[chuug] Cool extension to OpenIPMI-tools via dell repository

[Howard Powell]

I'm not sure if you guys are monitoring the Dell repository, but last  
week the guys in Dell's Linux group released a slightly patched  
version of OpenIPMI-tools via the Dell repo for RHEL and SLES systems  
(including CentOS).  Most PowerEdge equipment from Dell includes IPMI  
hardware that lets you probe the status of the machine while it's  
running.

The new extensions are the "delloem" commands.  Amongst other things,  
it lets you control the LCD, get the system serial number and check  
the BIOS revision all from within the OS.  The IPMI power commands  
also seem to actually work now (previously when I tried they didn't).

[root at Aura ~]# ipmitool delloem sysinfo
Device ID           : 32
Device Revision     : 00
Firmware Version    : 1.72
IPMI Version        : 1.5
Manufacturer ID     : 674
Product ID          : 0
Status              : No error
SDR Version         : 1.5
GUID                : 3137524F-C0C4-4780-4410-00384C4C4544
Board Language Code : English
Board Product Name  : FRU16K,DELL P/N
Board Serial Number : CN1374055O02RM
Board Part Number   : 0T7971A03
Host Name           : Aura.astro.virginia.edu
Product Model       : PowerEdge 2850
Service Tag         : D8DGR71
BIOS version        : A06

Assuming you have the dell repo set up and available via yum, the  
following commands will install the patched version of ipmitool:
yum -y remove OpenIPMI-tools
yum -y install OpenIPMI-tools-2.0.6-5.el5.3.DELL.13

Another way to do this (via script for example) would be to add  
"exclude=OpenIPMI-tools" to the Base and Updates sections of /etc/ 
yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo file, then remove and install OpenIPMI- 
tools.

Hope you find this useful.
H
--

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake
     Napoleon Bonaparte

Howard Powell
Computer Support Technician
Astronomy Department, UVa