Supermicro Twin 2 and IPMI

[uberguru]

I am wondering do i have to have RJ45 uplink for each of the 4 dedicated IPMI on this server? Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 2U | 2027TR-HTRF+

The server comes with 4 physical node servers and each with 2 x 1 Gigabit port and dedicated IPMI port. That makes is 4 dedicated IPMI ports in total for all 4 nodes.

If i want to manage this server remotely do i have to have uplink at each of the IPMI ports? Making 4 RJ45 for just IPMI?


Please share your experience managing servers like this. Also the Dell C6100 is similar server to this.

Thanks.

 

[Jeggs101]

I see each motherboard there with: 1x Realtek RTL8201N PHY (dedicated IPMI)

That means dedicated IPMI on each node but you may be able to piggyback off of the i350 ports.

 

[uberguru]

I see each motherboard there with: 1x Realtek RTL8201N PHY (dedicated IPMI)

That means dedicated IPMI on each node but you may be able to piggyback off of the i350 ports.

How? Any video/tutorial or explanation of how to do this? Will it be the same experience? What will be the disadvantages?

Also are there any servers made today where one can control the IPMI and internet port with a single uplink?

 

[dba]

How? Any video/tutorial or explanation of how to do this? Will it be the same experience? What will be the disadvantages?

Also are there any servers made today where one can control the IPMI and internet port with a single uplink?

I'm not sure about that particular Supermicro, but all of the recent servers that I have used include a BIOS setting for IPMI that lets you either: 1) Use the dedicated IPMI port for IPMI 2) Use one of the other Ethernet ports for both normal traffic and IPMI.
With the first (aka "dedicated") setting you need to wire up the IPMI port to a switch and set the IP information. With the second (aka "shared") setting you ignore the dedicated IPMI port and instead gain IPMI access to the server via the first Ethernet port, which is also seen by the OS and can be used for normal traffic.

 

[Mike]

Ive said this before. With a small penalty on reliability you can cross connect the second nic to the next server's ipmi nic.

 

[marteng]

Ive said this before. With a small penalty on reliability you can cross connect the second nic to the next server's ipmi nic.

Does this mean the IPMI is unreachable when the second nic port gets simply disabled from the operation system?

 

[darkconz]

I don't know if the IPMI is accessible if the system is offline if you have a shared connection. This happened to me on my C6100 where if I share IPMI with one of my LAN ports, the IPMI goes offline when my system is offline. Whereas if I use the dedicated port and set IPMI to dedicated in BIOS, I can still access IPMI when my node is powered off.

I guess the supermicro is very similar to this but I cannot say for sure 100%.

 

[aleezysam]

I am new to the forum. I have been an avid computer enthusiast for a while. I just ordered a used Dell c6100 for my home setup and am planing on virtualizing it when i get it.

 

[uberguru]

Ive said this before. With a small penalty on reliability you can cross connect the second nic to the next server's ipmi nic.

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that? Do you mean use the second ethernet of one node to connect to the IPMI of another node? What will this achieve? Is this a way to manage all 4 nodes using one single port connection to only 1 node?

Thanks.

 

[uberguru]

I don't know if the IPMI is accessible if the system is offline if you have a shared connection. This happened to me on my C6100 where if I share IPMI with one of my LAN ports, the IPMI goes offline when my system is offline. Whereas if I use the dedicated port and set IPMI to dedicated in BIOS, I can still access IPMI when my node is powered off.


I see...now i see how the shared for LAN and IPMI will not be available for out of band management but if using IPMI then one can benefit from the out of band connectivity?

 

[darkconz]

I see...now i see how the shared for LAN and IPMI will not be available for out of band management but if using IPMI then one can benefit from the out of band connectivity?

Yes, for the Supermicro mobos I own, I can access them via IPMIViewer utility that Supermicro has on their site and I can boot the server up even though it is powered off. As long as my IPMI port is connect to my LAN, has an IP and there is power to my power supply, I can start it up, view the console etc using IPMIViewer. Same goes for Dell C6100, only except the iKVM is accessed via webpage of the IPMI address.

This might sound confusing, let me know if you need further explanation.

 

[uberguru]

Yes, for the Supermicro mobos I own, I can access them via IPMIViewer utility that Supermicro has on their site and I can boot the server up even though it is powered off. As long as my IPMI port is connect to my LAN, has an IP and there is power to my power supply, I can start it up, view the console etc using IPMIViewer. Same goes for Dell C6100, only except the iKVM is accessed via webpage of the IPMI address.

This might sound confusing, let me know if you need further explanation.

Wait you have to access your server through their website? I thought you do that through ip address of server or the one for the remote management?

 

[darkconz]

By website I meant the IPMI IP. I eg. My server IPMI IP 192.168.0.10, then I go to https:// 192.168.0.10 /

 

[uberguru]

By website I meant the IPMI IP. I eg. My server IPMI IP 192.168.0.10, then I go to https:// 192.168.0.10 /

Ok got you