Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)

Latest generation of servers (e.g. rp3410/rp3440) and workstations (e.g. C8000) have a BMC (baseboard management controller) that is active when the system is powered.

Note

Please note that most older parisc machines don’t have a BMC, but instead a GSP, see Guardian Service Processor.

How to access

When attached to the serial console, you can press ESC ( and you will be able to interact with the BMC:

ESC (
cli>help
CLI Commands:
  C [<passwordstring>]  - Change Password
  CON                   - Display Console selection
  FPL                   - Read Forward Progress Log
  H                     - Help (this text)
  I <ipmi command data> - Send any IPMI message
     req fmt: rsSA netfnlun chk1 rqSWID rqSeq cmd [data] chk2
     resp fmt: rqSWID netfnlun chk3 rsSa rqSeqrsLun cmd ccode [data] chk4
  INFO                  - Display BMC FW Revision
  IPMI <ipmi command data> - Send any IPMI message
     req fmt: netfnlun cmd [data]
     resp fmt: ccode [data]
  P [0,1]               - Power Control
  Q                     - Quit/Logout
  RS  [s]               - Reset System [and switch to sys console]
  SD                    - Read SDR Repository
  SE                    - Read System Event Log
  TOC [s]               - Send an INIT/TOC [and switch to sys console]
cli>

This most useful for being able to remotely reboot (RS command) and power on/off (P command) the system. Pressing ESC ) “reconnects” one to the system’s serial console.

The C8000 supports IPMI, and presumably a lot of these same things can be done over the built-in e1000 LAN interface once configured.

Thanks to Matt Turner <mattst88@gmail.com> for above info.

Reading IPMI data in Linux

When running Linux, you may use the ipmitool command to read IMPI data out of the BMC:

root@c8000:~# ipmitool sdr
Chassis Intrus   | 0x00              | ok
Chassis Open     | 0x00              | ok
Power Button     | 0x00              | ok
Power Button     | 0x00              | ok
Clear CMOS Jmpr  | 0x00              | ok
Safe Mode Jmpr   | 0x00              | ok
Clr Passwd Jmpr  | 0x00              | ok
Rsvd Jmpr        | Not Readable      | ns
Rsvd2 Jmpr       | Not Readable      | ns
Watchdog Timer   | Not Readable      | ns
Cooling 2 (CPU)  | 0x01              | ok
Cooling 3 (Mem)  | 0x01              | ok
Cooling 4 (Disk) | 0x01              | ok
Wake-on-LAN      | Not Readable      | ns
Missing Device   | Not Readable      | ns
Power Supply     | 0x01              | ok
Power Control    | 0x01              | ok
Pwr Pod 0 Fault  | 0x00              | ok
Pwr Pod 1 Fault  | 0x00              | ok
Battery Voltage  | 0x00              | ok
Over-Voltage     | 0x00              | ok
Power Good       | 0x00              | ok
Ambient Temp     | 17 degrees C      | ok
Processor 0 Temp | 76 degrees C      | ok
Processor 1 Temp | 78 degrees C      | ok
Chassis Fan Tach | disabled          | ns
CPU0 Fan Tach    | disabled          | ns
CPU1 Fan Tach    | disabled          | ns
Memory Fan Tach  | disabled          | ns
Disk Fan Tach    | disabled          | ns
Chassis Fan      | 0x00              | ok
CPU0 Fan         | 0x00              | ok
CPU1 Fan         | 0x00              | ok
Memory Fan       | 0x00              | ok
Disk Fan         | 0x00              | ok
ACPI State       | 0x01              | ok
TOC Interrupt    | 0x00              | ok
SDR Time Set     | 0x00              | ok
SEL Time Set     | 0x00              | ok
Intrnl Watchdog  | Not Readable      | ns

In Lpv00338_rx2600_zx6000.pdf you can find a chapter with a broader description of the BMC.