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Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)

Can I use an Open Source IPMI Application to communicate with my iNET Server 'out of the box' without the need to install any graphical client Applications?

Yes, absolutely.

If you have a workstation with an Operating System such as FreeBSD or a distribution of Linux, you can install ipmitool which is an Open Source Application without having to purchase extra modules. Keep in mind the standard BMC has a small amount of space to hold the logs which an IPMI application will read.

The following is the results using ipmitool on an iNET904 Server

ipmitool -H 192.168.0.45 -P XXXX sel list
1 | 05/10/2005 | 09:28:05 | Power Unit #0x03 | Power off/down
2 | 05/10/2005 | 17:07:16 | System Boot Initiated #0x06 | Initiated by power up
3 | 05/10/2005 | 17:07:17 | Physical Security #0x09 | General Chassis intrusion
4 | 05/10/2005 | 17:08:13 | System Event #0x83 | OEM System boot event
5 | 05/10/2005 | 17:08:14 | System Event #0x83 | Timestamp Clock Sync.
6 | 05/10/2005 | 17:07:39 | System Event #0x83 | Timestamp Clock Sync.
7 | 05/10/2005 | 18:44:40 | Platform Security #0x02 | Out-of-band access password violation
8 | 05/10/2005 | 18:44:42 | Platform Security #0x02 | Out-of-band access password violation
9 | 05/10/2005 | 18:44:44 | Platform Security #0x02 | Out-of-band access password violation
a | 05/10/2005 | 18:44:46 | Platform Security #0x02 | Out-of-band access password violation

The password violation is due to using the wrong password when connecting.


Why do I need IPMI to work?

If you suspect a hardware problem, it is mandatory to be able for our technincal staff to see exactly what the log is reporting in order to facilitate either On-Site Support or any component warranty exchange.

NextGeneration iNET Servers with options for Professional or Advanced Modules

The NextGeneration of iNET Servers allow for options of no extra IPMI module, a Professional or Advanced Module to be installed in your Server. The table below shows the differences between not having a module installed, Professional or Advanced module installed. Note that with either Professional or Advanced Modules installed, you will have a Local Control Panel installed into the front panel.

Upgrade Options

Onboard Platform Instrumentation Only

Professional Edition

Advanced Edition

Web Management Console

yes

yes

yes

Access Modes

LAN

LAN, Serial, Modem

LAN, Serial, Modem

Console redirection

Text-based (vt100)

SOL (VT-UTF8)

SOL (VT-UTF8)

BMC Features

ICMB

no

yes

yes

Sensor Support

Limited to 32

Limited to 256

Limited to 256

System Event Log

92 entries

3k entries

3k entries

IPMI Support

1.5

2.0

2.0

Embedded Web-server

no

no

yes

SNMP support
(Out-of-Band to BMC)

PET traps

PET traps

full SNMP access

Out-of-Band Management NIC

NIC TCO Port

NIC TCO Port

NIC TCO Port + Dedicated NIC

Out-of-Band embedded Email Alerting

no

no

yes

Software Features

SNMP Baseboard Agent

yes

yes

yes

Agent-less Management

yes

yes

yes

In-band Email Alerting

yes

yes

yes

Command Line Interface

Yes (Reduced Feature Set)

yes

yes

SCSI/RAID Instrumentation

yes

yes

yes

PCI Hot-plug

no

yes

yes

Power Management Instrumentation

no

yes

yes

Memory RAS (Mirroring/Sparing) Instrumentation

no

yes

yes

KVM Remote Viewer

no

no

yes

Intel Server Manager 8.1 connecting to iNET1640
 

The above list shows two Servers in our facilities. One Server is showing a criticle error.

 
   
 

Fan 3 reports malufuntion and must be replaced.

  
   
 

Above shows the abiltiy to configure your IPMI settings.

  
   
 

Shutdown the Server in order to replace the fan (iNET1640 does not have hot-plug fans)

  

For a more technical discussion regarding FreeBSD and IPMI click here
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