upsnutwrapper

Apcupsd NUT Wrapper Script (Apcupsd and NUT on the same machine)

 

Why this little script?

Hi,

I had a problem. I have a Debian based Linux machine (works for Ubuntu or a Raspberry too) with an APC ups connected via USB cable (works also via ethernet client) running the lovely, small and simple apcupsd. Also other PCs (running Windows) are connected to the same ups, so I installed apcupsd on Windows too and connected it to the apcupsd on the Linux machine, fine. Then I needed an additional NUT server so I can hook up a Synology/QNAP/True-NAS also to the same ups. But, trying to install the complicated NUT-Server alongside apcupsd on the same linux machine was a pain.

So, I wrote this little script that emulates a NUT Server and gets the values from apcupsd/apcaccess.

It is working great for me here and also in my company and for my friends, should work with other NUT Clients too not only Synology. Maybe someone finds it useful... 😄

Ciao Martin

 

Description:

This little script emulates a NUT-Server together with the tiny tool "tcpserver" from the ucspi-tcp package. It needs an installed and working apcupsd running on the machine or on a remote machine. It is working fine with Synology/QNAP/True-NAS for example (my usecase).

The script is simple and small and solves some problems having apcupsd and a NUT-Server on the same machine. Use it if you like, but don't scream at me if it's doing something wrong. Please feel free to make this script better, patches/pull requests are welcome if you're done. :-)

 

Install / Running:

1. You need an installed and running apcupsd on the same machine or on a remote machine. You also need apcaccess on this machine. Should be all fine if you installed apcupsd like:

   apt-get update && apt-get install apcupsd

   If you're not sure, please run the command

   apcaccess

   in the shell and see if you get your ups data. Or run

   apcaccess -h <remoteip>

   to get the data of apcupsd running on a remotemachine with the IP <remoteip> (f.e. 192.168.1.10).

    
   

2. Copy the script upsnutwrapper.sh into the directory /usr/local/bin/ and make it executable. You can simply run these commands to copy the script to the right location:

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gitmachtl/various/main/upsnutwrapper/upsnutwrapper.sh -O /usr/local/bin/upsnutwrapper.sh
   chmod +x /usr/local/bin/upsnutwrapper.sh

    
   

3. Install the ucspi-tcp package via

   apt-get update && apt-get install ucspi-tcp -y

4. Start the NUT-Server-Wrapper by executing the following command via shell or a script:

   tcpserver -q -c 10 -HR 0.0.0.0 3493 /usr/local/bin/upsnutwrapper.sh &

   This starts a listening tcp server on port 3493 (nut) with no binding (0.0.0.0), max. 10 simultanious connections.

   Another method is to simply put it into the /etc/crontab file so it starts with the system, just add an entry like:

   @reboot  <user>  tcpserver -q -c 10 -HR 0.0.0.0 3493 /usr/local/bin/upsnutwrapper.sh &
   

   Replace <user> with root or the user you want to run the script in the background.

5. Alternatively, install NUT-Server-Wrapper as a systemd service (all commands should be run as root or with sudo):

   Copy upsnutwrapper.service to /etc/systemd/system/ and set its permissions to 644.

   Start the service:

   systemctl start upsnutwrapper.service

   Verify that the service started successfully:

   $ systemctl status upsnutwrapper.service
    ● upsnutwrapper.service - Adapter layer on top apcuspd to emulate NUT network protocol
         Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/upsnutwrapper.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
         Active: active (running) since Wed 2024-10-23 23:00:24 CDT; 1min 3s ago
       Main PID: 1317387 (tcpserver)
          Tasks: 1 (limit: 18995)
         Memory: 180.0K
            CPU: 1.788s
         CGroup: /system.slice/upsnutwrapper.service
                 └─1317387 /usr/bin/tcpserver -q -c 10 -HR 0.0.0.0 3493 /usr/local/bin/upsnutwrapper.sh "&"
    
    Oct 23 23:00:24 proxmox systemd[1]: Started upsnutwrapper.service - Adapter layer on top apcuspd to emulate NUT network protocol.

   Enable the service so that it starts automatically when the system boots:

   systemctl enable upsnutwrapper.service

 

Config

There is not much configuration needed, it is working out of the box if apcupsd/apcaccess is running on the localhost. However there are three lines in the script below the intro section where you can simply specify where apcaccess should get the information from the ups:

APCUPSDSERVER="localhost"		#apcupsd is running on the same machine
#APCUPSDSERVER="127.0.0.1"		#apcupsd is running on the same machine
#APCUPSDSERVER="remoteip:3551"		#apcupsd is running on a remote machine with ip "remoteip" on the port "3551"

Also you can enable logging to a logfile via the following lines

LOGGING=true				#set to 'true' to see incoming commands
LOG_FILE=/tmp/upsnutwrapper.log		#the location where logs are written to

Simply comment/uncomment what fits your installation.

 

❤️ Enjoy your apcupsd and "Nut Server" side by side on the same machine 😄

 

Details:

Script:       upsnutwrapper.sh
Author:       Martin (Machtl) Lang
E-Mail:       [email protected]
Github:       https://github.com/gitmachtl/various
Version:      1.12 (27.10.2024)

History:

  1.0:	 First working version "yeah"
  1.1:	 Changed the "apcaccess" call and added the option "-u"
  1.2:	 Added many parameters, First "release" version (15.02.2019)
  1.3:	 Pushed onto the github repo, little typo corrections (06.01.2022)
  1.4:	 Added logging and QNAP support, cleaned up code
  1.5:   Better connection error handling, added some parameters
  1.6:   Added command "GET UPSDESC <upsname>"
  1.7:   Added command "GET DESC <upsname> <varname>" and all the descriptions for the variables
  1.8:   Added commands "VER", "NETVER", "PROTVER", "LIST CLIENT", "LIST RW", "LIST CMD", "LIST ENUM"
  1.9:   Added power and apntpower calculation, removed timer variables
  1.10:  Better WinNUT support. WinNUT does not like empty input.frequency
  1.11:  Limit apcaccess poll interval to 10 seconds. Some clients request single parameters, which could stress apcaccess.
  1.12:  Optimized output for the "LIST VAR <upsname>" command. Switched from multiple echo statements to a "cat <<- EOF" statement