Power cycling a managed device while connected to its console

Opengear devices manage IT and network infrastructure as well as power infrastructure.  Combining these two capabilities allows you to control power to a target device, e.g. hard reboot a network switch, while connected to it via an out-of-band console session.

Basic configuration steps are:

1. Configure the serial console connection to the target device
2. Configure the RPC connection to the PDU
3. Create a Managed Device associating the console and PDU outlet
4. Connect to the console and invoke the pmshell power menu using the ~p hotkey

1. Configure the console

Follow the regular setup steps as described in this article, taking care to enable the Power Menu option.

2. Configure the PDU

Follow the regular setup steps as described in this article.

3. Create a Managed Device

• Login to the Opengear web UI as root or an admin group user
• Click Serial & Network -> Managed Devices -> Add Device
• Enter a Device Name and optional Description
• Click Add Connection -> Serial and select and console from step #1
• Click Add Connection -> RPC and select the PDU and outlet from step #2

• Multiple outlet connections are supported, e.g. to control power to target devices with dual power supplies – in this case repeat the previous step
• Click Apply

4. Connect to the console

• Connect to the console using one of the usual methods as described in this article, as a user with permissions to access the console and control the PDU outlet (e.g. root)
• Hit <enter>
• Hit the Escape Character for this port, by default this is: ~
• If you are using Linux or Mac command line OpenSSH client, hit the Escape Character a second time
• Hit p

The following menu displays:

Power Commands:

 O - Power ON
 P - Power OFF
 R - Power cycle off then on again
 s - Show current power status
 . - Exit power menu
 ? - Show this message

[Router] Power >

Troubleshooting

If the power menu does not display, it could be because:

• The escape sequence has not been entered correctly, try testing other escape sequences
• The connected user has insufficient privileges, first try testing by connecting as the root user then ensure the user has permission to control the PDU outlet (e.g. is a member of a Serial & Network -> Users & Groups -> Group with the appropriate Accessible RPC Outlet(s) checked)
• Power Menu hasn't been checked for this port, repeat step #1
• The Managed Device connection has not been correctly configured, repeat step #3

Check the Opengear device's Status -> Syslog for further information.