SuperMicro IPMI/SOL and ipmitool troubles
John Baldwin
jhb at freebsd.org
Thu Nov 20 17:57:16 UTC 2014
On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 5:15:05 pm Andreas Nilsson wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 8:05 PM, John Baldwin <jhb at freebsd.org> wrote:
>
> > On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 05:02:49 PM Andreas Nilsson wrote:
> > > On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 3:28 PM, Andreas Nilsson <andrnils at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 7:30 PM, Dmitry Morozovsky <marck at rinet.ru>
> > wrote:
> > > >> Daniel,
> > > >>
> > > >> nice to see you here too ;)
> > > >>
> > > >> On Fri, 14 Nov 2014, Daniel O'Connor wrote:
> > > >> > On 12 Nov 2014, at 19:43, Andreas Nilsson <andrnils at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >> > > unclear is the word for it :) And thanks for looking into this.
> > > >>
> > > >> ipmi/ilo is
> > > >>
> > > >> > > important on a server os.
> > > >>
> > > >> > > I found a reference to it in a ML post:
> > > >>
> > http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2013-February/072464.ht
> > > >> ml
> > > >>
> > > >> > I started that thread :)
> > > >> > I did get it working on the hardware I was using (Supermicro X9SCL-
F
> > > >>
> > > >> and X8SIL-F)
> > > >>
> > > >> > I used the following BIOS settings
> > > >> >
> > > >> > ? Remote Access - Enabled
> > > >> > ? Serial Port Number - COM3
> > > >> > ? Serial Port Mode - 115200, 8, n, 1
> > > >> > ? Flow Control - Hardware
> > > >> > ? Redirection After BIOS POST - Always
> > > >> > ? Terminal Type - VT100
> > > >> > ? VT-UTF8 Combo Key Support - Disabled
> > > >> > ? Sredir Memory Display Delay - No Delay
> > > >> >
> > > >> > And the following in loader.conf
> > > >> > # Give preference to VGA console
> > > >> > console="vidconsole,comconsole"
> > > >> > # Uncomment below and comment above to give serial console
> > preference
> > > >> > #console="comconsole,vidconsole"
> > > >> > comconsole_speed="115200"
> > > >> > boot_multicons="YES"
> > > >> > hint.uart.0.flags="0x0"
> > > >> > hint.uart.2.at="isa"
> > > >> > hint.uart.2.port="0x3E8"
> > > >> > hint.uart.2.flags="0x30"
> > > >> >
> > > >> > And this in /etc/ttys
> > > >> > # IPMI console
> > > >> > # Note: The Java console viewer doesn't seem to be very smart as it
> > > >>
> > > >> doesn't
> > > >>
> > > >> > # properly support VT100
> > > >> > cuau2 "/usr/libexec/getty 3wire.115200" vt100 on secure
> > > >> >
> > > >> > I could then access it using ipmitool like so
> > > >> > ipmitool -H remoteip -U ADMIN -I lanplus sol activate
> > > >> > [login]
> > > >> > export TERM=xterm
> > > >> >
> > > >> > Note that I wanted vidconsole by default because mostly the systems
> > > >>
> > > >> were used by people local to them, however we could break into the
> > loader
> > > >> and type 'set console=comconsole,vidconsole? and then get everything
> > over
> > > >> the serial console for remote trouble shooting.
> > > >>
> > > >> > You may also wish to check the IPMI configuration via the web
> > interface
> > > >>
> > > >> - by default it will failover to port 0 and it has terrible default
> > > >> passwords. I changed the passwords and forced it to use the dedicated
> > > >> IPMI
> > > >> port even if nothing was connected to it.
> > > >>
> > > >> Well, I'm almost done with most of our SM server, even concentrated
> > > >> console on
> > > >> our console server with such a simple config:
> > > >>
> > > >> ---- 8< ----
> > > >> # ipmi/sol console template
> > > >> default ipmi {
> > > >>
> > > >> master localhost;
> > > >> type exec;
> > > >> exec /usr/local/bin/ipmitool -f /usr/local/etc/ipmi-pass -
U
> > > >>
> > > >> root -I lanplus -H %.int sol activate;
> > > >>
> > > >> execsubst %=cs;
> > > >> #idletimeout 6h;
> > > >>
> > > >> break 0 { string "~B"; }
> > > >>
> > > >> }
> > > >>
> > > >> console gwn1 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn2 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn3 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn4 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn5 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn6 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn7 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> console gwn8 { include ipmi; }
> > > >>
> > > >> console gwc2 { include ipmi; }
> > > >> ---- 8< ----
> > > >>
> > > >> This has console logging (including possible panics) as a surplus
> > > >>
> > > >> --
> > > >> Sincerely,
> > > >> D.Marck [DM5020, MCK-RIPE,
> > DM3-RIPN]
> > > >> [ FreeBSD committer:
marck at FreeBSD.org
> > ]
> > > >>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >> *** Dmitry Morozovsky --- D.Marck --- Wild Woozle --- marck at rinet.ru
> > ***
> > > >>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Hello again,
> > > >
> > > > Searching on hw.uart.console, I found:
> > > >
> > http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/svn-src-head/2013-February/044641.html
> > > > , a very enlightening thread.
> > > >
> > > > Basically: "ohh, you want to use something other than COM1 and tried
to
> > > > get away with just changing hint.uart stuff, which has worked for a
> > while,
> > > > ha, no way..." No heads up, nothing.
> > > >
> > > > Sorry to say jhb@ but is not a rare case. It is if not the default, a
> > > > very common setup on every HP server with iLO, and it holds for most
> > all
> > > > OOB style serial emulation I have ever had the (dis)pleasure of
working
> > > > with.
> >
> > This was done _specifically_ so you could use non-COM1 for both loader and
> > kernel with one thing to change. That is, you don't use hint.uart.X.flags
> > after this. I have used this with many SuperMicro servers that use COM2
> > and
> > COM3 because I wanted the entire path (boot loader and kernel) to work,
not
> > the kernel only. Having only the kernel means I can't break into the
> > loader
> > prompt to boot a different kernel, single user, etc.
> >
> > To clarify, are you using _different_ serial ports for the loader vs the
> > kernel? That is the use case I considered to be rare. Every single
server
> > I have ever worked with (though not iLO, mostly Dell and SuperMicro) uses
> > the
> > same COM port for serial redirection rather for SOL or via actual cables.
> > I've yet to use a system that, for example, used COM1 for the loader and
> > COM2
> > for the kernel. You are saying that every HP server uses COM1 for the
> > loader
> > and COM2 for the kernel?
> >
> > --
> > John Baldwin
> >
>
> Hello,
>
> For Supermicro:
> The box was in a rack when I started this, so I don't really know how the
> bios is setup, but as far as I can gather, getting
> "BTX loader yadda yadda" seems to always happen, on any COM-port.
> The actual output from loading modules and so on only happens with specific
> settings. Here ( as in an answer to Dmitry I accidentally sent in private )
> things seems to be on different COMs: Setting: comconsole_port=0x2F8 (com2)
> show loader and goes dark on handoff to kernel
> comconsole_port=0x3E8 (com3) show no loader and stays dark
>
> Neither of them gives me console even after successful boot. The only way
> to get serial is setting hw.uart.console="br:9600" explicitly.
On the SuperMicro systems I have played with (X8DTU and the X9DRW equivalent),
comconsole_port=0x2f8 worked for both BIOS, loader, and kernel, but for BIOS
to work I did have to enable Console Redirection in the BIOS. For 2U machines
(X8DAH at least, I think also for X9 equivalent), SOL was on COM3 instead of
COM2, but using comconsole_port alone worked for BIOS, loader, and kernel.
I also set the speed to 115200 (conspeed) which IIRC might have been the
default setting in the BIOS when Console Redirection was enabled via SOL.
You can check that remotely for SOL via ipmitool by seeing what baud rate
it is set to. I think if IPMI expects 115200 and you use 9600, that might
explain black output.
--
John Baldwin
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