FREEIPMI(7)

NAME
FreeIPMI - FreeIPMI overview

Introduction
FreeIPMI provides in-band and out-of-band IPMI software based on the IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.

Project Libraries and Tools
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.

Bmc-info

A tool to read information about the local BMC such as version information and device support.

Bmc-config

A tool to configure usernames, passwords, networking information, security, and other relevant IPMI configuration 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, 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/Libipmiconsole

A tool and library for Serial-over-Lan (SOL) console access.

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.

Ipmimonitoring/Libipmimonitoring

A tool and library for used for sensor interpretation/monitoring. The tool is similar to ipmi-sensors, but sensor readings are analyzed and mapped into Nominal, Warning, and Critical states.

Pef-config

A tool to configure IPMI Platform Event Filtering (PEF) configuration.

Ipmi-sensors-config

A tool to configure IPMI Sensors.

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/libipmidetect

A tool, daemon, and 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 SSIF driver through the SSIF device (i.e. /dev/i2c-0), and the Linux OpenIPMI kernel driver (i.e. /dev/ipmi0). 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. However, 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.

HPC Support
Much of FreeIPMI was written with HPC support in mind. The configuration tools bmc-config(8), pef-config(8), and ipmi-sensors-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), bmc-config(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/