IPMI support in 9.3.1

[tyronebiggums]

Hello all,

I finally got my box up and running last night without any hard drives to play around and to test everything else. I saw in the manual for 9.3 that there is a tab in the GUI to set up IPMI but it's not in the manual for 9.3.1 nor is that tab anyone in the GUI, that I could locate.

Does anyone know how to set up IPMI in 9.3.1 and more specifically on a Dell T20?

Thanks!

 

[dlavigne]

It's still in the manual: http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_network.html#ipmi. However, it only shows up in the GUI if the system detects that a hardware BMC is present.

 

[tyronebiggums]

Hmmm, the spec sheet for the PowerEdge T20 says that it does have IPMI (http://partnerdirect.dell.com/sites/channel/Documents/Dell-PowerEdge-T20-Server-Technical-Guide.pdf) so I wasn't sure if there was something in the BIOS that I overlooked that I needed to enable or if it is another issue.

 

[rogerh]

My N54L has working IPMI (on an HP add on card via a custom interface) and FreeNAS does not recognise that either. AFAICS we don't lose much by not having the FreeNAS GUI IPMI functionality, it is just that the driver FreeNAS uses does not recognise our IPMI hardware for some reason.

 

[cyberjock]

The IPMI on your Dell may be some proprietary stuff that isn't supported by the ipmi.ko in FreeNAS.

 

[tyronebiggums]

Hmmm, you may be right. I know there are some other T20's so I was hoping to hear from a fellow owner to see if anyone has had any luck with it or if I'm SOL.

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

As far as I can tell this is a limitation of the G3220. To get IPMI on the T20 you need the E3-1225 v3.

 

[cyberjock]

As far as I can tell this is a limitation of the G3220. To get IPMI on the T20 you need the E3-1225 v3.

The CPU should be inconsequential to whether IPMI works (or doesn't work). In fact, IPMI will work without a CPU even being installed.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

OK, then it must be a feature Dell uses to differentiate the Xeon version of the T20.

 

[rogerh]

OK, then it must be a feature Dell uses to differentiate the Xeon version of the T20.

I don't think we have established whether IPMI works or not, only that it doesn't show up in the GUI. My IPMI works fine even though FreeNAS does not detect it (see post #4 above). If the OP hasn't tried to use IPMI I would suggest seeing if there is a way to enable it, and perhaps set an IP address, in the BIOS. Then try to connect to it from another computer. I don't know if it has its own NIC or shares one, that is another thing he needs to find out.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I don't think we have established whether IPMI works or not

According to Dell, it's only supported with the Xeon.

Intel AMT 9.0 (Only on Intel Xeon CPU)

 

[rogerh]

According to Dell, it's only supported with the Xeon.

Oh, sorry I didn't realise it was a fact rather then speculation. But is it a function of the CPU (in which case a change would work) or is it product differentiation in the sense that Dell only enable it on units they ship with the Xeon?

 

[jgreco]

IPMI manipulation from FreeNAS isn't really all that important; I'm not even sure I really care for the idea that what is essentially a "guest" operating system could be used to manipulate the host BMC (possibly allowing unauthorized parties access to reconfigure the BMC).

To answer the OP's question, as long as the IPMI is connected to the network and isn't (for example) disabled, it is probably alive and well, so use whatever Dell's IPMI tool is to go locate it and log in to manage your server. It should work just fine whether or not FreeBSD recognizes it. Remember: *IT* is managing the server, not the other way around.

 

[Ericloewe]

Oh, sorry I didn't realise it was a fact rather then speculation. But is it a function of the CPU (in which case a change would work) or is it product differentiation in the sense that Dell only enable it on units they ship with the Xeon?

Totally independent from the CPU. It would be product differentiation by Dell.

 

[rogerh]

So, unfortunately, the answer to the question is that this T20 doesn't have IPMI?

 

[Ericloewe]

So, unfortunately, the answer to the question is that this T20 doesn't have IPMI?

Not necessarily, the BMC might simply not be recognized by FreeNAS.

 

[jgreco]

Not so much "product differentiation" as "common sense." You wouldn't normally see a quad-monitor GPU card in a server, right? Wouldn't make sense. You wouldn't normally see IPMI in a desktop PC, because there's no reason for it. IPMI is a feature that costs money to add, so you'd normally find it on a server intended for a machine room or data center, and maybe not on the "entry level tier."

Dell used to sell their IPMI as a separate add-on, DRAC. Now it seems that the entry level is using Intel AMT for some of their stuff like the T20, which is essentially a subset of IPMI. My best guess is that this allows them to say they offer a management option on all their servers. I think AMT is still limited to text-mode management, though.

 

[jgreco]

So, unfortunately, the answer to the question is that this T20 doesn't have IPMI?

That's correct, the management option for the T20 is Intel AMT, not IPMI.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-t20/pd

 

[rogerh]

That's correct, the management option for the T20 is Intel AMT, not IPMI.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-t20/pd

But apparently AMT is only provided on Xeon T20s, and the OP has a Pentium T20. So no AMT. QED

 

[jgreco]

Right. That was established half a dozen messages ago. So an upgrade to a Xeon would probably fix this, but that's probably not a prudent option just to gain remote management.