NVIDIA BMC is based on the OpenBMC open-software framework which builds a complete Linux image for a board management controller (BMC). It uses the Yocto project as the underlying building and distro generation framework.

The primary software components of BMC are the following:

U-boot bootloader
Linux kernel
OpenBMC distro

Software Versioning

There is a software version for each of the BMC software components. You may retrieve this information by running the following for each component:

U-boot version – version command from the u-boot prompt
Linux version – uname -a command from the Linux prompt
OpenBMC version – cat /etc/os-release from the Linux prompt

Boot Sequence Overview

BMC starts booting through u-boot bootloader once the power supply is powered on.
By default, the BMC automatically boots into Linux. To stop at the u-boot prompt, users must type the password 0penBmc (note the use of the digit zero in 0pen) within 5 seconds. To boot Linux from the u-boot prompt, type boot.
The default password for the root user, to be typed in once Linux is booted, is 0penBmc.
The default global password is set to expire upon first login. A new password must be configured according to the following policy:
- Minimum length: 13
- Minimum upper case characters: 1
- Minimum lower case characters: 1
- Minimum digits: 1
Note that the root account locks after four consecutive failed attempts and automatically unlocks after 10 minutes.

Flattened Image Tree Linux Kernel Format

The BlueField platform BMC uses Flattened Image Tree (FIT) format for its Linux kernel.

The output from u-boot's imls command shows the configurations within the FIT image. By default, u-boot has bootcmd_string=bootm 0x20070000 configured and there is no configuration ID used to boot configuration 1 or 2 of the FIT image. So, by default, the BlueField platform BMC boots using BlueField 1U Reference Platform DTB file.

To boot the BMC using the BlueField 2U Reference Platform DTB, do one of two things from the u-boot command line:

For a one-time boot of the platform, run:

bootm 0x20070000#conf@aspeed-bmc-mlx-bluewhale2u.dtb

For persistent boot of the 2U reference platform, modify the environmental variable bootcmd_string:
```
setenv bootcmd_string bootm 0x20070000#conf@aspeed-bmc-mlx-bluewhale2u.dtb
saveenv
boot
```

User Management

The supported user management commands are listed in the following table.


ipmitool user list [<channel number>]
ipmitool user set name <user id> <user name>
ipmitool user set password <user id> <password>
ipmitool user enable <user id>
ipmitool user disable <user id>
ipmitool user priv <user id> <privilege level(1-4)> [<channel number>]
ipmitool channel setaccess [<channel number>] <user id> ipmi = on| off
ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U <user> -P <password> -H <bmc_ip_address> <ipmi command>
ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U <user> -P <password> -H <bmc_ip_address> -L <privilege (operator|user)> <ipmi command>
ipmitool user set name <user id> ""

Network Protocol Support

The BMC MAC address is derived from the DPU's base MAC with +2 offset. For example:

Base MAC	B8:CE:F6:F7:FF:8C
BMC MAC	B8:CE:F6:F7:FF:8E

BMC management network interface can be configured using IPMI. By default, BMC comes up with the DHCP network configuration.

Network configuration functions:

Setting DHCP/Static network mode configuration
Adding/setting IPv4/IPv6 configuration including IP address, gateway, netmask
Adding DNS servers
Adding NTP server
Setting BMC time with NTP server or system RTC

The following table lists the available network IPMI commands:


ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc <mode>
ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc <mode>
ipmitool lan set 1 ipaddr <IP Address>
ipmitool lan print 1
ipmitool lan6 set 1 nolock static_addr 0 enable <IPv6 address> 64
ipmitool lan6 print 1
ipmitool raw 0x32 0x6B
ipmitool raw 0x32 0x6C 0x0b 0x31 0x30 0x2e 0x31 0x35 0x2e 0x31 0x32 0x2e 0x36 0x37
ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA7
ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x01 0x31 0x2e 0x69 0x6e 0x2e 0x70 0x6f 0x6f 0x6c 0x2e 0x6e 0x74 0x70 0x2e 0x6f 0x72 0x67
ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x02 0x01
ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x02 0x00

DPU Reset

DPU reset and checking reset status can be performed from a remote server using the openbmctool.

No.	Function	Command	Description
1	Trigger soft reset to the DPU	python3 openbmctool.py -H <ip_address> \ -U <username> \ -P <password> dpu_reset soft \ -t Where: `-H` – BMC IP `-U` – username `-P` – password `-t` – wait till finish the reset with timeout	Triggers soft reset to the DPU
2	Track DPU reset status	python3 openbmctool.py -H <ip_address> \ -U <username> \ -P <password> dpu_reset status Where: `-H` – BMC IP `-U` – username `-P` – password	Track the BMC-DPU reset status

Factory Reset

Run the following IPMI command to factory reset the BMC configuration.

ipmitool raw 0x32 0x66

After issuing the ipmitool raw command for factory reset, you must log into the BMC and reboot it for the factory reset to take effect.

If you have lost your BMC login credentials and cannot login, you may issue the following command from the BlueField Arm:

ipmitool mc reset cold

Factory reset also sets the global password for the root user back to its default (0penBmc). Upon first boot following factory reset, make sure to reconfigure the default global password to prevent potential malicious attackers from hacking your system.

Be sure to follow this password policy:

Minimum length: 13
Minimum upper case characters: 1
Minimum lower case characters: 1
Minimum digits: 1

Note that the root account locks after four consecutive failed attempts and automatically unlocks after 10 minutes.

BMC and CEC Firmware Update

Firmware upgrade of BMC and CEC components using BMC can be performed from a remote server using the Redfish interface. The following table presents commands available for performing the upgrade:


export token=`curl -k -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST https://<bmc_ip>/login -d '{"username" : "root", "password" : "<password>"}' | grep token | awk '{print $2;}' | tr -d '"'`
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -X POST -T <package_path> https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"ResetType": "GracefulRestart"}' https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Managers/Bluefield_BMC/Actions/Manager.Reset
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/BMC_Firmware | jq -r ' .Version'
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory
curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/Bluefield_FW_ERoT | jq -r ' .Version'

BMC Update

After initiating the BMC secure update with the command #2 to from the previous table, a response similar to the following is received:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -X POST -T <package_path> https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService

{
  "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/0",
  "@odata.type": "#Task.v1_4_3.Task",
  "Id": "0",
  "TaskState": "Running"
}

Command #3 from the previous table can be used to track secure firmware update progress. For instance:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/0 | jq -r ' .PercentComplete'

  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  2123  100  2123    0     0  38600      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 37910
20

Command #3 is used to verify the task has completed because during the update procedure the reboot option is disabled. When "PercentComplete" reaches 100, command #4 is used to reboot the BMC. For example:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/0 | jq -r ' .PercentComplete'
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  3822  100  3822    0     0  81319      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 81319
100

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -X POST -d '{"ResetType": "GracefulRestart"}' https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Managers/Bluefield_BMC/Actions/Manager.Reset
{
  "@Message.ExtendedInfo": [
    {
      "@odata.type": "#Message.v1_1_1.Message",
      "Message": "The request completed successfully.",
      "MessageArgs": [],
      "MessageId": "Base.1.13.0.Success",
      "MessageSeverity": "OK",
      "Resolution": "None"
    }
  ]
}

Command #5 can be used to verify the current BMC firmware version after reboot:

For BlueField-3:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/BMC_Firmware | jq -r ' .Version'

  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   513  100   513    0     0   9679      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  9679

For BlueField-2:

Fetch the firmware ID from FirmwareInventory:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https:/<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/
{
  "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory",
  "@odata.type": "#SoftwareInventoryCollection.SoftwareInventoryCollection",
  "Members": [
    {
      "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/8c8549f3_BMC_Firmware"
…

Use command #5 with the fetched firmware ID in the previous step:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https:/<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/8c8549f3_BMC_Firmware | jq -r ' .Version'

  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   471  100   471    0     0    622      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   621
bmc-23.04

CEC Update

After initiating the BMC secure update with the command #2 to from the previous table, a response similar to the following is received:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -X POST -T <package_path> https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService
{
  "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/0",
  "@odata.type": "#Task.v1_4_3.Task",
  "Id": "0",
  "TaskState": "Running"
}

Command #3 can be used to track the progress of the CEC firmware update. For example:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/0 | jq -r ' .PercentComplete'
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  2123  100  2123    0     0  38600      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 37910
100

After the CEC secure update operation is complete, a power cycle or cold reset of the BlueField-3 DPU must be manually triggered to apply the changes once the update is finished.

Command #6 can be used to verify the current CEC firmware version after reboot:

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/Bluefield_FW_ERoT | jq -r ' .Version'

  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   421  100   421    0     0   1172      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  1172
19-4

BlueField BMC Redfish Triggers

Redfish triggers allow the user to get a journal message when a certain metric crosses a defined threshold for a defined time:

The trigger threshold can only be a numeric threshold
The trigger thresholds are unrelated to the sensor thresholds
The maximum number of triggers allowed in the system is 10

For more details, refer to Redfish Resource and Schema Guide.

No.

Function

Command

Description

1

Add a numeric trigger

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST https://${bmc}/redfish/v1/TelemetryService/Triggers/ -d '{"Id":"< >","Name":"<>","MetricType":"<>","TriggerActions":["<>"],"NumericThresholds":{"<>":{"Activation":"<>","DwellTime":"<>","Reading":<>}},"MetricProperties":["<>"]}'

Adds a numeric trigger to the BMC

2

Delete a trigger

curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X DELETE https://${bmc}/redfish/v1/TelemetryService/Triggers/<Trigger name>

Deletes a trigger

No.	Function	Command
1	List the users	ipmitool user list [<channel number>] For example: ipmitool user list 1
2	User creation	ipmitool user set name <user id> <user name> For example: ipmitool user set name 2 ADMIN
3	Set user password	ipmitool user set password <user id> <password> For example: ipmitool user set password 2 ADMIN123 Password policy: Minimum length: 13 Minimum upper case characters: 1 Minimum lower case characters: 1 Minimum digits: 1 Root account locks after four consecutive failed attempts and automatically unlocks after 10 minutes.
4	Enable user	ipmitool user enable <user id> For example: ipmitool user enable 2
5	Disable user	ipmitool user disable <user id> For example: ipmitool user disable 2
6	Set user privilege	ipmitool user priv <user id> <privilege level(1-4)> [<channel number>] Where "privilege level": 1 – callback level 2 – user level 3 – operator level 4 – administrator level For example: ipmitool user priv 2 0x3 1
7	Enable remote IPMI command functionality for user	ipmitool channel setaccess [<channel number>] <user id> ipmi = on\| off For example: ipmitool channel setaccess 1 2 ipmi=on
8	Lanplus commands to execute IPMI commands remotely for users with admin permissions	ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U <user> -P <password> -H <bmc_ip_address> <ipmi command> For example: ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U ADMIN -P ADMIN123 -H 10.10.10.10 user list 1
9	Lanplus commands to execute IPMI commands remotely for users with other than administrator roles	ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U <user> -P <password> -H <bmc_ip_address> -L <privilege (operator\|user)> <ipmi command> For example: ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U operator1 -P operator123 -H 10.10.10.10 -L operator user list 1 ipmitool -C 17 -I lanplus -U user1 -P user123 -H 10.10.10.10 -L user chassis status
10	Delete user	ipmitool user set name <user id> "" For example: ipmitool user set name 2 ""

No.	Function	Command	Description
1	Change mode to Static	ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc <mode> For example: ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc static	Sets LAN channel 1 IP config mode to static which corresponds to network interface "eth0"
2	Change mode to DHCP	ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc <mode> For example: ipmitool lan set 1 ipsrc dhcp	Sets LAN channel 1 IP config mode to DHCP which corresponds to the network interface "eth0"
3	Add IPv4 address	ipmitool lan set 1 ipaddr <IP Address> ipmitool lan set 1 defgw ipaddr <IP Address> ipmitool lan set 1 netmask <Netmask>	Adds IPv4 address, default gateway, and netmask to the network interface "eth0"
4	Get IPv4 config	ipmitool lan print 1	Gets IPv4 network config for channel 1 which corresponds to the network interface "eth0"
5	Set IPv6 address	ipmitool lan6 set 1 nolock static_addr 0 enable <IPv6 address> 64	Adds IPv6 address to the network interface "eth0"
6	Get IPv6 config	ipmitool lan6 print 1	Gets IPv6 network config for channel 1 which corresponds to the network interface "eth0"
7	Get DNS server	ipmitool raw 0x32 0x6B Output: 0b 31 30 2e 31 35 2e 31 32 2e 36 37 Corresponds to: `10.15.12.67`	Gets the DNS server
8	Add DNS server	ipmitool raw 0x32 0x6C 0x0b 0x31 0x30 0x2e 0x31 0x35 0x2e 0x31 0x32 0x2e 0x36 0x37 Output: 0x0b 0x31 0x30 0x2e 0x31 0x35 0x2e 0x31 0x32 0x2e 0x36 0x37 Corresponds to: `10.15.12.67`	Adds the DNS server
9	Get NTP server	ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA7 Output: 01 11 31 2e 69 6e 2e 70 6f 6f 6c 2e 6e 74 70 2e 6f 72 67 Where: `01` – NTP status enable/disable `11` – NTP server length `31 2e 69 6e 2e 70 6f 6f 6c 2e 6e 74 70 2e 6f 72 67` – NTP server address byte stream corresponds to `1.in.pool.ntp.org`	Gets NTP server
10	Add NTP server	ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x01 0x31 0x2e 0x69 0x6e 0x2e 0x70 0x6f 0x6f 0x6c 0x2e 0x6e 0x74 0x70 0x2e 0x6f 0x72 0x67 Where: `31 2e 69 6e 2e 70 6f 6f 6c 2e 6e 74 70 2e 6f 72 67` – NTP server address byte stream corresponds to `1.in.pool.ntp.org`	Adds NTP server
11	Enable time sync to NTP server	ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x02 0x01 Where: `0x01` – enable NTP	Enables NTP time sync
12	Enable time sync to system RTC	ipmitool raw 0x32 0xA8 0x02 0x00 Where: `0x00` – disable NTP	Disables NTP time sync

No.	Function	Command	Required for BMC / CEC Update	Description
1	Establish Redfish connection session	export token=`curl -k -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST https://<bmc_ip>/login -d '{"username" : "root", "password" : "<password>"}' \| grep token \| awk '{print $2;}' \| tr -d '"'` Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `password` – Password of root account	BMC CEC	Establish Redfish connection session
2	Trigger a secure firmware update	curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -X POST -T <package_path> https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection `package_path` – firmware update package path	BMC CEC	Triggers the secure update and starts tracking the secure update progress
3	Track secure firmware update progress	curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks Find the current task ID in the response and use it for checking the progress: curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/TaskService/Tasks/<task_id> \| jq -r ' .PercentComplete' Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection `task_id` – Task ID	BMC CEC	Tracks the firmware update progress
4	Reset/reboot a BMC	curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"ResetType": "GracefulRestart"}' https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Managers/Bluefield_BMC/Actions/Manager.Reset Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection	BMC	Resets/reboots the BMC
5	Fetch running BMC firmware version	For BlueField-3: curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/BMC_Firmware \| jq -r ' .Version' Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection	BMC	Fetches the running firmware version from BMC
5	Fetch running BMC firmware version	For BlueField-2: curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory Fetch the current firmware ID and then perform: curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/<firmware_id>_BMC_Firmware \| jq -r ' .Version' Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection	BMC	Fetches the running firmware version from BMC
6	Fetch running CEC firmware version	curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: <token>" -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/UpdateService/FirmwareInventory/Bluefield_FW_ERoT \| jq -r ' .Version' Where: `bmc_ip` – BMC IP address `token` – session token received when establishing connection	CEC	Fetches the running firmware version from CEC

Content

Space Tools

On This Page

Software Versioning

Boot Sequence Overview

Flattened Image Tree Linux Kernel Format

User Management

Network Protocol Support

DPU Reset

Factory Reset

BMC and CEC Firmware Update

BMC Update

CEC Update

BlueField BMC Redfish Triggers

Content

Space Tools

BMC Management

On This Page

Software Versioning

Boot Sequence Overview

Flattened Image Tree Linux Kernel Format

User Management

Network Protocol Support

DPU Reset

Factory Reset

BMC and CEC Firmware Update

BMC Update

CEC Update

BlueField BMC Redfish Triggers