This page is about setting up IPMI on ubuntu.
Ubuntu Packages
The information about Ubuntu packages applies to all manufacturers.
Two packages offer IPMI support in Ubuntu:
openipmi - officially supported starting with ubuntu 8.04
ipmitools - not officially supported
Once installed, the following files may help you configure and personalize your ipmitools package install:
- /usr/share/ipmitool/ipmi.init.basic
- /usr/share/doc/ipmitool/README.gz
To uncompress the .gz file and view it:
zcat /usr/share/doc/ipmitool/README.gz|less
Specific manufacturer information
Dell
See above information about Ubuntu packages.
As a general rule, always take notes on current settings and backup any files being modified.
Read through the following bug report for important information: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ipmitool/+bug/110992
Once installed the IPMI tools package provides several commands. Some examples:
Local IPMI access verification
ipmitool -I open channel info
System Events Log (SEL)
ipmitool -I open sel list
Example:
8b | 07/15/2007 | 20:50:22 | Power Supply #0x42 | Power Supply AC lost 8c | 07/15/2007 | 20:50:22 | Power Supply #0x53 | Redundancy Lost 8d | 07/15/2007 | 21:16:58 | Physical Security #0x52 | General Chassis intrusion 8e | 07/15/2007 | 21:17:03 | Power Supply #0x42 | Failure detected 8f | 07/15/2007 | 21:17:03 | Power Supply #0x42 | Power Supply AC lost 90 | 07/15/2007 | 21:17:03 | Power Supply #0x53 | Redundancy Lost
RAID problem example:
b5 | 11/05/2007 | 03:09:27 | Slot/Connector #0x55 | Fault Status Asserted b5 | 12/24/2007 | 03:32:52 | Slot/Connector #0x55 | Fault Status Asserted
Power off (simulates a "critical high temperature event")
ipmitool -vI lan -H 192.168.5.250 -U root -a chassis power soft
Hard reset
ipmitool -vI lan -H 192.168.5.250 -U root -a chassis power reset
Full Dell documentation
SuperMicro P8SCi
See above information about Ubuntu packages.
As a general rule, always take notes on current settings and backup any files being modified.
In your BIOS settings:
- Enable "Console Redirection" in BIOS Setup. For example, COM2 / 19.2Kbps / 8N1
- Disable "Enable Console Redirection after POST" in BIOS setup.
Editing your boot options in GRUB
1) Add the following two lines to /boot/grub/menu.lst (carefully check that the double hyphen is not converted to a single one if using copy & paste):
serial --unit=1 --speed=19200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1 terminal --timeout=10 serial console
If using XEN, also find and modify the following line to read as:
## For Xen # xenkopt=console=tty0 serial console=ttyS1,19200n8
2) Change the following line (while KEEPING the hash at its beginning):
# defoptions=quiet splash
to
# defoptions=nosplash console=tty0 serial console=ttyS1,19200n8
3) Change the following line (while KEEPING the hash at its beginning) to:
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single console=tty0 serial console=ttyS1,19200n8
4) Save the file, then run this command to commit your changes:
sudo update-grub
5) Then:
cd /etc/event.d sudo cp tty1 ttyS0 sudo nano ttyS0
This last command uses nano but you can use any editor.
Edit the /etc/event.d file so at the end the line invoking getty reads as:
exec /sbin/getty 19200 ttyS0
6) Do the same for ttyS1:
sudo cp tty1 ttyS1 sudo nano ttyS1
Edit that file so at the end the line invoking getty reads as:
exec /sbin/getty 19200 ttyS1
7) Now, edit /etc/securetty to add ttyS1 (near the beginning) after the following line:
# for people with serial port consoles # for people with serial port consoles ttyS0 ttyS1
SuperMicro update
Above instructions work nicely with some very minor changes with Ubuntu 9.04 on a new (April '09) SuperMicro X8 (Xeon 5500) motherboard with built-in WinBond WPCM450 BMC controller:
- AMI BIOS defaults to 115200 baud.
/etc/securetty has ttyS1 defined already, and is now labelled 'Standard serial ports'
The network setup for the BMC is done in Advanced -> IPMI Configuration -> Set LAN Configuration in the BIOS. It defaults to DHCP, so generally it will just work. Once it's set up you can point a web browser at it (HTTP or HTTPS) or an ssh terminal. The default login is ADMIN / ADMIN.