IPMI unreachable

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Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
I have Supermicro X11SCH-F board.
I have recently updated the firmware, after which the IPMI (I have that set to static IP in the BIOS) became unreachable. I thought it was normal and would start working after a reboot.
It didn't.
I have no idea what to do now. I even did a CMOS reset which didn't help, and now the server wouldn't even boot (it runs ESXi) and I have no idea what's going on there because I don't have a damn VGA cable.
Any ideas?
I thought the IPMI would be reset after a CMOS reset, expecting it to switch to DHCP, but apparently not.

What can I do besides going to buy a VGA cable tomorrow?
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
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Austin, TX
Is the IPMI green light flashing? (normally below the I/O ports by the first PCIE slot).
 
Last edited:

RageBone

Active Member
Jul 11, 2017
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CMOS resets don't affect the ipmi / BMC.
Flashing the BMC FW can wipe the config if you specify to do it. Default on SM should be to preserve the config, though that can sometimes cause problems.

If you manage to Boot to an OS, you can flash and configure everything from there.
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
I'm not sure, the server runs ESXi, so I don't think I can do that from there.
I could grab a bootable USB stick though I guess.
I'll know more when I get a monitor output.
 

Blinky 42

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
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Also check if IPMI reverted back to the default of fail-over between the Dedicated IPMI port and shared with the 1st Ethernet motherboard port. You can force it back to the dedicated port by unplugging / turning the port off on the switch for eth0 and power cycling the server with it down for 30+ sec so the ipmi goes through the full cold boot cycle and picks the dedicated ipmi port for sure since the shared port is down. After a minute you can re-enable the eth0 port as it should have locked onto the dedicated by then.
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
Got the cable, server works, IPMI wasn't reset at all even with clearing the CMOS, and bizzarely, the IP is still the same, yet I cannot access it.

It seems like I will need at least partially managed switch in near future. This is just too messy. IPMI having static IP, and router running as a VM on the server.
 

redeamon

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
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Is your router also the DHCP server? Did the computer you used to access IPMI have a static ip as well?
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
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Austin, TX
and router running as a VM on the server.
That information is pretty pertinent, that being said it shouldn't matter as long as the device you're trying to connect to the IMPI with is static also. (assuming your router issues DHCP as well)