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Introduction

Dell OpenManage™ Baseboard Management Controller User's Guide

  Supported Systems

  BMC Configuration and Management Tasks

  BMC Configuration and Management Tools

  Other Dell Documents You May Need

  Obtaining Technical Assistance

The Dell™ PowerEdge™ systems baseboard management controller (BMC) monitors the system for critical events by communicating with various sensors on the system board and sends alerts and logs events when certain parameters exceed their preset thresholds. The BMC supports the industry-standard Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification, enabling you to configure, monitor, and recover systems remotely. The BMC provides the following features:

• Access through the system's serial port and integrated NIC
  
  
• Fault logging and SNMP alerting
  
  
• Access to the system event log (SEL) and sensor status
  
  
• Control of system functions including power on and off
  
  
• Support that is independent of the system's power or operating state
  
  
• Text console redirection for system setup, text-based utilities, and operating system consoles
  
  
• Access to Red Hat® Enterprise Linux serial console interfaces by using serial over LAN (SOL).
  
  

Dell provides several distinct utilities and programs for accessing the BMC to perform management activities. The following BMC interfaces allow users to configure and manage your system through the BMC.

• The BMC Management Utility allows remote, out-of-band LAN and/or serial port power control, event log access, and console redirection.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage™ Deployment Toolkit Version 1.3 BMCCFG.EXE utility provides a powerful command line configuration tool.
  
  
• Dell OpenManage Server Administrator allows remote, in-band access to event logs, power control, and sensor status information and provides the ability to configure the BMC.
  
  
• In addition, the BMC can be accessed by standard, off-the-shelf terminal or terminal emulator utilities that allow access to sensor status information, and power control.
  
  

Supported Systems

The BMC-management features documented in this guide are supported on the following Dell PowerEdge systems:

• 800
  
  
• 1425SC
  
  
• 1800
  
  
• 1850
  
  
• 1855
  
  
• 2800
  
  
• 2850
  
  
• 6800
  
  
• 6850
  
  

BMC Configuration and Management Tasks

This User's Guide documents the basic tasks needed to set up and configure the BMC on a managed system in preparation for using the BMC Management Utility. These basic tasks are described in the following sections:

• Configuring the BMC
  
  
• Managing the BMC
  
  

Configuring the BMC

To configure the BMC in a pre-boot environment, you can use either the BIOS BMC Setup Module or the DTK BMCCFG.EXE utility, depending on the scope of your required configuration tasks. Alternately, you can configure the BMC on a managed system with a running operating system using the Server Administrator home page GUI or CLI. See "Baseboard Management Controller Configuration" for more information.

Managing the BMC

To manage the BMC in a pre-boot environment, or to access the BMC of a nonresponsive system, you must use the BMC Management Utility. See "Using the BMC Management Utility." To configure the BMC on a system with a running operating system or to perform everyday BMC management tasks, you can use the GUI on the Server Administrator home page. See the Server Administrator Version 2.0 User's Guide for more information about using Server Administrator to manage your system's BMC functions. Figure 1-1 shows the configuration matrix for BMC.

Figure 1-1. BMC Configuration Matrix

BMC Action on Alert

If you plan to use your system's BMC to send BMC alerts, you must follow the BMC Action on Alert configuration guidelines listed in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1. BMC Action on Alert Configuration Guidelines

Basic BMC Alerting Over a Shared LAN

If you plan to use your system's BMC to only monitor BMC Alerts using IT Assistant, you will need to follow the BMC configuration guidelines listed in Table 1-2.

Table 1-2. BMC LAN Alerting Configuration Guidelines

IPMI Shell Over a Shared LAN

If you plan to use the BMC Management Utility's IPMI Shell to access your system's BMC over a shared LAN, you must follow the BMC configuration guidelines listed in Table 1-3.

Table 1-3. BMC LAN Access Configuration Guidelines

IPMI Shell Over the Serial Cable

If you plan to use the BMC Management Utility's IPMI Shell or a text console redirection to access your system's BMC over a serial cable, you must follow the BMC configuration guidelines listed in Table 1-4.

Table 1-4. BMC Serial Configuration Guidelines

SOL Proxy Over a Shared LAN

If you plan to use the BMC Management Utility's SOL Proxy to access your system's BMC over a shared LAN, you must follow the BMC configuration guidelines listed in Table 1-5.

Table 1-5. BMC SOL Configuration Guidelines

BMC Configuration and Management Tools

Using the BMC Setup Module

The BMC Setup Module provides basic BMC setup and configuration functions that can be accessed during system boot. Use the BMC Setup Module for initial BMC setup and configuration only. For advanced configuration tasks, you must use the Deployment Toolkit Version 1.3 BMCCFG.EXE utility or Server Administrator Version 2.0. See your system User's Guide for additional information about the BMC Setup Module.

Using the Deployment Toolkit

The Deployment Toolkit (DTK) Version 1.3 BMCCFG.EXE utility provides a powerful DOS-based command-line interface for locally configuring your system's BMC as part of an initial deployment. Use the BMCCFG.EXE utility to set all supported BMC features. In addition, you can use the DTK utilities as part of a scripted deployment to multiple similar systems. To use the BMCCFG.EXE utility, you must perform the following tasks:

• Download the DTK executable and save the utilities to your hard drive.
  
  
• Set up a bootable diskette or CD that contains a copy of the BMCCFG.EXE utility.
  
  
• Locally configure BMC on the managed system.
  
  

See the Deployment Toolkit Version 1.3 User's Guide and Command Line Interface Reference Guide for more information about using the BMCCFG.EXE utility to configure and manage your system BMC.

Using the BMC Management Utility

The BMC Management Utility provides a command-line, remote management station to manage BMC-supported functions. Use the BMC Management Utility to manage your BMC from a remote management station and as your managed system's emergency management console. The utility gives you the option of using either a command line interface (IPMI Shell) or a serial over LAN proxy (SOL Proxy) to access and manage the BMC. To use the BMC Management Utility, you must perform the following tasks:

NOTE: You must first configure your BMC with the BMC Setup Module, the Deployment Toolkit BMCCFG.EXE utility, or Server Administrator before you can use the BMC Management Utility.

• Configure BMC using the BMC Setup Module, the Deployment Toolkit BMCCFG.EXE utility, or Server Administrator.
  
  
• Install the BMC Management Utility on a management station.
  
  

See "Configuring Your Managed System" for instructions on configuring the BMC on a managed system in preparation for using the BMC Management Utility. For complete instructions about using the BMC Management Utility to manage your system BMC, see "Using the BMC Management Utility."

Using Server Administrator

Server Administrator Version 2.0 provides a convenient and easy-to-use graphical user interface for remotely configuring or managing your system's BMC on a system running a supported operating system. You can use the Server Administrator Instrumentation Service to configure the most relevant BMC features, such as Platform Event Filter (PEF) parameters and alert destinations. In addition, Server Administrator can be used as command line interface. Server Administrator requires that the system has an operating system installed and functioning. As a result, Server Administrator is best suited for everyday BMC management tasks, and is not an option for performing pre-boot setup or accessing the BMC as a emergency management console. To use Server Administrator, you must perform the following tasks:

• Install Server Administrator on the managed system.
  
  
• Remotely access the Server Administrator home page from a supported browser on a management station.
  
  
• Remotely configure BMC on the managed system.
  
  

See the Server Administrator Version 2.0 User's Guide and Command line Interface User's Guide for more information about using Server Administrator to configure and manage your system BMC.

Other Dell Documents You May Need

In addition to this User's Guide, you can find the following guides either on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com or on the documentation CD:

• The Dell OpenManage Quick Installation Guide provides additional information about installing the BMC Management Utility on a management station.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Version 2.0 User's Guide provides additional information about using Server Administrator to manage your system's BMC.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit Version 1.3 User's Guide provides additional information about installing and using the Deployment Toolkit utilities.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit Version 1.3 Command Line Interface Reference Guide provides a complete list of all valid BMC-related command-line options, suboptions, and arguments.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage IT Assistant User's Guide Version 7.0 provides information about how to monitor and manage a large number of client and server systems on a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).
  
  
• Your Dell system User's Guide provides supplemental information about configuring your BIOS settings with the System Setup Program and your BMC with the BMC Setup Module, as well as instructions for configuring your system to use console redirection.
  
  

Additionally, the Dell OpenManage readme.txt file provides the latest available information for the installation and operation of the programs and utilities used to manage your system through the BMC. The readme is available on the Dell OpenManage Systems Management Consoles CD and on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

Obtaining Technical Assistance

If at any time you do not understand a procedure described in this guide or if your product does not perform as expected, help tools are available to assist you. For more information about these help tools, see "Getting Help" in your system's Installation and Troubleshooting Guide.

Additionally, Dell Enterprise Training and Certification is available; see www.dell.com/training for more information. This service may not be offered in all locations.

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