Re: [Freeipmi-users] Lost

[Albert Chu]

On Mon, 2014-09-29 at 10:23 -0700, address@hidden wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 08:13, Albert Chu wrote:
> > I think there is a subtlety that you are missing.  That fact that some
> > IPMI
> > configuration options are available in the BIOS for you may be confusing
> > you.
> > 
> > There are config values in the motherboard firmware that must be
> > configured
> > in order for IPMI over LAN to function.  For example, IP, MAC, usernames,
> > passwords, etc.  For most motherboards, this is done in the operating
> > system via a tool (such as ipmi-config).  Some motherboards may support
> > this configuration in the BIOS, but it's not that common.  Most still
> > elect
> > to use the operating system tools b/c it's easier to config on the
> > command
> > line.
> > 
> > When you use ipmi-config, you are creating a file that you can edit. 
> > Once
> > editted, ipmi-config can read the configuration and configure the
> > firmware
> > appropriately based on what's in that file.  So if you configure a new IP
> > in the config file, ipmi-config will tell the firmware to use that new
> > IP.
> 
> So you're saying that the act of committing doesn't put the contents of
> the file somewhere, it's actually writing the vlues to the BMC.

Yes.

> My mobo definitely is set up in BIOS.  It worked just fine with
> SuperMicro's IPMIView utility until they stopped maintaining it.  and
> ipmi-config --checkout gets the IP from the BMC as I do not set it.  So
> apparently I don't need ipmi-config --commit at all?

If it happens to be already setup via the BIOS, then you may not need to
configure anything w/ ipmi-config.

> What would be the next steps to using FreeIPMI?

There is nothing that different from using IPMIView, except it's all on
the command line now.  You need to input host, username, password, etc.
on the command line for the FreeIPMI tool you want to use.  For sensors

ipmi-sensors -h HOST -u username -p password

would get you sensors output.  Similar options with ipmi-sel, ipmi-fru,
ipmipower, ipmiconsole, etc.  Since FreeIPMI tries to work with every
motherboard from out there, and some vendors implement IPMI incorrectly,
sometimes workarounds need to be specified on the command line to work
w/ specific motherboards.  Those workarounds can be found in the
manpages.

Al


-- 
Albert Chu
address@hidden
Computer Scientist
High Performance Systems Division
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory