Schneider Electric has announced the release of PowerChute^TM Network Shutdown v3.1 with enhanced virtualization support, a network-based server shutdown solution for IT equipment. Equipped with extended virtualization capabilities, PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1 worksin conjunction with the APC by Schneider Electric Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Network Management Card to enable automatic virtual machine migration and graceful virtual machine and host shutdown in VMware^® and Microsoft^® Hyper-V clusters. This provides users with the assurance that mission critical equipment will be protected in the event of an extended power failure.

“While virtualization has changed the IT landscape, the need for power protection remains. In today’s data-driven society, business success relies now more than ever on the continuous uptime and availability of critical IT infrastructure,” comments Paul Bohan, vice president, Network Management, Schneider Electric’s IT Business.“PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1 draws on APC by Schneider Electric’s history as a provider of dependable network management solutions by ensuring safe handling of virtual machines during downtime.”

With APC by Schneider Electric’s PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1, IT managers can feel secure in the continuous availability of their virtual infrastructure. By supporting virtual machine migration in virtual cluster environments, virtual machines affected by power disturbances can be migrated to hosts not impacted by the specific UPS event, ensuring the virtual systems stay online as long as possible and affording IT managers the time needed to assess and address the power issue.

In addition, PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1 is also the only UPS software capable of triggering virtual machine migration without needing to leverage migration technologies such as a Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). In the event of a power failure, the software automatically checks if DRS is available and if so, will leverage it. If not, PowerChute will perform the migration.

In instances where virtual systems cannot be migrated, PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1 can gracefully shutdown the system to avoid data loss, corruption, or equipment damage. In the past, users with virtual cluster environments could only support graceful virtual machine shutdown using customized scripts. With PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1, the VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms are integrated, allowing for seamless configuration and protection ofvirtual machines via an easy-to-use setup wizard. In VMware environments specifically, users can configure the virtual machine shutdown and startup sequencing using vApps.

VMware Ready certified, additional key features of PowerChute Network Shutdown v3.1 include:

• Easy installation: Userscan opt to deploy the solution as a virtual appliance for VMware environments, simplifying installation.
• Industry-leading usability: A patent pending “Virtual Cluster View” dashboard displays a graphical representation of the virtual cluster environment and UPS setup on a single screen. In VMware environments, this user interface can also be monitored via the vSphere Client using the new PowerChute vCenter Plugin option.
• Compatibility with current virtualization software:Built-in support for the latest virtual platforms including VMware vSphere 5.5 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2.