Re: [Freeipmi-users] Dell PowerEdge 2970 temperature sensors

[Albert Chu]

Hi Mike,

On Thu, 2011-07-14 at 08:52 -0700, Mike Hlavac wrote:
> In implementing some monitoring at our datacenter, I noticed that most of the 
> thermal sensors do not report for our Dell PowerEdge 2970 systems.  Here's 
> the output of ipmi-sensors (v1.0.5):
> 
> 
> ID  | Name             | Type                     | Reading    | Units | Event
> 1   | Temp             | Temperature              | N/A        | C     | N/A
> 2   | Temp             | Temperature              | N/A        | C     | N/A
> 3   | Temp             | Temperature              | N/A        | C     | N/A
> 4   | Temp             | Temperature              | N/A        | C     | N/A
> 5   | Ambient Temp     | Temperature              | 15.00      | C     | 'OK'
> 6   | CMOS Battery     | Battery                  | N/A        | N/A   | 'OK'
> 
> ...
> 
> On the same system, here is the output of ipmitool sdr list:
> 
> Temp             | 64 degrees C      | ok
> Temp             | -16 degrees C     | ok
> Temp             | 40 degrees C      | ok
> Temp             | 40 degrees C      | ok
> Ambient Temp     | 15 degrees C      | ok
> CMOS Battery     | 0x00              | ok
> 
> Why would freeipmi not report the values for these sensors but ipmitool would?

We happen to have this motherboard around, so I know the answer (you can
see the detailed error message if you run w/ --debug).  Those first 4
temperature sensors are actually not available.  It can be determined by
a particular bit in the sensor reading packet response.

I bet ipmitool is outputting a temperature based on whatever data
happens to be returned or is sitting in memory while ignoring the bit,
which is why you get a -16 degrees on one reading.  This is what appears
on my motherboard:

Temp             | -70 degrees C     | ok
Temp             | -67 degrees C     | ok
Temp             | 40 degrees C      | ok
Temp             | 40 degrees C      | ok

The ipmitool 'sensor list' command appears to properly detect things and
output n/a when it should.

# ipmitool -I free sensor list
Temp             | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na 
       | 85.000    | 90.000    | na        
Temp             | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na 
       | 85.000    | 90.000    | na        
Temp             | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na 
       | na        | na        | na        
Temp             | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na 
       | na        | na        | na        
Ambient Temp     | 15.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | 3.000     | 
8.000     | 42.000    | 47.000    | na     

Hope that clears things up.

Al


> Here is the output of ipmi-sensors -vv --sensors="1":
> 
> Record ID: 1
> Record Type: Full Sensor Record (1h)
> ID String: Temp
> Sensor Type: Temperature (1h)
> Sensor Number: 1
> IPMB Slave Address: 10h
> Sensor Owner ID: 20h
> Sensor Owner LUN: 0h
> Channel Number: 0h
> Entity ID: processor (3)
> Entity Instance: 1
> Entity Instance Type: Physical Entity
> Event/Reading Type Code: 1h
> B: -128
> M: 1
> R Exponent: 0
> B Exponent: 0
> Linearization: linear (0h)
> Analog Data Format: unsigned (0h)
> Tolerance: 2.000000 C
> Resolution: 1.000000 C
> Lower Critical Threshold: N/A
> Upper Critical Threshold: 90.000000 C
> Lower Non-Critical Threshold: N/A
> Upper Non-Critical Threshold: 85.000000 C
> Lower Non-Recoverable Threshold: N/A
> Upper Non-Recoverable Threshold: N/A
> Sensor Min. Reading: -128.000000 C
> Sensor Max. Reading: 127.000000 C
> Normal Min.: 11.000000 C
> Normal Max.: 69.000000 C
> Nominal Reading: 50.000000 C
> Accuracy: 1.940000%
> Sensor Direction: Unspecified
> Positive Hysteresis: -127.000000 C
> Negative Hysteresis: -127.000000 C
> Assertion Event Enabled: All Event Messages Disabled
> Deassertion Event Enabled: All Event Messages Disabled
> Sensor Reading: N/A
> Sensor Event: N/A
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-- 
Albert Chu
address@hidden
Computer Scientist
High Performance Systems Division
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory