What does a UPS monitoring and control software package do?

UPS monitoring software is supplied with most uninterruptible power supplies as a website download link or on a DVD/CD-ROM package. The UPS will have a USB/RS-232 interface and/or an option for a plug-in communications card. For an IP network, the most commonly used card is a UPS SNMP card. UPS monitoring and control software can display realtime graphs and readings, access historical logs, display alarm messages and broadcast them and be configured to automatically shutdown the network file server at a preset time when the uninterruptible power supply runs on battery i.e. during a mains power failure, to preserve data and prevent damage to the server.