[Wolves] Remote Power Management

[Adam Sweet]

--- Don Cockman <don at hauraki.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi Ad,
> 
> You can do all sorts of 'useful' stuff with the
> service processors.
> 
> Accessing them via ssh you can redirect the console
> to the SP, meaning you can 
> login and do all the linux-y things that you could
> do from the command line.
> You can stop/start/restart the OS, or power
> on/off/cycle the main box

Thanks once again. After some serious faffing, I
managed to control the machine by using the following
instructions (it's for Debian, but we're using
CentOS):

http://buttersideup.com/docs/howto/IPMI_on_Debian.html

and

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps4q04-20040204-Murphy.pdf

I can remotely reboot, shutdown and start the server
and now doubt do all sorts of other things.

For googlers, I had to install OpenIPMI via yum and
ipmitools (on another machine) from their project
homepage (ie not yum), tell the ipmi modules to load
at boot and configure the BMC in the BIOS to have it's
own IP address.

> They'll even allow you to logon when he main server
> is powered off and let you
> power it on (if it's plugged into the power of
> course!)
> I believe the v40z service processor also includes a
> basic web server where you
> can interrogate all of the things via a web browser.

Sadly our BMC seems not to offer a web interface, SSH,
or Serial Over LAN, so we are investigating servers
that do, SOL is something that we're very interested
in as we've already done away with the need for a
remote power unit, we're trying to see if we can get
away without an IP KVM. The Sun X2100 M2 supports
these, so we are pricing up and I an trying to work
out whether SOL works under Linux at the moment. The
ones in the Debian howto talks about proprietary Intel
tools, while I don't know what BMC devices we have
(Dell seem not to want to say on their website and
/proc and lspci won't tell me...)

> Hope that's of some use.
> 
> Don

Amazing :) Hitting a command on a machine and hearing
your server turn off it quite cool :) Thanks a lot.

Adam


> 
> --- Don Cockman <don at hauraki.co.uk
>
<https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/wolves>>
> wrote:
> 
> Hi Don,
> 
> >/ The service processors are very useful for remote
> />/ management and
> />/ troubleshooting purposes
> /
> So are these devices designed for hardware
> monitoring
> and/or remote shutdown/reboot? I'm thinking here of
> dealing with a kernel panic remotely when I can't
> get
> in via SSH. It looks in this an IP KVM would be
> useful
> for viewing the servers while looking at the BIOS,
> or
> boot procedure. But, supposing the machine kernel
> panics or otherwise dies in such a way that it's
> still
> on, but not responding, can you still access the
> card?
> And how do you talk to them?
> 
> >/ The main problem I've found with the Sun boxes
> />/ running anything other
> />/ than Solaris is that the error reporting (system
> />/ crashes, over
> />/ temperature alarms and the suchlike) is somewhat
> />/ lacking compared to
> />/ what you'd expect from a Solaris based system.
> Most
> />/ of the problems I've
> />/ come across have meant delving into the service
> />/ processor logs and
> />/ calling Sun to get them to decipher them..
> /
> I can deal with crap reporting from lmsensors and
> whatnot. What I really need is the ability to get
> into
> the BIOS, the grub command line and watch the boot
> process for errors and use fsck when a disk
> inconsistency occurs etc, so that sounds like an IP
> KVM job. I also need to be able to shutdown and
> reboot
> remotely when a machine won't let me in. Do these
> cards allow you to do that? What do these cards
> allow
> you to do? Do they work when the system isn't
> responding? Do they work when the OS isn't running?
> Do
> they work when the system is powered off?
> 
> Sorry, all I have is more questions. I need to
> google
> more.
> 
> Thanks a lot :)
> 
> Ad
> 
> >/ Adam Sweet wrote:
> />/ > Hi all
> />/ >
> />/ > I'm looking at putting some machines (a few
> />/ initially,
> />/ > possibly lots eventually) into a data centre
> and
> />/ > managing remotely. I can do everything over
> SSH
> />/ except
> />/ > shut the machines down or reboot them when
> they're
> />/ > dead and I don't know a great deal about this
> kind
> />/ of
> />/ > thing.
> />/ >
> />/ > Does anyone have recommendations for devices
> and
> />/ > suppliers suitable for this kind of job. Price
> />/ isn't
> />/ > an enormous issue, provided it doesn't run
> into
> />/ > thousands, but I need to know what I'm looking
> at
> />/ and
> />/ > the price/features trade offs.
> />/ >
> />/ > I have 2 choices in mind, either a some
> standard
> />/ > x86/x86-64 servers and something like this
> (from a
> />/ > quick google):
> />/ >
> />/ >
> />/
>
/http://www.kvmpartnership.co.uk/remote-power-control.htm
> >/ >
> />/ > Or some Sun servers with a System Management
> />/ Daughter
> />/ > Card or "Service processor with embedded
> Lights
> />/ Out
> />/ > Management (LOM) standard". Does anyone have
> any
> />/ > experience of using these under Linux? Are
> they
> />/ any
> />/ > good? Can you recommend any?
> />/ >
> />/ > Would I want an IP KVM? Why? What do they do
> that
> />/ I
> />/ > couldn't do remotely over SSH, or locally
> using a
> />/ > regular KVM (should I need to go on-site)?
> />/ >
> />/ > I guess I'm going to have to get used to using
> />/ screen
> />/ > as well...
> />/ >
> />/ > Can anyone guide me towards making the right
> />/ choice,
> />/ > I'm in uncharted territory?
> />/ >
> />/ > Yours hopefully,
> />/ >
> />/ > Ad
> />/ >
> />/ >   
> />/ 
> />/ 
> />/ _______________________________________________
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> />/ Homepage: http://www.wolveslug.org.uk/
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> />/ 
> /
> 
> -- 
> 
> http://www.drinky.org.uk
> 
> http://blog.adamsweet.org
> 
> 
> 
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