[Nut-upsuser] What current UPS can I buy?

[Charles Lepple]

On Jul 16, 2013, at 11:30 AM, Matt Ivie wrote:

> I'm sure this has been asked before and I did search the list archives
> but anything I did find looked to be older. 
> 
> I'm looking at buying some UPS and I'm not sure how to tell which
> currently sold models are supported by NUT. I know that not every new
> model will be supported but there has to be some right?

Generally, we find this out when someone posts to the list asking for help with a new UPS.

> Is there a specific designation I can look for in the technical specs
> that should help me determine this?

Here are some general thoughts on why this is a difficult question to answer:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.monitoring.nut.user/7987

> Are there some manufacturers that
> are friendly to the project and make devices that work well with NUT?

This is a little easier to answer. For the Eaton and Powerware brands, we can often ask the company to help out with technical information. Several other companies have provided tech support or protocol information. Some of this is visible if you choose either "****" or "*****" from the "Support Level" dropdown on this page:

http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

(Sorry, the 4-star rating is strictly 4-star, and does not include 5-star by default. JavaScript help is welcome here.)

On the other hand, I personally can't recommend new APC equipment now that they have started using a proprietary protocol that several customers have been unable to obtain documentation for. I have an old APC USB HID UPS, and it works well, but their new equipment is apparently more limited in what it can monitor.

> Any help on this would be great because the worst thing would be to buy
> a nice new UPS for a server and then find out that it is not supported
> by NUT.


Short answer: buy from a distributor that allows open-box returns. The NUT project can't be liable for recommendations based on old information.

If you can provide a little more information about the kind of UPS that you are looking for, I'm sure we could narrow things down a little. Are you protecting desktops or small servers? A whole machine room?

-- 
Charles Lepple
clepple at gmail