How to use VirtualBMC

For the VirtualBMC tool to operate you first need to create libvirt domain(s) for example, via virsh.

The VirtualBMC tool is a client-server system where vbmcd server does all the heavy-lifting (speaks IPMI, calls libvirt) while vbmc client is merely a command-line tool sending commands to the server and rendering responses to the user.

Both tools can make use of an optional configuration file, which is looked for in the following locations (in this order):

• VIRTUALBMC_CONFIG environment variable pointing to a file

• $HOME/.vbmc/virtualbmc.conf file

• /etc/virtualbmc/virtualbmc.conf file

If no configuration file has been found, the internal defaults apply.

You should set up your systemd to launch the vbmcd server on system start up or you can just run vbmcd from command line if you do not need the tool running persistently on the system. Once the server is up and running, you can use the vbmc tool to configure your libvirt domains as if they were physical hardware servers.

The vbmc client can only communicate with vbmcd server if both are running on the same host. However vbmcd can manage libvirt domains remotely.

By this moment you should be able to have the ipmitool managing VirtualBMC instances over the network.

Configuring virtual servers

Use the vbmc command-line tool to create, delete, list, start and stop virtual BMCs for the virtual machines being managed over IPMI.

• In order to see all command options supported by the vbmc tool do:

  $ vbmc --help
  

  It’s also possible to list the options from a specific command. For example, in order to know what can be provided as part of the add command do:

  $ vbmc add --help
  

• Adding a new virtual BMC to control libvirt domain called node-0:

  $ vbmc add node-0
  

• Adding a new virtual BMC to control libvirt domain called node-1 that will listen for IPMI commands on port 6230:

  $ vbmc add node-1 --port 6230
  

  Alternatively, libvirt can be configured to ssh into a remote machine and manage libvirt domain through ssh connection:

  $ vbmc add node-1 --port 6230 \
      --libvirt-uri qemu+ssh://username@192.168.122.1/system
  

Note

Binding a network port number below 1025 is restricted and only users with privilege will be able to start a virtual BMC on those ports.

• Starting the virtual BMC to control libvirt domain node-0:

  $ vbmc start node-0
  

• Stopping the virtual BMC that controls libvirt domain node-0:

  $ vbmc stop node-0
  

• Getting the list of virtual BMCs including their libvirt domains and IPMI network endpoints they are reachable at:

  $ vbmc list
  +-------------+---------+---------+------+
  | Domain name |  Status | Address | Port |
  +-------------+---------+---------+------+
  |    node-0   | running |    ::   | 623  |
  |    node-1   | running |    ::   | 6230 |
  +-------------+---------+---------+------+
  

• To view configuration information for a specific virtual BMC:

  $ vbmc show node-0
  +-----------------------+----------------+
  |        Property       |     Value      |
  +-----------------------+----------------+
  |        address        |       ::       |
  |      domain_name      |     node-0     |
  | libvirt_sasl_password |      ***       |
  | libvirt_sasl_username |      None      |
  |      libvirt_uri      | qemu:///system |
  |        password       |      ***       |
  |          port         |      623       |
  |         status        |    running     |
  |        username       |     admin      |
  +-----------------------+----------------+
  

Server simulation

Once the virtual BMC for a specific domain has been created and started you can then issue IPMI commands against the address and port of that virtual BMC to control the libvirt domain. For example:

• To power on the virtual machine:

  $ ipmitool -I lanplus -U admin -P password -H 127.0.0.1 -p 6230 power on
  

• To check its power status:

  $ ipmitool -I lanplus -U admin -P password -H 127.0.0.1 -p 6230 power status
  

• To set the boot device to disk:

  $ ipmitool -I lanplus -U admin -P password -H 127.0.0.1 -p 6230 chassis bootdev disk
  

• To get the current boot device:

  $ ipmitool -I lanplus -U admin -P password -H 127.0.0.1 -p 6230 chassis bootparam get 5
  

Backward compatible behaviour

In the past the vbmc tool was the only part of the vBMC system. To help users keeping their existing server-less workflows, the vbmc tool attempts to spawn the vbmcd piece whenever it figures server is not running.

Warning

The backward compabible behaviour will be removed in two-cycle time past Queens.