Using IPMI agent

[Bennie]

i'm facing the same problem.

Running with the default debian libs ( version 1.8.something for libopenipmi-dev to compile zabbix proxy with )

I then took the current source of OpenIPMI and recompiled. Still same issues.

Thing coming in mind is that i NEED to use lanplus to get results back from ipmitool. Can this be my problem? Zabbix is using lan and not lanplus?

Regards.

edit: ILO2 Version 2.0.0

[richlv]

if i recall correctly, lan = ipmi 1.5, lanplus = 2.0.
zabbix should be using libopenipmi default, which should be lanplus/2.0

[claytronic]

Was just searching around trying to figure out why my IMPI wasn't working. It turned out to be simple fix. Zabbix has IPMI pollers defaulted to off.

Make sure

StartIPMIPollers=3

in zabbix_server.conf is set.


Page 137 of Zabbix 1.8 Network Monitoring book by Rihards Olups covers IPMI in great detail.

[chrisk4]

I,ve got the same problem: "Cannot connect to IPMI host. Error 0x2000004 Unknown error 33554436" but with ipmitool everything is ok.

regards

[DorsetDave]

Error 0x16 Invalid Argument

I'm also having trouble getting IPMI to work.

My host is reporting the error:
Cannot connect to the IMPI host. Error 0x16 Invalid Argument.

I'm running the zabbix appliance v1.8.4, and attempting to query an HP iLO 3 IMPI monitoring card.

I have enabled the IMPI pollers in the zabbix_server.conf file.

I can use impitool to pull data from the iLO card from the zabbix server console. Here's the command I used:

ipmitool -U username -H ipofiLOcard -I lanplus -L user sensor

One example line of data returned:
Temp 22 | 45.000 | degrees C | ok | na | na | na | na | 71.000 | 76.000

I noticed that this is using IPMIv2 with RMCP+, so I updated my host in zabbix to use RCMP+ as its authentication algorithm.

I've got an item set up on the host monitoring the IMPI sensor called Power Meter

On the iLO GUI I can see the successful log ons when impitool connects logs in, but there is nothing for the attempts that zabbix makes.

Any ideas?

[DorsetDave]

Update - it's started working. The only change I made was to the ilo host in zabbix. I'm using the credentials for the ilo Administrator account rather than the iLO zabbix account I added specifically for monitoring. Weird, but there you go.

[XibbazUser]

I guess using an external script is the only way to get IPMI working? Maybe best take the IPMI option out of Zabbix as it seems very unusable, there is no documentation and development on it appears to have ceased?

[richlv]

I guess using an external script is the only way to get IPMI working? Maybe best take the IPMI option out of Zabbix as it seems very unusable, there is no documentation and development on it appears to have ceased?

uh ? it works just fine for many people with the exception of discrete sensors, which are not supported currently. why remove it ?

[XibbazUser]

... and for many more it just doesn't work at all. The problem is that when a feature is included, people expect (and want) it to work. When it doesn't work, it makes people unhappy. It causes headaches and stress. If there is something included that doesn't work reliably then it brings the quality of the product into dispute. Lack of documentation, instability and meaningless errors all mean that IPMI in its current state is a headache for many people. It may even cause people to switch to a new product where the features do work. If something only works in just a small a fraction of special cases, is this good? Just a thought!

Don't get me wrong here - I think Zabbix is awesome. Just a few small improvements would make it even better!

Right now, like a great many others, I'm giving up on the "built in" IMPI and looking to use external scripts because ipmitool works just fine. Even a small update in the documentation saying something like "If Zabbix IPMI doesn't work for you, then here is how to use ipmitool..."

[richlv]

instability and meaningless errors

from my experience, main problems with ipmi and zabbix are are :

a) people misunderstanding what it is or misconfiguring it (authentication, for example);
b) a bug in multiple libopenipmi versions (but should be fixed in several latest ones);
c) on some intel systems trailing space is used for sensor names and such sensor names can not be saved by zabbix frontend.
d) lack of discrete sensor support.

(c) and (d) could be developed, but, as with everything, there must be resources to implement additional things. with the amount of features being worked on and the need to move forward to 2.0, they aren't on the short term roadmap currently

Lack of documentation

(a) and (b) might be somewhat helped by better documentation, i'd agree.
and... you can actually help =)
you are welcome to write "ipmi howto" on http://zabbix.org , for example

[XibbazUser]

I'd love to write the howto! Just need to actually get it working first And once I get all the ipmitool external scripts works, I'll do exactly that

I think a) is quite a big one. My Mac OS X server, for example, needs OEM authentication with the "-o intelplus" option for ipmitool. There is no documented way to specify this parameter in Zabbix, for example.

d) is no biggie for me personally, but may be for others.

[XibbazUser]

Huzzah!

Yes, sure enough it was OpenIPMI. Recompiled with 2.0.19 and the world is good! Still no idea what an error "33554436" is, but now I have green lights so I'll never need to know.

Just need to get that Mac one going now...

Many thanks!

[IDDQD]

I do confirm that openipmi 2.0.19 solves the problem

thanks XibbazUser

[cscott]

What I find hard to understand is if so many people out there have ipmi working fine and have for quite a few years it seems from the posts is why are the docs on it so sparse. Simple stuff like where you put the user login information for a ipmi host, and what you actually fill in the sensor field would be nice. I dont need a lot, but one real world example would go a long way into helping me and others get this setup and working.

I have ipmitool working fine like many many others but dont want to use external scripts. As others have previously mentioned, gaping holes in documentation like this make people mad and throw their toys out of the pram. They then go and rant about the shortcomings of the said project to their colleagues. This then spreads a low impression of the product which isnt necessarily fair or justified, and all thats required is someone to jot the information down in the wiki.

I presume you didnt get it working then XibbazUser ?

[richlv]

...all thats required is someone to jot the information down in the wiki.

did i hear somebody volunteering to write some howto at http://zabbix.org ?