Is there a way to add IPMI to a non SM motherboard?

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cesmith9999

cesmith9999

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Mar 26, 2013
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I have an old atom uATX motherboard that I just got back from a friends business that they borrowed while they went under...

It is still in good shape. I would like to use it as a home (pfsense) router. but I want to access it through some impi type interface. power up/power down/remote KVM functionallity .

Anyway to retro fit an old MB? I see some add-in Impi Cards from SM. but it is not easy to see if they work on generic MB.

Chris
 
cesmith9999

cesmith9999

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Mar 26, 2013
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I was hoping for something that I could do remote power on/power off too... and under $100

Chris
 
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pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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I'm sure I have seen folks use RPi or BBB boards to provide simple on/off/reset and provide a local serial/ console port. I think on this occasion giggle is your friend :)
 
Terry Kennedy

Terry Kennedy

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Jun 25, 2015
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www.glaver.org
cesmith9999 said:
with this much hacking to get remote management... I may just do this with 4 GB so-dimm and instead SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SBA-LN4F-O Mini ITX Server Motherboard
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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.
 
J

Jon Massey

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Nov 11, 2015
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Terry Kennedy said:
can be a problem if the system is going to be used for something video-intensive and remote access is needed.
Click to expand...
Our remote image processing boxen use these http://www.supermicro.co.uk/products/motherboard/Core/Z97/C7Z97-MF.cfm with an overclocked i7-4970K and a GTX970 (incidentally if anyone spots a Z170 board with IMPI in the wild let me know!). If you enable both onboard and PCIE graphics in the BIOS it seems to work quite happily and if we set the display to mirrored in Windows we can see everything fine through IPMI whilst still getting the performance of the GTX970.
 
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wiretap

wiretap

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For around $35, I built a simple Raspberry Pi + SainSmart 2-relay board hooked up to the power/reset switches. Using WebIOPi, I programmed the switches for [POWER LONG PRESS], [POWER SHORT PRESS], and [RESET]. If you can't remote desktop into the server, you go to the Pi's website and tell it to either do a long press on the power button if the system is crash/hanged, or you can power it on/off, or hit the reset switch. I also tied into the network, power, and disk LED's to the Pi's GPIO inputs so I can see the status of the server.

If you're looking for full graphics performance as well, you can use RemoteFX with Nvidia GRID when you RDP to the client server.
 
X

Xopie

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Feb 25, 2016
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There seems to be a range of ASUS add-on cards using some sort of 16pin header they include on their boards.

ASMB4-iKVM - Overview
ASMB5-iKVM - Overview
ASMB6-iKVM - Overview
ASMB7-IKVM - Overview
ASMB8-iKVM - Overview


I wondered if this is related to the Intel TPM 16pin headers, the cards seem to have so little on them chip/components wise its pretty interesting.

The single chip on the later versions seems to be flash memory "The W25Q256FV(256M-bit)Serial Flash memory provides storage solution for systems with limited space, pins and power." Perhaps the device is simply a licence key of sorts to unlock features already on the motherboard.

Maybe it is just a variation of this Intel vPro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia speaking of which, perhaps your Atom has the Intel remote management features already?
 
MiniKnight

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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wiretap said:
For around $35, I built a simple Raspberry Pi + SainSmart 2-relay board hooked up to the power/reset switches. Using WebIOPi, I programmed the switches for [POWER LONG PRESS], [POWER SHORT PRESS], and [RESET]. If you can't remote desktop into the server, you go to the Pi's website and tell it to either do a long press on the power button if the system is crash/hanged, or you can power it on/off, or hit the reset switch. I also tied into the network, power, and disk LED's to the Pi's GPIO inputs so I can see the status of the server.

If you're looking for full graphics performance as well, you can use RemoteFX with Nvidia GRID when you RDP to the client server.
Click to expand...
I think that's worthy of some pics and it's own how-to post!!!!!!!!!!!

@Xopie - those are asus specific and only work on some boards and require you use the right generation ASM with the right generation board.
 
W

William

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May 7, 2015
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Xopie said:
There seems to be a range of ASUS add-on cards using some sort of 16pin header they include on their boards.

ASMB4-iKVM - Overview
ASMB5-iKVM - Overview
ASMB6-iKVM - Overview
ASMB7-IKVM - Overview
ASMB8-iKVM - Overview


I wondered if this is related to the Intel TPM 16pin headers, the cards seem to have so little on them chip/components wise its pretty interesting.

The single chip on the later versions seems to be flash memory "The W25Q256FV(256M-bit)Serial Flash memory provides storage solution for systems with limited space, pins and power." Perhaps the device is simply a licence key of sorts to unlock features already on the motherboard.

Maybe it is just a variation of this Intel vPro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia speaking of which, perhaps your Atom has the Intel remote management features already?
Click to expand...
I believe that's all these are, licence key of sorts to unlock features already on the motherboard. When you get one of these modules it usually requires an update to match up to the motherboard, that can be problematic because the ID's often do not match. I have a couple here that I could not get w0rking, even after updating. I know others who had to send the module back to ASUS to have it programed to work. There is a file in the update process that has info on motherboard/BIOS etc that seems to be the issue.
 
F

Fmstrat

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Oct 3, 2017
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Hey everyone,

I know this is reviving an old thread, but I ran across this on my own search and couldn't find anything, so I decided to build a fully functional DIY IPMI system using a RaspberryPi 3 and a Zero. It gives monitor viewing, reset/power, and keyboard control via a web interface and can control multiple machines. It's all up on GitHub if anyone is interested: GitHub - Fmstrat/diy-ipmi: A DIY IPMI system utilizing the Raspberry Pi



Hope that helps!
 
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Joel

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Jan 30, 2015
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It looks really interesting... I am just curious why this couldn't be done with a single RPi3 serving the terminal to the network?
 
Patrick

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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Anyone doing this that wants to do a main site write up? Very cool!
 
F

Fmstrat

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Oct 3, 2017
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cesmith9999 said:
Now it looks like I have a winter project...
Click to expand...
Glad you're interested. I tried to be extremely explicit in the instructions, but I've tested the install script on multiple installs and it pretty much works out of the box. Sometimes there are errors with the auto-login to the Pi Zero, but the script explains how to overcome that if it happens.

Joel said:
It looks really interesting... I am just curious why this couldn't be done with a single RPi3 serving the terminal to the network?
Click to expand...
The Pi3 acts as a webserver and interface to the relay that reboots. It's also a host for one or more capture devices. The Pi0 is required because it pretends to be a keyboard (HID mode) when plugged in via USB. That's how you get keyboard control. It's not a classic serial IPMI because consumer OSs don't all have serial control. Instead it's a web based platform that gives you full control like an IP KVM does (in fact, it may be better described that way). Theoretically this could be done with a Teensy instead of a Pi0, but this way you can use multiple Zero's to control multiple machines. And hey, they're $5.

Patrick said:
Anyone doing this that wants to do a main site write up? Very cool!
Click to expand...
I could help I guess? 99% of it is in the README on GitHub.

I may have some other projects you guys would be interested in, too. Mostly on GitHub, but all here: nowsci.com | Real world technology today

Thanks!
 
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