How can I mass configure a Network Management Card (NMC) or NMC embedded product?

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Issue

How can I mass configure or configure multiple Network Management Card devices?

Product Line

Network Management Card 1 (NMC1) - AP9617, AP9618, AP9619

Devices with an embedded Network Management Card 1 include (but are not limited to): Metered/Switched Rack PDUs (AP78XX, AP79XX), Rack Automatic Transfer Switches (AP77XX, Environmental Monitoring Units (AP9320, AP9340, NetBotz 200)

Network Management Card 2 (NMC2) - AP9630/AP9630CH, AP9631/AP9631CH, AP9635/AP9635CH

Devices with an embedded Network Management Card 2 include (but are not limited to): 2G Metered/Switched Rack PDUs (AP84XX, AP86XX, AP88XX, AP89XX), Certain Audio/Video Network Management Enabled products, AP44XX Automatic Transfer Switches.

Network Management Card 3 (NMC3) – AP9640, AP9641

Older products such as the AP9605, AP9606, and related products (ie. AP9312TH, MasterSwitch 1/2) do not have this feature.

Network Management Card for Easy UPS (NMC3) - AP9544

Environment

All serial numbers
NMC1/NMC2 Firmware versions AOS v2.5.0 or higher

Cause

For users that have multiple APC Network Management Cards or devices with an embedded Network Management Card, mass configuration of those devices can greatly ease administration. These instructions will provide defaults on downloading and uploading a single configuration file (config.ini) as well as downloading and uploading multiple files at a time with the intent of 'pushing' these files to different devices in an automated fashion.

These instructions will also include notes for Network Management Card 2 firmware v6.X.X and higher, and Network Management Card 3 users wishing to push .csf script files for user management.

Resolution

Refer to the individual sections below depending on what you'd like to do.

NOTE:IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and Boot Mode cannot be modified through the config.ini file unless the "Override" Keyword MAC address matches the device's MAC address. Otherwise, these four settings will be disregarded. Similarly, on certain applicable UPS models, the Override keyword will not configure Output Voltage, Frequency, and/or Transfer Ranges when the Override keyword does not match the UPS serial number that the NMC is installed in. More information on this topic and what to be aware of when manipulating configuration files is located in Knowledge Base article FA156136 .

How do I obtain a config.ini file from a single Network Management Card?

For all firmware versions, one option is to retrieve the config.ini file via FTP from the Network Management Card (NMC) device (or SCP if enabled). Steps for Windows FTP are provided below:

Open a command prompt and type: ftp<space><ip address of the NMC>
Log into the NMC device using your login credentials.
Type "bin" for binary mode and "hash" for hash marks (optional) indicating the transfer is in progress.
Once logged in, type get<space>config.ini.

NOTE:This will save the config.ini file to your current working directory. If you wish to save the file to a different directory, change your working directory.

Once finished, type "bye" and you will exit from the NMC device.

NOTE:For Network Management Card 2 v6.0.6 and higher, and Network Management Card 3, in addition to FTP, the Web UI can provide an option to download the configuration:
Upload INI page in Web UI

This option is located under Configuration > General > User Config File and click the Download button as shown above to receive a prompt to save the file locally.

Once the config.ini file is downloaded via either method, you can open it and view all settings from the NMC device.

How do I upload a modified config.ini file to a single Network Management Card?

To upload a modified config.ini file, you can follow a couple of different methods.

Method 1 - via Web UI

NOTE:The five steps below apply to NMC1/NMC2 devices with v3.X.X and v5.X.X firmware.

Open a web browser and go to the IP address or hostname of the NMC device.
Log into the NMC device.
Once logged in, navigate to Administration > General > User Config File.
From this menu, you will need to browse for the config.ini file that you wish to upload.
Once you have located the file, click Apply and the file will be uploaded.

NOTE: Some settings that are uploaded may require you to logout. Look in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. If the Log Off option has a yellow triangle/exclamation point, log off and the NMC will reboot to apply your settings.

NOTE:The five steps below apply to NMC2 devices with v6.X.X firmware, and NMC3 devices.

Open a web browser and go to the IP address or hostname of the NMC device.
Log into the NMC device
Once logged in, navigate to Configuration > General > User Config File.
From this menu, you will need to browse for the config.ini file you wish to upload.
Once you have located the file, click Apply and the file will be uploaded.

NOTE: Some settings that are uploaded may require you to logout. Look at the top of the screen. If the NMC has a large yellow banner indicating a reboot is required for some settings to take effect, you'll need to log off and the NMC will reboot to apply your settings.

Method 2 - via FTP

Open a command prompt and type: ftp<space><ip address of the NMC>
Log into the NMC device using your login credentials.
Type "bin" for binary mode and "hash" for hash marks (optional) indicating the transfer is in progress.
Once logged in, type put<space>config.ini.

NOTE: You must ensure you are in the same directory as the file you wish to upload. Otherwise, you must specify the directory.

Once finished, type "bye" and you will exit from the NMC device.

How do I configure multiple devices at once using config.ini?

In some cases, a user may wish to upload a config.ini file to several devices, in an attempt to minimize workload and configuration time. APC by Schneider Electric offers a couple of methods to upload configurations to several devices at one time.

Method 1 - ISX Manager - Discontinued Product

This method is not supported on the Network Management Card for Easy UPS

ISX Manager offers a mass configuration utility. Please reference the User Guide for the ISX Manager for information on performing the mass configuration.

NOTE: The mass configuration option in ISX Manager uploads specific settings designated by the ISX Manager. Therefore, not all settings may be applied, and some settings that shouldn't be applied, may be uploaded. It is recommended that this feature only be used for devices of the same type. i.e. Smart-UPS to Smart-UPS, Switched Rack PDUs to Switched Rack PDUs.

Method 2 - InfraStruXure Central/StruxtureWare Central/StruxureWare Data Center Expert

This method is not supported on the Network Management Card for Easy UPS

StruxureWare Data Center Expert offers a mass configuration utility. Please reference the User Guide for the StruxureWare Data Center Expert for information on performing the mass configuration and any important limitations.

NOTE: The mass configuration option in StruxureWare uploads specific settings designated by the StruxureWare application. Therefore, not all settings may be applied, and some settings that shouldn't be applied, may be uploaded. It is recommended that this feature only be used for devices of the same type. i.e. Smart-UPS to Smart-UPS, Switched Rack PDUs to Switched Rack PDUs.

Method 3 - INI Utility
Schneider Electric offers a free program called the INIUtility. This program allows the user to download and modify one config.ini file and then upload it to several different NMC devices through FTP. It is available as an attachment to this Knowledge Base article.

v3 of this utility also supports pushing/uploading .csf files, as outlined in Knowledge Base article FA176542, for v6.X.X NMC2 devices, and NMC3 devices for mass configuration of user management. (This file is for upload only.)

You should have (5) files once the utility is uncompressed:
- download_list.txt
- iniutil.exe
- ReadMe.txt
- upload_list.txt
- winftp32.dll

You will need to save your config.ini (or .csf script) file that you wish to upload (if you've already modified it) to this same directory, If you have not downloaded it manually, you can use the iniutil.exe utility and download_list.txt files to perform a mass download of config.ini.

The download_list.txt and upload_list.txt files can be edited with the IP address, INI file to be downloaded/uploaded, and your login credentials. You must un-comment each field (by removing; at the beginning of each line) in the files to have the program run properly. Below is an example of each file at a default and modified state.

NOTE: .csf files are uploaded only as user credentials are not downloadable for security reasons.

Default:
;SystemIP=168.192.0.1
;IniFileName=config.ini
;SystemUserName=apc
;SystemPassword=apc

Modified:
SystemIP=10.100.3.20
IniFileName=config.ini
SystemUserName=adminuser
SystemPassword=p@ssw0rd

NOTE:Notice the ' ; ' has been removed from each line in the modified example. If you leave this character in the text file, it will comment the lines out and this procedure will not work. Ensure to remove the character as shown in the modified example.

Each list can also be modified with multiple NMC devices. Below is an example of the list:

SystemIP=192.168.1.100
IniFileName=config.ini
SystemUserName=apc
SystemPassword=apc

SystemIP=192.168.1.120
IniFileName=config.ini
SystemUserName=admin
SystemPassword=apc123

SystemIP=192.168.1.130
IniFileName=config.ini
SystemUserName=jsmith
SystemPassword=p@ssw0rd

In this case, all three devices will either download or upload the config.ini files.

NOTE: If you are only uploading a couple of settings, it is possible cut the specific config.ini file section you would like and paste it into a different .ini filename for easier management and reference. For example, the original config.ini SNMP section can be copied into a "snmpsettings.ini" file as the file does not need to be called config.ini but rather just have an .ini extension upon upload. On upload, only the SNMP settings will be parsed into the NMC device. A section is enclosed in square brackets, such as [NetworkSNMP] "section."

SystemIP=192.168.1.130
IniFileName=snmpsettings.ini
SystemUserName=admin
SystemPassword=p@ssw0rd123

Once you have the .ini or .csf file(s) that you would like to upload to your device(s) in the same directory as the utility and your upload_list.txt has been updated with all credentials and filenames, then you can start the upload.

Double click on the "iniutil.exe" program. You should see the following:

INI Utility.
*****************************************************

1. Upload configuration file
2. Download configuration file
3. Exit

Action:

To upload the config.ini file, select option 1. You will then see the following:

Action: 1
Batch upload file upload_list.txt found
1: Use parameters in batch file
2: Enter new parameters for single upload
3: Exit

Action:

Select option 1 and this will reference the upload_list.txt file for the NMC devices you wish to upload. A successful upload should appear with Successful next to each step. Any step that does not, you should check. i.e. Logging in - Unsuccessful. You should check the login credentials.

For further information on this, read the ReadMe document included in the download.