IPMI-PET(8)

📦
version 1.6.20 · 15 versions
, in arch rolling, centos-stream 10, centos-stream 9

💅 IPMI-PET(8) — the ipmi-pet bestie manual ✨

okay so real talk, this is the System Commands girlie of the man pages: ipmi-pet, the IPMI Platform Event Trap Interpreter. she reads traps so you don't have to. let's get into it 🫶

🎀 NAME 🎀

ipmi-pet — IPMI Platform Event Trap Interpreter

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ipmi-pet [OPTION...] [SPECIFIC TRAP] [VARIABLE BINDING HEX BYTES ...]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so ipmi-pet interprets hex bytes from a platform event trap (PET) and outputs a string representing its contents. literally that's the whole job. 💖

the hex values can come from three places, bestie:

  • on the command line
  • a file via the --file option
  • via stdin if neither of the previous two are specified

ipmi-pet is commonly used in conjunction with an SNMP trap daemon to interpret the results from an IPMI PET trap captured by the daemon. and like, technically ipmi-pet could be called directly from such a daemon, but typically a script is called to parse the SNMP daemon's output and convert it into a form that can be input into ipmi-pet. iykyk, that's just how the pipeline goes.

on some systems, you may wish to also send a PET acknowledge to a remote system to inform it the trap was received and parsed. one can be sent using the --pet-acknowledge option. 🎀

so here's the tea: while an IPMI session is not required to interpret a PET, data from the sensor data repository (SDR) is required to properly interpret sensor names and other information in the PET. no cap.

the IPMI session configuration below — such as driver, hostname, username, etc. — should be configured to load the SDR of the host where the trap originated. if this is difficult to perform, it may be wise to cache and load a specific SDR cache using the --sdr-cache-file option. 🌈

if the SDR is difficult to obtain, the --ignore-sdr-cache option can be specified so that an SDR will not be loaded, and an IPMI session will not be required. the PET will be interpreted as best as possible given no SDR. heads up though — the --ignore-sdr-cache option may affect other options such as --interpret-oem-data too. 😭 some options, such as --manufacturer-id and --product-id, may alleviate some of these issues.

if the SNMP daemon does not output a SNMPv1 specific trap on its own, it is typically output as the last element of the OID in SNMPv2. if for some reason a specific trap cannot be determined, the value of NA may be input for the specific trap to indicate it is not available. ipmi-pet will output as much as possible based on the variable bindings information. some of the specific trap information may be obtained via SDR information. 🔥

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).

👑 GENERAL OPTIONS 👑

the following options are general options for configuring IPMI communication and executing general tool commands. main character energy, honestly.

  • -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.
  • --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.
  • --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. 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 IPMIHOST, --hostname=IPMIHOST[:PORT] — specify the remote host to communicate with. an optional port can be specified, which may be useful in port forwarding or similar situations. if specifying an IPv6 address and port, use the format [ADDRESS]:PORT. 💅
  • -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 OPERATOR privileges in order for this tool to operate fully.
  • -p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD — specify the password to use when authenticating 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. 🔐
  • -P, --password-prompt — prompt for password to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists. so iconic of her, honestly.
  • -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 the either the string 'abc' or the string '0x616263'.
  • -K, --k-g-prompt — prompt for k-g to avoid possibility of listing it in process lists.
  • --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. ⚠️
  • -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
  • -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 OPERATOR if not specified.
  • --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.
  • --debug — turn on debugging. 🐛
  • -?, --help — output a help list and exit.
  • --usage — output a usage message and exit.
  • -V, --version — output the program version and exit. 💜

💅 IPMI-PET OPTIONS 💅

okay bestie, these are the flags that are literally just for ipmi-pet, no sharing with the other tools. this is our main character section, so pay attention 🎀

  • -v — verbose output, babes. it'll show you the event direction and any OEM custom messages straight out of the trap. more words, more tea ☕
  • -vv — very verbose. now we're getting the extra info that's chilling inside the trap, like the GUID, manufacturer ID, and system ID. it's giving detective energy 🔍
  • -vvv — very very verbose, the deluxe edition 👑. it outputs additional information beyond verbose mode — most notably it'll drop extra hex codes alongside the info for ambiguous events. example: it'll output Generator ID hex codes for sensors that have no names. when you're lost in the hex sauce, this is your girl 💀
  • --pet-acknowledge — instead of just printing the data, it sends a PET acknowledge using the trap data you fed it. why? because sometimes you wanna tell a remote system "yeah bestie, i got your trap, i received it and parsed it ✨". heads up though: if you use this, you must specify a hostname via -h or --hostname so ipmi-pet knows where to yeet that acknowledge to. also cute: when this option is on, the SDR cache is not loaded and is not required 🫶
  • --file=CMD-FILE — point at a file to read PET specific trap and variable bindings hex from, instead of typing it on the command line. for when you're not in the mood to type a novel 📄
  • --output-event-severity — adds an event severity line to your output. the possible outputs are Monitor, Information, OK, Non-critical condition, Critical condition, or Non-recoverable condition. here's the thing that makes it different from --output-event-state: severity is not interpreted — it's just a value reported in the SNMP trap. also, not all events may report a severity, and some manufacturers may not support reporting a severity at all. no cap, it's just whatever the trap says. oh and — event severity gets output automatically under verbose output 🌈
  • --output-event-state — adds a line telling you whether an event should be viewed as NOMINAL, WARNING, or CRITICAL. this one is an interpreted value (unlike --output-event-severity) and it's interpreted identically to the --output-event-state output in ipmi-sel(8). as long as an event interpretation is supported, all events will have an outputted state. the state is based on the config file /etc/freeipmi//freeipmi_interpret_sel.conf and the event direction. go read freeipmi_interpret_sel.conf(5) for the deets 📚
  • --event-state-config-file=FILE — specify an alternate event state configuration file. lowkey important caveat: this option is ignored if --output-event-state isn't specified 🙈
  • --manufacturer-id=NUMBER — hardcode a specific manufacturer id to assume. super useful if you wanna use --interpret-oem-data but the manufacturer id can't be determined by IPMI access, or just isn't available in the SNMP trap. fun fact: you can find a motherboard's manufacturer id with bmc-info(8). and if you specify this option, you must also specify --product-id — they're a package deal 💖
  • --product-id=NUMBER — same vibe, but for the product id. useful if you wanna use --interpret-oem-data but the product id can't be determined by IPMI access or isn't in the SNMP trap. motherboard product id? that's bmc-info(8) again. and yes, if you specify this one, you must also specify --manufacturer-id. matching set, periodt 👯
  • --interpret-oem-data — attempt to interpret OEM data — event data, sensor readings, general extra info, that whole situationship. if there's no OEM interpretation available, you just get the default output. real talk though: correctness of OEM interpretations cannot be guaranteed, because OEM vendors may change stuff in products, firmware, etc. it's not us, it's them 😭 scroll down to OEM INTERPRETATION for the confirmed supported motherboard interpretations.
  • --entity-sensor-names — outputs sensor names prefixed with their entity id and instance number when appropriate. honestly necessary on some motherboards to figure out what a sensor is even referring to. imagine a board with multiple sensors all named 'TEMP' — the entity id and instance number help you tell which one is "Processor 1" vs. "Processor 2" 🧚
  • --no-sensor-type-output — don't show sensor type output for each entry. on many systems the sensor type is straight-up redundant with the sensor name — especially true if --entity-sensor-names is specified. if the name is enough, or you simply don't care about the sensor type, use this to condense that output. less clutter, cleaner feed ✨
  • --comma-separated-output — outputs fields in comma separated format. csv girls rise 🍓
  • --no-header-output — no column headers. extremely scripting-friendly, iykyk 💅
  • --non-abbreviated-units — outputs non-abbreviated units, like 'Amps' instead of 'A'. helps disambiguate units — classic example: 'C' for Celsius or Coulombs 🌡️

🌸 SDR CACHE OPTIONS 🌸

sooo this tool needs access to the sensor data repository (SDR) cache for general operation. by default, SDR data gets downloaded and cached on the local machine. these are the options that apply to that cache, bestie 🎀

  • --flush-cache — flushes the cached version of the sensor data repository (SDR) cache. the SDR is usually cached so future access is faster, but if the SDR got updated on a system, you may need to flush it and re-generate it. out with the old 🧹
  • --quiet-cache — don't output info about cache creation/deletion. scripting girlies, this one's for you 🤫
  • --sdr-cache-recreate — if the SDR cache is out of date or invalid, automatically recreate the sensor data repository (SDR) cache. may be useful for scripting purposes. self-healing behavior, we love to see it 💖
  • --sdr-cache-file=FILE — specify a specific sensor data repository (SDR) cache file to be stored or read from. heads up: if you use this when multiple hosts are specified, the same SDR cache file will be used for all of them. one file, many hosts 👀
  • --sdr-cache-directory=DIRECTORY — specify an alternate directory for sensor data repository (SDR) caches to be stored or read from. defaults to the home directory if you don't specify one 🏠
  • --ignore-sdr-cache — ignores SDR cache related processing. warning-ish vibe: this may lead to incomplete or less useful information being output — but it lets things work on systems without SDRs, or when the correct SDR can't be loaded. a tradeoff, but sometimes the tradeoff is worth it 🦋

🌸 GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING 🌸

Okay bestie, most often, IPMI problems are due to configuration problems. No cap.

When it’s IPMI over LAN, the drama usually involves a misconfiguration of the remote machine’s BMC. Double-check that these 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
  • allowed authentication type(s)

For IPMI 2.0 connections, double-check that the cipher suite privilege(s) and K_g key are configured properly too. 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.

Besides the troubleshooting tips below, peep WORKAROUNDS below too, in case there are any vendor specific bugs that have been discovered and worked around. 👀

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. 💀
  • "internal IPMI error" — An IPMI error has occurred that FreeIPMI does not know how to handle. Please e-mail freeipmi-users@gnu.org to report the issue. 🚨

🛠️ WORKAROUNDS 🛠️

Okay bestie, here's the tea ☕ — every vendor out there is out here writing their own IPMI implementation, and some of them are... not it. 😭 So the following is the whole list of workarounds currently available for the compliance issues we've found in the wild. Where possible they're baked in and totally transparent to you — you won't even notice. But some of them are gonna need you to actually be like "hey, use this one" with the -W option.

Real talk about the hardware lists below: they may only tell you the hardware the problem was discovered on. Newer versions of that hardware may have fixed it. Similar machines from the same vendor may or may not have the same problem. And here's the thing — different vendors sometimes license their firmware from the same IPMI firmware developer, so it's genuinely worth trying a workaround below even if your motherboard isn't on the list. iykyk 💅

If you think your hardware has an additional compliance issue that needs a workaround implemented, please hit up the FreeIPMI maintainers at <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>. They're lovely, they wanna know. 🫶

  • assumeio — this one assumes inband interfaces talk to system I/O instead of being memory-mapped. It gets you around systems that report invalid base addresses. If you're hitting this you might see "device not supported" or "could not find inband device" errors. Issue observed on HP ProLiant DL145 G1.
  • spinpoll — this flag tells some inband drivers (most notably the KCS driver) to spin while polling instead of putting the process to sleep. Big mood — it can 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 do a single IPMI message transaction. But like, the tradeoff is real: by spinning, your system may be doing less useful work because it's not contexting out the tool for a more useful task. 🔥
  • authcap — skips the early checks for username capabilities, authentication capabilities, and K_g support, and just lets IPMI authentication succeed. It works around multiple issues where the remote system doesn't properly report username capabilities, authentication capabilities, or K_g status. Hitting this one? You might 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 — tells FreeIPMI to not check the checksums returned from IPMI command responses. It works around systems that return invalid checksums because of implementation errors, where the packet is otherwise valid. Users are cautioned on the use of this option, because it removes validation of packet integrity in a number of circumstances. That said, it's unlikely to be an issue in most situations. Hitting this? You might see "connection timeout", "session timeout", or "password verification timeout" errors. On IPMI 1.5 connections, the "noauthcodecheck" workaround may also be needed too. Issue observed on Supermicro X9SCM-iiF, Supermicro X9DRi-F, and Supermicro X9DRFR.
  • idzero — lets empty session IDs be accepted by the client. It works around IPMI sessions that report empty session IDs to the client. Hitting this? You might see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on Tyan S2882 with M3289 BMC.
  • unexpectedauth — allows unexpected non-null authcodes to be checked as though they were expected. It works around a thing where packets contain non-null authentication data when they should be null because per-message authentication is disabled. Hitting this? You might see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on Dell PowerEdge 2850,SC1425. Confirmed fixed on newer firmware.
  • forcepermsg — forces per-message authentication to be used no matter what the remote system advertises. Works around the case where per-message authentication is advertised as disabled on the remote system but is actually required for the protocol. Hitting this? You might see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on IBM eServer 325.
  • endianseq — flips the endian of the session sequence numbers so the session can keep going properly. Works around IPMI 1.5 session sequence numbers that are the wrong endian. Hitting this? You might see "session timeout" errors. Issue observed on some Sun ILOM 1.0/2.0 (depends on service processor endian).
  • noauthcodecheck — tells FreeIPMI to not check the authentication codes returned from IPMI 1.5 command responses. Works around systems that return invalid authentication codes due to hashing or implementation errors. Users are cautioned on the use of this option, since it removes an authentication check that verifies the validity of a packet. However, in most organizations, this is unlikely to be a security issue. Hitting this? You might 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 — works 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. Hitting this? You might see "username invalid", "password invalid", or "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Intel SE7520AF2 with Intel Server Management Module (Professional Edition).
  • supermicro20 — works around several Supermicro IPMI 2.0 authentication issues on motherboards w/ Peppercon IPMI firmware. Issues covered include handling invalid length authentication codes. Hitting this? You might see "password invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro H8QME with SIMSO daughter card. Confirmed fixed on newerver firmware.
  • sun20 — works around several Sun IPMI 2.0 authentication issues. The issues covered include invalid lengthed hash keys, improperly hashed keys, and invalid cipher suite records. Hitting this? You might see "password invalid" or "bmc error" errors. Issue observed on Sun Fire 4100/4200/4500 with ILOM. Heads up: this workaround automatically includes the "opensesspriv" workaround. 💅
  • opensesspriv — slightly alters 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. Hitting this? You might 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 — works 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, but the remote motherboard responds with a non-empty field. Hitting this? You might see "k_g invalid" errors. Issue observed on Supermicro X8DTG, Supermicro X8DTU, and Intel S5500WBV/Penguin Relion 700, and Intel S2600JF/Appro 512X.
  • assumemaxsdrrecordcount — informs SDR reading to stop reading after a known maximum number of SDR records have been read. Works around systems that have miss-implemented SDR reading functions. Hitting this? You might see "SDR record count invalid" errors. Issue observed on unspecified Inspur motherboard.
  • malformedack — ignores malformed PET acknowledge responses and just assumes any PET acknowledge response from the remote machine is valid. Works around remote systems that respond to PET acknowledge requests with invalid/malformed IPMI payloads. Hitting this? You might see "session timeout" errors when executing a PET acknowledge. Issue observed on Dell Poweredge R610.

No IPMI 1.5 Support — some motherboards that support IPMI 2.0 have been found to not support IPMI 1.5. 😭 Hitting this? You might see "ipmi 2.0 unavailable" or "connection timeout" errors. You can work around it by using IPMI 2.0 instead of IPMI 1.5 — just specify --driver-type=LAN_2_0. Issue observed on a number of HP and Supermicro motherboards.

🧚 OEM INTERPRETATION 🧚

The motherboards below are confirmed to have at least some support by the --interpret-oem-data option. It's highly probable that the OEM data interpretations would work across other motherboards from the same manufacturer, but like — no guarantees, bestie. 🙈 Also, some of the motherboards below may be rebranded by vendors/distributors.

Currently None

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Interpret a PET using the local SDR cache. Slay.

# ipmi-pet 356224 0x44 0x45 0x4c 0x4c 0x50 0x00 0x10 0x59 0x80 0x43 0xb2
0xc0 0x4f 0x33 0x33 0x58 0x00 0x02 0x19 0xe8 0x7e 0x26 0xff 0xff 0x20
0x20 0x04 0x20 0x73 0x18 0x00 0x80 0x01 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
0x19 0x00 0x00 0x02 0xa2 0x01 0x00 0xc1

Interpret a PET using a remote SDR cache. Now we're talking to a whole other machine, iconic.

# ipmi-pet -h ahost -u myusername -p mypassword 356224 0x44 0x45 0x4c
0x4c 0x50 0x00 0x10 0x59 0x80 0x43 0xb2 0xc0 0x4f 0x33 0x33 0x58 0x00
0x02 0x19 0xe8 0x7e 0x26 0xff 0xff 0x20 0x20 0x04 0x20 0x73 0x18 0x00
0x80 0x01 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x19 0x00 0x00 0x02 0xa2 0x01
0x00 0xc1

Interpret a PET using a previously stored SDR cache. Love a good reuse moment. 🎀

# ipmi-pet 356224 0x44 0x45 0x4c 0x4c 0x50 0x00 0x10 0x59 0x80 0x43 0xb2
0xc0 0x4f 0x33 0x33 0x58 0x00 0x02 0x19 0xe8 0x7e 0x26 0xff 0xff 0x20
0x20 0x04 0x20 0x73 0x18 0x00 0x80 0x01 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
0x19 0x00 0x00 0x02 0xa2 0x01 0x00 0xc1 --sdr-cache-file=/tmp/mysdrcache

Instead of outputting trap interpretation, send a PET acknowledge using the trap data. Different vibe entirely, but okay!

# ipmi-pet -h ahost --pet-acknowledge 356224 0x44 0x45 0x4c 0x4c 0x50
0x00 0x10 0x59 0x80 0x43 0xb2 0xc0 0x4f 0x33 0x33 0x58 0x00 0x02 0x19
0xe8 0x7e 0x26 0xff 0xff 0x20 0x20 0x04 0x20 0x73 0x18 0x00 0x80 0x01
0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x19 0x00 0x00 0x02 0xa2 0x01 0x00 0xc1

🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

Upon successful execution, exit status is 0. On error, exit status is 1. That's it, that's the whole vibe check. 💖

🚨 KNOWN ISSUES <span>🚨</span>

okay bestie, listen up, because this part is lowkey important 👀

  • On older operating systems, if you type your username, password, and other potentially security-relevant info right there on the command line, other users can literally find it 🫣 like, they can see it with tools like ps(1) or by poking around in the /proc file system. So it's generally more secure to hand over password info using options like -P or -K. Putting your security-relevant info in the FreeIPMI configuration file is also a totally appropriate way to keep it hidden. slay responsibly 💅
  • So to prevent brute force attacks, some BMCs will temporarily "lock up" after a number of remote authentication errors. Yeah. Not a vibe. 😭 You may need to wait awhile for this temporary "lock up" to pass before you can authenticate again — no cap, just sit there and be patient 🧘‍♀️

🐛 REPORTING BUGS <span>🐛</span>

Found a bug? Don't suffer in silence, bestie 💖 Report it to:

  • <freeipmi-users@gnu.org>
  • <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>

Copyright © 2011-2015 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. iconic behavior, honestly 🎀

🔗 SEE ALSO <span>🔗</span>

go read these next, iykyk ✨

and if you wanna vibe with the source of it all:

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

that's the whole page, bestie — you made it to the end 🎉🦋 this was IPMI-PET version 1.6.20, dated 2026-10-05, filed under IPMI-PET(8). go forth and interpret those platform event traps like the main character you are 💜👑✨

📦 where this page comes from