Provided by: freeipmi-tools_1.6.10-1_amd64 
NAME
bmc-info - display BMC information
SYNOPSIS
bmc-info [OPTION...]
DESCRIPTION
Bmc-info displays BMC information, such as device version numbers, device support, and
globally unique IDs (guids).
Listed below are general IPMI options, tool specific options, trouble shooting
information, workaround information, examples, and known issues. For a general
introduction to FreeIPMI please see freeipmi(7).
GENERAL OPTIONS
The following options are general options for configuring IPMI communication and executing
general tool commands.
-D IPMIDRIVER, --driver-type=IPMIDRIVER
Specify the driver type to use instead of doing an auto selection. The currently
available outofband drivers are LAN and LAN_2_0, which perform IPMI 1.5 and IPMI
2.0 respectively. The currently available inband drivers are KCS, SSIF, OPENIPMI,
SUNBMC, and INTELDCMI.
--disable-auto-probe
Do not probe in-band IPMI devices for default settings.
--driver-address=DRIVER-ADDRESS
Specify the in-band driver address to be used instead of the probed value. DRIVER-
ADDRESS should be prefixed with "0x" for a hex value and '0' for an octal value.
--driver-device=DEVICE
Specify the in-band driver device path to be used instead of the probed path.
--register-spacing=REGISTER-SPACING
Specify the in-band driver register spacing instead of the probed value. Argument
is in bytes (i.e. 32bit register spacing = 4)
--target-channel-number=CHANNEL-NUMBER
Specify the in-band driver target channel number to send IPMI requests to.
--target-slave-address=SLAVE-ADDRESS
Specify the in-band driver target slave number to send IPMI requests to.
-h IPMIHOST1,IPMIHOST2,..., --hostname=IPMIHOST1[:PORT],IPMIHOST2[:PORT],...
Specify the remote host(s) to communicate with. Multiple hostnames may be separated
by comma or may be specified in a range format; see HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below. An
optional port can be specified with each host, which may be useful in port
forwarding or similar situations. If specifying an IPv6 address and port, use the
format [ADDRESS]:PORT.
-u USERNAME, --username=USERNAME
Specify the username to use when authenticating with the remote host. If not
specified, a null (i.e. anonymous) username is assumed. The user must have atleast
USER privileges in order for this tool to operate fully.
-p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD
Specify the password to use when authenticationg with the remote host. If not
specified, a null password is assumed. Maximum password length is 16 for IPMI 1.5
and 20 for IPMI 2.0.
-P, --password-prompt
Prompt for password to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists.
-k K_G, --k-g=K_G
Specify the K_g BMC key to use when authenticating with the remote host for IPMI
2.0. If not specified, a null key is assumed. To input the key in hexadecimal form,
prefix the string with '0x'. E.g., the key 'abc' can be entered with the either the
string 'abc' or the string '0x616263'
-K, --k-g-prompt
Prompt for k-g to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists.
--session-timeout=MILLISECONDS
Specify the session timeout in milliseconds. Defaults to 20000 milliseconds (20
seconds) if not specified.
--retransmission-timeout=MILLISECONDS
Specify the packet retransmission timeout in milliseconds. Defaults to 1000
milliseconds (1 second) if not specified. The retransmission timeout cannot be
larger than the session timeout.
-a AUTHENTICATION-TYPE, --authentication-type=AUTHENTICATION-TYPE
Specify the IPMI 1.5 authentication type to use. The currently available
authentication types are NONE, STRAIGHT_PASSWORD_KEY, MD2, and MD5. Defaults to MD5
if not specified.
-I CIPHER-SUITE-ID, --cipher-suite-id=CIPHER-SUITE-ID
Specify the IPMI 2.0 cipher suite ID to use. The Cipher Suite ID identifies a set
of authentication, integrity, and confidentiality algorithms to use for IPMI 2.0
communication. The authentication algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for
session setup, the integrity algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for session
packet signatures, and the confidentiality algorithm identifies the algorithm to
use for payload encryption. Defaults to cipher suite ID 3 if not specified. The
following cipher suite ids are currently supported:
0 - Authentication Algorithm = None; Integrity Algorithm = None; Confidentiality
Algorithm = None
1 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = None;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
2 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1-96;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
3 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1-96;
Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
6 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = None;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
7 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-MD5-128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
8 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-MD5-128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
11 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = MD5-128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
12 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = MD5-128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
15 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = None;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
16 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC_SHA256_128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = None
17 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC_SHA256_128;
Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
-l PRIVILEGE-LEVEL, --privilege-level=PRIVILEGE-LEVEL
Specify the privilege level to be used. The currently available privilege levels
are USER, OPERATOR, and ADMIN. Defaults to USER if not specified.
--config-file=FILE
Specify an alternate configuration file.
-W WORKAROUNDS, --workaround-flags=WORKAROUNDS
Specify workarounds to vendor compliance issues. Multiple workarounds can be
specified separated by commas. A special command line flag of "none", will indicate
no workarounds (may be useful for overriding configured defaults). See WORKAROUNDS
below for a list of available workarounds.
--debug
Turn on debugging.
-?, --help
Output a help list and exit.
--usage
Output a usage message and exit.
-V, --version
Output the program version and exit.
BMC-INFO OPTIONS
The following options are specific to bmc-info.
--get-device-id
Display only device ID information.
--get-device-guid
Display only device guid.
--get-system-guid
Display only system guid.
--get-system-info
Display only system info.
--get-channel-info
Display only channel information.
--interpret-oem-data
Attempt to interpret OEM data, such as event data, sensor readings, or general
extra info, etc. If an OEM interpretation is not available, the default output will
be generated. Correctness of OEM interpretations cannot be guaranteed due to
potential changes OEM vendors may make in products, firmware, etc. See OEM
INTERPRETATION below for confirmed supported motherboard interpretations.
HOSTRANGED OPTIONS
The following options manipulate hostranged output. See HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below for
additional information on hostranges.
-B, --buffer-output
Buffer hostranged output. For each node, buffer standard output until the node has
completed its IPMI operation. When specifying this option, data may appear to
output slower to the user since the the entire IPMI operation must complete before
any data can be output. See HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below for additional information.
-C, --consolidate-output
Consolidate hostranged output. The complete standard output from every node
specified will be consolidated so that nodes with identical output are not output
twice. A header will list those nodes with the consolidated output. When this
option is specified, no output can be seen until the IPMI operations to all nodes
has completed. If the user breaks out of the program early, all currently
consolidated output will be dumped. See HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below for additional
information.
-F NUM, --fanout=NUM
Specify multiple host fanout. A "sliding window" (or fanout) algorithm is used for
parallel IPMI communication so that slower nodes or timed out nodes will not impede
parallel communication. The maximum number of threads available at the same time is
limited by the fanout. The default is 64.
-E, --eliminate
Eliminate hosts determined as undetected by ipmidetect. This attempts to remove
the common issue of hostranged execution timing out due to several nodes being
removed from service in a large cluster. The ipmidetectd daemon must be running on
the node executing the command.
--always-prefix
Always prefix output, even if only one host is specified or communicating in-band.
This option is primarily useful for scripting purposes. Option will be ignored if
specified with the -C option.
HOSTRANGED SUPPORT
Multiple hosts can be input either as an explicit comma separated lists of hosts or a
range of hostnames in the general form: prefix[n-m,l-k,...], where n < m and l < k, etc.
The later form should not be confused with regular expression character classes (also
denoted by []). For example, foo[19] does not represent foo1 or foo9, but rather
represents a degenerate range: foo19.
This range syntax is meant only as a convenience on clusters with a prefixNN naming
convention and specification of ranges should not be considered necessary -- the list
foo1,foo9 could be specified as such, or by the range foo[1,9].
Some examples of range usage follow:
foo[01-05] instead of foo01,foo02,foo03,foo04,foo05
foo[7,9-10] instead of foo7,foo9,foo10
foo[0-3] instead of foo0,foo1,foo2,foo3
As a reminder to the reader, some shells will interpret brackets ([ and ]) for pattern
matching. Depending on your shell, it may be necessary to enclose ranged lists within
quotes.
When multiple hosts are specified by the user, a thread will be executed for each host in
parallel up to the configured fanout (which can be adjusted via the -F option). This will
allow communication to large numbers of nodes far more quickly than if done in serial.
By default, standard output from each node specified will be output with the hostname
prepended to each line. Although this output is readable in many situations, it may be
difficult to read in other situations. For example, output from multiple nodes may be
mixed together. The -B and -C options can be used to change this default.
In-band IPMI Communication will be used when the host "localhost" is specified. This
allows the user to add the localhost into the hostranged output.
GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING
Most often, IPMI problems are due to configuration problems.
IPMI over LAN problems involve a misconfiguration of the remote machine's BMC. Double
check to make sure the following are configured properly in the remote machine's BMC: IP
address, MAC address, subnet mask, username, user enablement, user privilege, password,
LAN privilege, LAN enablement, and allowed authentication type(s). For IPMI 2.0
connections, double check to make sure the cipher suite privilege(s) and K_g key are
configured properly. The ipmi-config(8) tool can be used to check and/or change these
configuration settings.
Inband IPMI problems are typically caused by improperly configured drivers or non-standard
BMCs.
In addition to the troubleshooting tips below, please see WORKAROUNDS below to also if
there are any vendor specific bugs that have been discovered and worked around.
Listed below are many of the common issues for error messages. For additional support,
please e-mail the <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> mailing list.
"username invalid" - The username entered (or a NULL username if none was entered) is not
available on the remote machine. It may also be possible the remote BMC's username
configuration is incorrect.
"password invalid" - The password entered (or a NULL password if none was entered) is not
correct. It may also be possible the password for the user is not correctly configured on
the remote BMC.
"password verification timeout" - Password verification has timed out. A "password
invalid" error (described above) or a generic "session timeout" (described below)
occurred. During this point in the protocol it cannot be differentiated which occurred.
"k_g invalid" - The K_g key entered (or a NULL K_g key if none was entered) is not
correct. It may also be possible the K_g key is not correctly configured on the remote
BMC.
"privilege level insufficient" - An IPMI command requires a higher user privilege than the
one authenticated with. Please try to authenticate with a higher privilege. This may
require authenticating to a different user which has a higher maximum privilege.
"privilege level cannot be obtained for this user" - The privilege level you are
attempting to authenticate with is higher than the maximum allowed for this user. Please
try again with a lower privilege. It may also be possible the maximum privilege level
allowed for a user is not configured properly on the remote BMC.
"authentication type unavailable for attempted privilege level" - The authentication type
you wish to authenticate with is not available for this privilege level. Please try again
with an alternate authentication type or alternate privilege level. It may also be
possible the available authentication types you can authenticate with are not correctly
configured on the remote BMC.
"cipher suite id unavailable" - The cipher suite id you wish to authenticate with is not
available on the remote BMC. Please try again with an alternate cipher suite id. It may
also be possible the available cipher suite ids are not correctly configured on the remote
BMC.
"ipmi 2.0 unavailable" - IPMI 2.0 was not discovered on the remote machine. Please try to
use IPMI 1.5 instead.
"connection timeout" - Initial IPMI communication failed. A number of potential errors are
possible, including an invalid hostname specified, an IPMI IP address cannot be resolved,
IPMI is not enabled on the remote server, the network connection is bad, etc. Please
verify configuration and connectivity.
"session timeout" - The IPMI session has timed out. Please reconnect. If this error
occurs often, you may wish to increase the retransmission timeout. Some remote BMCs are
considerably slower than others.
"device not found" - The specified device could not be found. Please check configuration
or inputs and try again.
"driver timeout" - Communication with the driver or device has timed out. Please try
again.
"message timeout" - Communication with the driver or device has timed out. Please try
again.
"BMC busy" - The BMC is currently busy. It may be processing information or have too many
simultaneous sessions to manage. Please wait and try again.
"could not find inband device" - An inband device could not be found. Please check
configuration or specify specific device or driver on the command line.
"driver timeout" - The inband driver has timed out communicating to the local BMC or
service processor. The BMC or service processor may be busy or (worst case) possibly non-
functioning.
WORKAROUNDS
With so many different vendors implementing their own IPMI solutions, different vendors
may implement their IPMI protocols incorrectly. The following describes a number of
workarounds currently available to handle discovered compliance issues. When possible,
workarounds have been implemented so they will be transparent to the user. However, some
will require the user to specify a workaround be used via the -W option.
The hardware listed below may only indicate the hardware that a problem was discovered on.
Newer versions of hardware may fix the problems indicated below. Similar machines from
vendors may or may not exhibit the same problems. Different vendors may license their
firmware from the same IPMI firmware developer, so it may be worthwhile to try workarounds
listed below even if your motherboard is not listed.
If you believe your hardware has an additional compliance issue that needs a workaround to
be implemented, please contact the FreeIPMI maintainers on <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or
<freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
assumeio - This workaround flag will assume inband interfaces communicate with system I/O
rather than being memory-mapped. This will work around systems that report invalid base
addresses. Those hitting this issue may see "device not supported" or "could not find
inband device" errors. Issue observed on HP ProLiant DL145 G1.
spinpoll - This workaround flag will inform some inband drivers (most notably the KCS
driver) to spin while polling rather than putting the process to sleep. This may
significantly improve the wall clock running time of tools because an operating system
scheduler's granularity may be much larger than the time it takes to perform a single IPMI
message transaction. However, by spinning, your system may be performing less useful work
by not contexting out the tool for a more useful task.
authcap - This workaround flag will skip early checks for username capabilities,
authentication capabilities, and K_g support and allow IPMI authentication to succeed. It
works around multiple issues in which the remote system does not properly report username
capabilities, authentication capabilities, or K_g status. Those hitting this issue may see
"username invalid", "authentication type unavailable for attempted privilege level", or
"k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Asus P5M2/P5MT-R/RS162-E4/RX4, Intel
SR1520ML/X38ML, and Sun Fire 2200/4150/4450 with ELOM.
nochecksumcheck - This workaround flag will tell FreeIPMI to not check the checksums
returned from IPMI command responses. It works around systems that return invalid
checksums due to implementation errors, but the packet is otherwise valid. Users are
cautioned on the use of this option, as it removes validation of packet integrity in a
number of circumstances. However, it is unlikely to be an issue in most situations. Those
hitting this issue may see "connection timeout", "session timeout", or "password
verification timeout" errors. On IPMI 1.5 connections, the "noauthcodecheck" workaround
may also needed too. Issue observed on Supermicro X9SCM-iiF, Supermicro X9DRi-F, and
Supermicro X9DRFR.
idzero - This workaround flag will allow empty session IDs to be accepted by the client.
It works around IPMI sessions that report empty session IDs to the client. Those hitting
this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on Tyan S2882 with M3289 BMC.
unexpectedauth - This workaround flag will allow unexpected non-null authcodes to be
checked as though they were expected. It works around an issue when packets contain non-
null authentication data when they should be null due to disabled per-message
authentication. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed
on Dell PowerEdge 2850,SC1425. Confirmed fixed on newer firmware.
forcepermsg - This workaround flag will force per-message authentication to be used no
matter what is advertised by the remote system. It works around an issue when per-message
authentication is advertised as disabled on the remote system, but it is actually required
for the protocol. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue
observed on IBM eServer 325.
endianseq - This workaround flag will flip the endian of the session sequence numbers to
allow the session to continue properly. It works around IPMI 1.5 session sequence numbers
that are the wrong endian. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors.
Issue observed on some Sun ILOM 1.0/2.0 (depends on service processor endian).
noauthcodecheck - This workaround flag will tell FreeIPMI to not check the authentication
codes returned from IPMI 1.5 command responses. It works around systems that return
invalid authentication codes due to hashing or implementation errors. Users are cautioned
on the use of this option, as it removes an authentication check verifying the validity of
a packet. However, in most organizations, this is unlikely to be a security issue. Those
hitting this issue may see "connection timeout", "session timeout", or "password
verification timeout" errors. Issue observed on Xyratex FB-H8-SRAY, Intel Windmill,
Quanta Winterfell, and Wiwynn Windmill.
intel20 - This workaround flag will work around several Intel IPMI 2.0 authentication
issues. The issues covered include padding of usernames, and password truncation if the
authentication algorithm is HMAC-MD5-128. Those hitting this issue may see "username
invalid", "password invalid", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Intel SE7520AF2
with Intel Server Management Module (Professional Edition).
supermicro20 - This workaround flag will work around several Supermicro IPMI 2.0
authentication issues on motherboards w/ Peppercon IPMI firmware. The issues covered
include handling invalid length authentication codes. Those hitting this issue may see
"password invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro H8QME with SIMSO daughter card.
Confirmed fixed on newerver firmware.
sun20 - This workaround flag will work work around several Sun IPMI 2.0 authentication
issues. The issues covered include invalid lengthed hash keys, improperly hashed keys, and
invalid cipher suite records. Those hitting this issue may see "password invalid" or "bmc
error" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM. This workaround
automatically includes the "opensesspriv" workaround.
opensesspriv - This workaround flag will slightly alter FreeIPMI's IPMI 2.0 connection
protocol to workaround an invalid hashing algorithm used by the remote system. The
privilege level sent during the Open Session stage of an IPMI 2.0 connection is used for
hashing keys instead of the privilege level sent during the RAKP1 connection stage. Those
hitting this issue may see "password invalid", "k_g invalid", or "bad rmcpplus status
code" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM, Inventec 5441/Dell
Xanadu II, Supermicro X8DTH, Supermicro X8DTG, Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, Intel
S2600JF/Appro 512X, Quanta QSSC-S4R/Appro GB812X-CN, and Dell C5220. This workaround is
automatically triggered with the "sun20" workaround.
integritycheckvalue - This workaround flag will work around an invalid integrity check
value during an IPMI 2.0 session establishment when using Cipher Suite ID 0. The integrity
check value should be 0 length, however the remote motherboard responds with a non-empty
field. Those hitting this issue may see "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro
X8DTG, Supermicro X8DTU, and Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, and Intel S2600JF/Appro
512X.
guidformat - A number of vendors send the bytes of the GUID (such as the GUID in
--get-device-guid or --get-system-guid) in an alternate format that aligns incorrectly
with IPMI, but correctly with other standards. This workaround flag will instruct bmc-info
to read the GUID and output the GUID based on this common alternate format.
No IPMI 1.5 Support - Some motherboards that support IPMI 2.0 have been found to not
support IPMI 1.5. Those hitting this issue may see "ipmi 2.0 unavailable" or "connection
timeout" errors. This issue can be worked around by using IPMI 2.0 instead of IPMI 1.5 by
specifying --driver-type=LAN_2_0. Issue observed on a number of HP and Supermicro
motherboards.
OEM INTERPRETATION
The following motherboards are confirmed to have atleast some support by the --interpret-
oem-data option. While highly probable the OEM data interpretations would work across
other motherboards by the same manufacturer, there are no guarantees. Some of the
motherboards below may be rebranded by vendors/distributors.
Dell Poweredge R610, Dell Poweredge R710, Intel SR870BN4/Tiger4
EXAMPLES
# bmc-info
Get BMC information of the local machine.
# bmc-info -h ahost -u myusername -p mypassword
Get BMC information of a remote machine using IPMI over LAN.
# bmc-info -h mycluster[0-127] -u myusername -p mypassword
Get BMC information across a cluster using IPMI over LAN.
DIAGNOSTICS
Upon successful execution, exit status is 0. On error, exit status is 1.
If multiple hosts are specified for communication, the exit status is 0 if and only if all
targets successfully execute. Otherwise the exit status is 1.
KNOWN ISSUES
On older operating systems, if you input your username, password, and other potentially
security relevant information on the command line, this information may be discovered by
other users when using tools like the ps(1) command or looking in the /proc file system.
It is generally more secure to input password information with options like the -P or -K
options. Configuring security relevant information in the FreeIPMI configuration file
would also be an appropriate way to hide this information.
In order to prevent brute force attacks, some BMCs will temporarily "lock up" after a
number of remote authentication errors. You may need to wait awhile in order to this
temporary "lock up" to pass before you may authenticate again.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2003-2015 FreeIPMI Core Team.
This program 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
freeipmi.conf(5), freeipmi(7), ipmi-config(8)
http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/