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IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) smart home integration, free and open source

IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) integration for Gladys Assistant

Servers via IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro…): power, health, watts, temperatures, fans, event log.

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Rack and tower servers have a management controller (BMC) that keeps watching them, even when they are off: Dell iDRAC, HP iLO, Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Lenovo IMM, Fujitsu iRMC… Nearly all of them speak IPMI over LAN, the protocol of the older and entry-level ones that homelabs love (Dell R710, R720, HP DL380 G7, Supermicro X9, X10). This integration reads it: one device per server with its power state, health, power draw, temperatures and fans. Scenes can react when a sensor goes out of range, a new entry appears in the system event log (SEL), or a server is powered on or off, and a dashboard widget sums your servers up. Power control (on, soft shutdown) is available, off by default. Everything stays on your local network.

For a recent controller (iDRAC 8 and 9, iLO 4 to 6), the Redfish integration gives the same device with a richer API; this one is for the controllers that only speak IPMI, or for those who prefer it.

Developed without the hardware: feedback welcome. Tested against the OpenIPMI BMC simulator (ipmi_sim, Docker) with the real ipmitool: sessions, sensors and thresholds, power state, event log, power commands, wrong password, missing privilege, unreachable BMC. The names of the vendor sensors come from their documentation. Tell us how it goes on your server in the issues.

What you need​

  • Gladys Assistant 5.1.0 or later.
  • A server whose BMC has IPMI over LAN enabled: Dell iDRAC 6 to 9, HP iLO 2 to 5, Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Lenovo IMM, Fujitsu iRMC, most others.
  • The BMC reachable from the Gladys machine on UDP port 623.
  • An IPMI account on the BMC. The User privilege is enough to read; power control needs Operator (or Administrator).
  • Up to three BMCs per installation of the integration.

Getting started​

1. Prepare the BMC​

  • Enable IPMI over LAN: off by default on many BMCs. On an iDRAC: iDRAC Settings → Network → IPMI Settings → Enable IPMI Over LAN. On an iLO: Administration → Access Settings → IPMI/DCMI over LAN. Supermicro and ASRock Rack have it on.
  • Create a dedicated account if you can, with the User privilege unless you want power control. Its password must hold 20 characters at most (16 for IPMI 1.5).
  • If ipmitool is at hand, check from another machine: ipmitool -I lanplus -H <address> -U <user> -P <password> chassis status.

2. Configure the integration​

In the Configuration tab of the integration:

  • BMC address: 192.168.1.30 or idrac.lan, with :port when it is not 623 (idrac.lan:6230). An IPv6 address works too.
  • User name and Password of the IPMI account.
  • Name (optional): shown in the device name, the widget and the messages. By default, the product name the BMC gives (PowerEdge R720), otherwise its address.
  • Up to two more BMCs in the next sections.
  • IPMI interface: IPMI 2.0 (lanplus, encrypted), the default, for every BMC since about 2008. IPMI 1.5 (lan) only for an older BMC that refuses IPMI 2.0.
  • Refresh interval: 30 seconds to 5 minutes (1 minute by default).
  • Allow power control: see Power control. Off by default.
  • Language of the names: language of the feature names (set when the server is added), of the health texts and of the scene results.

Then click Test the connection: one line per BMC, with the server found, the number of sensors and whether it offers the DCMI power reading.

3. Add the server​

The server appears in the Discover tab of the integration: add it. Only the servers added receive values; the widget and the scene triggers work for every server, added or not.

The device​

One device per BMC. Only the features the BMC reports are proposed:

FeatureValue
PowerOn or off. Always read-only (see Power control)
HealthOK, Warning or Critical: chassis faults and sensors out of range
Power drawWatts drawn by the server (DCMI power reading, or a Watts sensor)
Intake temperatureAir entering the server, in °C
Processor temperatureThe hottest processor, in °C
Highest temperatureThe hottest of all the temperature sensors, in °C
Fans (rpm) / Fans (%)The mean speed of the fans, in the unit of the BMC
Sensors out of rangeHow many sensors are past a threshold or in a failed state; 0 is OK

The device also shows the serial number and the BMC firmware in its parameters. When the BMC does not answer, the device shows the "unreachable" badge and the status under the integration name says why.

A sensor is out of range when the BMC says it crossed one of its thresholds (non-critical: Warning; critical or non-recoverable: Critical), or when a discrete sensor reports a failure ("Failure detected", "AC lost", "Redundancy Lost"…). The thresholds are the ones of the BMC: the integration adds none.

Dashboard​

The Servers (IPMI) widget has two modes:

  • without a server chosen: one line per server, on or off, health and power draw, in orange or red when something is wrong;
  • with a server chosen: its power draw, intake and highest temperatures as tiles, then its power, health, fans and the sensors out of range. When power control is allowed, the Shut down button (server on) or Power on (server off) appears, asking for a confirmation.

Refresh reads the BMCs again.

Scenes​

Triggers​

  • Sensor out of range: a sensor crosses a threshold or reports a failure, or goes from Warning to Critical. It can be limited to one server and to one severity (Warning or Critical). Variables: server, sensor, reading, severity. At most five per server and per read; a sensor that swings around its threshold is announced again only after 30 minutes, unless it gets worse.
  • New system event log entry: a new entry in the SEL of a server (a threshold crossed, a power supply lost, a memory error, the chassis opened…). Checked at every read, at most once a minute; at most three per read. Variables: server, message, date.
  • Server powered on and Server powered off: whatever the cause (button, BMC, power cut). Variable: server.

Each trigger can be limited to one server. The first read after the installation only records the states: nothing is announced for a sensor or an entry that was already there.

Actions​

  • State of a server: reads a server and gives the next actions its name, whether the BMC answers, power, health, power draw, temperatures, fan speed, the sensors out of range, and a summary ready to send ("r720: on, health OK, 172 W, intake 23 °C…").
  • Power command: power on, soft shutdown (ACPI), forced restart (reset) or power cycle of a server. Needs Allow power control.

Scene ideas​

  • When a Sensor out of range of severity Critical fires, send its sensor and reading on Telegram.
  • At 1 a.m., if nobody is home, Power command "Soft shutdown (ACPI)" on the lab server; at 7 a.m., "Power on".
  • When a New system event log entry appears on the NAS server, notify with its message.

Power control​

Off by default. Once Allow power control is ticked, the widget shows the Shut down button (server on) or Power on (server off), each asking for a confirmation, and the Power command scene action is accepted.

The Power feature stays read-only, even with power control allowed: a voice assistant ("turn everything off") must never shut a server down.

  • Power on sends chassis power on.
  • Shut down sends a soft shutdown (chassis power soft: the BMC presses the power button briefly, the operating system shuts down cleanly, provided it handles ACPI). Never a hard power off.
  • The forced restart (chassis power reset) and the power cycle (chassis power cycle, off then on) are only in the Power command scene action, chosen explicitly, and refused on a server that is off.

The power state is read again just before each command: nothing is sent when the server is already in the asked state. The server is read again 15 seconds after the command, then at the usual interval.

Troubleshooting​

  • "does not answer": check the address, that IPMI over LAN is enabled on the BMC, and that UDP port 623 is reachable from the Gladys machine (another VLAN, a firewall?). A BMC behind NAT needs its port forwarded.
  • "user name or password refused": check the account in the web interface of the BMC, and that it is enabled for IPMI. Some BMCs lock an account after a few failures.
  • "the account lacks the privilege": give the account the User privilege at least (Operator for power control) on the LAN channel.
  • Nothing with IPMI 2.0 on an old BMC: try the IPMI interface "IPMI 1.5 (lan)".
  • A missing feature: the BMC does not report it (no inlet sensor, no DCMI and no Watts sensor, processor sensors only readable when the server is on).
  • A command refused: the account lacks the Operator privilege.

Limits​

  • Developed without the hardware: tested against the OpenIPMI simulator, and the vendor sensor names come from documentation, not yet from real servers.
  • Sensor names are free text chosen by each vendor: the intake and processor temperatures are found by their IPMI entity, then by their name. A server that names them otherwise shows them in the highest temperature only.
  • The SEL is read by its last 20 entries when it changed; walking a long SEL takes a few seconds on some BMCs.
  • No graceful restart: IPMI has none. Use a soft shutdown, then power on.
  • IPMI 2.0 sends the password hashed, never in clear, but the protocol is old: keep the BMCs on a network of their own.

Credits​

The integration drives ipmitool (BSD 3-Clause), installed in its image. The tests replay outputs captured from the OpenIPMI simulator (LGPL/GPL, used for testing only, not shipped). IPMI is a specification of Intel, HP, NEC and Dell. This integration is not affiliated with Dell, HP, HPE, Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Lenovo, Fujitsu or Intel.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Your serverssectionNoFollow rack and tower servers through their management controller (BMC) and IPMI over LAN: Dell iDRAC 6 to 9, HP iLO 2 to 5, Supermicro, ASRock Rack, Lenovo IMM, Fujitsu iRMC. Enable IPMI over LAN on the BMC, enter its address and an account, then add the server from the Discover tab.
BMC addressstringNoIP address or host name of the iDRAC, iLO or other BMC, with :port when not 623: 192.168.1.30, idrac.lan or idrac.lan:6230.
User namestringNoAn IPMI account of the BMC: the User privilege is enough, Operator to allow power control.
PasswordsecretNo
Name (optional)stringNoShown in the device name, the widget and the messages. By default, the product name the BMC gives, or its address.
Second BMC (optional)sectionNoAnother server, with its own BMC address and account.
Second BMC addressstringNo
Second user namestringNo
Second passwordsecretNo
Second name (optional)stringNo
Third BMC (optional)sectionNoAnother server, with its own BMC address and account.
Third BMC addressstringNo
Third user namestringNo
Third passwordsecretNo
Third name (optional)stringNo
OptionssectionNoOnly the servers added to Gladys receive values; the scene triggers and the widget work for every server.
IPMI interfaceselectNoIPMI 2.0 (lanplus, encrypted) for every BMC since about 2008. IPMI 1.5 (lan) only for an older BMC that refuses it.
Refresh intervalselectNoHow often every BMC is read: power state, sensors, and the event log (SEL) when it changed.
Allow power controlbooleanNoPower on and soft shutdown (ACPI, the system shuts down cleanly) from the widget and scenes; forced restart and power cycle from scenes only. Never a hard power off, never from a switch or a voice assistant. The account needs the Operator privilege.
Language of the namesselectNoLanguage of the feature names (set when a server is added), of the health texts, scene results and connection test.

How to install IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-ipmi:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-ipmi.

IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

IPMI (iDRAC, iLO, Supermicro) is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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