UPSCMD(8)
NAME
upscmd - UPS administration program for instant commands
SYNOPSIS
upscmd -h upscmd -l ups upscmd [-u username] [-p password] ups command
DESCRIPTION
upscmd allows you to invoke "instant commands" in your UPS hardware.
Not all hardware supports this, so check the list with -l to see if
anything will work on your equipment.
On hardware that supports it, you can use this program to start and
stop battery tests, invoke a front panel test (beep!), turn the load on
or off, and more.
OPTIONS
-h Display the help message.
- -l ups Show the list of supported instant commands on that UPS. Some
- hardware may not support any of them.
- -u username
- Set the username for the connection to the server. This is optional, and you will be prompted for this when invoking a command if -u is not used.
- -p password
- Set the password to authenticate to the server. This is also optional like -u, and you will be prompted for it if necessary.
- ups Connect to this UPS. The format is upsname[@hostname[:port]].
- The default hostname is "localhost".
UNATTENDED MODE
If you run this program inside a shell script or similar to invoke a
command, you will need to specify all of the information on the command
line. This means using -u and -p. Otherwise it will put up a prompt
and your program will hang.
This is not necessary when displaying the list, as the username and
password are not required for read-only mode.
DANGEROUS COMMANDS
Some drivers like apcsmart(8) have built-in paranoia for the dangerous
commands like load.off. To make them actually turn off the load, you
will have to send the command twice within a short window. That is,
you will have to send it once, then send it again after 3 seconds
elapse but before 15 seconds pass.
This paranoia is entirely defined within the driver. upsd and upscmd
have no control over the timing.
DIAGNOSTICS
upscmd won't work unless you provide a valid username and password. If
you get "access denied" errors, make sure that your upsd.users(5) has
an entry for you, and that the username you are using has permissions
to SET variables.
BUGS
There is currently no way to tell the user when the driver requires
confirmation to invoke a command such as load.off. Similarly, there is
not yet a way to tell the user if a command succeeds or fails.
This is on the list of things to fix in the future, so don't despair.
It involves magic cookies.