[Freeipmi-users] Disable alerting for watchdog timer expiration

[Ryan Cox]

Hello all,

I would like to change the default behavior for our Dell servers (mostly 
blades) to stop alerting at all when the watchdog timer expires.  Our HP 
ProLiant BL460c G1 servers don't alert on timer expiration.  I was 
hoping to see if there was a difference between the configs, but the HP 
servers don't work with ipmi-pef-config ("Unable to get Number of Alert 
Policy Entries") and have very few entries in ipmi-sensors, none of 
which are related to the watchdog.

What I would like to happen when a watchdog timer expires:
1) The system will reboot
2) *No* SNMP trap sent by the server itself
3) *No* SNMP trap sent by the chassis (if the server is a blade)
4) *No* event inserted in the SEL
5) *No* amber lights on the server or chassis

What I have accomplished:
1) The system will reboot
2) *No* SNMP trap sent by the server itself (the following worked: 
"ipmi-pef-config -c -e Event_Filter_17:Enable_Filter=No")

The SEL is populated and an alert sent whether the action is to reboot 
the server or do nothing.

What I have tried:
I set everything in "ipmi-sensors-config -S 44_OS_Watch" to be "No":
Section 44_OS_Watch
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_All_Event_Messages                                                   
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Scanning_On_This_Sensor                                              
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Assertion_Event_Timer_Expired                                        
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Assertion_Event_Hard_Reset                                           
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Assertion_Event_Power_Down                                           
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Assertion_Event_Power_Cycle                                          
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Deassertion_Event_Timer_Expired                                      
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Deassertion_Event_Hard_Reset                                         
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Deassertion_Event_Power_Down                                         
No
    ## Possible values: Yes/No
    
Enable_Deassertion_Event_Power_Cycle                                        
No
EndSection

This changes the output of ipmi-sensors for that host to:
44 | OS Watch         | Watchdog 2               | N/A        | N/A   | N/A

An unmodified host has this:
44 | OS Watch         | Watchdog 2               | N/A        | N/A   | 'OK'

After the timer expires, this shows up in the SEL:
ID | Date        | Time     | Name             | 
Type                     | Event Direction   | Event
1  | Feb-01-2012 | 07:39:18 | SEL              | Event Logging 
Disabled   | Assertion Event   | Log Area Reset/Cleared
2  | Feb-01-2012 | 07:39:23 | OS Watch         | Watchdog 
2               | Assertion Event   | Timer expired, status only
3  | Feb-01-2012 | 07:39:23 | OS Watch         | Watchdog 
2               | Assertion Event   | Timer expired, status only

If I don't disable the SNMP traps from the server for watchdog timer 
expiration, I get a trap for DELL-ASF-MIB::asfTrapASRTimeout.  A blade 
chassis will always send a trap stating that the blade changed from 
normal to critical.

Any other ideas?  Is this something I need to ask Dell about?

Thanks,
Ryan

--
Ryan Cox
Systems Administrator
Fulton Supercomputing Lab
Brigham Young University