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 of their operation. Out-of-band is also referred to as LOM (Lights-out management) involves the use of a dedicated management channel for device maintenance.
There are number of options available to manage the device remotely. There are vendor specific server management technologies available. HP’s Integrated Lights-out or iLO, Dell’s Dell Remote Access Controller or DRAC and IBM’s Remote supervisor adapter (RSA) are a few to list. The above listed modules are vendor specific and proprietary. IPMI whereas is vendor-neutral and cross-platform. It is available on Linux distros. The functionality of IPMI can be accessed via IPMItool. IPMItool is a simple command line utility which is used to manage IPMI-enabled devices. IPMItool enables you to manage system hardware components, monitor system health, and monitor and manage the system environment, independent of the 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 set 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 which can be used in day-to-day operations.
1. Man and help info for IPMItool
ipmitool help
man ipmitool
2. To check firmware version
ipmitool mc info
3. To reset the management controller
ipmitool mc reset [ warm | cold ]
4. Show field-replaceable-unit details
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. Chassis commands
ipmitool chassis status ipmitool chassis identify [] # turn on front panel identify light (default 15s)
ipmitool [chassis] power soft # initiate a soft-shutdown via acpi
ipmitool [chassis] power cycle # issue a hard power off, wait 1s, power on
ipmitool [chassis] power off # issue a hard power off
ipmitool [chassis] power on # issue a hard power on
ipmitool [chassis] power reset # issue a hard reset
7. Modify boot device for next reboot
ipmitool chassis bootdev pxe
ipmitool chassis bootdev cdrom
ipmitool chassis bootdev bios
8. Logging
ipmitool sel info
ipmitool sel list
ipmitool sel elist # extended list (see manpage)
ipmitool sel clear
9. For remote access, you need to setup user and network settings, either at boot time on the iLO or DRAC card itself, or from the OS via ipmitool:
Display/reset password for default root user (userid ’2′)
ipmitool user list 1
ipmitool user set password 2
10. Display/configure 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 ‘lan’ interface of IPMItool.
The following is an example:
[root@anm ~]# ipmitool -I lan -U root -H {YOUR DESIRED IP} chassis status
11. Hanging BMC
ipmitool bmc reset cold
12. Change system state
ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> chassis power <status|on|off|cycle|reset>
13. Get debug info
ipmitool lan print ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> shell # get ipmitool shell, type 'help'
ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> sel list # Show system event log
ipmitool -H <ip> -U <user> sdr # List sensor data
14. Get SOL console
modprobe lanplus # If not yet loaded
ipmitool -H <IP> -U <user> -I lanplus sol activate
Additional cheatsheet commands:
#list users
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> user list
#delete user id
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> user set name <id> ""
#add user
#user password
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> ipmitool user set password <id> blah
#power status
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> power status
#power off
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> power off
#power on
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> power on
#power reset
ipmitool -U <login> -P '<password>' -H <IP> power reset
