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.
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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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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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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
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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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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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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. The ipmimon‐
120       itoring(8)  tool  interprets  sensor readings as well as just reporting
121       them. By mapping sensor readings into  NOMINAL,  WARNING,  or  CRITICAL
122       states,  it  makes  monitoring  sensors  easier across large numbers of
123       nodes.
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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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Project Tools

134       The following tools are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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136       Bmc-info
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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       Ipmimonitoring
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184       A tool for sensor monitoring and interpretation. The tool is similar to
185       ipmi-sensors, but sensor readings are analyzed and mapped into Nominal,
186       Warning, and Critical states.
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188       Ipmi-raw
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190       A tool that provides hex input/output of IPMI commands.
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192       Ipmi-locate
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194       A  tool  that  can  probe  for  information about the location of a BMC
195       device, such as device addresses.
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197       Ipmi-chassis-config
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199       A tool to configure IPMI chassis information. Supports configuration of
200       boot device, power restore policy, and other chassis related fields.
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202       Ipmi-pef-config
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204       A tool to configure Platform Event Filtering (PEF) information.
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206       Ipmi-sensors-config
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208       A  tool  to  configure  IPMI  sensors. Supports configuration of sensor
209       thresholds, sensor events, and other sensor related fields.
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211       Ipmi-dcmi
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213       A tool to perform  Data  Center  Manageability  Interface  (DCMI)  IPMI
214       extension  commands. Supports extensions for asset management and power
215       usage management.
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217       Bmc-device
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219       A tool to perform advanced BMC commands.
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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       Additional information, examples, and general trouble-shooting  can  be
238       found in each of the tool manpages.
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Project Libraries

242       The following libraries are distributed and supported by FreeIPMI.
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244       Libfreeipmi
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246       A  C  library  that includes KCS, SSIF, OpenIPMI Linux, and Solaris BMC
247       drivers, IPMI 1.5 and  IPMI  2.0  LAN  communication  interfaces,  IPMI
248       packet  building  utilities,  IPMI command utilities, and utilities for
249       reading/interpreting/managing IPMI.
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251       Libipmiconsole
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253       A library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access. SOL console  access
254       is  abstracted  into a file descriptor interface, so users may read and
255       write console data through a file descriptor.
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257       Libipmimonitoring
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259       A library for sensor monitoring and interpretation.  Sensor  monitoring
260       and  interpretation  of those sensors is abstracted into an API with an
261       iterator interface.
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263       Libipmidetect
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265       A library for IPMI node detection.
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REPORTING BUGS

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

272       Copyright © 2003-2010 FreeIPMI Core Team.
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274       FreeIPMI is free software; you can redistribute  it  and/or  modify  it
275       under  the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
276       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at  your
277       option) any later version.
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