Remote management of PowerEdge 1950 servers without DRAC

Introduction

Using IPMI it’s possible to get some remote management features without having a DRAC card in the server. At least remote power control and serial over LAN are available.

Setting up IPMI using ipmitool:

Configure LAN

Change ip, netmask and defgw to match your network.

ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc static
ipmitool lan set 1 ipaddr 10.1.2.3
ipmitool lan set 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
ipmitool lan set 1 defgw 10.1.2.1
ipmitool lan set 1 auth callback md5
ipmitool lan set 1 auth operator md5
ipmitool lan set 1 auth admin md5
ipmitool lan set 1 auth user md5
ipmitool lan set 1 access on
ipmitool lan set 1 arp respond on

# If needed configure vlan id
ipmitool lan set 1 vlan id 100

 
Configure users

ipmitool user set name 2 admin
ipmitool user set password 2 SecretPassword1
ipmitool user enable 2
ipmitool user priv 2 4 1
ipmitool user priv 2 4 2

# List enabled users
ipmitool user list 1
ipmitool user list 2

 
Enable serial over lan

ipmitool sol set privilege-level admin 1
ipmitool sol set force-encryption true 1
ipmitool sol set force-authentication true 1
ipmitool sol set non-volatile-bit-rate 57.6 1
ipmitool sol set volatile-bit-rate 57.6 1
ipmitool sol set enabled true 1
ipmitool sol payload enable 1 2

To connect to the serial over lan console use the following command:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.1.2.3 -U admin -P SecretPassword1 sol activate

The serial console supports some escape sequences, which can be checked by typing ~?

Supported escape sequences:
~.  - terminate connection
~^Z - suspend ipmitool
~^X - suspend ipmitool, but don't restore tty on restart
~B  - send break
~?  - this message
~~  - send the escape character by typing it twice
(Note that escapes are only recognized immediately after newline.)

Examples of common operations

  • Reseting power over the network
  • ipmitool -H 10.1.2.3 -U admin -P SecretPassword1 chassis power reset
  • Blinking uid light
  • ipmitool chassis identify
  • Read sensors
  • ipmitool sensor

 
All except serial over lan should work on all servers with IPMI.
Serial over LAN requires IPMI 2.0.