1FREEIPMI(7)                        Overview                        FREEIPMI(7)
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NAME

6       FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview
7

Introduction

9       FreeIPMI  provides  in-band  and out-of-band IPMI software based on the
10       IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.
11

What is IPMI?

13       The IPMI specification defines a set of interfaces for platform manage‐
14       ment  and is implemented by a number vendors for system management. The
15       features of IPMI that most users will be interested in are sensor moni‐
16       toring,  system  event  monitoring,  power control, and serial-over-LAN
17       (SOL). The FreeIPMI tools and libraries  listed  below  should  provide
18       users  with the ability to access and utilize these and many other fea‐
19       tures of IPMI.
20

Getting Started with IPMI

22       IPMI can be used in-band (i.e. running on a machine locally) or out-of-
23       band (i.e. connecting remotely).
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25       Most  FreeIPMI  tools  can  operate in-band by using one of the in-band
26       drivers included. These in-band drivers include a direct KCS  interface
27       driver,  a Linux SSIF driver through the SSIF device (i.e. /dev/i2c-0),
28       the OpenIPMI Linux kernel driver (i.e. /dev/ipmi0), and the Sun/Solaris
29       BMC  driver  (i.e.  /dev/bmc).  If  your  system  requires  the  use of
30       installed drivers, those appropriate modules must be installed ahead of
31       time.  However,  most  systems  should automatically load these drivers
32       when appropriate.
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34       Under most scenarios, the FreeIPMI tools should automatically  discover
35       which  in-band  interface  to use and the proper settings to use. Users
36       may execute the tools on the command line to  begin  using  them.  Some
37       motherboards  may  require  you  to  determine  driver type, addresses,
38       paths, etc. on your own and pass them as command line  options  to  the
39       tools.  You  may use ipmi-locate(8) to help determine this information.
40       Other tools such as dmidecode(8) may also provide this information.
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42       To use IPMI out-of-band with tools such as  ipmipower(8)  or  ipmi-sen‐
43       sors(8),  the  remote machine's BMC must first be configured for out of
44       band communication. Typically, this involves setting a username,  pass‐
45       word,  IP address, MAC address, and a few other parameters. This can be
46       done using the tool bmc-config(8).  Additional information  on  how  to
47       configure  with  bmc-config(8)  can  be found in the bmc-config.conf(5)
48       manpage. Some vendors may pre-configure their motherboards with default
49       values  so  that  bmc-config(8)  can  be used remotely to configure the
50       machine. However, most of the time, the BMC must be configured  in-band
51       before  out-of-band  access can be allowed (for example, the correct IP
52       address and MAC address must be configured).
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54
55       In order to remotely connect to a machine, you typically  must  specify
56       the  host,  username,  and  password  for the tool in order to connect.
57       Depending on  configuration  settings,  a  K_g  key,  privilege  level,
58       authentication  type,  cipher suite id, or protocol version may need to
59       be specified.
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62       Some vendors may have not implemented IPMI properly  and  a  workaround
63       must  be  specified  into FreeIPMI to ensure the tool can execute prop‐
64       erly. For example, a fair number of vendors have  populated  their  FRU
65       records  with invalid checksums. To properly ignore these set of check‐
66       sums a skipchecks workaround has been added to ipmi-fru(8).  Please see
67       each of the tool manpages to see a list of available workarounds.
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69
70       Additional  information,  examples, and general trouble-shooting can be
71       found in each of the tool manpages.
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73

General Use

75       The primary tools that most users of FreeIPMI will be interested in for
76       system management are the following:
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78       Ipmi-sensors
79
80       A tool to read IPMI sensor readings to aid in system monitoring.
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82       Ipmi-sel
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84       A tool to read and manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records to aid in
85       system debugging.
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87       Ipmipower
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89       A tool for remote power control.
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91       Ipmiconsole
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93       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.
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95       Many other tools and libraries are listed below that  cover  additional
96       features and areas of IPMI.
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98       Additional  information,  examples, and general trouble-shooting can be
99       found in each of the tool manpages.
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101

Configuration

103       In order to avoid typing in a long list  of  command  line  options  to
104       specify IPMI communication requirements everytime a command is executed
105       (e.g. driver paths, usernames, passwords, etc.), an  alternate  set  of
106       default  values can be set for most FreeIPMI tools in the FreeIPMI con‐
107       figuration file. See freeipmi.conf(5) for more information.
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109

HPC Support

111       Much of FreeIPMI was written with HPC support in mind.  The  configura‐
112       tion tools ( bmc-config(8), ipmi-pef-config(8), ipmi-sensors-config(8),
113       and ipmi-chassis-config(8) ) come with  file  input/output  support  so
114       that  configuration  can be copied and verified across nodes in a clus‐
115       ter. Most tools (like ipmipower(8) and ipmi-sensors(8) ) come with hos‐
116       trange  support  so multiple hosts can be specified on the command line
117       at the same time and IPMI can be executed against the hosts  in  paral‐
118       lel.  See  tool  manpages  for more information.  Also see the document
119       freeipmi-hostrange.txt for detailed usage and  explanation.   Ipmi-sen‐
120       sors(8)  and  the  libipmimonitoring(3)  library support the ability to
121       interpret sensor readings as well as just reporting  them.  By  mapping
122       sensor  readings  into  NOMINAL,  WARNING, or CRITICAL states, it makes
123       monitoring sensors easier across large numbers of nodes.
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125

Development

127       For information on the libraries that  can  be  used  to  program  IPMI
128       applications with, please see libfreeipmi(3), libipmiconsole(3), libip‐
129       mimonitoring(3), and libipmidetect(3).  Or see the  document  freeipmi-
130       libraries.txt.
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132

Project Tools

134       The following tools are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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136       Bmc-info
137
138       A  tool to read information about a BMC such as device version numbers,
139       device support, and globally unique IDs (guids).
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141       Bmc-config
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143       A tool to configure general BMC and IPMI information. Supports configu‐
144       ration  of  usernames,  passwords,  networking  information,  security,
145       Serial-over-LAN (SOL), and other core fields.
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147       Bmc-watchdog
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149       A tool/daemon to manage a BMC Watchdog. This tool is typically used for
150       system timeout management and automatic system restarts in the event of
151       a system crash.
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153       Ipmi-chassis
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155       A tool to manage/monitor a chassis, such as chassis power,  identifica‐
156       tion (i.e. LED control), and status.
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158       Ipmi-fru
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160       A  tool to read field replaceable unit (FRU) information from a mother‐
161       board/machine.
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163       Ipmi-sel
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165       A tool to read and manage IPMI System  Event  Log  (SEL)  records.  SEL
166       records  store system event information and may be useful for debugging
167       problems.
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169       Ipmi-sensors
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171       A tool to read IPMI sensor readings and sensor  data  repository  (SDR)
172       information.
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174       Ipmipower
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176       A tool for remote power control.
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178       Ipmiconsole
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180       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.
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182       Ipmi-raw
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184       A tool that provides hex input/output of IPMI commands.
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186       Ipmi-locate
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188       A  tool  that  can  probe  for  information about the location of a BMC
189       device, such as device addresses.
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191       Ipmi-chassis-config
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193       A tool to configure IPMI chassis information. Supports configuration of
194       boot device, power restore policy, and other chassis related fields.
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196       Ipmi-pef-config
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198       A tool to configure Platform Event Filtering (PEF) information.
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200       Ipmi-pet
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202       A tool to parse and interpret Platform Event Traps (PET).
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204       Ipmi-sensors-config
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206       A  tool  to  configure  IPMI  sensors. Supports configuration of sensor
207       thresholds, sensor events, and other sensor related fields.
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209       Ipmi-dcmi
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211       A tool to perform  Data  Center  Manageability  Interface  (DCMI)  IPMI
212       extension  commands. Supports extensions for asset management and power
213       usage management.
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215       Bmc-device
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217       A tool to perform advanced BMC commands, such  as  resetting  the  BMC,
218       configuring ACPI, configuring SDR/SEL time, manually generating events,
219       re-arming sensors, and configuring manufacturer settings.
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221       Ipmiping
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223       An IPMI ping tool for debugging.
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225       Rmcpping
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227       A RMCP ping tool for debugging.
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229       Ipmi-oem
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231       An IPMI tool for OEM specific commands.
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233       Ipmidetect/Ipmidetectd
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235       A tool and daemon for IPMI node detection.
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237       Ipmiseld
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239       A daemon that regularly polls the SEL and  stores  the  events  to  the
240       local syslog.
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242       Additional  information,  examples, and general trouble-shooting can be
243       found in each of the tool manpages.
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245

Project Libraries

247       The following libraries are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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249       Libfreeipmi
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251       A C library that includes KCS, SSIF, OpenIPMI Linux,  and  Solaris  BMC
252       drivers,  IPMI  1.5  and  IPMI  2.0  LAN communication interfaces, IPMI
253       packet building utilities, IPMI command utilities,  and  utilities  for
254       reading/interpreting/managing IPMI.
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256       Libipmiconsole
257
258       A  library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access. SOL console access
259       is abstracted into a file descriptor interface, so users may  read  and
260       write console data through a file descriptor.
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262       Libipmimonitoring
263
264       A library for sensor monitoring that abstracts away most IPMI details.
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266       Libipmidetect
267
268       A library for IPMI node detection.
269

REPORTING BUGS

271       Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
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273
275       Copyright © 2003-2012 FreeIPMI Core Team.
276
277       FreeIPMI  is  free  software;  you can redistribute it and/or modify it
278       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published  by  the
279       Free  Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
280       option) any later version.
281

SEE ALSO

283       libfreeipmi(3),  libipmiconsole(3),  libipmidetect(3),  libipmimonitor‐
284       ing(3),  freeipmi.conf(5),  bmc-config(8),  bmc-device(8), bmc-info(8),
285       bmc-watchdog(8), ipmi-chassis(8),  ipmi-fru(8),  ipmi-locate(8),  ipmi-
286       oem(8),   ipmi-pef-config(8),  ipmi-pet(8),  ipmi-raw(8),  ipmi-sel(8),
287       ipmi-sensors(8), ipmi-sensors-config(8), ipmiconsole(8), ipmidetect(8),
288       ipmiping(8), ipmipower(8), rmcpping(8)
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290       http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/
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294FreeIPMI 1.2.1                    2017-03-22                       FREEIPMI(7)
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