Nagios Support Forum

I'm not sure if this is possible, but can you use a USB hub to connect multiple UPS devices' via USB and monitor them individually?

First part: how do you monitor a UPS device which is directly connected to a USB port on the monitoring server?

Second part: how can you monitor multiple devices connected this way?

Setup: I've got a main computer hosting Nagios and nrpe running on most of the (linux friendly) devices on my network. I've got five UPS devices powering various network devices - some are not conducive to installing nrpe plugins on for easy monitoring (like CCTV camera power supply, etc.). So I am hoping to connect them, locally, to the main Nagios server and monitor them directly.

Another possible obstacle: these UPS devices are the type that only have a USB A - B connection, usually just designed to interface with their native monitoring programs (i.e. APC PowerChute, etc.) Two are APC devices (think 550 and ES-550) and three are other devices.

I hope this isn't too dumb a question; it seems easier to monitor UPS devices connected to other servers running nrpe than to monitor locally connected ones.

It is possible, but not advisable. Supporting a Core installation becomes more difficult when you add a bunch of extra pieces of software to the monitoring server. Generally one might monitor a UPS using SNMP, but as you stated the only interface these UPSs have is USB. I can't think of a way to monitor a UPS over USB without the introduction of additional software or an intermediary system.

You can check the exchange to see if your particular UPS has a monitoring plugin that was already created: https://exchange.nagios.org/

mcapra wrote:It is possible, but not advisable. Supporting a Core installation becomes more difficult when you add a bunch of extra pieces of software to the monitoring server. Generally one might monitor a UPS using SNMP, but as you stated the only interface these UPSs have is USB. I can't think of a way to monitor a UPS over USB without the introduction of additional software or an intermediary system.

You can check the exchange to see if your particular UPS has a monitoring plugin that was already created: https://exchange.nagios.org/

Ah, not advisable. That's probably why I didn't find much on it. One of the UPS devices (an APC) does have a working monitoring plugin. My main goal was to get as even of a power distribution as possible across the various devices.

Anyway, thanks for the info. Perhaps I can connect them to various other devices I'm monitoring and find some way to track them.

Is it alright if I lock this thread?

mcapra wrote:Is it alright if I lock this thread?

Yes; that's probably the best/final answer on this topic!
BPB

hope thread isnt locked yet
check_ups (nagios plugin supplied by nagios-plugins) uses NUT which does support usb port connected ups
www.networkupstools.org

Thanks @nozlaf!

@BPB - let us know if you have any further questions, or if we're good to lock this up still.

That works for me. I think the best solution is to attach the monitoring USB cable of each to a different device and monitor them (maybe through NUT - I don't remember if NUT only monitors one device at a time or not, but that's a good option). Also, three of the UPS devices are EATON S5 550 (or close) devices and I don't know how compatible they are with monitoring anything in the first place.

But, thanks for the responses all and you can close this one out.

Let us know if you need additional assistance with monitoring your UPS devices! Closing this for now.