AVTECH RA4E-ES1-RAS User Manual
™
Room Alert
Advanced IT & Facilities Environment
Monitoring, Alerting & More
4E
Phone
Fax
Webal
401.628.1600
401.628.1601
AVTECH.com
User’s Guide &
Reference Manual
080210.01
Copyright Information
Copyright 1988-2010 AVTECH Software Inc.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced for commercial benet in any form or by any means, or
stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of AVTECH Software Inc., except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in articles and reviews. Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your individual
use is a violation of United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. For information or additional copies,
contact AVTECH Software Inc., as directed below. Printed in the United States of America.
Warning and Disclaimer
This publication is shipped as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. While every precaution has been taken
in the preparation of this publication, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is
any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information or instructions contained herein. It is further stated
that the publisher and authors are not responsible for any damage or loss to your data or equipment that may result directly or
indirectly from your use of this publication and the related hardware & software. Nothing on the AVTECH Install & Update
CD or documentation shall be construed as conferring any license under any of the AVTECH Software (AVTECH) or any third
party’s intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.
Trademark Acknowledgements
AlertScript, AVTECH, the AVTECH Logo, AVTECH Software, the AVTECH System Manager Character, AVTECH.com,
AVTECHSoftware.com, Environment Alarm, “Environment Monitoring Made Easy!”, EnvironmentMonitor.com, “IT
Environment Monitoring Made Easy!”, MUPS, “Network-Wide Monitoring Made Easy!”, Page Command, PageR, PageR
Data Center, PageR Enterprise, PagerEnterprise.com, Device Discovery, Device ManageR, “Protect Your IT Environment...
Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late!”, Room Alert, Room Alert PLUS, Room Alert RPC, Room Alert Signal Tower, Signal Tower,
RoomAlert.com, “System Monitoring Made Easy!”, TemPageR, TemPageR.com and “Temperature Monitoring Made Easy!”,
WiSH, WiSPR, are trademarks or registered trademarks of AVTECH Software Inc. Any other trademarks, product or company
names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners and used strictly for the purpose of identifying compatibility.
AVTECH Software Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of any other organization’s ownership claim to a trademark and use of any
trademark in this publication should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Special Thanks
We would like to recognize eld test participants, our inhouse support staff and the entire software & hardware development
teams for their contributions and assistance in completing this manual.
Sales, Support & Contact Information
To receive further information or assistance regarding this publication, or any AVTECH product or service, please contact:
Headquarters AVTECH Software Inc. Email Sales@AVTECH.com
16 Cutler Street, Cutler Mill Support@AVTECH.com
Warren, RI 02885-2761 USA Info@AVTECH.com
Phone 401.628.1600 Web AVTECH.com
Sales 888.220.6700 EnvironmentMonitor.com
PagerEnterprise.com
Fax 401.628.1601 RoomAlert.com
TemPageR.com
Room Alert 4E Table of Contents
Table Of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................1
What Room Alert 4E Is............................................................................................................................1
Benets Of Using Room Alert 4E............................................................................................................2
Installation......................................................................................................................3
Package Contents.....................................................................................................................................3
Room Alert 4E ID Box...........................................................................................................................3
Step 1: Install The AVTECH Device Discovery Utility..........................................................................4
Step 2: Install The Room Alert 4E ID Box.............................................................................................4
Step 3: Discovery And Network Settings...............................................................................................5
Static Only Networks.......................................................................................................................7
Device Not Found Or Invalid IP Address.........................................................................................8
Step 4: Connect Included Sensors And Accessories................................................................................8
Step 5: Check Room Alert 4E Firmware Version....................................................................................9
Conguration & Setup Screens..................................................................................10
Alert Methods........................................................................................................................................10
Email......................................................................................................................................................10
Initial Email Setup.........................................................................................................................11
Test Email......................................................................................................................................11
Email-To-SMS.......................................................................................................................................11
SNMP.....................................................................................................................................................12
SNMP Queries (SNMP Get)..................................................................................................................13
SNMP Traps...........................................................................................................................................13
Monitoring With Device ManageR........................................................................................................13
Alert Thresholds.....................................................................................................................................14
Internal Temperature Sensor..................................................................................................................14
Digital Sensors.......................................................................................................................................15
Switch Sensors.......................................................................................................................................15
Ping Options...........................................................................................................................................16
Alarm Options........................................................................................................................................16
External Sensor Options.............................................................................................18
Digital Temperature Sensor..................................................................................................................18
Digital Temperature/Humidity Sensor.................................................................................................18
Digital Power Sensor............................................................................................................................18
Flood Sensor.........................................................................................................................................18
Sound, Light & Entry Sensor................................................................................................................18
AVTECH Software Inc. i
Room Alert 4E Table of Contents
Motion Sensor.......................................................................................................................................19
Power Sensor.........................................................................................................................................19
Smoke Sensor.........................................................................................................................................19
Air Flow Sensor.....................................................................................................................................19
Room Entry Sensor................................................................................................................................19
Panic Button..........................................................................................................................................19
Dry Contacts.........................................................................................................................................19
Additional Screens And Interfaces.............................................................................20
Network..................................................................................................................................................20
Security...................................................................................................................................................20
Advanced................................................................................................................................................21
Using Trace Outputs..............................................................................................................................22
Help........................................................................................................................................................22
About.....................................................................................................................................................23
Web Interface.........................................................................................................................................23
Advanced Topics..........................................................................................................25
Upgrading Firmware..............................................................................................................................25
Reset Factory Default.............................................................................................................................25
Unit Accessible Although Not Discoverable.........................................................................................25
Performing Firmware Recovery.............................................................................................................26
Included With Room Alert & TemPageR...
Device ManageR
Advanced Software For Discovery, Management, Logging, Graphing, Alerting & More
ii AVTECH Software Inc.
Room Alert 4E Introduction
Introduction
What Room Alert 4E Is
The Room Alert 4E ID Box is one of AVTECH Software’s (AVTECH) hardware solutions for ‘Advanced
Computer Room Environment Monitoring, Alerting & Automatic Corrective Action’. It is designed
specically to monitor 1-3 digital temperature or digital temperature/humidity sensors and 1 switch
sensor in distributed locations spanning several hundred feet. The Room Alert 4E additionally allows
unlimited alert notications via email to devices like computers, mobile phones, BlackBerrys, iPhones,
pagers and PDAs. Users can set up thresholds for temperatures that are rising or falling and easily work
with Room Alert 4E through their favorite web browser. Status of attached sensors for Power, Smoke,
Flood, Air Flow and more can be viewed in real-time. Because each Room Alert 4E ID Box is SNMP
enabled, they can easily be monitored by software applications like Device ManageR, Tivoli, OpenView,
Unicenter, Big Brother, Nagios, What’s Up Gold, SolarWinds and others.
Room Alert 4E is designed to easily work with AVTECH’s Device ManageR software which is
included FREE and is designed to set up, monitor and manage unlimited numbers of Room Alert and/or
TemPageR units across your network. Device ManageR will log and graph all sensor data, allow for
Pings, rmware updating and much more. It will signicantly enhance the alert notication capabilities
to allow notication to individuals, groups, hierarchies, different people for different sensors/locations,
and different people for different times of the day. With Device ManageR alert notication methods can
be expanded to include email, email-to-SMS, actions such as toggling Signal Tower LEDs, sending URL
Web Requests and more. If you have not looked at Device ManageR before, take a look because it truly
is one of the easiest and most powerful solutions to use and is included for FREE with your purchase.
Room Alert 4E is a member of AVTECH’s Room Alert product line. There are several powerful
Room Alert models designed to monitor environmental conditions in the data center like temperature,
humidity, main / UPS power, ood / water, smoke / re, entry / intruder, air ow and more. All Room
Alert models come with a license to run AVTECH’s Device ManageR software.
To learn more about AVTECH’s Room Alert, TemPageR or Device ManageR products, visit AVTECH.com.
To order AVTECH products, visit EnvironmentMonitor.com or call 888.220.6700 / 401.628.1600. AVTECH
products are also available through your favorite reseller, just ask them to contact us on your behalf.
Benets Of Using Room Alert 4E
Know immediately when important or critical temperature changes and extremes occur within a
computer room, data center or other facility that could lead to expensive downtime, damaged equipment,
lost worker productivity or denied server access. Providing early warnings about situations that could
damage hardware, threaten uptime or block system access allows staff and management to take actions
that can avoid or minimize an events’ impact on servers, the network, users, recovery insurance and the
emergency IT budget.
AVTECH Software Inc. 1
Introduction Room Alert 4E
Give the IT staff and management “peace of mind” by keeping them fully informed of critical
temperature changes regardless of where they are, the time of day or day of the week. Temperature
extremes place an enormous stress on computer hardware and are normally caused by failure of the main
air conditioning system or a loss of power. Extremes for even a short time can create major challenges for
the IT staff and their budget.
Room Alert 4E provides dynamic, real-time temperature monitoring of the computer room, data center or
other facilities. Some customers use Room Alert 4E to monitor hospital lab refrigerators, incubators, or
coolers. Restaurants use it to monitor their coolers, dining room and lounge areas. We even have people
who use Room Alert 4E to monitor their personal wine cellars, remote cabins in New England, and water
pipes in homes during Winter months. Monitoring of digital temperatures is possible at up to three (3)
locations for each Room Alert 4E box, two (2) of these can be as far as 100 feet away from the Room
Alert 4E box. Monitoring of a switch sensor such as main / UPS power, ood / water, smoke / re, air
ow, motion, intruder / entry, panic buttons and more is possible at one (1) location for each Room Alert
4E box and can be as far as 900 feet away from the Room Alert 4E box.
Notication to an unlimited number of individuals or groups, at unlimited temperature thresholds (too
high or too low), and by notication to each users’ device of choice when used with Device ManageR.
Notications can be sent by email to computers, mobile phones, pagers, PDAs, web pages and more.
AVTECH’s Device ManageR software will enhance Room Alert 4E’s capabilities by allowing logging
of sensor data over the short or long term for tracking or identication of critical times of the day where
environment conditions may change to consistently cause problems. Device ManageR can also graph
sensor data for immediate analysis. Sensor data can be exported in Excel format by clicking a single button.
Charts, graphs and reports can be prepared in other applications for presentation to management or periodic
review by staff. This can be useful for justication of new air conditioning equipment, modifying the data
center layout or justifying changes like the location of primary servers or the data center.
2 AVTECH Software Inc.
Room Alert 4E Installation
A B
C D
Front View (Room Alert 4E ID Box)
Installation
The initial installation of the Room Alert 4E can be completed quickly and easily provided the
instructions below are followed with detail and care. Before beginning, please lay out the contents of the
Room Alert 4E package so that the components can all be located and accessed with ease.
Package Contents
The main components included with the standard (default) Room Alert 4E package include:
• One (1) Room Alert 4E ID Box (1U 19˝ Mounting Bracket Is Included w/Room Alert 4ER)
• One (1) Ethernet Cable (10’ length, red)
• One (1) AVTECH 5V 1A Power Adapter (110-240V, 50-0Hz, RoHS)
• One (1) External Digital Temperature Sensor
• One (1)
• One (1) AVTECH Install & Update CD
• One (1) Package Of Literature & Additional Information
NOTE: Some of the components arriving with this package may be individually wrapped and contain additional supporting
components. Please remember to keep these components together as they will be required for proper setup. If you received
additional components (i.e. like additional sensors) that are not mentioned above, instructional material explaining the proper
setup of that component should be included with it. If you cannot nd the proper instructional materials, check the included CD
or ‘Support’ and ‘Downloads’ sections of the AVTECH.com website for any appropriate installation or application note that will
instruct you on the proper installation and use of that component. Install those components after the Room Alert 4E setup is
completed.
Room Alert 4E User’s Guide & Reference Manual
(you’re reading it)
Room Alert 4E ID Box
The graphics below identify the primary components of the Room Alert 4E ID box that are visible on the
front and rear panels.
Main Power Port — Connect the ‘AVTECH 5V 1A Power Adapter’ to this port to power the
A.
Room Alert 4E unit. Do not use any other power adapter or it could damage the unit.
Network Port — Attach the Room Alert 4E unit to the network by plugging the Ethernet
B.
cable into this port and then connecting the other end to the network. The left LED above the
‘Network’ port indicates Link status and should light up and remain a solid green or orange color.
The right LED above the ‘Network’ port indicates Activity status and should blink with network
activity on the port. The color of this LED can be green or orange as well. When the device
reboots, the Link LED will turn on and off several times. If the Link LED remains unlit and the
AVTECH Software Inc. 3
Installation Room Alert 4E
E
Back View (Room Alert 4E ID Box)
Activity LED is blinking orange, please refer to the ‘Performing Firmware Recovery’ section of
the ‘Advanced Topics’ chapter. This is an RJ-45 port.
External Environment Sensor (Digital Sensor) — AVTECH’s Digital Temperature and Digital
C.
Temperature/Humidity Sensors can be connected to these sensor channels. This is an RJ-11 port.
Switch Sensor Contact Set — Connect any AVTECH switch-based environment sensor to the
D.
set of sensor contacts for monitoring by the Room Alert 4E unit. Any switch sensor device with
a set of voltage-free dry contacts can be attached to a set of sensor contacts. AVTECH has many
sensors available for monitoring environment and other conditions.
Light Tower Connection Port — An AVTECH External Light Tower or External Light Tower
E.
w/Audio can be connected to this connection port.
Step 1: Install The AVTECH Device Discovery Utility
The AVTECH Device Discovery Utility is used to initially discover the Room Alert 4E after it is
connected to your network. The Device Discovery Utility can be installed from the AVTECH Install &
Update CD or downloaded from the ‘Downloads’ section of the AVTECH.com website. Install this utility
on a Windows-based computer that is located on the same network that the Room Alert 4E unit will be
connected to. Install this now and we will come back to the Device Discovery Utility in a later step.
Step 2: Install The Room Alert 4E ID Box
The Room Alert 4E must be connected in the following order for initial con guration and
discovery on the network to be successful. Locate the Ethernet cable included with your
package and connect one end to the ‘Network’ port on the front of the Room Alert 4E unit.
Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to an open port on the switch or router that will
give the Room Alert 4E unit access to your network.
Next, locate the ‘AVTECH 5V 1A Power Adapter’ and plug it into a surge protected UPS power source.
This will allow alert noti cations even after a complete power loss.
NOTE: It is recommended that the Room Alert 4E unit be plugged into a UPS.
Attach the other end of the power adapter to the ‘Power’ port on the Room Alert 4E unit
4 AVTECH Software Inc.
Room Alert 4E Installation
only if the Room Alert 4E unit is already connected to the network. Be sure to remove the sticker over
the ‘Power’ port before attaching the ‘AVTECH 5V 1A Power Adapter’ to the Room Alert 4E unit.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT CONNECT POWER to the Room Alert 4E unit during the initial setup UNTIL AFTER you have
connected it to your network as described above or it will cause problems automatically assigning the initial IP address.
Once the network and power connections have been completed, verify that the LED
located on the top-left side of the network jack lights up indicating power and network
connectivity.
Step 3: Discovery And Network Settings
Once the Room Alert 4E unit has been properly installed according to Step 2 above, open the AVTECH
Device Discovery Utility and click the ‘Search’ button. The AVTECH Device Discovery Utility will
attempt to discover the Room Alert 4E unit connected to your network by sending out a UDP broadcast
on UDP port 30718.
NOTE: If there are multiple Ethernet adapters on the computer that the AVTECH Device Discovery Utility is installed on, a
dialog will display asking for the proper network to perform the search on. Make the correct selection and then continue.
The Room Alert 4E unit is initially set to obtain an IP address automatically using DHCP. If you do not
have DHCP on your network, please see the ‘Static-Only Networks’ section below.
The Room Alert 4E unit connected to your network should appear in the AVTECH Device Discovery Utility
window as illustrated above. This will normally take just a few seconds. If the IP address displayed is ‘169.xxx.
xxx.xxx’ and the ‘Name’ is displayed as ‘Unknown’ or if the Room Alert 4E unit was not found, please see the
‘Device Not Found Or Invalid IP Address’ subsection below before continuing.
Once the Room Alert 4E unit is displayed, select it from the list to perform an action on it. Selecting multiple
AVTECH Software Inc. 5
Installation Room Alert 4E
units will cause the action selected to be performed on multiple units (i.e. all selected units) simultaneously.
The ‘Set IP’ button is used to assign a static IP address, gateway IP address, subnet mask
and DNS server IP address or to set the Room Alert 4E unit back to DHCP (0.0.0.0). If
the ‘Set IP’ button is pressed without a specic Room Alert 4E unit selected in the
AVTECH Device Discovery Utility, a prompt will display asking for the MAC address of the unit. This
option can be used in conjunction with the MAC address listed on the bottom of the Room Alert 4E unit
to attempt IP address assignment of a unit that cannot be located or has previously been obtained or
assigned an incorrect IP address.
The ‘Settings’ button opens the default web browser and displays the ‘Settings’ screen of the Room
Alert 4E web interface. The ‘Settings’ screen allows for further conguration of the Room Alert 4E
unit and is where alerts, email, SNMP and other settings are congured.
The ‘Web’ button displays the main ‘Status’ screen of the Room Alert 4E web interface which
shows current sensor data and alarm status in the default web browser for the system you are using.
Be sure to bookmark the link that loads for quick and easy reference in the future.
The ‘Update’ button initiates the rmware upgrade process of the AVTECH Device
Discovery Utility. If a Room Alert 4E unit is not selected before left clicking this button,
a dialog will display asking for the IP address of the unit to upload rmware to. Please
see the ‘Upgrading Firmware’ section of the ‘Advanced Topics’ chapter for important instructions on the
‘Update’ feature.
The AVTECH Device Discovery Utility offers additional features accessible via a right click context
menu. This menu is accessible only when a located Room Alert 4E unit has been selected and the right
mouse button has been clicked. These menu options are described below.
The ‘Synchronize Time’ option instructs the Room Alert 4E unit to synchronize with the time
server specied in the ‘Time Server IP’ eld on the ‘Advanced’ tab of the ‘Settings’ screen. The
time displayed on the Room Alert 4E ‘Status’ screen and included in email alert notications
can only be updated by linking with a network time server (NTP) on UDP port 123. If a time
server is not available on your network and access to a time server on the internet is not possible,
AVTECH has various help les available that explain how to congure a computer on the local
network to act as a time server for other devices. Visit AVTECH.com to learn more and see
AVTECH’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
The ‘Save Settings’ feature can be used to download the current conguration
settings on a Room Alert 4E unit for backup purposes. This feature can also be used
to quickly congure multiple Room Alert 4E units by conguring one unit,
selecting it, clicking the ‘Save Settings’ option, then selecting multiple units and
clicking the ‘Restore Settings’ option.
AVTECH Software Inc.
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