IPMItool considerations

IPMItool commands work only for root user.

IPMItool Version on Linux®

You must be at IPMItool version 1.8.17, or later. IPMItool version 1.8.17 is used as an example. To check your version, run the following command:

# ipmitool -V
ipmitool version 1.8.17

If needed, you can use the instructions that are provided with the package to install IPMItool version 1.8.17, or later.

IPMItool commands

For more information about the IPMItool, see the following reference information:

The man page
The built-in command line help provides a list of IPMItool commands:
```
# ipmitool help
```
You can also get help for many specific IPMItool commands by adding the word help after the command:
```
# ipmitool channel help
```

Logical Channels

IPMI uses logical channels as BMC communication pathways. Two key channels are the Open Interface and the LAN channel. The Open Interface is also called the System Interface and uses the OpenIPMI kernel driver. The LAN channel is used when the IPMItool is communicating with a remote machine's BMC. The command line -I option specifies the channel. The Open Interface is used as the default channel. For example, the following commands provide the same result:

# ipmitool -I open mc info
# ipmitool mc info

IPMI is a standardized, message-based interface. All IPMItool commands work with all the IPMItool Interfaces (Open or System, LAN, and others). IPMItool uses the System Interface (in-band) to run the IPMI command on the local BMC through the OpenIPMI Driver. IPMItool can also use a LAN Interface to receive IPMI responses from a remote IPMI-based platform, if you know its BMC IP address and have user access to the BMC. To determine this information, you must use the specific channel numbers for your IPMI system. IBM® platforms with IPMI assign the System Interface to channel number 15 and the LAN to channel number 1.

You can determine details for each channel in your system by using the info command along with the channel number (0 - 15). If you do not provide a channel number, the BMC replies with information about the current channel on which you are running the command. For example, in this case the current channel is the System Interface and is on channel 15 (oxf).

# ipmitool channel info
Channel 0xf info:
 Channel Medium Type     : System Interface
 Channel Protocol Type   : KCS
 Session Support         : session-less
 Active Session Count    : 0
 Protocol Vendor ID      : 7154

You can also use the following command and receive the same output as shown in the preceding example:

# ipmitool channel info 15

All IBM platforms with IPMI also have a LAN interface that is assigned to channel number 1:

# ipmitool channel info 1
Channel 0x1 info:
 Channel Medium Type     : 802.3 LAN
 Channel Protocol Type   : IPMB-1.0
 Session Support         : multi-session
 Active Session Count    : 0
 Protocol Vendor ID      : 7154
 Volatile(active) Settings
  Alerting               : enabled
  Per-message Auth       : disabled
  User Level Auth        : enabled
  Access Mode            : always available
 Non-Volatile Settings
  Alerting               : enabled
  Per-message Auth       : disabled
  User Level Auth        : enabled
  Access Mode            : always available