This section discusses known issues with using the BMC Management Utility, along with frequently asked questions.
Known Issues
General Issues
You must assign a valid BMC user name and password before you can connect to your system's BMC using the BMC Management Utility. If you do not explicitly provide a valid BMC user name and password when using the BMC Management Utility to log in to your system's BMC, the BMC firmware will use a null user name and null password as defaults, resulting in a "Login Not Authorized" error.
SOL Proxy Issues
SOL Proxy on IP port 623 allows connections from a Web browser. However, if you connect from a Web browser, SOL Proxy displays only jumbled and unusable data. You must close the Web session and connect through a telnet connection to run the application.
Microsoft® SAC does not implement hardware control flow. Therefore, when console redirection is enabled with EMS SAC, you will see corrupted data. As SAC does not implement hardware flow control, you are unable to effectively use SOL Proxy to activate console redirection to EMS SAC. This can result in corrupted screen output caused by missed characters. Slower baud rates correct this situation and still provide good user experience.
IPMI Shell Issues
If you type ipmish from any directory other than the directory where the BMU is installed, you will receive a "command not found" error from MS-DOS®. This is because the BMU install directory is not included in the system search path. You can execute IPMISH directly by specifying a fully-qualified path or by first navigating to the BMC directory and then executing the command. You may also manually add the BMU install directory to the execution search path.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do IPMI Shell commands correspond one-to-one to IPMI commands?
A: IPMI Shell provides only the most useful IPMI commands. It includes a definitive set of commands that can accomplish the most common management tasks. Therefore, IPMI Shell commands may not correspond one-to-one to IPMI commands.
Q: Can I manage a system by accessing multiple IPMI instances simultaneously?
A: Yes, you can manage a system by accessing multiple IPMI instances at the same time as long as your system's BMC supports more than one concurrent connection.
Q: Can my SOL Proxy server handle multiple connections at a time?
A: Yes, each SOL Proxy server can handle a maximum of 20 SOL Proxy connections simultaneously. However, by default only one session is permitted. Edit
solproxy.cfg, remove the comment tag and increase the value of max_session.
Q: How do I unlock an SOL session occupied by another user?
A: Your system's BMC only supports one SOL session at a time. You must wait for the current user's session to time out before you can access a new SOL proxy session. See "Session Timeout" for more information about configuring the session timeout parameters.
Q: Why can't I connect to a console using the terminal emulation software included with my Microsoft Windows® operating system?
A: The version of HyperTerminal included with Windows does not provide many functions required during console redirection. Either upgrade to HyperTerminal Private Edition 6.1 or later, or select any other terminal emulation software that supports full configuration of VT100 or ANSI emulation mode.
Q. What is the Spanning Tree feature?
A. Most quality routers use the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) to optimize performance and remove loops. This can cause delays up to 30 seconds or more whenever a NIC is reset. Resets are known to happen during BIOS POST, driver initialization, and some network software installation and configuration. The delay can cause errors when running IPMISH commands. It can also cause a SOL proxy session to become inactivated. You can configure your router to reduce or eliminate the delay by enabling the router option edge-port (Dell™ PowerConnect™) or port fast (Cisco). This will allow the link to remain constant and handle the optimization in real time.
Q: I performed a Reboot and Activate Console Redirection command using SOL Proxy, but the option to press <F2> to enter the BIOS setup never appeared.
A: When the network switch has spanning-tree enabled, it takes as much as 30 to 40 seconds for the spanning-tree check to make sure there are no loops in the network. During this time, packet forwarding by the switch is blocked. Therefore, the software cannot communicate with the BMC until the spanning tree check is complete. When the spanning tree feature is enabled on a edge-port or port fast router, the network link can be broken for periods of time in excess of 30 seconds while the router analyzes the network. This situation can be identified partially when the link light is off. IPMISH commands can timeout during this process. Disable spanning-tree on the port fast router or enable the Spanning Tree Fast option and try performing a Reboot and Activate Console Redirection command using SOL Proxy again. You should now be able to enter BIOS setup by pressing <F2>.
Q: Why do I see a connection time-out error message when I perform the Power Reset command using the IPMISH command line tool?
A: The spanning-tree feature described in the previous Q&A can cause problems during power management as well. Use the solution above to help assure that power reset and other power management commands can function without network timeouts.
Q: Why do some key and key combinations, such as <F10> and <Ctrl><Alt><Del>, not work during console redirection?
A: Console redirection uses ANSI or VT 100/220 terminal emulation, which is limited to basic ASCII characters. Function keys, arrow keys, and control keys are not available in the ASCII character set, and most utilities require function keys and control keys for ordinary operations. See "Escape Key Sequences" for more information on the same.
Q: Can you use terminal mode simultaneously with BIOS console redirection?
A: Yes. BMC terminal mode can function simultaneously with BIOS console redirection. You can escape between the BMC's terminal mode and the BIOS console redirection using the following Escape sequences:
Press <Esc><q> to switch the system serial port to the BIOS console redirection text stream.
Press <Esc><(> to switch the system serial port to the BMC terminal mode text stream.
NOTE: Because you are switching back and forth between two independently active text streams, data may be lost.
See your system User's Guide for more information about configuring and using BIOS console redirection and see "Terminal Mode Commands" for more information about using Terminal Mode commands.
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