What is IPMI?
The Intelligent Platform Management Interface
(IPMI) is a standardized computer system interface used by system administrators for out-of-band management of computer systems and monitoring their operation. Out-of-band is also known as LOM (lights off management) involves the use of a dedicated management channel for device maintenance. There are several options available to manage the device remotely. Vendor-specific server management technologies are available. Integrated Lights-out or iLO from HP, Dell Remote Access Controller or DRAC from Dell and Remote Supervisor Adapter (RSA) from IBM are some of those to list. The modules listed above are vendor and proprietary specific. IPMI while being vendor neutral and cross-platform. It is available on Linux distributions. IPMI functionality can be accessed through IPMItool. IPMItool is a simple command-line utility used to manage IPMI-enabled devices. IPMItool allows you to manage system hardware components, monitor system health, and monitor and manage the system environment, regardless of operating system.
Cheat sheet
You can install IPMI and IPMItool via yum
using the following command:
[root@anm ~]# yum install OpenIPMI OpenIPMI-tools
Make sure that the server is configured to start during startup and start the IPMI service
. [root@anm ~]# chkconfig ipmi on [root@anm ~]# service
ipmi start We have here some IPMItool commands that can be used in daily operations
.
1. Man and help info for IPMItool
ipmitool help man ipmitool
2. To check the firmware version
ipmitool mc info
3. To reset the management controller
ipmitool mc reset [ warm | cold ]
4. Show details of the replaceable unit in field
ipmitool fru print
5. Show sensor output
ipmitool sdr list ipmitool sdr type list ipmitool sdr type Temperature ipmitool sdr type Fan ipmitool sdr type ‘Power Supply’
6. ipmitool
chassis commands ipmitool chassis status identify [] # power on the front panel identify light (default 15s) ipmitool [chassis] power soft # start a soft shutdown via acpi ipmitool [chassis] power cycle # issue a hard shutdown, wait 1s, power ipmitool [chassis] off # issue a hard shutdown ipmitool [chassis] on # issue a hard power on ipmitool [chassis] reset power # issue a reset Complete
7. Modify boot device for next restart
ipmitool chassis bootdev pxe ipmitool chassis bootdev cdrom ipmitool chassis bootdev bios
8. Register
ipmitool sel info ipmitool sel list ipmitool sel elist # extended list (see manpage) ipmitool sel clear
9. For remote access, you must configure user and network settings, either at boot time on the iLO or DRAC card itself, or from the operating system via ipmitool: Display/reset password for default root user (user ID ‘2′)
ipmitool 1 user set password ipmitool 2 10 user set password
. Viewing/configuring
lan settings ipmitool lan print 1 ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc [ static | dhcp ] ipmitool lan set 1 ipaddr {YOUR DESIRED IP}ipmitool lan set 1 netmask {YOUR NETMASK}ipmitool lan set 1 defgw ipaddr 10.0.1.1
After configuring the lan settings, you should be able to connect remotely using the IPMItool ‘lan’ interface.Here is an example:
[root@anm ~]# ipmitool -I lan -U root -H {YOUR DESIRED IP} chassis status
11. BMC pendant
ipmitool bmc reset cold
12. Change system status
ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> chassis power <state|on|off|cycle|reboot>
13. Get debugging information
ipmitool lan print ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> shell # get ipmitool shell, type ‘help’ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> sel list # Show system event logipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> sdr # Sensor Data List
14. Get the SOL modprobe
lanplus console # If it has not yet been loadedipmitool -H <IP> -U <user> -I lanplus sol activateAdditional cheatsheet commands: #list usersipmitool -U <login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> user list
#delete user idipmitool -U <login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> user set name <id> “”
#add user
#user passwordipmitool
-U <login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> ipmitool user set password <id> blah #power statusipmitool -U <login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> power state #power offipmitool -U <login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> off #power onipmitool -U <
login> -P ‘<password>’ -H <IP> on #power resetipmitool
–
U
<
login > -P ‘< password>’ -H <IP> power reset