SuperMicro IPMIView for Windows - Unable to KVM

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Blinky 42

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
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I was getting similar connection refused errors on on of the x9 boards I upgraded the ipmi firmware on. Everything but the KVM would work fine, but both IPMIView and the HTML client gave errors connecting to the console (serial console was ok as I recall). Ended having to do the reset to defaults in the html IPMI pages and then set it up again and it worked fine. The other 3 x9 boards I did that day starting from the same older ipmi firmware were fine, no idea why this one board was moody.

But since you have it work on one Win10 box and not another, I would think the problem is on the one Win10 box somehow.
 

virtualex

New Member
Mar 13, 2018
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ithinkvirtual.com
@IamSpartacus - I am having this exact same issue with only 1 Supermicro server using IPMIView 2.13.1 on a fresh install of Windows 10. This was a replaced server and is the only one that gives this same error. Were you able to figure it out/resolve it?

I've been unable to launch KVM from IPMIView in Windows 10 for a long time now. My X10SDV boards were on 3.30-3.31 and I would get "Connection refused" if I tried to launch remote KVM. I just upgraded my IPMI firmwares to 3.46 and now I get the following:



Launching KVM from a browser does and has worked fine but I cannot launch from the Windows app. Anyone else seen this?
 

luckylinux

New Member
Mar 18, 2012
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For me it was a networking issue, mostly caused by the wrong subnet mask setting delivered by the DHCP server :rolleyes:. Maybe somebody has the same problem. See below for details.

Like the OP and @virtualex I had the same error message. So I tried enabling compatibility mode for windows 7 and setting admin privileges (for iKVM.exe, IPMIView20.exe as well as JViewerX9.exe). Nothing did the trick.

Then I remember that at the time I configured IPMI with a static IP address on 192.168.1.XXX and a subnet mask 255.255.255.0.
Since my new router install, my DESKTOP PC (and all other windows PCs basically) have ended up on getting 192.168.15.YYY on a subnet mask 255.255.240.0. The strange thing is that I could ping the IPMI host, I could login to KVM but I couldn't access the web page of the IPMI. I guess it's related to the firewall on the IPMI host that allows incoming connections but rejects outgoing connections for hosts outside of its subnet (which is the logical thing to do).

Now I configured my router (pfSense) to put my DESKTOP on 192.168.1.YYY with subnet mask 255.255.240.0 (static DHCP lease). The proper thing to do would be to change all IPMI configuration and set the correct subnet mask 255.255.240.0 but I don't have time for that now :rolleyes:.

I'm not sure your issue is related to networking, but check your network configuration (ip address and subnet mask). Just a suggestion ;)
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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Do you get the same error when you launch the IPMIview from an elevated cmd prompt? Any firewalls/ ACL's in the way? If so, disable them and try again, if it works add them back one at a time :)
 

luckylinux

New Member
Mar 18, 2012
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I started having the same issue again with one board I just bought (X10SLM+-F) with firmware 3.66. The other X10SLM+-F works fine with the same firmware version. The problem occurred on two different PCs and it's consistent: one board can be accessed from both PCS, the other cannot be accessed from any PC.

I tried several times to flash firmware again, reset to factory defaults, cold reset the IPMI/BNC, nothing worked ...


When I looked at the IPMI webpage I saw something weird on the Configuration -> SSL certificate. The board that didn't work had a SSL certificate valid from January 2018. Then I looked at the date in the BIOS ... it was 2014 :confused:. As soon as I configured the date correctly in the BIOS and rebooted the PC, I could connect again (both from IPMIVIEW and by launching the Java console from the browser). Yeah :cool:

I remember reading that SSL configuration needs to take place before iKVM.exe starts. It was stated on Supermicro website.

The SSL certificate is stated to be valid only 3 years since it was generated. The strange thing is that the board that was working from the start has the correct date in BIOS but the SSL certificate expired. Go figure :(

So to sum it up, although the error seems to indicate an error on your client PC, check your network IPMI/BNC configuration that you're in the right subnet especially, check the date in BIOS, check the SSL certificate date. I guess if you'r BIOS date is before the SSL certificate validity start date, you won't be able to connect.

Because the SSL certificate is only valid 3 years, check those settings again if this happens. I guess the conclusion is that it's not the actual BIOS update that screws up IPMI. Rather it's the clear CMOS process and lost of time reference that makes us unable to connect to KVM console.

Hope this helps somebody ;)
 

luckylinux

New Member
Mar 18, 2012
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Thanks! Very handy to know...I'll note that down :)
I hope it can be useful ;). I'm not saying this explains everything, but for one the SSL and date thing wasn't in any topics I found on the internet. Most of Supermicro explanations are "Upgrade IPMI firmware" and "Ensure IPMIVIEW was launched with admin privileges". Unfortunately that's really the other way of the problem ...

For those that have this problem, if you have multiple Supermicro boards, if the problem occurs with only a few boards, it's surely a problem on the server side. From my experience it is rarely a problem on the client PC if you ran IPMIVIEW with admin privileges ;).

May I suggest the moderators / admins to create a sticky thread summing up the possible solutions for IPMIVIEW not working correctly? I think it would be a good idea ;)