# IPMI Won't Go



## JSeymour (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi There,

System: FreeBSD ... 8.2-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE-p3

I'd like to get IPMI going for monitoring the hardware (temps, fans, etc.)  So I did a "make, make install" of ipmitool in the ports collection and a "kldload ipmi," as per instructions, but get


```
# ipmitool sensor
Could not open device at /dev/ipmi0 or /dev/ipmi/0 or /dev/ipmidev/0: No such file or directory
Get Device ID command failed
Unable to open SDR for reading
```

Sure enough: There's nothing named *ipmi* anywhere in /dev.

The ipmi module loaded...


```
# kldstat
Id Refs Address    Size     Name
 1   11 0xc0400000 bd97b4   kernel
 2    1 0xc5f46000 37000    ipl.ko
 3    1 0xc69bb000 a000     ipmi.ko
 4    1 0xc69c5000 2000     smbus.ko
```
I've got IPMI working fine on a couple of identical hardware platforms running Ubuntu Linux.

I've done a bunch of research and no joy.  Suggestions?

TIA,
Jim


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## Uniballer (Oct 31, 2012)

I don't have any suggestions, but could you detail the hardware you're running?


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## SirDice (Nov 1, 2012)

Keep in mind that FreeBSD 8.2 is End-of-Life since November 2012. You are advised to upgrade to 8.3.


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## JSeymour (Nov 1, 2012)

Uniballer said:
			
		

> I don't have any suggestions, but could you detail the hardware you're running?


Sorry, forgot to mention that.

The machines in question are all identical Dell PowerEdge 1750s.  The only difference between them is the FBSD box is running RAID 1 with a hot spare and the other two (a web server and mail server) are running RAID 5 w/no hot spares.



			
				SirDice said:
			
		

> Keep in mind that FreeBSD 8.2 is End-of-Life since November 2012. You are advised to upgrade to 8.3.


And, some day, after I've shooed the alligators and drained the swamp, I intend to do that 

Thanks,
Jim


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## mix_room (Nov 2, 2012)

JSeymour said:
			
		

> And, some day, after I've shooed the alligators and drained the swamp, I intend to do that



Using `# freebsd-update` it really isn't all that hard. No need to compile the whole system. See http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.3R/installation.html Since you are upgrading from 8.2 you will only need to reboot once. I did my upgrade in less than an hour.


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## JSeymour (Nov 2, 2012)

mix_room said:
			
		

> Using `# freebsd-update` it really isn't all that hard. No need to compile the whole system. See http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.3R/installation.html Since you are upgrading from 8.2 you will only need to reboot once. I did my upgrade in less than an hour.


Hmmm... I don't claim to be an FreeBSD guru, nor play one on TV, so please don't laugh or take offence, but I tend to do new installs on upgrades, as I've never, ever had an upgrade actually work.

I think I'd have to have a disk image backup of the box before I'd try something like that.  (I suppose I could temporarily re-task the hot spare disc for that purpose... hmmm...)

Thanks for the info, tho.

Meanwhile: Anybody got any idea why IPMI is not working?

Jim


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## m6tt (Nov 4, 2012)

Yes, ipmi is not working because ipmi(4) is not attaching to your device's IPMI. Since it can't attach, no device is created, and so ipmitool can't talk to it.

Does

```
dmesg | fgrep ipmi
```
return anything at all?

It could be related to:

http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/stable-ish-9-Dell-R815-ipmi-4-attach-failure-td5604390.html


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## JSeymour (Nov 4, 2012)

m6tt said:
			
		

> Yes, ipmi is not working because ipmi(4) is not attaching to your device's IPMI. Since it can't attach, no device is created, and so ipmitool can't talk to it.
> 
> Does
> 
> ...


Not a thing.



			
				m6tt said:
			
		

> It could be related to:
> 
> http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/stable-ish-9-Dell-R815-ipmi-4-attach-failure-td5604390.html


Except he was getting IPMI stuff in dmesg.  I'm getting nothing.

I wonder if this is it--see *bolded* bits:

```
$ dmidecode
...
Handle 0x2600, DMI type 38, 18 bytes
IPMI Device Information
        [b][color="red"]Interface Type: BT (Block Transfer)[/color][/b]
        Specification Version: 1.0
        I2C Slave Address: 0x10
        NV Storage Device: Not Present
        Base Address: 0x00000000000000E4 (I/O)
        Register Spacing: Successive Byte Boundaries
        Interrupt Polarity: Active High
        Interrupt Trigger Mode: Edge
        Interrupt Number: a
...
```


```
$ man 4 ipmi
IPMI(4)                FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual                IPMI(4)
...
BUGS
     Not all features of the MontaVista driver are supported.

     [b][color="red"]Currently, IPMB and BT modes are not implemented.[/color][/b]
```

Regards,
Jim


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## m6tt (Nov 5, 2012)

Wait, are you saying one FreeBSD box works (same hw) and the other doesn't? Does ubuntu get IPMI on the exact same box (a live cd or something should be good to check).

Here's someone with a PowerEdge 1850 (not sure if that's newer or older) with IPMI working. I get the feeling IPMI might *need* an IP assigned to work (I understand the post below is about *remote* IPMI, but it's worth a shot)
http://www.itedit.com/blog/?p=10


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## JSeymour (Nov 5, 2012)

m6tt said:
			
		

> Wait, are you saying one FreeBSD box works (same hw) and the other doesn't?


Close.  I have one FBSD box and two Ubuntu boxen (10.04 LTS and 12.04 LTS).  All three boxen are _identical_ hardware, save the FBSD box is RAID 1 with a hot spare and the other two are 3-disk RAID 5.  IPMI worked "right out of the box" on the two Ubuntu systems.  It does not work on the FBSD system.



			
				m6tt said:
			
		

> Does ubuntu get IPMI on the exact same box (a live cd or something should be good to check).


Since it's identical hardware it's hard to believe it would not.  Not practical to test, being as it's a production corporate firewall.



			
				m6tt said:
			
		

> Here's someone with a PowerEdge 1850 (not sure if that's newer or older) with IPMI working. I get the feeling IPMI might *need* an IP assigned to work ...


1850 is newer.  IP should only be necessary for remote use, which is not what I'm trying to do.

Regards,
Jim


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## JSeymour (Nov 5, 2012)

*Got It!*

Solved!  Just took tripping across just the right search terms.

Here's what I started with: IPMI and FreeBSD

And here's where I found the solution to my issue: FreeBSD Wiki IPMI page

It's now working 

Thanks, everybody, for your feedback.

Jim


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## m6tt (Nov 6, 2012)

Congrats!

For the record, I *do not* recommend enabling remote IPMI on a corporate firewall


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## JSeymour (Nov 12, 2012)

m6tt said:
			
		

> Congrats!


Thanks 



			
				m6tt said:
			
		

> For the record, I *do not* recommend enabling remote IPMI on a corporate firewall


lol!  Hadn't planned on it.  Only using it for keeping an eye on the hardware's health.

Jim


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## justinhaynes (Jul 16, 2020)

For posterity, JSemour's  "IPMI and FreeBSD" link is dead and can be found here:  https://web.archive.org/web/20121130043957/https://www.ish.com.au/blog/ipmi-and-freebsd

The wiki link is live.


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