NAME
FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview
Introduction
FreeIPMI provides in-band and out-of-band IPMI software based on the
IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.
What is IPMI?
The IPMI specification defines a set of interfaces for platform
management. It is utilized by a wide variety of vendors for system
management on motherboards. The features of IPMI that most users will
be interested in are sensor monitoring, remote power control, serial-
over-LAN (SOL), and system debugging. The FreeIPMI tools and libraries
listed below should provide users with the ability to access and
utilize these features.
Project Tools
Bmc-info
A tool to read information about a BMC such as device version numbers,
device support, and global IDs (guids).
Bmc-config
A tool to configure general BMC and IPMI information. Supports
configuration of usernames, passwords, networking information,
security, Serial-over-LAN (SOL), and other core fields.
Bmc-watchdog
A tool/daemon to manage a BMC Watchdog. This tool is typically used for
system timeout management and automatic system restarts in the event of
a system crash.
Ipmi-chassis
A tool to manage/monitor a chassis, such as chassis power,
identification (i.e. LED control), and status.
Ipmi-fru
A tool to read field replaceable unit (FRU) information from a
motherboard/machine.
Ipmi-sel
A tool to read and manage IPMI System Event Log (SEL) records. SEL
records store system event information and may be useful for debugging
problems.
Ipmi-sensors
A tool to read IPMI sensor readings and sensor data repository (SDR)
information.
Ipmipower
A tool for remote power control.
Ipmiconsole
A tool for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.
Ipmimonitoring
A tool for sensor monitoring and interpretation. The tool is similar to
ipmi-sensors, but sensor readings are analyzed and mapped into Nominal,
Warning, and Critical states.
Ipmi-raw
A tool that provides hex input/output of IPMI commands.
Ipmi-locate
A tool that can probe for information about the location of a BMC
device, such as device addresses.
Pef-config
A tool to configure Platform Event Filtering (PEF) information.
Ipmi-chassis-config
A tool to configure IPMI chassis information. Supports configuration of
boot device, power restore policy, and other chassis related fields.
Ipmi-sensors-config
A tool to configure IPMI sensors. Supports configuration of sensor
thresholds, sensor events, and other sensor related fields.
Bmc-device
A tool to perform advanced BMC commands.
Ipmiping
An IPMI ping tool for debugging.
Rmcpping
A RMCP ping tool for debugging.
Ipmi-oem
An IPMI tool for OEM specific commands.
Ipmidetect/Ipmidetectd
A tool and daemon for IPMI node detection.
Project Libraries
Libfreeipmi
A C library that includes KCS, SSIF, and OpenIPMI drivers, IPMI 1.5 and
IPMI 2.0 LAN communication interfaces, IPMI packet building utilities,
IPMI command utilities, and utilities for reading/interpreting/managing
IPMI.
Libipmiconsole
A library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access. SOL console access
is abstracted into a file descriptor interface, so users may read and
write console data through a file descriptor.
Libipmimonitoring
A library for sensor monitoring and interpretation. Sensor monitoring
and interpretation of those sensors is abstracted into an API with an
iterator interface.
Libipmidetect
A library for IPMI node detection.
Getting Started with IPMI
IPMI can be used in-band (i.e. running on a machine locally) or out-of-
band (i.e. connecting remotely).
Most FreeIPMI tools can operate in-band by using one of the in-band
drivers included. These in-band drivers include a direct KCS interface
driver, a Linux SSIF driver through the SSIF device (i.e. /dev/i2c-0),
the OpenIPMI Linux kernel driver (i.e. /dev/ipmi0), and the Sun/Solaris
BMC driver (i.e. /dev/bmc). If your system requires the use of
installed drivers, those appropriate modules must be installed ahead of
time. However, most systems should automatically load these drivers
when appropriate.
Under most scenarios, the FreeIPMI tools should automatically discover
which in-band interface to use and the proper settings to use. Users
may execute the tools on the command line to begin using them. Some
motherboards may require you to determine driver type, addresses,
paths, etc. on your own and pass them as command line options to the
tools. You may use ipmi-locate(8) to help determine this information.
Other tools such as dmidecode(8) may also provide this information.
To use IPMI out-of-band with tools such as ipmipower(8) or ipmi-
sensors(8), the remote machine’s BMC must first be configured for out
of band communication. Typically, this involves setting a username,
password, IP address, MAC address, and a few other parameters. This can
be done using the tool bmc-config(8). Additional information on how to
configure with bmc-config(8) can be found in the bmc-config.conf(5)
manpage. Some vendors may pre-configure their motherboards with default
values so that bmc-config(8) can be used remotely to configure the
machine. However, most of the time, the BMC must be configured in-band
before out-of-band access can be allowed (for example, the correct IP
address and MAC address must be configured).
In order to remotely connect to a machine, you typically must specify
the host, username, and password for the tool in order to connect.
Depending on configuration settings, a K_g key, privilege level,
authentication type, cipher suite id, or protocol version may need to
be specified. Some vendors may have not implemented IPMI properly and a
vendor specific workaround may also be necessary. See tool manpages for
more information and general trouble-shooting information.
Configuration
In order to avoid typing in a long list of command line options to
specify IPMI communication requirements everytime a command is executed
(i.e. driver paths, usernames, passwords, etc.), an alternate set of
default values can be set for most FreeIPMI tools in the FreeIPMI
configuration file. See freeipmi.conf(5) for more information.
HPC Support
Much of FreeIPMI was written with HPC support in mind. The
configuration tools ( bmc-config(8), pef-config(8), ipmi-sensors-
config(8), and ipmi-chassis-config(8) ) come with file input/output
support so that configuration can be copied and verified across nodes
in a cluster. Most tools (like ipmipower(8) and ipmi-sensors(8) ) come
with hostrange support so multiple hosts can be specified on the
command line at the same time and IPMI can be executed against the
hosts in parallel . See tool manpages for more information. Also see
the document freeipmi-hostrange.txt for detailed usage and explanation.
The ipmimonitoring(8) tool interprets sensor readings as well as just
reporting them. By mapping sensor readings into NOMINAL, WARNING, or
CRITICAL states, it makes monitoring sensors easier across large
numbers of nodes.
Development
For information on the libraries that can be used to program IPMI
applications with, please see libfreeipmi(3), libipmiconsole(3),
libipmimonitoring(3), and libipmidetect(3). Or see the document
freeipmi-libraries.txt.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2003-2008 FreeIPMI Core Team.
FreeIPMI is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.
SEE ALSO
libfreeipmi(3), libipmiconsole(3), libipmidetect(3),
libipmimonitoring(3), freeipmi.conf(5), bmc-config(8), bmc-device(8),
bmc-info(8), bmc-watchdog(8), ipmi-chassis(8), ipmi-fru(8), ipmi-
locate(8), ipmi-oem(8), ipmi-raw(8), ipmi-sel(8), ipmi-sensors(8),
ipmi-sensors-config(8), ipmiconsole(8), ipmidetect(8),
ipmimonitoring(8), ipmiping(8), ipmipower(8), pef-config(8),
rmcpping(8)
http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/