Ubuntu Manpage: FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview

Provided by: freeipmi-common_1.6.10-1_all

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 every time 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.