IPMI over LAN on Dell PowerEdge servers

[Harald_Jensas at Dell.com]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com 
> [mailto:linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com] On Behalf Of Matt Domsch
> Sent: 07 September 2006 06:17
> To: Celso K. Webber
> Cc: linux-poweredge-Lists
> Subject: Re: IPMI over LAN on Dell PowerEdge servers
> 
> On Thu, Sep 07, 2006 at 12:54:52AM -0300, Celso K. Webber wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > Does anyone can tell me if Dell servers "listen" to IPMI over LAN 
> > packets only on the first onboard NIC?
> > 
> > I've experimented with some Dell machines, and it seems 
> that the IPMI 
> > devices only works when the network cable is plugged into 
> NIC number 1.
> > 
> > Is this correct?
> 
> Yes, this is correct, the IPMI NIC shares the same physical ethernet
> RJ45 jack as NIC1.  It does not share the same RJ45 as NIC2.
> 
> > Shouldn't be interesting to users that IPMI over LAN worked 
> from both 
> > onboard interfaces?
> 
> Most sysadmins didn't like it when we had a separate RJ45 
> jack for IPMI, as they then had to use another switch port.  
> So, we arranged for it to share with NIC1, though it gets its 
> own IP address because it's got its own MAC address (on most 
> systems, PE1855 being the lone exception).  It's not 
> impossible to have a second port to the same controller in 
> theory, but it would add expense and complexity, and I 
> haven't heard any requests for such.  Is it really needed?
> 
> Thanks,
> Matt
> 
> --
> Matt Domsch
> Software Architect
> Dell Linux Solutions linux.dell.com & www.dell.com/linux 
> Linux on Dell mailing lists @ http://lists.us.dell.com
> 

Hi,

The above is correct for the 8g of servers. (1850, 2850 etc.)

I would like to add that on the new 9g servers, 1950, 2950 etc. There are some changes to support teaming and failover options.


In the 8th generation servers, the BMC LAN communication was only possible via LOM 1. With the 9th generation, BMC implements Teaming and Failover using both system LOMs. This functionality can be configured in the NIC Selection setting using OMSA, DTK, and Remote Access Configuration Utility. 

Available options include:

Shared: 	In this mode BMC shares the network interface with the host operating system. BMC transmits data only through NIC 1 but it receives data through NIC 1 and NIC 2. Therefore, the BMC network interface is fully functional even when the host operating system is configured for NIC teaming. 

Failover: 	Same as Shared mode except that if NIC 1 fails, the BMC fails over to NIC 2 for all data transmission. Note that in Failover mode BMC does not support automatic fail back. 

Dedicated: 	This option is only available when DRAC is present and it is using a dedicated NIC on the DRAC card.



http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smbmcmu/2.0/en/ug/BMCUG.PDF

NIC Selection - Displays the configuration option.
	NOTE: This option is available only on Dell PowerEdge x9xx systems. 

* Shared
Select this option to share the network interface with the host
operating system. The remote access device network interface is fully
functional when the host operating system is configured for
NIC teaming.
The remote access device receives data through NIC 1 and NIC 2, but
transmits data only through NIC 1.

NOTE: 	If NIC 1 fails, the remote access device will not be accessible.
NOTE: 	The NIC 2 is not available on the PowerEdge 1900 system.

* Failover
Select this option to share the network interface with the host
operating system. The remote access device network interface is fully
functional when the host operating system is configured for
NIC teaming.
The remote access device receives data through NIC 1 and NIC 2, but
transmits data only through NIC 1. If NIC 1 fails, the remote access
device fails over to NIC 2 for all data transmission.
The remote access device continues to use NIC 2 for data
transmission. If NIC 2 fails, the remote access device fails over all data
transmission back to NIC 1.

NOTE: 	This option cannot be selected on the PowerEdge 1900 system.

* Dedicated
Select this option to enable the remote access device to utilize the
dedicated network interface available on the Remote Access
Controller (RAC). This interface is not shared with the host operating
system and routes the management traffic to a separate physical
network, enabling it to be separated from the application traffic.

NOTE: 	This option is available only if a DRAC card is installed in
the system.



//
Harald Jensås