Guides

Note: Does not work with the free version of ESXi.

Deploy the premade Cyberpower Powerpanel Business Local VM on to ESXi and set it up to shutdown the host it is running on.

• Download the latest PowerPanel Business Local for Virtual Machine from https://www.cyberpower.com/eu/en/product/sku/powerpanel_business_for_virtual_machine#downloads
• Unzip the downloaded zip file
• In ESXi:
  • Select Create/Register VM
  • Choose Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file
  • Press Next
  • Enter Cyberpower Powerpanel Business as the name, and select all the extracted files
  • Choose the data store and press Next
  • Make sure Thin is selected, and deselect Power on automatically, and press Next
  • Press Finish to start the import process
  • Find the MAC address and assign the VM an IP address in the router settings with the name Cyberpower-PPB
  • Edit the Virtual Hardware settings:
    • Add other device > USB device > The UPS
  • On the side panel Host > Manage:
    • System > Autostart:
      • Enable the Cyberpower Powerpanel Business VM, and make sure it is set to 1 in the autostart order
    • Security & Users > Users > Add user:
      • Add a new user to be used for the Cyberpower VM to allow shutting down the ESXi system
      • Use cyberpower as the username, and a generated password
  • Host > Actions > Permissions:
    • Add user
    • Select the cyberpower user that was just created
    • Select Administrator
    • Finalise with Add user
  • Power on the Cyberpower VM
• Add http://cyberpower-ppb:3052/local/ to Caddy

One issue with PowerPanel is that it constantly writes to /usr/local/PPB/db_local/filedb.log (https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeServer/comments/usno37/cyberpower_powerpanel_business_linux_excessive/). We fix this by installing and using Anything-sync-daemon to put the directory into a ram disk that gets synced to disk occasionally.

• Connect to admin@cyberpower-ppb using SSH and login with admin as the password.

# Change the default password:
passwd
 
# Change the time zone to the one the server is in:
# Find your time zone using:
timedatectl list-timezones
# Then set it with:
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Australia/Perth
 
# Make sure the system is up to date
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
 
# Install Anything-sync-daemon
sudo apt install make pv zstd
git clone https://github.com/graysky2/anything-sync-daemon.git /tmp/asd
cd /tmp/asd
sudo make install-systemd-all
cd /
rm -R /tmp/asd
sudo nano /etc/asd.conf
# Edit the following lines:
WHATTOSYNC=()
#VOLATILE="/tmp"
#USE_OVERLAYFS="no"
# into:
WHATTOSYNC=('/usr/local/PPB/db_local')
VOLATILE="/dev/shm"
USE_OVERLAYFS="yes"
# Write out the file and exit
# Check to see if configured properly
sudo asd p
# Enable to run at startup
sudo systemctl enable asd.service
 
sudo reboot 0

• Visit http://cyberpower-ppb:3052/local/:
  • Login with admin and admin as username and password
  • Verify that the UPS is showing up correctly
  • Change the username and password:
    • In the top right, click admin > Change password
    • Change the username and use a generated password
  • Sign in again with the new details
  • UPS Setting > Configuration > Set Replacement Date to when the unit was purchased or the battery was last replaced
  • Setting > Notifications:
    • Notification Channels:
      • Disable and apply all the channels except E-mail
      • Configure E-mail to use Gmail:
        • If your Gmail account uses 2 factor auth:
          • Go to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and generate an app password for the VM called: Cyberpower VM Notification Emails
          • Copy the app password
        • Enable Enabled
        • Provider > Other
        • SMTP server address > smtp.gmail.com
        • Connection Security > TLS > Auto
        • Service port > 587
        • Sender name > The name you want the sender to show in the email
        • Sender E-mail > Gmail account email address
        • Enable Authentication
        • User Name/Password > Gmail account username and password
        • Apply
        • And Test to make sure it sends correctly
    • Recipients:
      • Default Receiver > Edit:
        • Recipient Name > Your name
        • E-mail Address > <Gmail address>+powerpanel@gmail.com
    • In Gmail, make a filter to give the emails a label:
      • Filter emails matching: to:(<Gmail address>+powerpanel@gmail.com)
      • Mark them with a Label, and never send to spam
  • Setting > Shutdown Setting > Shutdown Events:
    • Local Host Shutdown Requirements:
      • Shutdown Type > Shutdown
      • Disable Shutdown UPS
      • ESXi:
        • Set Shutdown Duration to a reasonable estimation of how long it takes the ESXi server to shut down all the VMs and itself, e.g. 10 min
        • IP Address > Set to the local hostname of the ESXi host
        • Set Account and Password to the previously created account with administrator access
      • Virtual Machine:
        • Enable Shutdown
        • Set the Shutdown Duration to the time it takes for all the VMs to shutdown
      • Apply
    • Shutdown Delays:
      • Utility power failure > Set to the time you want the server to run on the battery, with enough safe time to shut down, e.g. 30 min
      • Available runtime is insufficient > Inactive
  • Reporting > Energy Use > Cost Per kWh > AU - AUSTRALIA

• Using SSH, connect to admin@cyberpower-ppb:
  • Run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
• Visit http://cyberpower-ppb:3052/local/:
  • Go to the Help tab, and Check for Updates

• https://wiert.me/2021/07/09/automatically-shutting-down-an-esxi-6-7-server-from-a-cyberpower-ups-using-the-powerpanel-business-edition-4-x/

• Maybe try integrating into Home Assistant: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/monitor-cyberpower-ups-plugged-into-windows-machine-via-usb/170497/31