Issue:

Can I monitor and control APC's rack mount PDUs serially with a Netbotz version 2 or version 3 appliance and rPDU 3.x firmware?

Product Line:

NetBotz

Environment:

NetBotz version 2 and 3
APC rack PDUs

Cause:

The NetBotz version-2 420 and 500 units with a PSM key as well as the NetBotz version-3 rack mount 450 and 550/570 as well as the wall mount 455 can serially connect to the AP79xx series of rack mount PDUs. Connecting the NBAC0226 USB to serial cable to the bot and connecting the 940-0144 cable from the NBAC0226 to the RJ9 serial port of the PDU will allow control of the outlets of the AP79xx.

Currently, version 3x firmware on the rPDU will result in a communications error. In the Advanced View application log, we see an event similar to the following:
Jan 3 11:01:30 netbotz029184 kern.debug nbSerialPortMgr: send_AP7900_refresh_request: Waiting for prompt (nbAP7900Enc_0)

Resolution:

APC customers must use rPDU 274 firmware on the PDU for this procedure.Only those PDUs supporting that version of software should be connected.

Additional info:
There is a limit to how many rPDU's can be managed by each model appliance:

NetBotz 420 supports up to 4 rPDU's.
NetBotz 500 supports up to 16 rPDU's.
NetBotz 450, 455, and 550 support up to 12 rPDU's.