NAME

       ipmi_sim - IPMI LAN BMC Simulator

SYNOPSIS

       ipmi_sim [-c config-file] [-f command-file] [-x command] [-s state-dir] [-d] [-n]

DESCRIPTION

       The ipmi_sim daemon emulates an IPMI BMC simulator that may be accessed using the IPMI 1.5
       or 2.0 LAN protocol, or via various  serial  protocols.   It  is  useful  stand-along  for
       prototyping,  it  may  be  used with a virtual machine such as QEMU to provide an IPMI BMC
       emulator, and it may be used to implement an actual BMC (where it's not such  a  simulator
       any more)

       ipmi_sim supports the full authentication capabilities of the IPMI LAN protocol.

       ipmi_sim supports multiple IP addresses for fault-tolerance.  Note that messages coming in
       on an address are always sent back out on the same address they came in.

OPTIONS

       -c config-file
              Set the configuration file to one other than the default  of  /etc/ipmi/lan.conf  .
              See ipmi_lan(5) for details.

       -f command-file
              Specify  a  command  file  to execute when ipmi_sim is starting.  This is generally
              used to set up the IPMI environment.  See ipmi_sim_cmd(5) for details.

       -x  command
              Execute a single command.

       -s state-dir
              Specify a state directory for ipmi_sim to use instead of the  default.   The  state
              directory  must  exist,  and  ipmi_sim  will  store  information  there for when it
              restarts.  For instance, if someone changes user information, then  it  will  store
              the  new  user  information  there and what is in the config file will no longer be
              used.

       -d     Turns on debugging to standard output (if -n is not specified) and the debug output
              of syslog.

       -n     Disables console and I/O on standard input and output.

CONFIGURATION

       Configuration  is  accomplished  through the file /etc/ipmi/lan.conf.  A file with another
       name or path may be specified using the -c option.  See the ipmi_lan(5)  config  file  man
       page for more details.

COMMANDS

       When  ipmi_sim  starts  up,  it  has  an  empty  environment  with  no  BMC  or management
       controllers.  You have to execute commands to set things up.  The  commands  can  also  be
       used  to  set  sensor  states,  inject  events, and other things you might want to do when
       simulating a BMC.  See the ipmi_sim_cmd(5) man page for details.

SECURITY

       ipmi_sim implements normal IPMI security.  The default is no access  for  anyone,  so  the
       default  is  pretty  safe,  but be careful what you add, because this is access to control
       your box.  straight and none authorizations are not recommended, you should probably stick
       with md2 or md5 if you are not using RMCP+.

PERSISTENCE

       Things  that  are  supposed  to  be  persistent  in  a  BMC are kept in files, generall in
       /var/ipmi_sim/<name>, where <name> is the name of the BMC specified in  the  configuration
       file.  The following things are persistent:

       SDRs   - This is named sdr.<mcnum>.main and is the main SDR repository.

       SEL    - This is named sel.<mcnum>.

       Users  - This is named users.mc<mcnum>.

       LAN parameters
              - This is named lanparm.mc<mcnum>.<channel>.

       SOL parameters
              - This is named sol.mc<mcnum>.

       The <mcnum> is the hexadecimal number of the MC.

Serial Over LAN (SOL)

       ipmi_sim  implements  Serial  Over  LAN for hooking an RMCP+ connection to a standard Unix
       serial port.  This is configured in the ipmi_lan(5) configuration file.

       A SOL interface is done on a per-MC basis.  So if the MC is set  to  a  non-BMC,  you  can
       define  a  SOL  interface  on  it and it will work if you reroute the commands to that MC.
       It's a little weird, but it works.  Only interface 1 is supported at the moment.

       A SOL interface can also hold history that is kept even if nothing is connected to the SOL
       interface  from  the LAN.  So if you want to see what has happened on the serial port, you
       can connect to interface 2 and it will  dump  the  history.   The  history  is  optionally
       persistent,  if  the program terminates normally and is restarted, the history is restored
       if it is configured to do so.

       A SOL interface can create a FRU on the MC to let  you  fetch  the  history  via  the  FRU
       interface.

SIGNALS

       SIGHUP
            ipmi_sim  should  handle  SIGHUP  and  reread  it's configuration files.  However, it
            doesn't right now.  It might in the future, for now you will  have  to  kill  it  and
            restart  it.   Clients  should handle reconnecting in this case.  If they don't, they
            are broken.

ERROR OUTPUT

       At startup, all error output goes to stderr.  After that, all error output goes to syslog.

FILES

       /etc/ipmi_lan.conf

SEE ALSO

       ipmi_lan(5),ipmi_sim_cmd(5),ipmi_ui(1),openipmish(1)

AUTHOR

       Corey Minyard <cminyard@mvista.com>