Re: [Freeipmi-devel] which API - UDM or default

[Al Chu]

Hi Andrew,

> I'm considering FreeIPMI library and API for an upcoming project. It 
> appears to provide two API forms; UDM and a default. What suggestions 
> can you offer for choosing one of these models for my application?
> 
> The SSIF is of specific interest because we need to interface a CPU to a 
> local BMC via I2C. The CPU needs to send commands and be able to monitor 
> for sensor events. Will either of the library models support these services?

Both should.   Given your specific need to work with SSIF, I would go
with the default API.  UDM's primary purpose is to hide underlying
drivers (KCS, SSIF, LAN, etc.) in tools that may need to use all of the
drivers (ipmi-sensors, ipmi-sel, etc.).  Tools in FreeIPMI that use only
specific drivers (IPMI 2.0 LAN in ipmiconsole, IPMI 1.5 LAN in ipmiping,
etc.) do not use UDM.

> I'm currently digging through the source code and tools to get a better 
> understanding of all the available API's  Other than the header files, 
> does some sort of "API summary" and description exist anywhere?

At this moment I'm afraid not, the documentation for libfreeipmi is
quite poor.  Personally, I consider libfreeipmi to be more of a
"convenience" API for those who are somewhat knowledgeable of IPMI. 
There really isn't too much abstraction of IPMI in libfreeipmi for
general users.  This is in comparison to libipmiconsole that abstracts
SOL into a file descriptor interface.

I should note, that in the CVS head, there is a library I wrote called
'libipmimonitoring' which abstracts sensors to a very high level.  Not
sure if that is something you would find useful.  I currently does not
support SSIF, but it could.

On that note, there should perhaps be a mini-doc that goes into the doc/
directory that describes the libraries in FreeIPMI at a high level.
I'll add that into the TODO.

Thanks,
Al

On Wed, 2007-05-30 at 10:53 -0400, Andrew Wozniak wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm considering FreeIPMI library and API for an upcoming project. It 
> appears to provide two API forms; UDM and a default. What suggestions 
> can you offer for choosing one of these models for my application?
> 
> The SSIF is of specific interest because we need to interface a CPU to a 
> local BMC via I2C. The CPU needs to send commands and be able to monitor 
> for sensor events. Will either of the library models support these services?
> 
> I'm currently digging through the source code and tools to get a better 
> understanding of all the available API's  Other than the header files, 
> does some sort of "API summary" and description exist anywhere?
> 
> Thanks for all suggestions, Andrew
> 
> 
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> Freeipmi-devel mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freeipmi-devel
-- 
Albert Chu
address@hidden
925-422-5311
Computer Scientist
High Performance Systems Division
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory