My UPS started complaining about the batteries being bad, but that is to be expected since they are five years old by now.

Here are some photos for reference on how the batteries should be connected.

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.