root/trunk/apcupsd-usb.txt

AUTHOR:         Bryan Mason <bmason@bmason.com>

DATE:           2004-05-24
        
LICENSE:        GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2 
                Copyright (c) 2003-2004, Bryan Mason.
                Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
                this document under the terms of the GNU Free
                Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version
                published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the
                license can be found at
                http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.

SYNOPSIS:       APCUPSD Power Protection from an APC UPS Connected via USB

ATTACHMENTS:    Init script for starting apcupsd:
                http://www.bmason.com/LFS/apcupsd/apcupsd

DESCRIPTION:    This hint describes how to install some of the new
                Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS's) from American
                Power Conversion (APC) that use a Universal Serial Bus
                (USB) interface to connect to the host.

PREREQUISITES:  This hint assumes that you have already a working system
                and are comfortable with configuring and re-compiling
                the Linux kernel.  Although this hint was written based
                on LFS 3.3, it should work equally well on newer LFS
                installations as well, although they have not been 
                fully tested.

HINT:

Contents
========

    1. Introduction
    2. Configuring the LFS Kernel for USB and HID Support 
    3. Installing apcupsd with USB Support
    4. Configuring Apcupsd
    5. Testing the Installation
    6. Creating Scripts
    7. Advanced Testing
    8. Tested Configurations
    9. Troubleshooting


1. Introduction
===============

    John McSwain's hint, "Apcupsd power protection for your LFS
    connected to an APC UPS via serial port" describes how to install an
    Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) made by American Power Conversion
    (APC) using apcupsd as the software interface between the UPS and
    the LFS system.  Apcupsd monitors the UPS and informs the system
    when a power loss has occurred and can subsequently shutdown the
    system if power is not restored within a predetermined time.
    
    John's hint works fine for those UPS's that use a serial cable to
    interface to the host computer, but many of APC's new UPS's use a
    Universal Serial Bus (USB) hardware interface to connect to the
    system that is being provided power by the UPS.  Versions 3.9.4 and
    later of apcupsd provide direct support for USB UPS's.  This hint is
    based on version 3.10.13 of apcupsd, the latest stable version of
    apcupsd available at the time of writing.
    
    Installation of a USB UPS consists of the following basic steps,
    which are described in more detail below:
    1) Configuring the LFS Kernel for USB and HID support
    2) Installing apcupsd with USB support
    3) Configuring apcupsd
    3) Testing the installation
    4) Creating scripts
    
    If you have any comments or corrections to be made to this document,
    please send an e-mail message to the author at <bmason@bmason.com>.
    

2. Configuring the LFS Kernel for USB and HID Support 
=====================================================

    To enable the use of a USB UPS in Linux, not only USB support is
    required, but also support for Human Interface Devices (HIDs). The
    documentation on the apcupsd Web site states that Alan Cox's patch
    are required to enable HID support.  This may have been true on
    older kernels, but HID support now seems to be an integral part of
    kernel version 2.4.18 which was the version used in creating this
    hint.
    
    To enable USB and HID, make sure that the following items are
    enabled either as a module or as part of the kernel.  Generally it's
    easier to install these as part of the kernel; otherwise the modules
    will have to be loaded in the boot script and a delay will need to
    be made so that the USB drivers can recognize the UPS.
        
    Kernel options to be enabled:
    
    - "Input Core Support" (CONFIG_INPUT)
    - "Support for USB" (CONFIG_USB)
    - "Preliminary USB File System" (CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS)
    - "USB Human Interface Device (full HID) support" (CONFIG_USB_HID)
    - "/dev/hiddev raw HID device support" (CONFIG_USB_HIDDEV)
    - One of:
        "UHCI (Intel PIIX4, VIA, ...) support" (CONFIG_USB_UHCI)
        or "UHCI Alternate Driver (JE) support" (CONFIG_USB_UHCI_ALT)
        or "OHCI (Compaq, iMacs, OPTi, SiS, ALi, ...) support" 
           (CONFIG_USB_OHCI)
      Which one of these last options is enabled will depend on the chip
      set used in the system on which LFS is running.  See your
      motherboard documentation and the help system within menuconfig
      for additional information.
      
    After the kernel is configured, proceed with the normal process of
    building and installing a new Linux kernel (make bzImage, make
    modules, make modules_install, copy the bzImage file, etc.)

    Strictly speaking, the "Preliminary USB File System" support isn't
    required, but it should make debugging easier if there are problems.


3. Installing apcupsd with USB Support
======================================

    3.1 Review Existing Documentation

    Before you install apcupsd, it might be a good idea to review the
    documentation for the latest version of apcupsd on the apcupsd Web
    site (<http://www.apcupsd.com/>). Specifically, the following
    sections might be useful:
    - Quick Start for Beginners
    - Compiling and Installing
    - Using Apcupsd with a USB UPS
    
    Also, reviewing John McSwain's apcupsd hint is also probably a good
    idea.

    Much of what follows is based on the documentation listed above --
    I've just put it in a convenient, easy to swallow format (I hope).


    3.2 Download and Unpack Apcupsd

    The source tarballs for apcupsd are located on SourceForge at
    <http://sourceforge.net/projects/apcupsd/>
    
    
    3.3 Create the HID Devices
    
    After the source has been unpacked, use the "make-hiddev" script in
    the "examples" directory of the apcupsd source tree to make the HID
    devices.  Make-hiddev performs the following commands:
    
        #!/bin/sh
        mkdir -p /dev/usb/hid
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev0 c 180 96
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev1 c 180 97
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev2 c 180 98
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev3 c 180 99
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev4 c 180 100
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev5 c 180 101
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev6 c 180 102
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev7 c 180 103
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev8 c 180 104
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev9 c 180 105
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev10 c 180 106
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev11 c 180 107
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev12 c 180 108
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev13 c 180 109
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev14 c 180 110
        mknod /dev/usb/hid/hiddev15 c 180 111
    
    After running make-hiddev, connect your UPS to your LFS system, and
    then build and run the "hid-ups" test program to test the connection
    between your system and the UPS.

    If you compiled USB and/or HID support into modules, make sure that
    you have loaded the modules before running hid-ups.  The following
    modules should be loaded:
    - "hid"
    - "input"
    - "usbcore"
    - "usb-uhci" (or "usb-ohci" or whatever module you created)

    To compile and execute hid-ups, execute the following commands
    (substituting "<apcupsd-src>" with the directory to which you
    unpacked the apcupsd source tarballs.
      
        cd <apcupsd-src>/examples
        make hid-ups
        ./hid-ups
    
    If hid-ups is successful, the tail of the output from hid-ups should
    look similar to the following:
    
        FeatureReport 121
          Field 0, app UPS, phys ---
            Usage 0, APCPanelTest = 0

        FeatureReport 120
          Field 0, app UPS, phys ---
            Usage 0, AudibleAlarmControl = 2

        FeatureReport 117
          Field 0, app UPS, phys ---
            Usage 0, APC860029_?????? = 34

        FeatureReport 116
          Field 0, app UPS, phys ---
            Usage 0, APC86002A_?????? = 0

        Waiting for events ... (interrupt to exit)
        Event: Voltage = 122
        Event: CommunicationLost = 0
    
    Press Ctrl-C to exit hid-ups.
    

    3.4 Install Apcupsd

    Now configure, compile, and install apcupsd by running the following
    commands from the top of the source code tree:

        ./configure --prefix=/usr --sbindir=/sbin \
            --with-serial-dev=/dev/usb/hid/hiddev[0-9] \
            --with-upstype=usb --with-upscable=usb --enable-usb \
            --enable-pthreads --enable-powerflute &&
        make &&
        make install
    
    Below are descriptions of the options passed to the configure
    script:
    
    --with-serial-dev=/dev/usb/hid/hiddev[0-9]: This is not a typo, and
    should be entered exactly as shown.  This syntax allows apcupsd to
    search all the USB devices to find the UPS.

    --with-upstype=usb: This tells apcupsd to default to a USB UPS. This
    option can be changed at runtime by modifying apcupsd's
    configuration file.
    
    --with-upscable=usb: This tells apcupsd to default to a USB cable.
    This option can be changed at runtime by modifying apcupsd's
    configuration file.
    
    --enable-usb: This enables the USB support in apcupsd.
    
    --enable-pthreads: This option enables pthreads support causing
    apcupsd to be built as a threaded program rather than forking to
    create separate processes. This should cause apcupsd to be more
    efficient with memory and resources.  This is not strictly needed
    for USB support, but is a good idea.
    
    --enable-powerflute: This enables the building of powerflute, which
    is an ncurses-based program that can be used to monitor the UPS.
    This is not strictly need for USB support or even to build apcupsd,
    but it could be a useful program.
    
    Additional information on features that can be enabled through use
    of the configure utility can be viewed by executing
        
        ./configure --help
    
    Executing these commands will put the following files in the
    following directories:

        Executable Binaries
            Location:   /sbin
            Files:      powerflute
                        apcaccess
                        apcnisd
                        apcupsd

        Configuration and Script Files
            Location:   /etc/apcupsd
            Files:      masterconnect
                        mastertimeout
                        apcupsd.conf
                        commfailure
                        apccontrol
                        mainsback
                        onbattery
                        changeme
                        commok

        Help Files
            Location:   /usr/share/man/man8
            File:       apcupsd.8  
      
4. Configuring Apcupsd      
======================

    The apcupsd configuration file is located by default at
    /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf.  There shouldn't be much of a need to
    change anything in this file, since most of the important settings
    have already been specified during the compilation of apcupsd in
    Section 3.4 above.
    
    The only thing that might be a good idea is to modify the behavior
    of apcupsd and syslogd so that apcupsd events are sent to their own
    file, /var/log/apcupsd.log. To do this, modify the following line in
    apcupsd.conf:
    
    From:   #FACILITY local0
    To:     FACILITY local1
    
    Then add the following lines to /etc/syslog.conf:
    
        # Logging for apcupsd
        local1.*            -/var/log/apcupsd.log

    If the "local1" facility is already being used by another program,
    then change "local1" in the examples above to "local2" or another
    free local facility.

    After this is done, syslogd needs to be reloaded by executing the
    following command:
    
        /etc/rc.d/init.d/sysklogd reload
    
5. Testing the Installation
===========================

    5.1 Running apcupsd
    
    The first step in testing is to run the apcupsd program itself.
    Load the USB modules (if not compiled directly into the kernel) by 
    executing
    
        modprobe hid
        modprobe usb-uhci
        apcupsd
        
    (The last command may need to be "modprobe usb-ohci") if you've
    compiled kernel support for an OHCI compliant USB controller instead
    of UHCI compliant one.)  
    
    Wait for apcupsd to configure itself and establish contact with the
    UPS, and then execute
    
        ps fax | grep apcupsd
    
    The output should look something like
    
        8525 ?        SN     0:00 /sbin/apcupsd
        8527 ?        SN     0:00  \_ /sbin/apcupsd
        8528 ?        SN     0:00      \_ /sbin/apcupsd
        8529 ?        SN     0:00      \_ /sbin/apcupsd

    or 
    
        4492 ?        S      0:00 apcmain
        4496 ?        S      0:00  \_ apcser
        4497 ?        S      0:00  \_ apcnis
        
    if you did not use the "--enable-pthreads" option in configure.

    Next, take a look at the contents of the apcupsd log file by
    executing
    
        tail /var/log/apcupsd.log
    
    The result should be something similar to the following:
    
        May 24 13:49:56 linux apcupsd[8217]: apcupsd 3.10.13 \
            (16 April 2004) unknown startup succeeded

    If apcupsd generates an error code and then exits, see the
    "Troubleshooting Your Installation" section of the apcupsd
    documentation on the apcupsd Web site (<http://www.apcupsd.com/>)
    for information on possible sources of problems.
    
    
    5.2 Getting UPS status
    
    Once apcupsd is successfully loaded, the next step is to get status
    from the UPS.  To do this, execute

        apcaccess status
    
    The result should be similar to the following:
    
        APC      : 001,035,0853
        DATE     : Mon May 24 13:50:28 PDT 2004
        HOSTNAME : linux
        RELEASE  : 3.10.13
        VERSION  : 3.10.13 (16 April 2004) unknown
        UPSNAME  : linux
        CABLE    : USB Cable
        MODEL    : Back-UPS RS 1000
        UPSMODE  : Net Master
        STARTTIME: Mon May 24 13:49:50 PDT 2004
        SHARE    : NetworkUPS
        STATUS   : ONLINE
        LINEV    : 122.0 Volts
        LOADPCT  :  18.0 Percent Load Capacity
        BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent
        TIMELEFT :  50.1 Minutes
        MBATTCHG : 10 Percent
        MINTIMEL : 10 Minutes
        MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds
        LOTRANS  : 097.0 Volts
        HITRANS  : 138.0 Volts
        ALARMDEL : Always
        BATTV    : 27.1 Volts
        NUMXFERS : 0
        TONBATT  : 0 seconds
        CUMONBATT: 0 seconds
        XOFFBATT : N/A
        SELFTEST : NO
        STATFLAG : 0x02000008 Status Flag
        MANDATE  : 2002-10-13
        SERIALNO : JB0241034799
        BATTDATE : 2001-09-25
        NOMBATTV :  24.0
        FIRMWARE : .g2 .D USB FW:g2
        APCMODEL : Back-UPS RS 1000
        END APC  : Mon May 24 13:50:55 PDT 2004
        
    
6. Creating Scripts
===================

    6.1 Creating the boot script
    
    The following boot script will start, stop, restart, etc. apcupsd.
    It is based on the LFS boot script template
    (/etc/rc.d/init.d/template) and the file apcupsd in the
    platforms/unknown directory of the apcupsd source tree.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    #!/bin/bash
    # Begin /etc/rc.d/init.d/apcupsd
    
    # Based on sysklogd script from LFS-3.1 and earlier.
    # Rewritten by Gerard Beekmans  - gerard@linuxfromscratch.org
    # Apcupsd version written by Bryan Mason - bmason@bmason.com
    
    source /etc/sysconfig/rc
    source $rc_functions
    
    case "$1" in
        start)
    #       Comment the following lines if the USB and HID 
    #       drivers were built into the kernel
    #       Use "modprobe usb-ohci" instead of "modprobe usb-uhci"
    #       if you have an OHCI compliant USB controller.
    
            echo "Installing modules for USB and HID..."
            modprobe usb-uhci &&
            modprobe hid
            evaluate_retval

            echo "Starting APC UPS Daemon (apcupsd)..."
            rm -f /etc/apcupsd/powerfail
            rm -f /etc/nologin
            loadproc /sbin/apcupsd
            ;;
    
        stop)
            echo "Stopping APC UPS Daemon (apcupsd)..."
            killproc /sbin/apcupsd
    
    #       Comment the following lines if the USB and HID 
    #       drivers were built into the kernel
    #       Replace "usb-ohci" with "usb-uhci"
    #       if you have an OHCI compliant USB controller.
    
            echo "Removing modules for USB and HID..."
            rmmod usb-uhci hid input usbcore
            evaluate_retval
    
    #       Sometimes killproc can't kill apcupsd, which
    #       interrupts the shutdown process.  
    #       That isn't good.  So lets make sure to always
    #       exit with a status of 0.
    
            exit 0        
            ;;
    
        reload)
            echo "Reloading APC UPS Daemon (apcupsd)..."
            reloadproc /sbin/apcupsd
            ;;
    
        restart)
            $0 stop
            sleep 1
            $0 start
            ;;
    
        status)
            /sbin/apcaccess status
            statusproc /sbin/apcupsd
            ;;
    
        *)
            echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|reload|restart|status}"
            exit 1
            ;;
    
     esac
    
    # End /etc/rc.d/init.d/apcupsd
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    The commands to load the USB kernel modules in the script can
    probably be removed entirely if you're running hotplug.  I don't use
    hotplug, so I'm not sure about this.  If anybody would like to
    comment on this one way or another, please contact me and I'll add
    the information into this document.
    
    This file can be made by copying /etc/rc.d/init.d/template to
    /etc/rc.d/init.d/apcupsd, made from scratch, or be downloaded from 
    <http://www.bmason.com/LFS/apcupsd/apcupsd>.
    
    
    6.2 Creating the links for the boot script
    
    Apcupsd should be started as soon as possible during the boot
    process, right after sysklogd is started.  Since sysklogd uses S10,
    apcupsd can be started at S15 or S20.  Apcupsd should also be one of
    the last things to be stopped, right before sysklogd is stopped.
    Create the symbolic links by executing the following commands:
    
        cd /etc/rc.d &&
        cd rc0.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd K35apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc1.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd K75apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc2.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd S15apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc3.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd S15apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc4.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd S15apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc5.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd S15apcupsd &&
        cd ../rc6.d &&
        ln -s ../init.d/apcupsd K35apcupsd
    
    Of course, if you've renumbered your boot scripts, then you'll need
    to link the apcupsd boot script accordingly.
    
    
    6.3 Creating the UPS Powerdown Script
    
    Normally, the last thing that needs to happen before the system
    shuts down is to power off the UPS.  Unfortunately, one of the known
    limitations of apcupsd interfacing to a USB UPS is that the 
    "--killpower" option to apcupsd doesn't work, which means that it is
    not possible to power off a USB UPS.  Although the apcupsd
    documentation states that the UPS should shut itself down one to two
    minutes after the system, I did not observe this in my testing.  In
    my case, the UPS continued to supply power to the computer until the
    batteries drained to a critically low level.  Of course, this wasn't
    a problem because the system had already been shut down.

    
7. Advanced Testing
===================
    
    Many tests that should be run on the system before the installation
    is considered complete and stable.  The "Testing Apcupsd" section of
    the documentation on the apcupsd Web site
    (<http://www.apcupsd.com/>) contains a list of such tests. The first
    three tests were performed in Section 6 above.  Briefly, the rest of
    the test sequence runs as follows:
    
    - Remove the USB cable from the UPS to make sure communications
      are working
    - Modify some of the scripts used by apcupsd so that they are
      "safe" (i.e. they won't actually shut down the system) and
      disconnect the UPS from utility power.
    - Perform a full shutdown test, but do not allow the UPS to
      power down.
    - Perform a full shutdown test, allowing the UPS to cut power to
      the system.


8. Tested Configurations
========================

    The following configuration has been tested and is fully functional
    after following the instructions in this hint:
    
    * APC Back-UPS XS 1000 
      Note: Apcupsd reports this as a Back-UPS RS 1000
    * APC Back-UPS LS 700 on Slackware 9.1
    * APC Back-UPS RS 1000 on Slackware 9.1
    * APC Back-UPS XS 1000 on SuSE 8.2
    
    If you have successfully installed another APC USB UPS on your LFS
    system, please send an e-mail message to <bmason@bmason.com> so I
    can add your model number to the above list.
    
9. Troubleshooting
==================

    The installation of my USB UPS went very smoothly.  I didn't have to
    do much troubleshooting, so I don't have any troubleshooting steps
    to report.  If you experience problems with your installation and
    have a way to overcome them, please send an e-mail message to
    <bmason@bmason.com> with your experience, and I'll add it to this
    section.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
    * John M. McSwain <jmcswain@infoave.net> for providing the original
      apcupsd hint.
    * Artur Kedzierski <Artur@Kedzierski.org> for providing information 
      on the Back-UPS LS 700 and Back-UPS RS 1000.
    * Brett Delmage <Brett.Delmage@twobikes.ottawa.on.ca> for providing
      information on the Back-UPS XS 1000 running on SuSE 8.2.
      

CHANGELOG:
    [2003-01-23]
    * Original Hint
    [2003-10-03]
    * Modified to conform to new hint format.  Updated some links.
    [2003-12-02]
    * Added information on Back-UPS LS 700 and RS 1000 on Slackware 9.1.
    [2004-05-24]
    * Updated for apcupsd version 3.10.13.
    * Added more detail on what files would be created and where they
      are placed.
    * Fixed a couple of mistakes and oversights.
    * Added information on Back-UPS XS 1000 on SuSE 8.2