My organization is primarily a Dell shop running Windows. Most are recent models that support IPMI 2.0. (Dell 1950, for example).
At a minimum I'd like to use IPMI to perform remote chassis power on/off, such as when a server is hung and no one is available at the NOC to hard boot it. Then, I'd like to see what else it can do.
Configuring it is not easy. I've tried the ipmiutil tool. I was able to view BMC configuration and configure it to some degree. I don't think I understand the configuration requirements well enough to know how to enable it. I'm also aware of an ipmitool tool, but it only runs on Unix/Linux.
What I'd like to do is share the same ethernet port for server OS and BMC, since it's an option, giving the BMC its own IP.
You may be thinking: "Doesn't Dell have a DRAC card that does IPMI and more?" Yes, and we have the DRAC 5 cards in all of these. Configuring that for remote power management has been just as much of a mystery.
Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
Best Answer
SuperMicro has a Java-based IPMIView tool that you might find useful.
In my experience, DRACs are easiest to manage via their telnet or ssh interface - the other tools tend to be a bit flaky.
This page is linux-oriented but provides a decent overview of IPMI tools.