getevent(8) - Linux man page

Name

Synopsis

Description

Some server management functions want to trigger custom actions or alerts when IPMI hardware-related events occur, but do not want to track all events, just newly occurring events. This utility waits a specified timeout period for any events, and returns interpreted output for each event. It is designed as a scriptable command-line utility, but if the timeout is infinite (-t 0), then this code could be used for a sample service as well.

There are several methods to do this which are implemented here.

The SEL method:
This method polls the SEL once a second, keeps track of the last SEL event read, and only new events are processed. This ensures that in a series of rapid events, all events are received in order, however, some transition-to-OK events may not be configured to write to the SEL on certain platforms. This method is used if getevent -s is specified.

The ReadEventMessageBuffer method:
This uses an IPMI Message Buffer in the BMC firmware to read each new event. This receives any event, but if two events occur nearly simultaneously, only the most recent of the two will be returned with this method. An example of simultaneous events might be, if a fan stops/fails, both the non-critical and critical fan threshold events would occur at that time. This is the default method for getevent.

The OpenIPMI custom method:
Different IPMI drivers may have varying behavior. For instance, the OpenIPMI driver uses the IPMI GetMessage commands internally and does not allow client programs to use those commands. It has its own custom mechanism, see getevent_mv(). This method is used if the OpenIPMI driver is detected, and no other method is specified.

The IMB Async Event method:
This only gets certain IMB Async events from the BMC to an SMS OS service, like a remote OS shutdown, and get_software_id. This method is disabled by default and only turned on if the getevent -a option is specified.

Options

-a

Use the Async method with the IMB driver, which receives SMS OS requests from the BMC using the Intel IMB driver interface. This services remote SMS bridge agent requests, like remote OS shutdown and get software_id.

-b

Run in Background as a daemon. If this option is specified, normal output will be redirected to /var/log/ipmiutil_evt.log. The default is to run in foreground.

-o

Only run one pass to wait for the first event. Default is to loop for multiple events for the timeout period.

-s

Use the SEL method to get events. This polls the SEL once a second for new events. The last SEL record read is saved in /usr/share/ipmiutil/evt.idx. Otherwise, the default is to use the ReadEventMessageBuffer method to get new events.

-t N

Set the timeout period to N seconds. Default is 120 seconds. A timeout of 0 means an infinite period.

-x

Causes extra debug messages to be displayed.

-N nodename

Nodename or IP address of the remote target system. If a nodename is specified, IPMI LAN interface is used. Otherwise the local system management interface is used.

-P/-R rmt_pswd

Remote password for the nodename given. The default is a null password.

-U rmt_user

Remote username for the nodename given. The default is a null username.

-E

Use the remote password from Environment variable IPMI_PASSWORD.

-F drv_t

Force the driver type to one of the followng: imb, va, open, gnu, landesk, lan2, lan, kcs, smb. The default is to detect any available driver type and use it.

-T

Use a specified IPMI LAN Authentication Type: 0=None, 1=MD2, 2=MD5, 4=Straight Password, 5=OEM.

-V

Use a specified IPMI LAN privilege level. 1=Callback level, 2=User level, 3=Operator level, 4=Administrator level (default), 5=OEM level.

-Y

Yes, do prompt the user for the IPMI LAN remote password. Alternatives for the password are -E or -P.

See Also

Warnings

Copyright

See the file COPYING in the distribution for more details regarding redistribution.

This utility is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.

Author

Andy Cress <arcress@users.sourceforge.net>

Referenced By