battery backup unit, it has 2 version Mac and Windows. I set the usb to be Mac then the Mac software power icon show up and all is fine, but when i tell parallels guest USB to link to the UPS also it seems to shut down the Mac side.

So i need to know what is the best, having the Mac control the ups or Guest Windows XP?

the issue here is I need parallels to shut down on power out. We have very few power problems where i live, but the last one almost took out my XP due to the abrupt shut down. so it is very important that I get this setup so that at least the parallels is shut down before power outage

Any comments would be appreciated
 
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My setup is essentially the same as yours, and to make a long story short... based on how I use my Mac (with Parallels/Windows), I've set the Mac as being the primary point for control/monitoring of the UPS.

I use the Parallels/Windows setup on an intermittent basis and as such, the Mac can easily control any shutdown process as needed.

My Parallels/Windows sessions are generally not left unattended for any significant length of time, but if Parallels/Windows was going to be left running without human attention, I would most likely have Parallels/Windows take control of the UPS. My rationale being that the Windows OS is significantly more sensitive to improper shutdowns than Mac OS X.

Trusting this proves somewhat helpful / useful.
 
I think OS X should be the UPS master

I believe that if OS X gets a shutdown command from the APC UPS, it will close all open sessions. I believe this will cause your Windows on Parallels to go to standby/sleep mode which will recover normally when your system is back up. I have several times shut down OS X while forgetting that Windows was still running and iconized. Windows closed gracefully (although slow) and restores fine when I power up the next time. You will of course have to have enough run time on your UPS to allow all open sessions to close and OS X to fully shut down prior to your UPS shutting off.
-howard
 
Thank you for your responses...

It's to bad they both can't work at the same time, my mouse and keyboard are usb and the work on both. I have a couple of questions into APC support on this.

The one thing that gets me is that for the windows version you get all this functionality and Mac all i get is when to shutdown. Please if I'm missing where there is an app that does what windows does please let me know.

So for now, I'm going with this plan, I let Mac be the primary, because of the shut down scenerio hfgarris stated (which i have done my self ;-)). I will then periodically go in on the Windows side and to checks and seft-test.

I will let you know what I find out.

FYI: I have the new Back-UPS RS 500
when i tested it It said I was only using 46watts (I mean wow, I thought I would be up there) below is what is attached to it

1. Mac Mini, 2 gig ram
2. ViewSonic 19" wide screen LCD
3. Mini-Stack with 360gig hd
4. New N-Channel Linksys Wireless Router.
5. Cable Modem
6. USB 4 port extender
 
Just a followup:

APC Support gave me a link http://www.apcupsd.com/
this daemon is open source and you have to uninstall the one apc sends with powerchute

I have installed and and now have windows powerchute open at the same time.

I will let you know when i can confirm that both are working
 
Ok, Im back to just using Mac UPS support

I do not recommend http://www.apcupsd.com/ for this, you gain no further functionallity than just what you get with Mac.

I had a heck of a time removing apcupsd there was no un-install. I finally found in a patch script a hint and so if you installed it and need to remove from OSX here are the steps I did.

1. stop APCUPSD service using activity monitor
2. from Terminal do the following:
sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/apcupsd
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/ApcupsdDummy.kext
sudo rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
sudo rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
 
good info

Thanks for the testing. <g> Now I don't have to try it.

But, realistically, I guess the only "functionality" I am looking for is to have the system shut down gracefully if I am not around when the power fails. If OS X will see to it that Windows/Parallels does that before OS X drops, then all is well and everything should be safe. My UPS has a display on it and if I am interested enough I can read out all the operational parameters there (run time, current, battery condition, hold time, etc).

-howard
 
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