IPMI IKVM + External display on Supermicro X11SBA-F?

[denywinarto]

I've been thinking of getting X11SBA-F for to replace my aging operator machine, but it must be hooked to a monitor 24/7, and at the same time i want IPMI IKVM to be active as well. Otherwise, i'd rather get consumer motherboard without IPMI.

Problem is, my previous experience with X11SCA-F indicates it's not possible to have IPMI IKVM + active external display at the same time. But apparently Mouse + keyboard input works during blackscreen

This is the result of my experiment of X11SCA-F + viewsonic monitor 2407h which has both hdmi and vga output, the cpu is i5-8400t

Internal graphics enabled

• Primary display Auto + hdmi monitor = hdmi ok, ikvm blackscreen
• Primary display auto + vga monitor = vga black screen, ikvm ok
• Primary display igfx + hdmi monitor = hdmi ok, ikvm blackscreen
• Primary display igfx + vga monitor = vga blackscreen, ikvm ok
• Primary display PEG + hdmi monitor = hdmi ok, ikvm blackscreen
• Primary display PEG + vga monitor = vga black screen, ikvm ok
• Primary display PCI + hdmi monitor = hdmi blackscreen, ikvm ok
• Primary display PCI + vga monitor = vga black screen, ikvm ok
• Primary display SG + hdmi monitor = hdmi ok, ikvm blackscreen
• Primary display SG + vga monitor = vga black screen, ikvm ok

So is this really a limitation of IKVM, or am i missing something here? Or maybe it only applies to X11SCA-F?

 

[vanfawx]

There's no way to route the video output of your video card through the GPU built into the IPMI.

 

[denywinarto]

There's no way to route the video output of your video card through the GPU built into the IPMI.

Yeah i thought so, i wish there was a workaround since mouse keyboard work..
Is this specific to supermicro or also applies to other BMC's such as ILO and iDrac?

Edit : what about duplicating display from OS? think i'm gonna test this today

 

[denywinarto]

Well this is interesting, with IGPU enabled and PCI as primary display in BIOS,
There are 2 displays detected, Aspeed BMC and intel UHD, which i'd assume is connecte to the hdmi monitor
But the option to Duplicate display is missing.
There's only Show only Display 1, Show only Display 2 and Extend this display.
The option is still there with win button + P, but choosing it does nothing.

Swapping the display 1 / 2 basically swap the active display for IKVM and the monitor.
Extending the display actually creates additional virtual (?) desktops
but it's still not ideal for me because its not the same screen

 

[artlessknave]

IPMI pulls its video directly from the onboard BMC video. there is no connection to any PCIE cards. what you are trying to do is electrically impossible.
even if you aren't using the video, IPMI is still godlike, since you get remote power control and a bunch of other things that simply cannot be achieved any other way to the same efficiency.
what is an "operator machine", and what does it do that you can't just connect the BMC to a (VGA) monitor? you should be able to run the onboard video and IPMI at the same time, since its the same video output.
it seems like more info would be needed for anyone to even make suggestions to achieve your goal.

 

[denywinarto]

IPMI pulls its video directly from the onboard BMC video. there is no connection to any PCIE cards. what you are trying to do is electrically impossible.
even if you aren't using the video, IPMI is still godlike, since you get remote power control and a bunch of other things that simply cannot be achieved any other way to the same efficiency.
what is an "operator machine", and what does it do that you can't just connect the BMC to a (VGA) monitor? you should be able to run the onboard video and IPMI at the same time, since its the same video output.
it seems like more info would be needed for anyone to even make suggestions to achieve your goal.

Basically it's gonna be used by my employees 24/7 and obviously requires an external display.
I have tried using VGA output to VGA monitor, but it's always showing blackscreen as you can see on my test above.
Have you actually tried that on a Supermicro board?

 

[vanfawx]

I think the main issue is the GPU on the IPMI is just a basic 2D controller with very limited 3D capabilities. I'm not sure it has the capability for display mirroring.

For what you're wanting, you'll need to get an external IPKVM unit. I use an Aten CN6000 for an old PC I need video output from remotely. They're not usually cheap though, but I'm not sure how else to make what you want work.

 

[artlessknave]

The only issue with motherboard IPMI KVM (for example: Supermicro, Dell iDRAC, HP iLO) is that they almost always handle the remote display part by "sniffing" the framebuffer of the onboard video controller. If you add a display adapter, the IPMI KVM ends up "looking in the wrong place" and you get a blank screen. Not a problem for servers where the onboard video is fine, but can be a problem if the system is going to be used for something video-intensive and remote access is needed.

did you try with the GPU removed? if this post is correct (discovered by accident), a GPU will make the bmc video work weird.

 

[denywinarto]

I think the main issue is the GPU on the IPMI is just a basic 2D controller with very limited 3D capabilities. I'm not sure it has the capability for display mirroring.

For what you're wanting, you'll need to get an external IPKVM unit. I use an Aten CN6000 for an old PC I need video output from remotely. They're not usually cheap though, but I'm not sure how else to make what you want work.

Hmm, i'd rather keep the machines as few as possible, less maintenance and less headache..
Also, if there's absolutely no way to do this i'd rather get xiaomi smartplug + consumer motherboard.
It's cheaper and At least i can still remote restart the plug...

Btw if bmc is not capable of mirroring, why is it capable of extending? Extending basically connects 2 monitor as 1 isnt it? Probably there's a way to make duplicating works?

I will try to mirror display from ikvm side later, and maybe test another primary display option..
(Still dont understand how "split graphics" work)

did you try with the GPU removed? if this post is correct (discovered by accident), a GPU will make the bmc video work weird.

I'm not using any GPU, just intel iGPU from i5- 8400t, disabling internal graphics in BIOS causes all the external display to stop working.

 

[denywinarto]

Thought i'd give an update,
just won a x11sba-f auction, and unlike x11sca-f, it does work simultaneously with monitor.
Not sure if its because x11sba-f is using soldered cpu, or is it bios issue with x11sca-f.
But i had to change the display type to duplicate IIRC otherwise it'll go black screen