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What is a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) and how do I use it?

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Applies to

  • ONTAP 9
  • Baseboard Management Controller (BMC
  • AFF A700s
  • AFF A800, AFF C800
  • AFF A220 , AFF A150, AFF C190, FAS2750, FAS2720
  • AFF A250, AFF C250, FAS500f
  • AFF A320
  • AFF A400, AFF C400, FAS8700, FAS8300
  • AFF A900, FAS9500

Answer

The Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is a remote management device that enables you to access, monitor, and troubleshoot a node remotely.

The key capabilities of the BMC  include the following:

  • Remotely diagnose, shut down, power-cycle, or reboot the node, regardless of the state of the node controller.
  • BMC monitors environmental sensors and logs events to help you take timely and effective service actions.
  • Extends AutoSupport by sending additional system event alerts to ONTAP.
  • The BMC is powered by a standby voltage, which is available as long as the node has input power from at least one of its power supplies.
    • It remains available even when the node is power-cycled or turned off.
    • You can still gather command output from the BMC using the console port and pressing Ctrl+G.
  • The console log itself is not committed to disk, but remains in memory buffer even if the storage system is reinitialized.
    • Due to limited buffer space, the system log will be overwritten on an as-needed basis in order to accommodate the latest events.

Note: Refer to the Docs page   About the Baseboard Management Controller  for more  capabilities

List of common activities
AFF A400, AFF C400, FAS8700, FAS8300 specific
  • For AFF A400, AFF C400, FAS8700, FAS8300 systems, to return to the BMC prompt, you will need to use 'Esc-T' and not 'Ctrl-D', as is typical with SP and BMC
  • To get to the BMC prompt from the console port, use 'Ctrl-G'
AFF A700s specific
  • The BMC prompt on this platform is: admin@BMC01:~$
  • For AFF A700s systems, to return to the BMC prompt, you will need to use 'Esc-T' and not 'Ctrl-D', as is typical with SP and BMC
  • To get to the BMC prompt from the console port, use 'Ctrl-G'

Note: On AFF A700s, AFF A800 and AFF C800, the BMC has its own separate Ethernet interface. It does not share a "wrench" port with the e0M port used by ONTAP.

 

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