NUTUPSDRV(8)                      NUT Manual                      NUTUPSDRV(8)



NAME
       nutupsdrv - generic manual for unified NUT drivers

SYNOPSIS
       nutupsdrv -h

       nutupsdrv [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION
       nutupsdrv is not actually a driver. This is a combined man page for the
       shared code that is the core of many drivers within the Network UPS
       Tools package.

       For information on the specific drivers, see their individual man
       pages.

       UPS drivers provide a communication channel between the physical UPS
       hardware and the upsd(8) server. The driver is responsible for
       translating the native protocol of the UPS to the common format used by
       the rest of this package.

       The core has two modes of operation which are determined by the command
       line switches. In the normal mode, the driver will periodically poll
       the UPS for its state and parameters. The results of this command is
       presented to upsd. The driver will also handle setting variables and
       instant commands if available.

       The driver can also instruct the UPS to shut down the load, possibly
       after some delay. This mode of operation is intended for cases when it
       is known that the UPS is running out of battery power and the systems
       attached must be turned off to ensure a proper reboot when power
       returns.

           Note
           You probably don't want to use any of these options directly. You
           should use upsdrvctl(8) to control your drivers, and ups.conf(5) to
           configure them. The rest of this manual describes options and
           parameters that generally are not needed by normal users.

OPTIONS
       -h
           Display a help message without doing anything else. This will also
           list possible values for -x in that driver, and other help text
           that the driver's author may have provided.

       -a id
           Autoconfigure this driver using the id section of ups.conf(5).
           This argument is mandatory when calling the driver directly.

       -D
           Raise the debugging level. Use this multiple times to see more
           details. Running a driver in debug mode will prevent it from
           backgrounding after startup. It will keep on logging information to
           the console until it receives a SIGINT (usually Ctrl-C) or SIGTERM
           signal.

           The level of debugging needed depends both on the driver and the
           problem you're trying to diagnose. Therefore, first explain the
           problem you have with a driver to a developer/maintainer, before
           sending them debugging output. More often than not, if you just
           pick a level, the output may be either too limited or too verbose
           to be of any use.

       -q
           Raise log level threshold. Use this multiple times to log more
           details.

           The debugging comment above also applies here.

       -i interval
           Set the poll interval for the device.

       -V
           Print only version information, then exit.

       -L
           Print a parseable list of driver variables. Mostly useful for
           configuration wizard programs.

       -k
           ("Kill" power) Forced shutdown mode. The UPS will power off the
           attached load, if possible.

           You should use upsdrvctl shutdown whenever possible instead of
           calling this directly.

       -r directory
           The driver will chroot(2) to directory during initialization. This
           can be useful when securing systems.

           In addition to the state path, many systems will require /dev/null
           to exist within directory for this to work. The serial ports are
           opened before the chroot call, so you do not need to create them
           inside the jail. In fact, it is somewhat safer if you do not.

       -u username
           If started as root, the driver will setuid(2) to the user id
           associated with username.

           If you do not specify this value and start it as root, the driver
           will switch to the default value that was compiled into the code.
           This is typically nobody, and is far from ideal.

       -x var=val
           Define a variable called var with the value of var in the driver.
           This varies from driver to driver - see the specific man pages for
           more information.

           This is like setting var=val in ups.conf(5), but -x overrides any
           settings from that file.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Information about the startup process is printed to stdout. Additional
       messages after that point are available in the syslog. After upsd(8)
       starts, the UPS clients such as upsc(8) can be used to query the status
       of an UPS.

PROGRAM CONTROL
       You should always use upsdrvctl(8) to control the drivers. While
       drivers can be started by hand for testing purposes, it is not
       recommended for production use.

FILES
       ups.conf
           Required configuration file. This contains all details on which
           drivers to start and where the hardware is attached.

BUGS
       Some of the drivers may have bugs. See their manuals for more
       information.

SEE ALSO
       Server: upsd(8)

       Clients: upsc(8), upscmd(8), upsrw(8), upslog(8), upsmon(8)

       CGI programs: upsset.cgi(8), upsstats.cgi(8), upsimage.cgi(8)

       Driver control: upsdrvctl(8)

       Drivers: apcsmart(8), bcmxcp(8), bcmxcp_usb(8), belkin(8),
       belkinunv(8), bestfcom(8), bestuferrups(8), bestups(8), blazer(8),
       cyberpower(8), dummy-ups(8), etapro(8), everups(8), gamatronic(8),
       genericups(8), isbmex(8), liebert(8), masterguard(8), metasys(8), mge-
       shut(8), mge-utalk(8), mge-xml(8), newmge-shut(8), nitram(8), oneac(8),
       optiups(8), powercom(8), powerman-pdu(8), powerpanel(8), rhino(8),
       richcomm_usb(8), safenet(8), snmp-ups(8), solis(8), tripplite(8),
       tripplitesu(8), tripplite_usb(8), usbhid-ups(8), upscode2(8),
       victronups(8)

       Internet resources: The NUT (Network UPS Tools) home page:
       http://www.networkupstools.org/



Network UPS Tools                 10/09/2011                      NUTUPSDRV(8)
