faq

The Gateway has 2 applications: It is a web server and it retrieves information from the databus to forward it to a MySQL database or SNMP, Modbus or API interfaces. When the performance of the web server is too low it is probably caused by too many interfaces being activated. Check the TAB Interfaces and verify which interfaces are activated. Deactivate all interfaces that are not strictly necessary. For optimal performance of the web server deactivate ALL interfaces.

 

Some customers get frightened when they are confronted with a temp reading of 45° or more. Some background information should be considered:

The Schleifenbauer PDU is equipped with internal temperature sensors that measure the core temperature of the PCA (printed circuit assembly). The PCA can get hot for various reasons, but there is no reason for alarm up to 70-75° C. This is not an indication for the internal temperature of the PDU! The actual number of this measurement is of limited importance, but the change in temperature (delta T) can be used as an indication for a potential problem. A sudden change in temperature could indicate that power consumption has risen/dropped dramatically or it could be caused by some defect. The accuracy of the internal temp sensor is +/- 4° C.

When an external sensor in connected, the temp value is an important indicator for the thermal conditions on your cabinet. The accuracy of the external temp sensor is +/- 2° C.

You can only connect to the database as 'root' when you are working on the server. You cannot connect as 'root' from a TCP/IP connection. Create a new userand assign the permissions to the SP tables.

The time, as shown in the Gateway header and in the log items on the Home tab, has no correction for daylight savingtime. If you prefer to have this corrected you need to manually adjust the time in the gateway-tab en adjust the time-zone for 1 hour during daylight savings time.

Log items that are forwarded to MySQL or Syslog are normally adjusted for daylight savings time.

The number of PDUs that can be connected to the Gateway is limited only by the performance of the Gateway processor. In extreme situations this can become too slow. That's why we suggest implementing a second Gateway (and data bus) at around 800 PDUs. This will improve your redundancy as well.

What can cause a Gateway to turn sluggish?

•  PDUs with metered and/or switched outlets create a lot more information on the data bus compared to just input metering
•  When multiple protocols need to be active simultaneously (MySQL, HTTP), the data bus will be much more strained
•  The frequency of the data submission to the data base will affect the performance of the Gateway

 

With CLOSE RING you can make a connection between the last PDU on the data bus and the Gateway. Because you have connected the first PDU to the DATA BUS connector on the Gateway, you have now created a ring. By activating USE RING REDUNDANCY in the GATEWAY menu of the Gateway (see manual), the data bus will now, in case of a broken chain, use the alternative route to collect the data from the PDUs. In this way, despite the broken chain, all the PDUs can be contacted. In the HOME screen of the Gateway you will find a notification of the error and its location, so you can take appropriate action to solve the problem. 

By using USE RING REDUNDANCY  and physically connecting the last PDU to CLOSE RING, you will have a redundant data bus. This means that a single failure will have NO effect on the proper functioning of the data bus. However, you need to fix the problem soon, because a second error will cause the data bus to lose contact to specific part of the data bus.

 

The Schleifenbauer data bus is based on the serial RS-485 protocol (see WIKI ). It is a very well known and widely accepted standard that has a solid reputation and is well documented. One of the specific advantages of RS-485 is that it is certified for communication over long distances. Up to 100 m between 2 subsequent meters or between a meter and a Gateway should be no problem for communications. Please bear in mind that the quality of the cables (minimum CAT5) and/or patches used can have a great effect on the integrity of the data bus. Poor cabling or patches can cause the data bus to become very unpredictable. PDUs seem to disappear from the data bus and re-appear again without any further explanation. The use of RJ45 couplers can also cause these strange phenomena.

To upgrade all PDUs on the databus is a critical and bus-intensive exercise. We therefor recommend to disengage  all active interfaces in the TAB Interfaces of the Gateway browser menu. Furthermore you should disengage the 'Close Ring' option when this is active. You'll find 'Close Ring' in the TAB Gateway. After this the upgrade should work without any problems. Do not forget to activate all disengaged interfaces or "Close Ring' functionality once the PDU upgrade is performed.

 

A PDU that is not connected to the power will block the data transport on the data bus. When you have unpowered PDUs on the data bus we suggest using the RJ45 coupler to make the bus functional again.

When you have the 'ring redundancy' option activated and your data bus is a ring, you will be able to see all the PDUs when a single PDU is not powered. However, the Gateway will raise an alert due to the blockage created by the unpowered PDU.

This is very difficult to answer: the choice for a fuse or breaker depends on the type of risk you would like to cover and also your electro-mechanical situation on site. We have written a white paper on this topic, which you can download from our site. It should help you making your choice. Because of the Schleifenbauer' build-to-order principle we can accomodate all your requirements.

You are having problems with renumbering PDUs for example, when you get the message DUPLICATE.

In this case, it is likely that you have activated RING REDUNDANCY in the GATEWAY menu, without the ring being actually shut off. It is important that this function is only activated if there is actually a ring topology for the data bus. This means that the last PDU in the chain is connected to the CLOSE RING port on the Gateway. If this does not happen, then false situations can arise on the data bus that could lead to certain PDUs being no longer accessed or renumbering fails.

We recommend only activating the RING REDUNDANCY function after everything is working properly without the ring being connected to the Gateway. Close the ring only after you have established that everything is working properly and activate RING REDUNDANCY in the GATEWAY menu. This should resolve the above problem.

Many problems that clients encounter when activating MySQL originate in the setup of the MySQL settings:

if the STATUS UPDATE and CONFIG UPDATE are set to 0, this means that this information is NOT written to the data base, although it is actually essential to the data base. These fields must therefore NOT be set to zero.

The CONFIG UPDATE can have a high value, for example 86400, then the configuration is updated 1 x per day. We recommend that you upload the STATUS UPDATE more often, because alerts are also sent along with this. You will doubtless wish to update it more often than 1 x per day.

Power distribution by means of systems such as Schneider Electric's Canalis system is popular.  These are expensive but flexible systems with which currents up to several hundreds of amperes are brought up close to the server cabinets. With a junction box the current is then taken to the cabinet via a fuse (MCB), usually with CEE connectors. The amperage and number of phases conducted to the cabinet are determined in the junction box.

However, there is one important factor that is changed by such a system in the 19" rack: the short-circuit current.

As busbar systems use thick copper conductors – they can be suitable for currents up to 400 A – the short-circuit currents in the cabinets can sometimes increase to more than 10 kA. This means that any fuses in the PDU must be able to handle such kA values. In a 'standard' PDU, such as those supplied by our competitors, the fuses are never designed for these values; they would become much too expensive. With Schleifenbauer you can select the fuse with the right kA value, so that you always satisfy the requirements for safe power distribution in your data centre.

We have found that the gateway does not work well with Internet Explorer version 6. Several functions appear not to operate with this combination. We advise users to use version 7 or 8. 

 

To date no problems have occurred with Firefox or Safari.

 

 

Although the data bus uses a 16-bit structure (65535 addresses) the Gateway cannot address more than 32767 addresses  because of certain technical limitations.

If you want to monitor PDU status in MySQL, you may direct syslog output to MySQL (set this in the Gateway tab). Then you will have notices, warnings and errors in a table which you can filter to suit your needs. For example code 150 will signal if a PDU is not reacting. Some codes also provide the PDU address and channel involved, if applicable. See all the syslog messages at this link .