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Chapter 8 Power & Environmental Management
POWER & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Introduction
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, and some environmental monitoring devices.
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
4).
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 4.1.1 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 4.4, Network Hosts).
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