[SATLUG] APC UPS and monitoring software

[Chuck]

Yep,

Was cruising around APC's website earlier trying to find anything about
the Linux software supplied with their units.  Saw that exact thing in a
little box -- UPGRADE TO VERSION 7.  Clicking on it brought up an
explanation about how the Sun Java Software in the version 6 was set to
expire.  But there was NOTHING about what would happen if you didn't
upgrade.

Yeaaaa... another Micro$oft type move.  I agree with that poster below
-- I'd be really pissed if they knew about it and didn't send out word
to at least their support list.


Chuck





On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 18:40, Don Wright wrote:

    This just in on the NT BugTraq list. Seems APC is getting a lot
    of publicity about this. Glad I'm on Tripp-Lite.  --Don
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Windows NTBugtraq Mailing List
    [mailto:NTBUGTRAQ at LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM] On Behalf Of Michael
    Banjac
    Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 2:02 AM
    To: NTBUGTRAQ at LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM
    Subject: APC Powerchute software - expired Java Runtime
    certificate has
    detrimental effect on Win2k / Win2k3 and SBS Servers
    
    
    This week, we were baffled by a significant number of our managed
    client servers falling like dominos, each one exhibiting the same
    symptoms. Essentially, the consoles were dead or dead
    slow....couldn't open control panel or network properties,
    explorer was crashing (no desktop), IE was non responsive.
    Restart the server and the exact same symptoms reappear.
    Accessing the admin console across the network via RDP made
    no difference.  At first sight, we were reasonably confident that
    the Server had been hijacked or hit by a virus.
     
    Antivirus/antispam applications on each affected server were
    completely up to date and had detected nothing. We wasted hours
    scanning drives and searching for the problem through virus and
    adware forums. It was only by chance that one of our engineers
    noticed that there was a service that was still "starting".  Once
    we eventually managed to change the service to manual startup and
    reboot the server, it was as happy as a lamb again.
     
    Researching this further, we discovered that the services in
    question belonged to APC PowerChute Business Edition, in
    particular version 6.x. We now know that this version contains a
    Time Bomb (of sorts) that manages to cripple the server it's
    installed on.  The problem is apparently related to a Sun Java
    Runtime Environment certificate contained within the software
    which was set to expire on the 27th July 2005.  Even though this
    date had passed with no effect for many, once their servers were
    next restarted, the problem appeared.  We could see that the
    processes themselves were loaded into memory but the services
    were still showing as "starting".
    
    Once convinced that disabling the services would resolve the
    issue, we approached our remaining clients and performed the fix
    as a precautionary measure.
     
    There is a posting on the APC site which describes this problem
    in some detail although they fall short of admitting that it
    affects servers as badly as actually does.  They mention that the
    software must be upgraded to version 7 to avoid future problems.
     
    http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_e...hp?p_faqid=7202
    <http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_e...hp?p_faqid=7202> 
    
    After the hours we wasted, I was livid that APC knew of this and
    didn't report it to their Distribution chain in the form of an
    alert so that it could be addressed prior to becoming a major
    issue.  In the end, all that was required is a simple software
    upgrade to avoid this fracas.
     
    Hopefully, this post will help some of you intercept and avoid
    this mind numbing, time wasting exercise.
     
    Regards,
     
    Mike Banjac
    Genesis Business Machines
    Adelaide, South Australia
    
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