PowerChute vSphere Plugin

Enable the vSphere plug-in option to integrate PowerChute with vCenter Server.

The PowerChute vSphere Plugin is available as:

a vSphere Client Plugin (vSphere Desktop Client)
a vSphere Web Client plugin

This can be enabled on the Virtualization Settings page in the PowerChute Setup Wizard or on the Communications Settings page. You can enable only one of the plugin options.

To access the vSphere Client plugin:

Log into vCenter Server using the vSphere client and access the PowerChute UI using the views below:

Home - Management View

Home - Inventory - Hosts and Clusters view - select the root level in the left-hand pane and click the PowerChute tab in the right-hand pane.

To access the vSphere Web Client plugin:

Log into vCenter Server using the vSphere Web client and access the PowerChute UI by clicking on the Home icon:

Home tab - Monitoring

Click on the PowerChute icon to log in to PowerChute.

In vSphere v6.5 and later, the vSphere Desktop Client is deprecated and the vSphere Web Client is available only.

The PowerChute vSphere Web Client plugin is only available for vSphere Web Client v5.5 update 1 or later.

If Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is enabled you must add the URL for the machine or VM where PowerChute is installed to the Trusted Sites zone.

To do this select Tools-Internet Options in IE and click on the Security tab. Select Trusted Zone and Sites. Add https://<PowerChute hostname/IP address>:6547 to the list of Trusted Sites.

PowerChute vCenter Server Alarms

Enabling either of the vSphere plug-in options also creates a custom PowerChute vCenter Server Alarm.

In the vSphere desktop client plug-in, alarms can be configured to carry out actions using the Actions tab in the Alarm Settings dialog. For example you can configure an action to send a notification e-mail to an administrator when the alarm is triggered

In the vSphere Web Client plugin, alarms can be configured to carry out actions using the Actions tab - Settings - Manage - Alarm Definitions.

PowerChute UPS Critical Event

This alarm will be triggered with “Warning” status on the Triggered alarms view for the VMware hosts when a critical UPS event occurs and PowerChute starts the shutdown sequence.

When PowerChute has finished shutting down VMs and vApps the Alarm status will change to “Alert” as the VMware hosts are commanded to shut down.

Removing Alarms

PowerChute vCenter server alarms are removed when:

vCenter server plugin is uninstalled
vCenter server plugin is disabled

The alarms can also be removed manually through vCenter Server.