How To Get The Most Information Out Of Your APC UPS Devices

Published by Thomas Timmermann
Last updated on January 23, 2024 • 7 minute read

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) devices protect your data in the event of power failure. They can do this only if they work reliably. You need to monitor your UPS devices continuously. UPS devices from APC by Schneider Electric are very common.

how to get the most information out of your apc ups devices

APC UPS Monitoring With PRTG Network Monitor

PRTG Network Monitor provides several ways to monitor your APC UPS equipment. Out of the Box, PRTG provides a complete SNMP APC hardware sensor that provides the most important standard values such as battery capacity, voltage and temperature, or voltage input and output.

The PRTG SNMP APC Hardware Sensor delivers standard values about your APC hardware status

The sensor can be used very simply via the PRTG Auto-Discovery and the device template provided. Here you will find instructions on how to do this in detail.

Beyond Standard

PRTG offers more possibilities than the default supplied sensors. Custom sensors can be developed via the API using sensor templates, which go beyond standard values. In the case of APC, this is particularly straightforward since APC implements its PowerNet-MIB, which is compatible with most APC devices. The prerequisite is, of course, that the respective device supports SNMP at all. Based on the APC PowerNet-MIB, PRTG users have written a series of custom sensors that provide many values that the PRTG SNMP APC hardware sensor does not capture. Depending on your APC UPS, the sensors can monitor the following properties:

Diagnostic

Schedule
Result of Last Test

Environment Readings

Probe Status
Temperature
Humidity
High Temperature Threshold Reached
Max Temperature Threshold Reached

Line Input

Frequency
Voltage
Last Fail Cause

Line Output

Load
Power
Voltage
Current

Basic Output

Status (mode)

Battery

Basic Status
Capacity
Temperature
Run-time Remaining
Replacement Indicator

Universal IO Probes

Probe Status
Temperature Celsius
Temperature Fahrenheit
Humidity
Alarm

To make the use of the sensors as simple as possible, Luciano from our tech support team has written a device template. This detects the values that your device can deliver and then deploys the compatible sensors.

The sensors contained in the custom device template deliver detailed information, e.g. for the battery status.

Details, Download and Requirements

To use the device template, you need a PRTG installation running version 16.3.25 or later. Whether you are using a full version, or the free version of PRTG limited to 100 sensors, is of no importance. Further prerequisites, tips on the setup, technical details and information and of course a download link for the device template can be found in our knowledgebase.

What To Do If My APC Device Does Not Support SNMP?

Some older APC UPS devices do not support SNMP as well as various entry-level devices for use predominantly in the budget segment. These devices can neither be monitored with the PRTG SNMP APC Hardware Sensor nor with the sensors from the custom device template as they don't support the protocol required by these sensors. But here, too, there is a way to use PRTG for monitoring: a PRTG user has written a PRTG EXE / Script Advanced Sensor based on PowerShell, which can read a whole series of important values from these APC devices: