Ubuntu Manpage: FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview

Provided by: freeipmi-common_1.1.5-3ubuntu3.3_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 direct KCS interface driver, a Linux SSIF driver through the SSIF device (i.e.
/dev/i2c-0), the OpenIPMI Linux kernel driver (i.e. /dev/ipmi0), and the Sun/Solaris BMC driver (i.e.
/dev/bmc). 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 bmc-config(8).
Additional information on how to configure with bmc-config(8) can be found in the bmc-config.conf(5)
manpage. Some vendors may pre-configure their motherboards with default values so that bmc-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. The configuration tools ( bmc-config(8), ipmi-pef-
       config(8),  ipmi-sensors-config(8),  and  ipmi-chassis-config(8) ) come 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-config

A tool to configure general BMC and IPMI information. Supports configuration of usernames, passwords,
networking information, security, Serial-over-LAN (SOL), and other core fields.

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-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-chassis-config

A tool to configure IPMI chassis information. Supports configuration of boot device, power restore
policy, and other chassis related fields.

Ipmi-pef-config

A tool to configure Platform Event Filtering (PEF) information.

Ipmi-pet

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

Ipmi-sensors-config

A tool to configure IPMI sensors. Supports configuration of sensor thresholds, sensor events, and other
sensor related fields.

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.