1ipmiconsole(8) System Commands ipmiconsole(8)
2
6 ipmiconsole - IPMI console utility
7
9 ipmiconsole [OPTION...]
10
12 ipmiconsole is a Serial-over-LAN (SOL) console utility. It can be used
13 to establish console sessions to remote machines using the IPMI 2.0 SOL
14 protocol.
15 Ipmiconsole communicates with a remote machine's Baseboard Management
17 Controller (BMC) to establish a console session. Before any SOL commu‐
18 nication can take place, the remote machine's BMC must be configured
19 properly. The FreeIPMI tool bmc-config(8) may be used to do this con‐
20 figuration.
21 Often (although not always), console redirection must be also be con‐
23 figured properly in the BIOS and/or operating system. Both must be con‐
24 figured to redirect console traffic out the appropriate COM port.
25 Please see your motherboard and OS documentation for instructions on
26 proper setup.
27 Listed below are general IPMI options, tool specific options, trouble
29 shooting information, workaround information, examples, and known
30 issues. For a general introduction to FreeIPMI please see freeipmi(7).
31
33 The following options are general options for configuring IPMI communi‐
34 cation and executing general tool commands.
35 -h IPMIHOST, --hostname=IPMIHOST[:PORT]
37 Specify the remote host to communicate with. An optional port
38 can be specified, which may be useful in port forwarding or sim‐
39 ilar situations.
40 -u, --username=USERNAME
42 Specify the username to use when authenticating with the remote
43 host. If not specified, a null (i.e. anonymous) username is
44 assumed. The user must a high enough privilege to establish a
45 SOL session and have SOL session abilities.
46 -p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD
48 Specify the password to use when authenticationg with the remote
49 host. If not specified, a null password is assumed. Maximum
50 password length is 16 for IPMI 1.5 and 20 for IPMI 2.0.
51 -P, --password-prompt
53 Prompt for password to avoid possibility of listing it in
54 process lists.
55 -k K_G, --k-g=K_G
57 Specify the K_g BMC key to use when authenticating with the
58 remote host for IPMI 2.0. If not specified, a null key is
59 assumed. To input the key in hexadecimal form, prefix the string
60 with '0x'. E.g., the key 'abc' can be entered with the either
61 the string 'abc' or the string '0x616263'
62 -K, --k-g-prompt
64 Prompt for k-g to avoid possibility of listing it in process
65 lists.
66 --session-timeout=MILLISECONDS
68 Specify the session timeout in milliseconds. Defaults to 60000
69 milliseconds (60 seconds) if not specified.
70 --retransmission-timeout=MILLISECONDS
72 Specify the packet retransmission timeout in milliseconds.
73 Defaults to 500 milliseconds (0.5 seconds) if not specified.
74 -I, --cipher-suite-id=CIPHER-SUITE-ID
76 Specify the IPMI 2.0 cipher suite ID to use. The Cipher Suite ID
77 identifies a set of authentication, integrity, and confidential‐
78 ity algorithms to use for IPMI 2.0 communication. The authenti‐
79 cation algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for session
80 setup, the integrity algorithm identifies the algorithm to use
81 for session packet signatures, and the confidentiality algorithm
82 identifies the algorithm to use for payload encryption. Defaults
83 to cipher suite ID 3 if not specified. The user should be aware
84 that only cipher suite ids 3, 8, and 12 encrypt console pay‐
85 loads. Console information will be sent in the clear if an
86 alternate cipher suite id is selected. The following cipher
87 suite ids are currently supported:
88 0 - Authentication Algorithm = None; Integrity Algorithm = None;
90 Confidentiality Algorithm = None
91 1 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm =
93 None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
94 2 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm =
96 HMAC-SHA1-96; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
97 3 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm =
99 HMAC-SHA1-96; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
100 6 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm =
102 None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
103 7 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm =
105 HMAC-MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
106 8 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm =
108 HMAC-MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
109 11 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm =
111 MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
112 12 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm =
114 MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
115 15 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm
117 = None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
118 16 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm
120 = HMAC_SHA256_128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
121 17 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm
123 = HMAC_SHA256_128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
124 -l PRIVILEGE-LEVEL, --privilege-level=PRIVILEGE-LEVEL
126 Specify the privilege level to be used. The currently available
127 privilege levels are USER, OPERATOR, and ADMIN. Defaults to
128 ADMIN if not specified.
129 --config-file=FILE
131 Specify an alternate configuration file.
132 -W WORKAROUNDS, --workaround-flags=WORKAROUNDS
134 Specify workarounds to vendor compliance issues. Multiple work‐
135 arounds can be specified separated by commas. A special command
136 line flag of "none", will indicate no workarounds (may be useful
137 for overriding configured defaults). See WORKAROUNDS below for a
138 list of available workarounds.
139 --debug
141 Turn on debugging.
142 -?, --help
144 Output a help list and exit.
145 --usage
147 Output a usage message and exit.
148 -V, --version
150 Output the program version and exit.
151
153 The following options are specific to Ipmiconsole.
154 -e CHAR, --escape-char=CHAR
156 Specify an alternate escape character (default char '&').
157 -N, --dont-steal
159 Do not steal an SOL session if one is already detected as being
160 in use. Under most circumstances, if SOL is detected as being in
161 use, ipmiconsole will attempt to steal the SOL session away from
162 the previous session. This default behavior exists for several
163 reasons, most notably that earlier SOL sessions may have not
164 been able to be deactivate properly.
165 -T, --deactivate
167 Deactivate a SOL session if one is detected as being in use and
168 exit.
169 --serial-keepalive
171 Occasionally send NUL characters to detect inactive serial con‐
172 nections. This option is particularly useful for those who
173 intend to run ipmiconsole without much interaction, such as for
174 logging purposes. While IPMI connections may still be alive,
175 some motherboards have exhibited bugs in which underlying serial
176 data can no longer be sent/received. From the viewpoint of ipmi‐
177 console, data is simply not be sent out of the remote system and
178 this problem is only detected once there is user interaction. By
179 sending the occasional NUL character, the underlying loss of
180 serial data transfer can be detected far more quickly. There is
181 some risk with this option, as the NUL character byte may affect
182 the remote system depending on what data it may or may not be
183 expecting.
184 --serial-keepalive-empty
186 This option is identical to --serial-keepalive except that SOL
187 packets will contain no NUL character data. On some mother‐
188 boards, this may be sufficient to deal with a hanging IPMI ses‐
189 sion without the risk regularly sending a NUL character byte may
190 have. However, some systems may not ACK a SOL packet without
191 character data in it, meaning these keepalive packets do noth‐
192 ing.
193 -L, --lock-memory
195 Lock sensitive information (such as usernames and passwords) in
196 memory.
197
199 The following escape sequences are supported. The default supported
200 escape character is '&', but can be changed with the -e option.
201 &? Display a list of currently available escape sequences.
203 &. Terminate the connection.
205 &B Send a "serial-break" to the remote console.
207 &D Send a DEL character.
209 && Send a single escape character.
211
213 Most often, IPMI problems are due to configuration problems.
214 IPMI over LAN problems involve a misconfiguration of the remote
216 machine's BMC. Double check to make sure the following are configured
217 properly in the remote machine's BMC: IP address, MAC address, subnet
218 mask, username, user enablement, user privilege, password, LAN privi‐
219 lege, LAN enablement, and allowed authentication type(s). For IPMI 2.0
220 connections, double check to make sure the cipher suite privilege(s)
221 and K_g key are configured properly. The bmc-config(8) tool can be used
222 to check and/or change these configuration settings.
223 In addition to the troubleshooting tips below, please see WORKAROUNDS
225 below to also if there are any vendor specific bugs that have been dis‐
226 covered and worked around.
227 Listed below are many of the common issues for error messages. For
229 additional support, please e-mail the <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> mailing
230 list.
231 "username invalid" - The username entered (or a NULL username if none
233 was entered) is not available on the remote machine. It may also be
234 possible the remote BMC's username configuration is incorrect.
235 "password invalid" - The password entered (or a NULL password if none
237 was entered) is not correct. It may also be possible the password for
238 the user is not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
239 "password verification timeout" - Password verification has timed out.
241 A "password invalid" error (described above) or a generic "session
242 timeout" (described below) occurred. During this point in the protocol
243 it cannot be differentiated which occurred.
244 "k_g invalid" - The K_g key entered (or a NULL K_g key if none was
246 entered) is not correct. It may also be possible the K_g key is not
247 correctly configured on the remote BMC.
248 "privilege level insufficient" - An IPMI command requires a higher user
250 privilege than the one authenticated with. Please try to authenticate
251 with a higher privilege. This may require authenticating to a different
252 user which has a higher maximum privilege.
253 "privilege level cannot be obtained for this user" - The privilege
255 level you are attempting to authenticate with is higher than the maxi‐
256 mum allowed for this user. Please try again with a lower privilege. It
257 may also be possible the maximum privilege level allowed for a user is
258 not configured properly on the remote BMC.
259 "authentication type unavailable for attempted privilege level" - The
261 authentication type you wish to authenticate with is not available for
262 this privilege level. Please try again with an alternate authentication
263 type or alternate privilege level. It may also be possible the avail‐
264 able authentication types you can authenticate with are not correctly
265 configured on the remote BMC.
266 "cipher suite id unavailable" - The cipher suite id you wish to authen‐
268 ticate with is not available on the remote BMC. Please try again with
269 an alternate cipher suite id. It may also be possible the available
270 cipher suite ids are not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
271 "ipmi 2.0 unavailable" - IPMI 2.0 was not discovered on the remote
273 machine. Please try to use IPMI 1.5 instead.
274 "connection timeout" - Initial IPMI communication failed. A number of
276 potential errors are possible, including an invalid hostname specified,
277 an IPMI IP address cannot be resolved, IPMI is not enabled on the
278 remote server, the network connection is bad, etc. Please verify con‐
279 figuration and connectivity.
280 "session timeout" - The IPMI session has timed out. Please reconnect.
282 If this error occurs often, you may wish to increase the retransmission
283 timeout. Some remote BMCs are considerably slower than others.
284
286 The following are common issues for error messages in ipmiconsole.
287 "SOL unavailable" - SOL is not configured for use on the remote BMC.
289 It may be not configured in general or for the specific user specified.
290 Authenticating with a different user may be sufficient, however the
291 IPMI protocol does not reveal detail on what is not configured on the
292 remote BMC.
293 "SOL in use" - SOL is already in use on the remote BMC. If you do not
295 specify the --dont-steal option, ipmiconsole will attempt to steal the
296 SOL session away from the other session.
297 "SOL session stolen" - Your SOL session has been stolen by another ses‐
299 sion. You may wish to try and steal the session back by reconnecting.
300 "SOL requires encryption" - SOL requires a cipher suite id that
302 includes encryption. Please try to use cipher suite id 3, 8, or 12. It
303 may also be possible the encryption requirements are not configured
304 correctly on the remote BMC.
305 "SOL requires no encryption" - SOL requires a cipher suite id that does
307 not use encryption. Please try to use cipher suite id 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, or
308 11. It may also be possible the encryption requirements are not config‐
309 ured correctly on the remote BMC.
310 "BMC Implementation" - The BMC on the remote machine has a severe prob‐
312 lem in its implementation. Please see the WORKAROUNDS section below for
313 possible workarounds. If additional vendor workarounds are required,
314 please contact the authors.
315 "excess retransmissions sent" - An excessive number of retransmissions
317 of SOL packets has occurred and ipmiconsole has given up. This may be
318 due to network issues or SOL issues. Some of the same issues involved
319 with "connection timeout" or "session timeout" errors may be involved.
320 Please try to reconnect.
321 "excess errors received" - An excessive number of SOL packet errors has
323 occurred and ipmiconsole has given up. This may be due to network
324 issues or SOL issues. Please try to reconnect.
325 "BMC Error" - This error usually means a vendor SOL implementation
327 requires a combination of authentication, encryption, privilege, etc.
328 that have not been met by the user's choices. Please try a combination
329 of different cipher suites, privileges, etc. to resolve the problem.
330 Please see the WORKAROUNDS section below for possible workarounds too.
331
333 With so many different vendors implementing their own IPMI solutions,
334 different vendors may implement their IPMI protocols incorrectly. The
335 following describes a number of workarounds currently available to han‐
336 dle discovered compliance issues. When possible, workarounds have been
337 implemented so they will be transparent to the user. However, some will
338 require the user to specify a workaround be used via the -W option.
339 The hardware listed below may only indicate the hardware that a problem
341 was discovered on. Newer versions of hardware may fix the problems
342 indicated below. Similar machines from vendors may or may not exhibit
343 the same problems. Different vendors may license their firmware from
344 the same IPMI firmware developer, so it may be worthwhile to try work‐
345 arounds listed below even if your motherboard is not listed.
346 If you believe your hardware has an additional compliance issue that
348 needs a workaround to be implemented, please contact the FreeIPMI main‐
349 tainers on <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
350 authcap - This workaround flag will skip early checks for username
352 capabilities, authentication capabilities, and K_g support and allow
353 IPMI authentication to succeed. It works around multiple issues in
354 which the remote system does not properly report username capabilities,
355 authentication capabilities, or K_g status. Those hitting this issue
356 may see "username invalid", "authentication type unavailable for
357 attempted privilege level", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on
358 Asus P5M2/P5MT-R/RS162-E4/RX4, Intel SR1520ML/X38ML, and Sun Fire
359 2200/4150/4450 with ELOM.
360 intel20 - This workaround flag will work around several Intel IPMI 2.0
362 authentication issues. The issues covered include padding of usernames,
363 and password truncation if the authentication algorithm is HMAC-
364 MD5-128. Those hitting this issue may see "username invalid", "password
365 invalid", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Intel SE7520AF2
366 with Intel Server Management Module (Professional Edition).
367 supermicro20 - This workaround flag will work around several Supermicro
369 IPMI 2.0 authentication issues on motherboards w/ Peppercon IPMI
370 firmware. The issues covered include handling invalid length authenti‐
371 cation codes. Those hitting this issue may see "password invalid"
372 errors. Issue observed on Supermicro H8QME with SIMSO daughter card.
373 Confirmed fixed on newerver firmware.
374 sun20 - This workaround flag will work work around several Sun IPMI 2.0
376 authentication issues. The issues covered include invalid lengthed hash
377 keys, improperly hashed keys, and invalid cipher suite records. Those
378 hitting this issue may see "password invalid" or "bmc error" errors.
379 Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM. This workaround
380 automatically includes the "opensesspriv" workaround.
381 opensesspriv - This workaround flag will slightly alter FreeIPMI's IPMI
383 2.0 connection protocol to workaround an invalid hashing algorithm used
384 by the remote system. The privilege level sent during the Open Session
385 stage of an IPMI 2.0 connection is used for hashing keys instead of the
386 privilege level sent during the RAKP1 connection stage. Those hitting
387 this issue may see "password invalid", "k_g invalid", or "bad rmcpplus
388 status code" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with
389 ILOM, Inventec 5441/Dell Xanadu II, Supermicro X8DTH, Supermicro X8DTG,
390 Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, Intel S2600JF/Appro 512X, and Quanta
391 QSSC-S4R//Appro GB812X-CN. This workaround is automatically triggered
392 with the "sun20" workaround.
393 integritycheckvalue - This workaround flag will work around an invalid
395 integrity check value during an IPMI 2.0 session establishment when
396 using Cipher Suite ID 0. The integrity check value should be 0 length,
397 however the remote motherboard responds with a non-empty field. Those
398 hitting this issue may see "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on
399 Supermicro X8DTG, Supermicro X8DTU, and Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion
400 700, and Intel S2600JF/Appro 512X.
401 solpayloadsize - This workaround flag will not check for valid SOL pay‐
403 load sizes and assume a proper set. It works around remote systems that
404 report invalid IPMI 2.0 SOL payload sizes. Those hitting this issue may
405 see "BMC Implementation" errors. Issue observed on Asus
406 P5M2/RS162-E4/RX4, Intel SR1520ML/X38ML, Inventec 5441/Dell Xanadu II,
407 Sun x4100, Supermicro X8DTH, Supermicro X8DTG, Supermicro X8DTU, and
408 Quanta QSSC-S4R//Appro GB812X-CN.
409 solport - This workaround flag will ignore alternate SOL ports speci‐
411 fied during the protocol. It works around remote systems that report
412 invalid alternate SOL ports. Those hitting this issue may see "connec‐
413 tion timeout" errors. Issue observed on Asus P5MT-R and Supermicro
414 X8DTH-iF.
415 solstatus - This workaround flag will not check the current activation
417 status of SOL during the protocol setup. It works around remote systems
418 that do not properly support this command. Those hitting this issue may
419 see "BMC Error" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro X8SIL-F.
420
422 On older operating systems, if you input your username, password, and
423 other potentially security relevant information on the command line,
424 this information may be discovered by other users when using tools like
425 the ps(1) command or looking in the /proc file system. It is generally
426 more secure to input password information with options like the -P or
427 -K options. Configuring security relevant information in the FreeIPMI
428 configuration file would also be an appropriate way to hide this infor‐
429 mation.
430 In order to prevent brute force attacks, some BMCs will temporarily
432 "lock up" after a number of remote authentication errors. You may need
433 to wait awhile in order to this temporary "lock up" to pass before you
434 may authenticate again.
435 Some motherboards define an OEM SOL inactivity timeout for SOL ses‐
437 sions. If SOL sessions stay inactive for long periods of time, ipmicon‐
438 sole sessions may be abruptly closed, most likely resulting in session
439 timeout errors. Please see OEM notes for information on modifying this
440 parameter if you wish for sessions to stay active longer.
441
443 Intel SR1520ML/X38ML: After a reboot, the SOL session appears to "dis‐
444 connect" from the motherboard but stay alive. Character data input
445 from the ipmiconsole client is accepted by the remote machine, but no
446 character data or console data is ever sent back from the remote
447 machine. The SOL session is subsequently useless. There is currently no
448 workaround in place to handle this. The session must be closed and
449 restarted.
450
452 # ipmiconsole -h ahost -u myusername -p mypassword
453 Establish a console sesssion with a remote host.
455
457 On older operating systems, if you input your username, password, and
458 other potentially security relevant information on the command line,
459 this information may be discovered by other users when using tools like
460 the ps(1) command or looking in the /proc file system. It is generally
461 more secure to input password information with options like the -P or
462 -K options. Configuring security relevant information in the FreeIPMI
463 configuration file would also be an appropriate way to hide this infor‐
464 mation.
465 In order to prevent brute force attacks, some BMCs will temporarily
467 "lock up" after a number of remote authentication errors. You may need
468 to wait awhile in order to this temporary "lock up" to pass before you
469 may authenticate again.
470
472 Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
473
475 Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
476 Copyright (C) 2006-2007 The Regents of the University of California.
477 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
479 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
480 Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
481 option) any later version.
482
484 freeipmi.conf(5), freeipmi(7), bmc-config(8)
485 http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/
487ipmiconsole 1.2.1 2017-03-22 ipmiconsole(8)