Testing shutdowns
UPS equipment varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and even within model lines. You should test the
shutdown sequence on your systems before leaving them unattended. A successful sequence is one where the OS halts before the battery runs out, and the system restarts when power returns.
The first step is to see how upsdrvctl will behave without actually turning off power. To do so, use the
-t argument:
/usr/local/ups/bin/upsdrvctl -t shutdown
It will display the sequence without actually calling the drivers.
You can finally test a forced shutdown sequence (FSD) using:
/usr/local/ups/sbin/upsmon -c fsd
This will execute a full shutdown sequence, as presented in
Shutdown design, starting from the 3rd step.
If everything works correctly, the computer will be forcibly powered off, may remain off for a few seconds to a few minutes (depending on the driver and UPS type), then will power on again.
If your UPS just sits there and never resets the load, you are vulnerable to a power race and should add the "reboot after timeout" hack at the very least.
Also refer to the section on power races in the
FAQ.
