Listed below are general IPMI options, tool specific options, trouble shooting information, workaround information, examples, and known issues. For a general introduction to FreeIPMI please see freeipmi(7).
0 - Authentication Algorithm = None; Integrity Algorithm = None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
1 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
2 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1-96; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
3 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-SHA1-96; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
6 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
7 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
8 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC-MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
11 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
12 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-MD5; Integrity Algorithm = MD5-128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
15 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = None; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
16 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC_SHA256_128; Confidentiality Algorithm = None
17 - Authentication Algorithm = HMAC-SHA256; Integrity Algorithm = HMAC_SHA256_128; Confidentiality Algorithm = AES-CBC-128
This range syntax is meant only as a convenience on clusters with a prefixNN naming convention and specification of ranges should not be considered necessary -- the list foo1,foo9 could be specified as such, or by the range foo[1,9].
Some examples of range usage follow:
foo[01-05] instead of foo01,foo02,foo03,foo04,foo05
foo[7,9-10] instead of foo7,foo9,foo10
foo[0-3] instead of foo0,foo1,foo2,foo3
As a reminder to the reader, some shells will interpret brackets ([ and ]) for pattern matching. Depending on your shell, it may be necessary to enclose ranged lists within quotes.
When multiple hosts are specified by the user, a thread will be executed for each host in parallel up to the configured fanout (which can be adjusted via the -F option). This will allow communication to large numbers of nodes far more quickly than if done in serial.
By default, standard output from each node specified will be output with the hostname prepended to each line. Although this output is readable in many situations, it may be difficult to read in other situations. For example, output from multiple nodes may be mixed together. The -B and -C options can be used to change this default.
In-band IPMI Communication will be used when the host "localhost" is specified. This allows the user to add the localhost into the hostranged output.
IPMI over LAN problems involve a misconfiguration of the remote machine's BMC. Double check to make sure the following are configured properly in the remote machine's BMC: IP address, MAC address, subnet mask, username, user enablement, user privilege, password, LAN privilege, LAN enablement, and allowed authentication type(s). For IPMI 2.0 connections, double check to make sure the cipher suite privilege(s) and K_g key are configured properly. The ipmi-config(8) tool can be used to check and/or change these configuration settings.
Inband IPMI problems are typically caused by improperly configured drivers or non-standard BMCs.
In addition to the troubleshooting tips below, please see WORKAROUNDS below to also if there are any vendor specific bugs that have been discovered and worked around.
Listed below are many of the common issues for error messages. For additional support, please e-mail the <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> mailing list.
"username invalid" - The username entered (or a NULL username if none was entered) is not available on the remote machine. It may also be possible the remote BMC's username configuration is incorrect.
"password invalid" - The password entered (or a NULL password if none was entered) is not correct. It may also be possible the password for the user is not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
"password verification timeout" - Password verification has timed out. A "password invalid" error (described above) or a generic "session timeout" (described below) occurred. During this point in the protocol it cannot be differentiated which occurred.
"k_g invalid" - The K_g key entered (or a NULL K_g key if none was entered) is not correct. It may also be possible the K_g key is not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
"privilege level insufficient" - An IPMI command requires a higher user privilege than the one authenticated with. Please try to authenticate with a higher privilege. This may require authenticating to a different user which has a higher maximum privilege.
"privilege level cannot be obtained for this user" - The privilege level you are attempting to authenticate with is higher than the maximum allowed for this user. Please try again with a lower privilege. It may also be possible the maximum privilege level allowed for a user is not configured properly on the remote BMC.
"authentication type unavailable for attempted privilege level" - The authentication type you wish to authenticate with is not available for this privilege level. Please try again with an alternate authentication type or alternate privilege level. It may also be possible the available authentication types you can authenticate with are not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
"cipher suite id unavailable" - The cipher suite id you wish to authenticate with is not available on the remote BMC. Please try again with an alternate cipher suite id. It may also be possible the available cipher suite ids are not correctly configured on the remote BMC.
"ipmi 2.0 unavailable" - IPMI 2.0 was not discovered on the remote machine. Please try to use IPMI 1.5 instead.
"connection timeout" - Initial IPMI communication failed. A number of potential errors are possible, including an invalid hostname specified, an IPMI IP address cannot be resolved, IPMI is not enabled on the remote server, the network connection is bad, etc. Please verify configuration and connectivity.
"session timeout" - The IPMI session has timed out. Please reconnect. If this error occurs often, you may wish to increase the retransmission timeout. Some remote BMCs are considerably slower than others.
"device not found" - The specified device could not be found. Please check configuration or inputs and try again.
"driver timeout" - Communication with the driver or device has timed out. Please try again.
"message timeout" - Communication with the driver or device has timed out. Please try again.
"BMC busy" - The BMC is currently busy. It may be processing information or have too many simultaneous sessions to manage. Please wait and try again.
"could not find inband device" - An inband device could not be found. Please check configuration or specify specific device or driver on the command line.
"driver timeout" - The inband driver has timed out communicating to the local BMC or service processor. The BMC or service processor may be busy or (worst case) possibly non-functioning.
The hardware listed below may only indicate the hardware that a problem was discovered on. Newer versions of hardware may fix the problems indicated below. Similar machines from vendors may or may not exhibit the same problems. Different vendors may license their firmware from the same IPMI firmware developer, so it may be worthwhile to try workarounds listed below even if your motherboard is not listed.
If you believe your hardware has an additional compliance issue that needs a workaround to be implemented, please contact the FreeIPMI maintainers on <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>.
assumeio - This workaround flag will assume inband interfaces communicate with system I/O rather than being memory-mapped. This will work around systems that report invalid base addresses. Those hitting this issue may see "device not supported" or "could not find inband device" errors. Issue observed on HP ProLiant DL145 G1.
spinpoll - This workaround flag will inform some inband drivers (most notably the KCS driver) to spin while polling rather than putting the process to sleep. This may significantly improve the wall clock running time of tools because an operating system scheduler's granularity may be much larger than the time it takes to perform a single IPMI message transaction. However, by spinning, your system may be performing less useful work by not contexting out the tool for a more useful task.
authcap - This workaround flag will skip early checks for username capabilities, authentication capabilities, and K_g support and allow IPMI authentication to succeed. It works around multiple issues in which the remote system does not properly report username capabilities, authentication capabilities, or K_g status. Those hitting this issue may see "username invalid", "authentication type unavailable for attempted privilege level", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Asus P5M2/P5MT-R/RS162-E4/RX4, Intel SR1520ML/X38ML, and Sun Fire 2200/4150/4450 with ELOM.
nochecksumcheck - This workaround flag will tell FreeIPMI to not check the checksums returned from IPMI command responses. It works around systems that return invalid checksums due to implementation errors, but the packet is otherwise valid. Users are cautioned on the use of this option, as it removes validation of packet integrity in a number of circumstances. However, it is unlikely to be an issue in most situations. Those hitting this issue may see "connection timeout", "session timeout", or "password verification timeout" errors. On IPMI 1.5 connections, the "noauthcodecheck" workaround may also needed too. Issue observed on Supermicro X9SCM-iiF, Supermicro X9DRi-F, and Supermicro X9DRFR.
idzero - This workaround flag will allow empty session IDs to be accepted by the client. It works around IPMI sessions that report empty session IDs to the client. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on Tyan S2882 with M3289 BMC.
unexpectedauth - This workaround flag will allow unexpected non-null authcodes to be checked as though they were expected. It works around an issue when packets contain non-null authentication data when they should be null due to disabled per-message authentication. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on Dell PowerEdge 2850,SC1425. Confirmed fixed on newer firmware.
forcepermsg - This workaround flag will force per-message authentication to be used no matter what is advertised by the remote system. It works around an issue when per-message authentication is advertised as disabled on the remote system, but it is actually required for the protocol. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on IBM eServer 325.
endianseq - This workaround flag will flip the endian of the session sequence numbers to allow the session to continue properly. It works around IPMI 1.5 session sequence numbers that are the wrong endian. Those hitting this issue may see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on some Sun ILOM 1.0/2.0 (depends on service processor endian).
noauthcodecheck - This workaround flag will tell FreeIPMI to not check the authentication codes returned from IPMI 1.5 command responses. It works around systems that return invalid authentication codes due to hashing or implementation errors. Users are cautioned on the use of this option, as it removes an authentication check verifying the validity of a packet. However, in most organizations, this is unlikely to be a security issue. Those hitting this issue may see "connection timeout", "session timeout", or "password verification timeout" errors. Issue observed on Xyratex FB-H8-SRAY, Intel Windmill, Quanta Winterfell, and Wiwynn Windmill.
intel20 - This workaround flag will work around several Intel IPMI 2.0 authentication issues. The issues covered include padding of usernames, and password truncation if the authentication algorithm is HMAC-MD5-128. Those hitting this issue may see "username invalid", "password invalid", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Intel SE7520AF2 with Intel Server Management Module (Professional Edition).
supermicro20 - This workaround flag will work around several Supermicro IPMI 2.0 authentication issues on motherboards w/ Peppercon IPMI firmware. The issues covered include handling invalid length authentication codes. Those hitting this issue may see "password invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro H8QME with SIMSO daughter card. Confirmed fixed on newerver firmware.
sun20 - This workaround flag will work work around several Sun IPMI 2.0 authentication issues. The issues covered include invalid lengthed hash keys, improperly hashed keys, and invalid cipher suite records. Those hitting this issue may see "password invalid" or "bmc error" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM. This workaround automatically includes the "opensesspriv" workaround.
opensesspriv - This workaround flag will slightly alter FreeIPMI's IPMI 2.0 connection protocol to workaround an invalid hashing algorithm used by the remote system. The privilege level sent during the Open Session stage of an IPMI 2.0 connection is used for hashing keys instead of the privilege level sent during the RAKP1 connection stage. Those hitting this issue may see "password invalid", "k_g invalid", or "bad rmcpplus status code" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM, Inventec 5441/Dell Xanadu II, Supermicro X8DTH, Supermicro X8DTG, Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, Intel S2600JF/Appro 512X, Quanta QSSC-S4R/Appro GB812X-CN, and Dell C5220. This workaround is automatically triggered with the "sun20" workaround.
integritycheckvalue - This workaround flag will work around an invalid integrity check value during an IPMI 2.0 session establishment when using Cipher Suite ID 0. The integrity check value should be 0 length, however the remote motherboard responds with a non-empty field. Those hitting this issue may see "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro X8DTG, Supermicro X8DTU, and Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, and Intel S2600JF/Appro 512X.
guidformat - A number of vendors send the bytes of the GUID (such as the GUID in --get-device-guid or --get-system-guid) in an alternate format that aligns incorrectly with IPMI, but correctly with other standards. This workaround flag will instruct bmc-info to read the GUID and output the GUID based on this common alternate format.
No IPMI 1.5 Support - Some motherboards that support IPMI 2.0 have been found to not support IPMI 1.5. Those hitting this issue may see "ipmi 2.0 unavailable" or "connection timeout" errors. This issue can be worked around by using IPMI 2.0 instead of IPMI 1.5 by specifying --driver-type=LAN_2_0. Issue observed on a number of HP and Supermicro motherboards.
Dell Poweredge R610, Dell Poweredge R710, Intel SR870BN4/Tiger4
Get BMC information of the local machine.
# bmc-info -h ahost -u myusername -p mypassword
Get BMC information of a remote machine using IPMI over LAN.
# bmc-info -h mycluster[0-127] -u myusername -p mypassword
Get BMC information across a cluster using IPMI over LAN.
If multiple hosts are specified for communication, the exit status is 0 if and only if all targets successfully execute. Otherwise the exit status is 1.
In order to prevent brute force attacks, some BMCs will temporarily "lock up" after a number of remote authentication errors. You may need to wait awhile in order to this temporary "lock up" to pass before you may authenticate again.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/