Provided by: freeipmi-tools_1.1.5-3ubuntu3.3_amd64 
NAME
ipmi-pef-config - configure PEF values
SYNOPSIS
ipmi-pef-config [OPTION...]
DESCRIPTION
Ipmi-pef-config is a Platform Event Filtering (PEF) configuration utility. This configuration tool is
for advanced IPMI users and generally not-required for IPMI to function. Most IPMI users will not need to
use this tool. For configuration of general BMC parameters, sensors, or chassis, please see the bmc-
config(8), ipmi-sensors-config(8), and ipmi-chassis-config(8) tools respectively. For some OEM specific
configurations, please see ipmi-oem(8).
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).
See GENERAL USE below for a description on how most will want to use Ipmi-pef-config.
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, and SUNBMC.
--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)
-h IPMIHOST1,IPMIHOST2,..., --hostname=IPMIHOST1,IPMIHOST2,...
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.
-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 ADMIN 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
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 ADMIN 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.
IPMI-PEF-CONFIG OPTIONS
The following options are specific to Ipmi-pef-config.
-i, --info
Show general information about PEF configuration.
CONFIG OPTIONS
The following options are used to read, write, and find differences in configuration values.
-o, --checkout
Fetch configuration information.
-c, --commit
Update configuration information from a config file or key pairs.
-d, --diff
Show differences between stored information and a config file or key pairs.
-n FILENAME, --filename=FILENAME
Specify a config file for checkout/commit/diff.
-e "KEY=VALUE", --key-pair="KEY=VALUE"
Specify KEY=VALUE pairs for checkout/commit/diff. Specify KEY by SectionName:FieldName. This
option can be used multiple times. On commit, any KEY=VALUE pairs will overwrite any pairs
specified in a file with --filename.
-S SECTION, --section=SECTION
Specify a SECTION for checkout. This option can be used multiple times.
-L, --listsections
List available sections for checkout. Some sections in the list may not be checked out by default
and may require verbosity to be increased.
-v, --verbose
Output verbose information. When used with --checkout, additional uncommon sections and/or fields
will be shown. In ipmi-pef-config, this includes checking out sections for each channel on a
system, if multiple channels exist.
-vv Output very verbose information. Output additional detailed information about what fields can and
cannot be checked out, and sometimes the reason why. Sometimes output fields that are identified
as unsupported on the motherboard.
--lan-channel-number=NUMBER
Use an specific channel number for LAN configuration. Particularly useful if motherboard contains
multiple LAN channels and a user wishes to use a specific one.
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.
GENERAL USE
Most users of will want to:
A) Run with --checkout to get a copy of the current configuration and store it in a file. The standard
output can be redirected to a file or a file can be specified with the --filename option.
B) Edit the configuration file with an editor.
C) Commit the configuration back using the --commit option and specifying the configuration file with the
--filename option. The configuration can be committed to multiple hosts in parallel via the hostrange
support.
Although not typically necessarily, some motherboards do not store configuration values in non-volatile
memory. Therefore, after system reboots, some configuration values may have changed. The user may wish to
run configuration tools on each boot to ensure configuration values remain.
EDITING THE CHECKOUT FILE
Options for editing fields in the checkout file are usually listed in a comment above the field. When
there are to many options to make it practical, they are listed here in the MAN page.
Sensor_Type Options
Reserved, Temperature, Voltage, Current, Fan, Physical_Security,
Platform_Security_Violation_Attempt, Processor, Power_Supply, Power_Unit, Cooling_Device,
Other_Units_Based_Sensor, Memory, Drive_Slot, Post_Memory_Resize, System_Firmware_Progress,
Event_Logging_Disabled, Watchdog1, System_Event, Critical_Interrupt, Button_Switch, Module_Board,
Microcontroller_Coprocessor, Add_In_Card, Chassis, Chip_Set, Other_FRU, Cable_Interconnect,
Terminator, System_Boot_Initiated, Boot_Error, OS_Boot, OS_Critical_Stop, Slot_Connector,
System_ACPI_Power_State, Watchdog2, Platform_Alert, Entity_Presence, Monitor_Asic_IC, Lan,
Management_Subsystem_Health, Battery, Session_Audit, Version_Change, FRU_State, and Any
IPMI-PEF-CONFIG SPECIAL CASE CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
On some motherboards, multiple channels may exist for LAN IPMI communication. If multiple channels exist,
configuration of both channels can be viewed and ultimately configured by running --checkout under
verbose mode. Each section name will be suffixed appropriately with the word Channel and the channel
number. For example, you might see a Community_String_Channel_1 and Community_String_Channel_3, where you
can configure the Community String on Channels 1 and 3 respectively.
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 bmc-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.
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).
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, and Quanta QSSC-S4R//Appro GB812X-CN. 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.
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-address=LAN_2_0. Issue
observed on HP Proliant DL 145.
slowcommit - This workaround will slow down commits to the BMC by sleeping one second between the commit
of sections. It works around motherboards that have BMCs that can be overwhelmed by commits. Those
hitting this issue may see commit errors or commits not being written to the BMC. Issue observed on
Supermicro H8QME.
veryslowcommit - This workaround will slow down commits to the BMC by sleeping one second between the
commit of every key. It works around motherboards that have BMCs that can be overwhelmed by commits.
Those hitting this issue may see commit errors or commits not being written to the BMC. Issue observed on
Quanta S99Q/Dell FS12-TY.
EXAMPLES
# ipmi-pef-config --checkout
Output all configuration information to the console.
# ipmi-pef-config --checkout --filename=pef-data1.conf
Store all configuration information in pef-data1.conf.
# ipmi-pef-config --diff --filename=pef-data2.conf
Show all difference between the current configuration and the pef-data2.conf file.
# ipmi-pef-config --commit --filename=pef-data1.conf
Commit all configuration values from the pef-data1.conf file.
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 © 2007-2012 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(7), bmc-config(8), ipmi-sensors-config(8), ipmi-chassis-config(8)
http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/
ipmi-pef-config 1.1.5 2015-10-14 IPMI-PEF-CONFIG(8)