freeipmi(7)

1FREEIPMI(7)                        Overview                        FREEIPMI(7)
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NAME

6       FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview
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Introduction

9       FreeIPMI  provides  in-band  and out-of-band IPMI software based on the
10       IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.
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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 userspace KCS  inter‐
27       face  driver,  a  SSIF  driver  through  the  Linux  SSIF  device (i.e.
28       /dev/i2c-0), the OpenIPMI Linux kernel driver  (i.e.  /dev/ipmi0),  the
29       Sun/Solaris  BMC  driver (i.e. /dev/bmc), and the Intel DCMI/MEI driver
30       (i.e. /dev/dcmi). If your system requires the use of installed drivers,
31       those  appropriate  modules  must be installed ahead of time.  However,
32       most systems should automatically load these drivers 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 ipmi-config(8).  Additional information on  how  to
47       configure  with  ipmi-config(8) can be found in the ipmi-config.conf(5)
48       manpage. Some vendors may pre-configure their motherboards with default
49       values  so  that  ipmi-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       In order to remotely connect to a machine, you typically  must  specify
55       the  host,  username,  and  password  for the tool in order to connect.
56       Depending on  configuration  settings,  a  K_g  key,  privilege  level,
57       authentication  type,  cipher suite id, or protocol version may need to
58       be specified.
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60       Some vendors may have not implemented IPMI properly  and  a  workaround
61       must  be  specified  into FreeIPMI to ensure the tool can execute prop‐
62       erly. For example, a fair number of vendors have  populated  their  FRU
63       records  with invalid checksums. To properly ignore these set of check‐
64       sums a skipchecks workaround has been added to ipmi-fru(8).  Please see
65       each of the tool manpages to see a list of available workarounds.
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67       Additional  information,  examples, and general trouble-shooting can be
68       found in each of the tool manpages.
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General Use

71       The primary tools that most users of FreeIPMI will be interested in for
72       system management are the following:
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74       ipmi-sensors
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76       A tool to read IPMI sensor readings to aid in system monitoring.
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78       ipmi-sel
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80       A tool to read and manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records to aid in
81       system debugging.
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83       ipmipower
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85       A tool for remote power control.
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87       ipmiconsole
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89       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.
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91       Many other tools and libraries are listed below that  cover  additional
92       features and areas of IPMI.
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94       Additional  information,  examples, and general trouble-shooting can be
95       found in each of the tool manpages.
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Configuration

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

105       Much of FreeIPMI was written with HPC support in mind.   ipmi-config(8)
106       comes  with  file  input/output  support  so  that configuration can be
107       copied and verified  across  nodes  in  a  cluster.  Most  tools  (like
108       ipmipower(8)  and ipmi-sensors(8) ) come with hostrange support so mul‐
109       tiple hosts can be specified on the command line at the same  time  and
110       IPMI  can  be executed against the hosts in parallel. See tool manpages
111       for more information.  Also see the document freeipmi-hostrange.txt for
112       detailed  usage  and explanation.  ipmi-sensors(8) and the libipmimoni‐
113       toring(3) library support the ability to interpret sensor  readings  as
114       well  as  just reporting them. By mapping sensor readings into NOMINAL,
115       WARNING, or CRITICAL states, it makes monitoring sensors easier  across
116       large numbers of nodes.
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Development

119       For  information  on  the  libraries  that  can be used to program IPMI
120       applications with, please see libfreeipmi(3), libipmiconsole(3), libip‐
121       mimonitoring(3),  and  libipmidetect(3).  Or see the document freeipmi-
122       libraries.txt.
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Project Tools

125       The following tools are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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127       bmc-info
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129       A tool to read information about a BMC such as device version  numbers,
130       device support, and globally unique IDs (guids).
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132       bmc-watchdog
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134       A tool/daemon to manage a BMC Watchdog. This tool is typically used for
135       system timeout management and automatic system restarts in the event of
136       a system crash.
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138       ipmi-chassis
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140       A  tool to manage/monitor a chassis, such as chassis power, identifica‐
141       tion (i.e. LED control), and status.
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143       ipmi-fru
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145       A tool to read field replaceable unit (FRU) information from a  mother‐
146       board/machine.
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148       ipmi-sel
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150       A  tool  to  read  and  manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records. SEL
151       records store system event information and may be useful for  debugging
152       problems.
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154       ipmi-sensors
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156       A  tool  to  read IPMI sensor readings and sensor data repository (SDR)
157       information.
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159       ipmipower
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161       A tool for remote power control.
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163       ipmiconsole
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165       A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.
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167       ipmi-config
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169       A tool to configure BMC and IPMI information. In can be used to config‐
170       ured  usernames,  passwords,  networking information, security, Serial-
171       over-LAN (SOL), Platform Event Filtering  (PEF),  boot  devices,  power
172       restoration  policy,  sensor  thresholds,  sensor events, and many more
173       configuration options.
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175       ipmi-raw
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177       A tool that provides hex input/output of IPMI commands.
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179       ipmi-locate
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181       A tool that can probe for information  about  the  location  of  a  BMC
182       device, such as device addresses.
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184       ipmi-pet
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186       A tool to parse and interpret Platform Event Traps (PET).
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188       ipmi-dcmi
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190       A  tool  to  perform  Data  Center  Manageability Interface (DCMI) IPMI
191       extension commands. Supports extensions for asset management and  power
192       usage management.
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194       bmc-device
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196       A  tool  to  perform  advanced BMC commands, such as resetting the BMC,
197       configuring ACPI, configuring SDR/SEL time, manually generating events,
198       re-arming sensors, and configuring manufacturer settings.
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200       ipmiping
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202       An IPMI ping tool for debugging.
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204       rmcpping
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206       A RMCP ping tool for debugging.
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208       ipmi-oem
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210       An IPMI tool for OEM specific commands.
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212       ipmidetect/ipmidetectd
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214       A tool and daemon for IPMI node detection.
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216       ipmiseld
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218       A  daemon  that  regularly  polls  the SEL and stores the events to the
219       local syslog.
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221       Additional information, examples, and general trouble-shooting  can  be
222       found in each of the tool manpages.
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Project Libraries

225       The following libraries are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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227       Libfreeipmi
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229       A  C  library  that includes KCS, SSIF, and OpenIPMI Linux, and Solaris
230       BMC drivers, IPMI 1.5 and IPMI 2.0 LAN communication  interfaces,  IPMI
231       packet  building  utilities,  IPMI command utilities, and utilities for
232       reading/interpreting/managing IPMI. This  library  is  for  programmers
233       intimately  familiar  with  the  IPMI  protocol and IPMI specification.
234       Most users may wish to use the libraries listed below.
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236       Libipmiconsole
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238       A library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access. SOL console  access
239       is  abstracted  into a file descriptor interface, so users may read and
240       write console data through a file descriptor.
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242       Libipmimonitoring
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244       A library for  sensor  and  system  event  log  (SEL)  monitoring  that
245       abstracts  away  most IPMI details. Interpretation of those sensors and
246       events is abstracted into an API with an iterator interface.
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248       Libipmidetect
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250       A library for IPMI node detection.
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REPORTING BUGS

253       Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
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COPYRIGHT

256       Copyright © 2003-2015 FreeIPMI Core Team.
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258       FreeIPMI is free software; you can redistribute  it  and/or  modify  it
259       under  the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
260       Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at  your
261       option) any later version.
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