Ah, interesting. So if the Vendor(s) we're interfacing with use the same rev number for all their device firmware, I may be able to simply query for the IPMI firmware version number, correct? Assuming this is part of the IPMI spec?
-----Original Message----- From: Al Chu [mailto:ch...@llnl.gov] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 12:50 PM To: Vinny Vallarine Cc: freeipmi-devel@gnu.org Subject: RE: [Freeipmi-devel] Retrieving BIOS information via IPMI On Mon, 2014-01-06 at 12:41 -0500, Vinny Vallarine wrote: > Thanks Al. > > > > I'd be content at the moment to be able to retrieve the BIOS version > number. Sounds like something as simple as that would be Vendor > specific, correct? Yes & no. My recollection is that nothing in the IPMI spec allows you to specifically retrieve the "BIOS" version. However, many vendors flash all of their device firmware (BIOS + IPMI firmware, etc.) with the same image. So many of the device/system versions retrieved via IPMI may in fact be identical to the BIOS version. > > > We're interfacing with SuperMicro main boards. I know they have > specific tools to do exactly what I need to do so I'm assuming they've > added the needed extensions. > You may be in luck. There is an extensions for Supermicro firmware versions in ipmi-oem. However, again, it's not necessarily the BIOS version. Al > > I'll check out your suggestions to see what is configurable and what > the vendors have added. > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Vinny > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Al Chu [mailto:ch...@llnl.gov] > Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 12:24 PM > To: Vinny Vallarine > Cc: freeipmi-devel@gnu.org > Subject: Re: [Freeipmi-devel] Retrieving BIOS information via IPMI > > > > Hi Vinny, > > > > The IPMI specification does not support the ability to retrieve/modify > BIOS options per se. The IPMI specification does allow modification > of various motherboard parameters, many of which may happen to be > readable/modifiable/managed by the BIOS. > > > > So if you are looking to use IPMI for querying the BIOS, it really > depends on what you would like to query. Not everything in the BIOS > will be queryable. > > > > For example, the chassis subsection of IPMI allows the configuration > of a number of boot options. Many of these configuration options are > likely in the BIOS (see ipmi-chassis-config tool to get an idea of > what is configurable). General device information is available > through various device queries and that may also be in the BIOS (see > bmc-info tool for examples of info that is available). I believe some > vendors support reading of the SEL in the BIOS for hardware analysis > (see tool ipmi-sel for example). > > > > As an aside, various vendors have added extensions to IPMI to > retrieve/set BIOS settings, but these are on a vendor by vendor (many > times motherboard by motherboard) basis. If you look through the tool > ipmi-oem, you can see what some vendors have supported. > > > > If one of the tools supports what you would like to do, then we can > perhaps dig into the API from that point. > > > > Al > > > > > > On Mon, 2014-01-06 at 10:20 -0500, Vinny Vallarine wrote: > > > My company is looking for an IPMI package that we can interface > with. > > > I’ve just downloaded your freeIPMI package. What we need to do is > > > query multiple machines and retrieve their BIOS revision numbers as > > > well as specific BIOS settings. I’ve looked through your > > > documentation but don’t see an API that would allow me to do that > via > > > your libraries. Could you let me know how this can be done through > > > your libraries? I’m looking for the interface/methods that I can > call > > > to accomplish this. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Vincent Vallarine > > > > > > Innovative Defense Technologies, LLC > > > > > > 401.741.4571 (Mobile) > > > > > > vvallar...@idtus.com > > > > > > www.idtus.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Freeipmi-devel mailing list > > > Freeipmi-devel@gnu.org > > > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freeipmi-devel > > -- > > Albert Chu > > ch...@llnl.gov > > Computer Scientist > > High Performance Systems Division > > Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory > > > > -- Albert Chu ch...@llnl.gov Computer Scientist High Performance Systems Division Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory _______________________________________________ Freeipmi-devel mailing list Freeipmi-devel@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freeipmi-devel
