Ipmitool

Christian Külker

0.1.4

2023-05-22

The ipmitool command line tool is used to interact with a Board Management Controller (BMC) through the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). IPMI is an open standard for monitoring, logging, and controlling hardware that is implemented independently of the main CPU, BIOS, and OS via sideband access. On some platforms, IPMI can also be used to manage hardware inventory information.

  • SDR - Sensor Data Repository
  • SEL - System Event Log
  • FRU - Field Replaceable Unit

Install

aptitude install ipmitool

When using, make sure some kernel modules are loaded.

ipmi_devintf
ipmi_msghandler
ipmi_poweroff
ipmi_si
ipmi_watchdog

Set DHCP

ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc dhcp

Reset the BMC

ipmitool mc reset cold

Or

ipmitool mc reset warm

BMC Sensor List

If the BMC supports it (this depends on the OEM), sensors can be listed. Some sensors may be on the BMC SOC, but most likely these sensors are made available to the BMC in various ways. Usually the OEM defines if the value is in or out of specification. Some values are dependent on the CPU OEM.

ipmitool -I open sdr list
ACPI State       | 0x01              | ok
LPC Reset        | 0x01              | ok
Chassis          | 0x01              | ok
BMC RST          | 0x00              | ok
CPU0PECI         | 42 degrees C      | ok
CPU1PECI         | 38 degrees C      | ok
+1.1V            | 1.11 Volts        | ok
+1.4V            | 1.41 Volts        | ok
+0.9V            | 0.91 Volts        | ok
+3.0V            | 2.98 Volts        | ok
+1.5V            | 1.51 Volts        | ok
+2.5V            | 2.42 Volts        | ok
CPU0VCCP         | 0.97 Volts        | ok
CPU1VCCP         | 0.96 Volts        | ok
DDRCPU0          | 0.75 Volts        | ok
DDRCPU1          | 0.74 Volts        | ok
+1.8VICH         | 1.79 Volts        | ok
+1.5VICH         | 1.55 Volts        | ok

Set The NAC Address

Setting the MAC address if the BMC can be done via the OS.

ipmitool lan set <channel> macaddr <macaddr>

Sometimes the MAC address can only be set by vendor specific raw commands. Sometimes the BMC has 2 LAN interfaces. The number depends on the hardware and the BMC firmware. The channel number usually needs to be specified.

ipmitool raw 0x0c 0x01 0x01 0xc2 0x00
ipmitool lan set 1 macaddr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
ipmitool lan print 1

ipmitool raw 0x0c 0x01 0x08 0xc2 0x01
ipmitool lan set 8 macaddr a0:42:3f:2c:61:a2
ipmitool lan print 8

Activate SOL

To enable Serial Console Over LAN (SOL). If the OEM has configured the BMC in a secure way, a user and password are required. Since this is usually not changed, this can be a security problem.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H $REMOTEHOST -U $USER -P $PASSWORD sol activate
ipmitool -I lanplus -H $REMOTEHOST -U $USER -P $PASSWORD -v sol info

Debug SOL

To debug the setup of Serial Over Lan (SOL), add the -v option to enable verbose output. verbose output and in some cases set the privilege level explicitly with the -L option.

ipmitool -v -L USER -I lanplus -H 172.20.50.102 -U admin -P admin sol activate

If this does not help use namp. See ipmitool Fails with Authentication Issues

Raw Commands

Sometimes the OEM implements undocumented features in the BMC firmware that can be accessed via the raw option. Since these commands are not standard, it depends on the BMC what the result will be. This is just an example.

ipmitool raw 0x36 0xc

Testing

Some OEMs implement meaningful self tests. However, dummy self tests that always pass have been seen in the wild.

ipmitool mc selftest
Selftest: passed

History

Version Date Notes
0.1.4 2023-05-22 Improve writing, move history
0.1.3 2022-06-30 Formatting, changes->history, shell->bash
0.1.2 2020-05-03 Debug SOL
0.1.1 2020-05-02 Set MAC address raw
0.1.0 2016-02-12 Initial release
  • Ipmitool