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NAME

       FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview

Introduction

       FreeIPMI  provides  in-band  and  out-of-band  IPMI  software  based  on the IPMI v1.5/2.0
       specification.

What is IPMI?

       The IPMI specification defines  a  set  of  interfaces  for  platform  management  and  is
       implemented  by  a  number  vendors  for system management. The features of IPMI that most
       users will be interested in are sensor monitoring, system event monitoring, power control,
       and  serial-over-LAN  (SOL).  The FreeIPMI tools and libraries listed below should provide
       users with the ability to access and utilize these and many other features of IPMI.

Getting Started with IPMI

       IPMI can be used in-band  (i.e.  running  on  a  machine  locally)  or  out-of-band  (i.e.
       connecting remotely).

       Most  FreeIPMI  tools  can  operate  in-band by using one of the in-band drivers included.
       These in-band drivers include a userspace KCS interface driver, a SSIF driver through  the
       Linux  SSIF  device (i.e. /dev/i2c-0), the OpenIPMI Linux kernel driver (i.e. /dev/ipmi0),
       the  Sun/Solaris  BMC  driver  (i.e.  /dev/bmc),  and  the  Intel  DCMI/MEI  driver  (i.e.
       /dev/dcmi).  If  your  system  requires  the  use  of installed drivers, those appropriate
       modules must be installed ahead of time.  However, most systems should automatically  load
       these drivers when appropriate.

       Under  most  scenarios,  the  FreeIPMI  tools  should automatically discover which in-band
       interface to use and the proper settings to use.  Users  may  execute  the  tools  on  the
       command  line  to  begin using them. Some motherboards may require you to determine driver
       type, addresses, paths, etc. on your own and pass them as  command  line  options  to  the
       tools.  You may use ipmi-locate(8) to help determine this information. Other tools such as
       dmidecode(8) may also provide this information.

       To use IPMI out-of-band with tools such as ipmipower(8)  or  ipmi-sensors(8),  the  remote
       machine's  BMC  must  first  be  configured for out of band communication. Typically, this
       involves setting  a  username,  password,  IP  address,  MAC  address,  and  a  few  other
       parameters. This can be done using the tool ipmi-config(8).  Additional information on how
       to configure with ipmi-config(8) can be found in  the  ipmi-config.conf(5)  manpage.  Some
       vendors  may  pre-configure  their motherboards with default values so that ipmi-config(8)
       can be used remotely to configure the machine. However, most of the time, the BMC must  be
       configured  in-band  before out-of-band access can be allowed (for example, the correct IP
       address and MAC address must be configured).

       In order to remotely connect to a machine, you typically must specify the host,  username,
       and password for the tool in order to connect.  Depending on configuration settings, a K_g
       key, privilege level, authentication type, cipher suite id, or protocol version  may  need
       to be specified.

       Some  vendors  may  have  not implemented IPMI properly and a workaround must be specified
       into FreeIPMI to ensure the tool can execute properly.  For  example,  a  fair  number  of
       vendors  have populated their FRU records with invalid checksums. To properly ignore these
       set of checksums a skipchecks workaround has been added to ipmi-fru(8).  Please  see  each
       of the tool manpages to see a list of available workarounds.

       Additional information, examples, and general trouble-shooting can be found in each of the
       tool manpages.

General Use

       The primary tools that most users of FreeIPMI will be interested in for system  management
       are the following:

       Ipmi-sensors

       A tool to read IPMI sensor readings to aid in system monitoring.

       Ipmi-sel

       A tool to read and manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records to aid in system debugging.

       Ipmipower

       A tool for remote power control.

       Ipmiconsole

       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.

       Many  other  tools and libraries are listed below that cover additional features and areas
       of IPMI.

       Additional information, examples, and general trouble-shooting can be found in each of the
       tool manpages.

Configuration

       In  order  to  avoid  typing  in  a  long  list  of  command  line options to specify IPMI
       communication requirements everytime a command is executed (e.g. driver paths,  usernames,
       passwords, etc.), an alternate set of default values can be set for most FreeIPMI tools in
       the FreeIPMI configuration file. See freeipmi.conf(5) for more information.

HPC Support

       Much of FreeIPMI was written with HPC support in mind.   Ipmi-config(8)  comes  with  file
       input/output  support  so  that configuration can be copied and verified across nodes in a
       cluster. Most tools (like ipmipower(8) and ipmi-sensors(8) ) come with  hostrange  support
       so  multiple  hosts  can be specified on the command line at the same time and IPMI can be
       executed against the hosts in parallel. See tool manpages for more information.  Also  see
       the  document  freeipmi-hostrange.txt for detailed usage and explanation.  Ipmi-sensors(8)
       and the libipmimonitoring(3) library support the ability to interpret sensor  readings  as
       well as just reporting them. By mapping sensor readings into NOMINAL, WARNING, or CRITICAL
       states, it makes monitoring sensors easier across large numbers of nodes.

Development

       For information on the libraries that can be  used  to  program  IPMI  applications  with,
       please  see libfreeipmi(3), libipmiconsole(3), libipmimonitoring(3), and libipmidetect(3).
       Or see the document freeipmi-libraries.txt.

Project Tools

       The following tools are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.

       Bmc-info

       A tool to read information about a BMC such as device version numbers, device support, and
       globally unique IDs (guids).

       Bmc-watchdog

       A  tool/daemon  to  manage  a BMC Watchdog. This tool is typically used for system timeout
       management and automatic system restarts in the event of a system crash.

       Ipmi-chassis

       A tool to manage/monitor a chassis,  such  as  chassis  power,  identification  (i.e.  LED
       control), and status.

       Ipmi-fru

       A tool to read field replaceable unit (FRU) information from a motherboard/machine.

       Ipmi-sel

       A  tool  to  read and manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records. SEL records store system
       event information and may be useful for debugging problems.

       Ipmi-sensors

       A tool to read IPMI sensor readings and sensor data repository (SDR) information.

       Ipmipower

       A tool for remote power control.

       Ipmiconsole

       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.

       Ipmi-config

       A tool to configure BMC and IPMI information. In can  be  used  to  configured  usernames,
       passwords,   networking  information,  security,  Serial-over-LAN  (SOL),  Platform  Event
       Filtering (PEF), boot devices, power restoration policy, sensor thresholds, sensor events,
       and many more configuration options.

       Ipmi-raw

       A tool that provides hex input/output of IPMI commands.

       Ipmi-locate

       A  tool  that can probe for information about the location of a BMC device, such as device
       addresses.

       Ipmi-pet

       A tool to parse and interpret Platform Event Traps (PET).

       Ipmi-dcmi

       A tool to perform Data Center Manageability  Interface  (DCMI)  IPMI  extension  commands.
       Supports extensions for asset management and power usage management.

       Bmc-device

       A  tool  to  perform  advanced  BMC commands, such as resetting the BMC, configuring ACPI,
       configuring SDR/SEL time, manually generating events, re-arming sensors,  and  configuring
       manufacturer settings.

       Ipmiping

       An IPMI ping tool for debugging.

       Rmcpping

       A RMCP ping tool for debugging.

       Ipmi-oem

       An IPMI tool for OEM specific commands.

       Ipmidetect/Ipmidetectd

       A tool and daemon for IPMI node detection.

       Ipmiseld

       A daemon that regularly polls the SEL and stores the events to the local syslog.

       Additional information, examples, and general trouble-shooting can be found in each of the
       tool manpages.

Project Libraries

       The following libraries are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.

       Libfreeipmi

       A C library that includes KCS, SSIF, OpenIPMI Linux, and Solaris BMC drivers, IPMI 1.5 and
       IPMI  2.0  LAN  communication  interfaces,  IPMI  packet  building utilities, IPMI command
       utilities, and utilities for reading/interpreting/managing IPMI.

       Libipmiconsole

       A library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access. SOL console access is abstracted  into
       a  file  descriptor  interface,  so  users  may read and write console data through a file
       descriptor.

       Libipmimonitoring

       A library for sensor monitoring that abstracts away most IPMI details.

       Libipmidetect

       A library for IPMI node detection.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2003-2014 FreeIPMI Core Team.

       FreeIPMI is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
       GNU  General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3
       of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

SEE ALSO

       libfreeipmi(3),      libipmiconsole(3),      libipmidetect(3),       libipmimonitoring(3),
       freeipmi.conf(5),  bmc-device(8),  bmc-info(8),  bmc-watchdog(8),  ipmi-chassis(8),  ipmi-
       config(8),  ipmi-fru(8),  ipmi-locate(8),  ipmi-oem(8),  ipmi-pet(8),  ipmi-raw(8),  ipmi-
       sel(8),   ipmi-sensors(8),   ipmiconsole(8),   ipmidetect(8),  ipmiping(8),  ipmipower(8),
       rmcpping(8)

       http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/