Re: [Freeipmi-users] Wrong values from a Winbond WPCM450 BMC

[Albert Chu]

On Wed, 2014-10-29 at 19:47 +0100, Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> Helle Albert and others,
> 
> op 27-10-14 17:48, Albert Chu schreef:
> > On Sat, 2014-10-25 at 20:11 +0200, Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> >> Hello Albert,
> >>
> >> op 25-10-14 19:47, Albert Chu schreef:
> >>> Hi Paul,
> >>>
> >>> I doubt there was an issue with reading the wrong values from the BMC.  I
> >>> have seen many BMCs where the vendor populates the BMC with "poor" choices
> >>> of default values.  In fact, sometimes I've seen vendors populate the BMC
> >>> with illegal values (e.g. 0x1-0x4 are the only legal values, but the
> >>> default value populated in the BMC is 0x7).
> >>
> >> Doesn't bmc-config read the actual used values, but something else?
> > 
> > I'm not quite sure what you're asking here.  It reads the actual values
> > stored in the BMC during a --checkout.
> 
> The BMC did work with me at home. At home I used the bios to configure
> the IP.
> 
> After changing the IP in the datacenter with bmc-config the BMC did not
> work anymore. I did only change the network settings (and later ARP
> settings).
> 
> Then it's strange I have to edit the Volatile_Access_Mode and
> Non_Volatile_Access_Mode. True?

It is strange that the motherboard had these as "false" by default.

> >> Is it possible to use a BMC from another vendor?
> > 
> > Unlikely, given the BMC is part of the motherboard.
> 
> I can buy the motherboard I use with and without a BMC:
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/QPI/5500/X8DTU-F.cfm
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/QPI/5500/X8DTU.cfm
> 
> CoreIPM says on the website: "coreIPM-LINUX provides a ready to use,
> extremely compact drop in solution for platform management. It is
> specifically targeted towards shelf and appliance management."

Personally, I've never heard of a 3rd party BMC available.

> >> Which vendors make nice and good BMC's?
> > 
> > To be very honest, most vendors solutions are fine.  They all make
> > mistakes though.  You can see the history of bugs I've found in vendor
> > solutions here:
> > 
> > http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/freeipmi-bugs-issues-and-workarounds.txt
> 
> When I see lists like this, I think: "most solutions are far from
> perfect, they maybe work with their proprietary software, but give many
> problems with standards compliant software."

I should note that most of the bugs are simply that, bugs.  I wouldn't
say it's an attempt from the vendor to make IPMI only work with their
proprietary software.  They may perform the majority of QA against their
proprietary software, which is part of the problem.

Al

> With regards,
> Paul van der Vlis.
> 
> 
> > Al
> > 
> >> With regards,
> >> Paul van der Vlis.
> >>
> >>
> >>> Al
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 7:22 AM, Paul van der Vlis <address@hidden>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> [this message did not arrive in the list, so I am sending it again]
> >>>>
> >>>> Hello,
> >>>>
> >>>> I would like to tell you about what happened using bmc-config on my
> >>>> Supermicro X8DTU-F with Winbond WPCM450 BMC.
> >>>>
> >>>> This machine has an dedicated IPMI port, but I am using a shared port to
> >>>> use less switch ports.
> >>>>
> >>>> At home I made the network settings in the bios. In the datacenter I had
> >>>> to change the IP and I used bmc-config for it to do that remote. But
> >>>> IPMI did not work anymore.
> >>>>
> >>>> I could ping to the IPMI IP, and I saw the webinterface on the IPMI IP,
> >>>> but every password was wrong. ipmiping gave a timeout.
> >>>>
> >>>> After long searching I found the problem, I had to change the setttings
> >>>> of Volatile_Access_Mode and Non_Volatile_Access_Mode. They where
> >>>> "Disabled" and after I set them to "Always_Available" and a cold-reset
> >>>> IPMI did work again. (I've also tried "Shared" but this gave an error).
> >>>>
> >>>> Not sure how this is possible. I did read the settings from the IPMI
> >>>> with:  bmc-config -o > bmc-config
> >>>> And I've only changed the network settings.
> >>>>
> >>>> I think bmc-config did read wrong values from the bmc?
> >>>>
> >>>> When I do that now again, I get the correct values for the access modes,
> >>>> but now it was configured with bmc-config.
> >>>>
> >>>> With regards,
> >>>> Paul van der Vlis.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer, Groningen
> >>>> http://www.vandervlis.nl/
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer, Groningen
> >>>> http://www.vandervlis.nl/
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Freeipmi-users mailing list
> >>>> address@hidden
> >>>> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freeipmi-users
> >>>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer, Groningen
> http://www.vandervlis.nl/
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Freeipmi-users mailing list
> address@hidden
> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freeipmi-users
-- 
Albert Chu
address@hidden
Computer Scientist
High Performance Systems Division
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory