BMC-DEVICE(8)

📦
version 1.6.20 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling, centos-stream 10, centos-stream 9

💅 bmc-device — the advanced-BMC-commands page (bmc-device(8), System Commands)

okay so bestie. you found bmc-device, section 8 of the System Commands manual. she's a FreeIPMI girlie, and she does advanced BMC stuff. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

bmc-device — perform advanced BMC commands 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bmc-device [OPTION...]

that's it. that's the whole synopsis. iconic.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so bmc-device supports a whole variety of IPMI commands that do advanced BMC functions. she's a specialist, not a generalist 💅

fr fr, this tool is primarily used for:

  • development debugging 🐛
  • BMC error recovery 🚑
  • pulling detailed technical information 🔍
  • and other advanced purposes ✨
heads up bestie: most IPMI users will not need this tool. like, at all. she's niche. also: some of the bmc-device commands are not supported on all motherboards 😭 so if something vibes wrong, it might just be the board, not you.

listed below you'll find general IPMI options, tool specific options, troubleshooting info, workaround info, examples, and known issues. and if you want a general intro to FreeIPMI, go see freeipmi(7) — she's the gateway drug 🦋

🌈 GENERAL OPTIONS 🌈

these are the general options for configuring IPMI communication and executing general tool commands. yes, there are a lot. no, we are not skipping any. periodt.

  • -D IPMIDRIVER, --driver-type=IPMIDRIVER — specify the driver type to use instead of doing an auto selection. the currently available outofband drivers are LAN and LAN_2_0, which perform IPMI 1.5 and IPMI 2.0 respectively. the currently available inband drivers are KCS, SSIF, OPENIPMI, SUNBMC, and INTELDCMI.
  • --disable-auto-probe — do not probe in-band IPMI devices for default settings. she minds her own business 🙈
  • --driver-address=DRIVER-ADDRESS — specify the in-band driver address to be used instead of the probed value. DRIVER-ADDRESS should be prefixed with "0x" for a hex value and '0' for an octal value. hex girlies stay winning 💅
  • --driver-device=DEVICE — specify the in-band driver device path to be used instead of the probed path.
  • --register-spacing=REGISTER-SPACING — specify the in-band driver register spacing instead of the probed value. the argument is in bytes (i.e. 32bit register spacing = 4).
  • --target-channel-number=CHANNEL-NUMBER — specify the in-band driver target channel number to send IPMI requests to.
  • --target-slave-address=SLAVE-ADDRESS — specify the in-band driver target slave number to send IPMI requests to.
  • -h IPMIHOST1,IPMIHOST2,..., , --hostname=IPMIHOST1[:PORT],IPMIHOST2[:PORT],... — specify the remote host(s) to communicate with. multiple hostnames may be separated by comma, or may be specified in a range format; see HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below. an optional port can be specified with each host, which may be useful in port forwarding or similar situations. if specifying an IPv6 address and port, use the format [ADDRESS]:PORT. yes, with the brackets. she's fancy 🎀
  • -u USERNAME, --username=USERNAME — specify the username to use when authenticating with the remote host. if not specified, a null (i.e. anonymous) username is assumed. the user must have atleast USER privileges in order for this tool to operate fully. (yes, at least. give her the permissions she deserves 👑)
  • -p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD — specify the password to use when authenticationg with the remote host. if not specified, a null password is assumed. maximum password length is 16 for IPMI 1.5 and 20 for IPMI 2.0. length matters, apparently 💀
  • -P, --password-prompt — prompt for password to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists. lowkey the safer slay 🔥
  • -k K_G, --k-g=K_G — specify the K_g BMC key to use when authenticating with the remote host for IPMI 2.0. if not specified, a null key is assumed. to input the key in hexadecimal form, prefix the string with '0x'. e.g., the key 'abc' can be entered with either the string 'abc' or the string '0x616263'. both valid, both cute ✨
  • -K, --k-g-prompt — prompt for k-g to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists. same energy, different key 💅
  • --session-timeout=MILLISECONDS — specify the session timeout in milliseconds. defaults to 20000 milliseconds (20 seconds) if not specified.
  • --retransmission-timeout=MILLISECONDS — specify the packet retransmission timeout in milliseconds. defaults to 1000 milliseconds (1 second) if not specified. the retransmission timeout cannot be larger than the session timeout — them's the rules 🚨
  • -a AUTHENTICATION-TYPE, --authentication-type=AUTHENTICATION-TYPE — specify the IPMI 1.5 authentication type to use. the currently available authentication types are NONE, STRAIGHT_PASSWORD_KEY, MD2, and MD5. defaults to MD5 if not specified.
  • -I CIPHER-SUITE-ID, --cipher-suite-id=CIPHER-SUITE-ID — specify the IPMI 2.0 cipher suite ID to use. the Cipher Suite ID identifies a set of authentication, integrity, and confidentiality algorithms to use for IPMI 2.0 communication. the authentication algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for session setup, the integrity algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for session packet signatures, and the confidentiality algorithm identifies the algorithm to use for payload encryption. defaults to cipher suite ID 3 if not specified. the following cipher suite ids are currently supported:
    • 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

yeah there are gaps in the numbers (no 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14). that's not me being flaky, that's just the list 🦋

  • -l PRIVILEGE-LEVEL, --privilege-level=PRIVILEGE-LEVEL — specify the privilege level to be used. the currently available privilege levels are USER, OPERATOR, and ADMIN. defaults to ADMIN if not specified. main character energy only 👑
  • --config-file=FILE — specify an alternate configuration file.
  • -W WORKAROUNDS, --workaround-flags=WORKAROUNDS — specify workarounds to vendor compliance issues. multiple workarounds can be specified separated by commas. a special command line flag of "none" will indicate no workarounds (may be useful for overriding configured defaults). see WORKAROUNDS below for a list of available workarounds. vendor drama, handled 🧚
  • --debug — turn on debugging. the girlies love a good log 🐛
  • -?, --help — output a help list and exit.
  • --usage — output a usage message and exit.
  • -V, --version — output the program version and exit.

(still more coming bestie, don't go anywhere 💜)

💅 BMC-DEVICE OPTIONS

Okay bestie, these are the ones that are, like, specifically for bmc-device — the main character options, if you will ✨

  • --cold-reset — does a cold reset. Simple as that 🧊
  • --warm-reset — does a warm reset. Cozy little reset 🔥
  • --get-self-test-results — spits out the BMC self test results so you can see how it's feeling 🩺
  • --get-acpi-power-state — gets the ACPI system and device power state, both at once, no cap ✨
  • --set-acpi-power-state — sets the ACPI power state. Quick heads up: you have to specify this one if you wanna use the --set-acpi-system-power-state and --set-acpi-device-power-state options listed below. It's like the entry fee 💅
  • --set-acpi-system-power-state=SYSTEM_POWER_STATE — sets the ACPI system power state. The allowed values are S0_G0, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5_G2, S4_S5, G3, SLEEPING, G1_SLEEPING, OVERRIDE, LEGACY_ON, LEGACY_OFF, UNKNOWN. Use it together with the --set-acpi-power-state option 🫶
  • --set-acpi-device-power-state=DEVICE_POWER_STATE — sets the ACPI device power state. Allowed values: D0, D1, D2, D3, UNKNOWN. Also used with the --set-acpi-power-state option 🎀
  • --get-lan-statistics — gets the IP, UDP, and RMCP statistics 📊
  • --clear-lan-statistics — clears the IP, UDP, and RMCP statistics. Fresh slate energy 🧼
  • --rearm-sensor="<record_id> [<assertion_bitmask> <deassertion_bitmask>]" — re-arms a sensor. So, like, re-arming a sensor means you're telling the internal device to reset and re-evaluate a sensor reading and its events. Most sensors re-arm themselves automatically, but a rare few genuinely need you to do it manually 🙈 This option can also be useful for resetting a sensor reading or event that's stuck because of some internal hardware or firmware error. If you specify assertion_bitmask and deassertion_bitmask, then only those specific events get re-armed. If you don't specify them, all possible events get re-armed. Also, this command requires the SDR to be loaded, fyi.
  • --get-sdr-repository-time — gets the SDR repository time ⏰
  • --set-sdr-repository-time=TIME — sets the SDR repository time. Input format is "MM/DD/YYYY - HH:MM:SS". Note that hours are input in 24 hour form, bestie. Alternatively you can just say "now" and it'll use the local system time 💖
  • --get-sel-time — gets the SEL time ⏱️
  • --set-sel-time=TIME — sets the SEL time. Input format is "MM/DD/YYYY - HH:MM:SS", and again, hours go in 24 hour form. Or you can pass "now" to use the local system time ✨
  • --get-sel-time-utc-offset — gets the SEL time UTC offset 🌍
  • --set-sel-time-utc-offset=MINUTES — sets the SEL time UTC offset. Input is in minutes of difference from UTC time, ranging from -1440 to 1440 minutes. Special case: you can pass the value "none" so that no UTC offset is specified at all 🌈
  • --platform-event="[generator_id] <event_message_format_version> <sensor_type> <sensor_number> <event_type> <event_direction> <event_data1> <event_data2> <event_data3>" — tells the BMC to process the event data you specified. Typically that data gets logged to the System Event Log (SEL), but depending on the implementation it might be processed by other subsystems like Platform Event Filtering (PEF). For event_direction you can use the keywords assertion or deassertion, or just use the numerical values instead. event_message_format_version is 0x03 for IPMI 1.0 and 0x04 for IPMI 1.5. That generator_id up there is optional — but it's required if you're generating the event via a system interface (i.e. inband). And if you are generating the event via a system interface, the system management software generator id range is 0x41 to 6Fh 👑
  • --set-sensor-reading-and-event-status="<sensor_number> <sensor_reading> <sensor_reading_operation> <assertion_bitmask> <assertion_bitmask_operation> <deassertion_bitmask> <deassertion_bitmask_operation> <event_data1> <event_data2> <event_data3> <event_data_operation>" — tells the BMC to set a sensor reading and/or event status. How each of the various fields gets written depends on the set of operation instructions you specify:
    • The sensor_reading can be written or left alone with the respective operations write and nochange.
    • For assertion_bitmask and deassertion_bitmask: the 0 bits of the bitmask can clear the bits of the status, the 1 bits of the bitmask can set the bits of the status, the entire bitmask can be written as the status, or the status can't be changed at all — with the respective operations clear0bits, set1bits, write, and nochange.
    • The event_data1 byte can be written fully, written without the event offset (bits 3:0), or not changed at all, via the write, nooffsetwrite, or nochange operations.
  • --get-mca-auxiliary-log-status — gets machine check architecture (MCA) auxiliary log status information 🔍
  • --get-ssif-interface-capabilities — gets SSIF interface capabilities 🧵
  • --get-kcs-interface-capabilities — gets KCS interface capabilities 🎯
  • --get-bt-interface-capabilities — gets BT interface capabilities 🦋
  • --get-bmc-global-enables — gets BMC Global Enables 🌟
  • --set-system-firmware-version=STRING — sets the System Firmware Version 🏷️
  • --set-system-name=STRING — sets the System Name ✏️
  • --set-primary-operating-system-name=STRING — sets the Primary Operating System Name 💻
  • --set-operating-system-name=STRING — sets the Operating System Name 🖥️
  • --set-present-os-version-number=STRING — sets the Present OS Version Number 🔢
  • --set-bmc-url=STRING — sets the BMC URL 🔗
  • --set-base-os-hypervisor-url=STRING — sets the Base OS/Hypervisor URL 🛸
  • --read-fru=FILENAME — reads the contents of a FRU device ID and stores it in the file you specified. Requires you to set a device ID via --device-id 📖
  • --write-fru=FILENAME — writes the contents of the file you specified into a FRU device id. Also requires setting a device ID via --device-id. And if --verbose is specified, progress percent will be output too 👀
  • --device-id=IDNUM — specifies a specific FRU device ID. This one's for use with --read-fru and --write-fru 🆔
  • --verbose — increases verbosity in output. More tea, more details 🗣️

🌸 SDR CACHE OPTIONS

So this tool needs access to the sensor data repository (SDR) cache for general operation — like, it's not optional, bestie. By default, SDR data gets downloaded and cached on your local machine. These options are all about that cache life 🎀

  • --flush-cache — flushes a cached version of the sensor data repository (SDR) cache. The SDR is typically cached so subsequent access is faster, but you may need to flush it and re-generate it if the SDR has been updated on a system 🧹
  • --quiet-cache — doesn't output any info about cache creation/deletion. Super useful in scripting, ngl 🤫
  • --sdr-cache-recreate — if the SDR cache is out of date or invalid, it automatically recreates the sensor data repository (SDR) cache. Also very much a scripting-friendly option ✨
  • --sdr-cache-file=FILE — specifies a specific sensor data repository (SDR) cache file to store to or read from. Heads up: if you use this option when multiple hosts are specified, that same SDR cache file gets used for all of them 🗂️
  • --sdr-cache-directory=DIRECTORY — specifies an alternate directory for sensor data repository (SDR) caches to be stored in or read from. Defaults to the home directory if you don't specify one 🏠

⏰ TIME OPTIONS

Okay so by IPMI definition, all IPMI times and timestamps are stored in localtime. But plot twist: in many situations the timestamps will not actually be stored in localtime 😭 Whether or not a system truly stored the timestamps in localtime varies on a whole bunch of factors — the vendor, the BIOS, the operating system, all of it. The following options let you adjust how the stored timestamps get interpreted and how they get outputted. Choose your fighter 💅

  • --utc-to-localtime — assumes all times are reported in UTC time, then converts the time to localtime before outputting 🌍➡️🏡
  • --localtime-to-utc — converts all localtime timestamps to UTC before outputting 🏡➡️🌍
  • --utc-offset=SECONDS — specifies a specific UTC offset in seconds to be added to timestamps. The value can range from -86400 to 86400 seconds. Defaults to 0 ⏳

👑 HOSTRANGED OPTIONS

These options manipulate hostranged output. For extra info on hostranges, see HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below, iykyk 🫶

  • -B, --buffer-output — buffers hostranged output. For each node, standard output gets buffered until that node has completed its IPMI operation. When you specify this option, data may appear to output slower to you, since the entire IPMI operation has to complete before any data can be output. See HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below for more 📦
  • -C, --consolidate-output — consolidates hostranged output. The complete standard output from every node you specified gets consolidated so that nodes with identical output aren't output twice. A header will list those nodes with the consolidated output. When this option is specified, no output can be seen until the IPMI operations to all nodes have completed. And if you break out of the program early, all currently consolidated output will be dumped. See HOSTRANGED SUPPORT below for more 🧠
  • -F NUM, --fanout=NUM — specifies multiple host fanout. A "sliding window" (or fanout) algorithm is used for parallel IPMI communication so that slower nodes or timed-out nodes won't impede parallel communication. The maximum number of threads available at the same time is limited by the fanout. The default is 64 🪟
  • -E, --eliminate — eliminates hosts determined as undetected by ipmidetect. This attempts to remove the common issue of hostranged execution timing out because several nodes were removed from service in a large cluster. The ipmidetectd daemon must be running on the node executing the command, fyi 🚫
  • --always-prefix — always prefixes output, even if only one host is specified or you're communicating in-band. This option is primarily useful for scripting purposes. It'll be ignored if you specify it with the -C option 🙈

💅 HOSTRANGED SUPPORT 💅

okay so bestie, you can feed this thing so many hosts at once, and there are exactly two ways to do it 💖

  • a straight-up comma separated list of hosts
  • or a range of hostnames in the general form prefix[n-m,l-k,...], where n < m and l < k, etc.
⚠️ do not confuse that second one with regular expression character classes (which also get the [] treatment). for example, foo[19] does not represent foo1 or foo9 — it represents a degenerate range: foo19. yes literally. that's just what it means 🙈

this range syntax is only meant as a convenience on clusters with a prefixNN naming convention, and specifying ranges should not be considered necessary — the list foo1,foo9 could be specified as such, or by the range foo[1,9]. either way, slay 💅

some examples of range usage, because examples are my love language:

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

and a lil reminder to the reader (that's you, bestie 🫶): some shells will interpret brackets ([ and ]) for pattern matching. depending on your shell, it may be necessary to enclose ranged lists within quotes. don't come for me when your shell eats your brackets, k?

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. parallelism! we love to see it ⚡

by default, standard output from each node specified will be output with the hostname prepended to each line. it's readable in many situations, but honestly it may be difficult to read in other situations — for example, output from multiple nodes may be mixed together. kinda chaotic, ngl 😭 the -B and -C options can be used to change this default. iconic behavior, fix your own vibe 👑

also: in-band IPMI communication will be used when the host "localhost" is specified 🏠 this lets the user add the localhost into the hostranged output. cute, right? 🎀

🩺 GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING 🩺

bestie, most often, IPMI problems are due to configuration problems. like, 9 times out of 10 it's the config, not the vibes 💀

🌐 IPMI over LAN

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). that's a whole list, but we go through it line by line, periodt ✨

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 — literally your bestie for this exact situation 🫶

🔌 Inband IPMI

inband IPMI problems are typically caused by improperly configured drivers or non-standard BMCs. that's it, that's the vibe check 🌸

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. (that sentence gives "written at 3am energy" but we keep it, no cap 🙈)

😭 Common error messages, decoded

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. rude, but okay ⏳
  • "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. downgrade era, but make it fashion 💅
  • "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. genuinely the "have you tried turning it off and on again" of this list 🔌
  • "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. they're doing their best okay 😭
  • "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. main character energy, it needs a minute 🧚
  • "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. 💀
🫶 yes, "driver timeout" is listed twice in this page — both versions are right here, one for the driver-or-device case and one for the inband-driver-to-local-BMC case. we did not merge them, we would never 😤

Okay bestie, buckle up 💅 — this is the part where we talk about all the vendors who did not follow the spec, and the little hacks we built so you can still get your data. 🫶

Every vendor out there implementing their own IPMI solution means, inevitably, that different vendors may implement their IPMI protocols incorrectly 😭. The following describes a number of workarounds currently available to handle discovered compliance issues. When possible, workarounds have been implemented so they will be transparent to the user. However, some will require the user to specify a workaround be used via the -W option.

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. It works 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 — heads up — by spinning, your system may be performing less useful work by not contexting out the tool for a more useful task. Trade-offs, bestie.
  • 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 newer firmware. ✅
  • sun20 — this workaround flag will 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, bad rmcpplus status code, or privilege level cannot be obtained for this user 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, Dell C5220, and the OpenIPMI software BMC. 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.
  • assumemaxsdrrecordcount — this workaround will inform SDR reading to stop reading after a known maximum number of SDR records have been read. This will work around systems that have miss-implemented SDR reading functions. Those hitting this issue may see SDR record count invalid errors. Issue observed on unspecified Inspur motherboard.
  • 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.

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

Okay, real talk, these are the moments you screenshot and send to the group chat:

# bmc-device --cold-reset

Perform a cold reset. ❄️ iconic, no notes.

# bmc-device -h ahost -u myusername -p mypassword --cold-reset

Perform a cold reset of a remote machine using IPMI over LAN. 🌐

# bmc-device -h mycluster[0-127] -u myusername -p mypassword --cold-reset

Perform a cold reset across a cluster using IPMI over LAN. 👑 that bracket range notation is doing the most and we love her for it.

💀 DIAGNOSTICS 💀

Upon successful execution, exit status is 0. On error, exit status is 1.

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. So yeah, one flaky host and the whole vibe is ruined, fr fr.

🙈 KNOWN ISSUES 🙈

On older operating systems, if you input your username, password, and other potentially security relevant information on the command line, this information may be discovered by other users when using tools like the ps(1) command or looking in the /proc file system. Not the move. It is generally more secure to input password information with options like the -P or -K options. Configuring security relevant information in the FreeIPMI configuration file would also be an appropriate way to hide this information. 🔐

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. So if you're sitting there like "why is it not working 😭" — bestie, you might just be in timeout. ⏳

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Report bugs to freeipmi-users@gnu.org or freeipmi-devel@gnu.org. They're nice, I promise 🫶

Copyright © 2008-2015 FreeIPMI Core Team.

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.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/

And that's the whole page, bestie, you made it to the end 🎉💖 This was bmc-device version 1.6.20, dated 2026-10-05 — go forth and cold-reset responsibly, mwah 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from