Revision as of 08:48, 18 September 2009

ipmitool is a Linux command line utility for sending commands to remote ipmi interfaces.

Using ipmitool

The basic syntax for ipmitool is:

ipmitool [option] <command>

For a full list of commands and options see the ipmitool ipmitool Man page.

-H <address>: Address of the remote server. This can be either a hostname or IP address, but because the IPMI cards are on the farm network and don't have hostnames attached to them you will need to use the appropriate IP address.

-U <username>: IPMI username. Currently the ADMIN account is configured and will allow access to all IPMI commands.

policy: Sets the system's policy regarding power failures. Options are as follows:

list: Returns a list of supported policies.

always-on: Turns system on when power is restored.

previous: Returns to the previous state when power is restored.

always-off: Stays off when power is restored.

status: Returns the current power state.

on: Power on.

off: Powers off. WARNING: Does not cleanly shutdown the system.

cycle: Cycles the power state off for one second.

reset: Performs a hard reset.

soft: Soft shutdown of the OS via ACPI

To check the power status of Taro you would use this command, which will prompt for a password:

ipmitool -U ADMIN -H 10.0.0.147 -a chassis power status

To remotely power on Taro:

 ipmitool -U ADMIN -H 10.0.0.147 -a chassis power on

To remotely perform a hard reset of Taro:

 ipmitool -U ADMIN -H 10.0.0.147 -a chassis power reset

To query the current Power-On Hours Counter for Taro:

 ipmitool -U ADMIN -H 10.0.0.147 -a chassis poh

To instruct Taro to stay off in the event of a power outage:

ipmitool -U ADMIN -H 10.0.0.147 -a chassis policy always-off

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 === ipmitool Options ===
-These are the options that will most likely be needed to work with IPMI. Further details are in the manual.
+;-a : Prompts for a password.
-;-a : Prompts for the ipmi password.
+;-H <address> : Address of the remote server. This can be either a hostname or IP address, but because the IPMI cards are on the farm network and don't have hostnames attached to them you will need to use the appropriate IP address.
-;-H <address> : Address of the remote server. This can be either a hostname or IP address, but because the IPMI cards on our network use internal addressing and therefore do not have host names you will need to use the appropriate IP address.
+;-U <username> : IPMI username. Currently the ADMIN account is configured and will allow access to all IPMI commands.
-;-U <username> : IPMI username. In most cases it should be ADMIN.
 === IPMI Commands ===
@@ Line 52: / Line 50: @@
 ::'''''soft''''': Soft shutdown of the OS via ACPI