Black Box Secure Device Servers, 1102 Power Management, Remote Power Control RPC, RPC Connection

Chapter 8: Power Management

8. Power Management

Black Box console servers manage embedded software that you can use to manage connected Power Distribution Systems (PDUs), IPMI devices, and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) supplied by a number of vendors.

8.1 Remote Power Control (RPC)

The console server Management Console monitors and controls Remote Power Control (RPC) devices using the embedded PowerMan and Network UPS Tools open source management tools and the Black Box power management software. RPCs include power distribution units (PDUs) and IPMI power devices.

You can control serial PDUs invariably using their command line console, so you could manage the PDU through the console server using a remote Telnet client. Also, you could use proprietary software tools supplied by the vendor. This generally runs on a remote Windows PC, and you could configure the console server serial port to operate with a serial COM port redirector in the PC (as detailed in Chapter 5).

Similarly, you can control network-attached PDUs with a browser (for example, with SDT as detailed in Chapter 6.3), an SNMP management package, or using the vendor-supplied control software. Servers and network-attached appliances with embedded IPMI service processors or BMCs invariably have their own management tools (like SoL) that provide secure management when connected with SDT Connector.

For simplicity, you can now control all these devices through one window using the Management Console’s RPC remote power control tools.

8.1.1 RPC Connection

Serial and network connected RPCs must first be connected to, and configured to communicate with, the console server:

For serial RPCs, connect the PDU to the selected serial port on the console server. From the Serial and Network: Serial Port menu, configure the Common Settings of that port with the RS-232 properties, etc. required by the PDU (refer to Chapter 5.1.1 Common Settings). Then select RPC as the Device Type.

For each network-connected RPC, go to Serial & Network: Network Hosts menu and configure the RPC as a connected Host by specifying it as

Device Type: RPC and clicking Apply (refer to Section 5.4, Network Hosts).

Figure 8-1. Select RPC connections menu.

Select the Serial & Network: RPC Connections menu. This will display all the RPC connections that have already been configured.

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