Controller OS · your power control plane.
Controller OS is where you adopt connectors, map UPS devices to hosts and racks, define shutdown rules and manage credentials and updates. Think of it as the central brain for your power layer.
Core features
- • Zero-touch connector adoption with secure tokens
- • UPS discovery overview across all sites
- • Rule engine for staged shutdown sequences
- • Encrypted credential vault for SNMP, SSH and APIs
- • Google Drive backups and optional cloud proxy
VLAN & network design
Love clean network segmentation? PowerGuardian has you covered. In the default setup, LAN1 behaves like a normal network interface on your LAN. As long as Controller OS lives in the same network segment, it can discover Connectors and UPS management cards automatically (manual add is still possible when needed).
- • Simple mode: LAN1 on your main LAN, discovering Connectors and UPS management cards in the same subnet.
- • VLAN-aware mode: Controller OS understands tagged and untagged traffic, so you can present multiple VLANs on a single port from your switch.
- • Dual-NIC setups: use LAN1 for your regular LAN and LAN2 for an isolated network, for example an IoT / UPS management segment.
The idea is simple: keep your power-control layer reachable and cleanly segmented, even when the rest of the network is noisy, under maintenance or being reconfigured.
Rules and shutdown mapping
Instead of just mapping a UPS to an IP address, Controller OS lets you think in terms of racks, hosts and services. You can define which systems are sacrificial and which should survive as long as possible.
Homelab example
Prioritize router and hypervisor, then gracefully power down your NAS and lab VMs.
Small business rack
Keep core services and primary storage alive longer than dev boxes or non-critical systems.
Multi-UPS environments
Assign different shutdown policies per UPS and per site, while viewing everything in one dashboard.
Security model
- • Encrypted credential vault
- • Role-based access: admin, operator, viewer
- • SSH access policy per role and per connector
- • Node tokens and anti-cloning checks for connectors
Where to run Controller OS
You can run Controller OS on a NanoPi R3S, a dedicated x86 box or a VM / container. The idea is simple: treat it as a core piece of infrastructure for your power layer.
In many setups, running it on a small, low-power board or out-of-band VM is ideal—independent from your main hypervisor.