IPMI (the Intelligent Platform Management Interface) has been the de facto standard for managing and monitoring computer hardware for many years, but as Intel explicitly stated here no further updates to the IPMI specification are planned or should be expected.
“No further updates to the IPMI specification are planned or should be expected. The IPMI promoters encourage equipment vendors and IT managers to consider a more modern systems management interface which can provide better security, scalability, and features for existing datacenters and be supported on the requisite platforms and devices. DMTF’s Redfish standard (from redfish.dmtf.org) is an example of one such interface”
Redfish is a standard specification, API and schema developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) group designed for management of servers, storage, networks, and converged infrastructure (CI) components, and is supported by several companies including Broadcom, Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, VMware and others.
Redfish monitors the chassis information, components such as fans, chassis, power supplies, sensors and their state, or metrics like voltage or temperature. It is used to perform remote recovery procedures, provide system and event logs, respond to warnings and critical events, and manage user accounts.
Below are the feature sets of Redfish v1.0 as reported in the introduction document of DMTF:
For more information on Redfish see:
Using Redfish it’s therefore possible to obtain a lot of health system status. To monitor systems that support the Redfish protocol it’s first necessary to verify that the vendor and model supports this protocol.
For example, Dell supports Redfish protocol with iDRAC version 8/7 v2.20.40.40, and to enable it you can follow this guide. Also an iDRAC dedicated user must be create to enable the authentication.
Therefore if you have the IP address, username and password of the device, you can use check_redfish.py, a monitoring plugin to check components and the health status of systems which support Redfish.
Below is an example of use:
# python /neteye/shared/monitoring/plugins/check_redfish/check_redfish.py -H my_address -u username -p password --all
[OK]: BMC: iDRAC 9 (Firmware: 5.00.10.20) and all nics are in 'OK' state.
[OK]: All fans (6) are in good condition and fan redundancy status is: Enabled
[OK]: Found 42 firmware entries. Use '--detailed' option to display them.
[OK]: Manager Event Log contains 1583 OK entries. Most recent notable: [OK]: 2022-06-24T17:12:32-05:00: Successfully logged in using XXXXXXXXXXX, from 10.XX.YY.ZZ and REDFISH.
[OK]: All memory modules (Total 96GB) are in good condition
[OK]: All network adapter (1) and ports (2) are in good condition
[OK]: All power supplies (2) are in good condition and Power redundancy 1 status is: Enabled and 42 Voltages are OK
[OK]: All processors (2) are in good condition
[OK]: All storage controllers (3), volumes (13) and disk drives (14) are in good condition
[OK]: INFO: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R740xd (CPU: 2, MEM: 96GB) - BIOS: 2.12.2 - Serial: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - ServiceTag: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - Power: On - Name: myhostname - 49 health sensors are in 'OK' state
[OK]: All temp sensors (4) are in good condition|'ps_1'=267 'ps_2'=0 'voltage_CPU1_VCORE_VR'=1.78 'voltage_CPU2_VCORE_VR'=1.78 'voltage_CPU1_MEM012_VR'=1.21 'voltage_CPU1_MEM345_VR'=1.21 'voltage_CPU2_MEM012_VR'=1.21 'voltage_CPU2_MEM345_VR'=1.21 'voltage_PS1_Voltage_1'=228.0 'voltage_PS2_Voltage_2'=228.0 'temp_CPU1_Temp'=44.0;;89 'temp_CPU2_Temp'=44.0;;89 'temp_System_Board_Inlet_Temp'=21.0;38;42 'temp_System_Board_Exhaust_Temp'=32.0;75;80 'Fan_System_Board_Fan1'=7320;; 'Fan_System_Board_Fan2'=7440;; 'Fan_System_Board_Fan3'=7320;; 'Fan_System_Board_Fan4'=7200;; 'Fan_System_Board_Fan5'=7320;; 'Fan_System_Board_Fan6'=7320;;
Soon this monitoring check will also be supported by our NetEye Extension Packs, allowing immediate installation and setup of the plugin.
Did you like this article? Does it reflect your skills? We often get interesting questions straight from our customers who need customized solutions. In fact, we’re currently hiring for roles like this as well as other roles here at Würth Phoenix.