Set IP to the IPMI/KVM server module with ipmitool

IPMI/KVM module is a pretty useful add-on module to every server. In fact, every server should have IPMI module installed for fast management of the server in critical cases!
Here are the commands to set a static IP to the IPMI/KVM module with ipmitool using a console to the server:

ipmitool -I open lan set 1 ipsrc static
ipmitool -I open lan set 1 ipaddr [IPADDR]
ipmitool -I open lan set 1 netmask [NETMASK]
ipmitool -I open lan set 1 defgw ipaddr [GW IPADDR]
ipmitool -I open lan set 1 access on

• [IPADDR] – the IP address of the IPMI/KVM
• [NETMASK] – the netmask of the network
• [GW IPADDR] – the gateway of the network

Here is a real world example of setting properly the LAN settings of the IPMI module.

[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 ipsrc static
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 ipaddr 192.168.6.45
Setting LAN IP Address to 192.168.6.45
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
Setting LAN Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 defgw ipaddr 192.168.6.1
Setting LAN Default Gateway IP to 192.168.6.1
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 access on
Set Channel Access for channel 1 was successful.
[root@srv0 ~]#

To see the current settings use:

[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan print
Set in Progress         : Set Complete
Auth Type Support       : NONE MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
Auth Type Enable        : Callback : MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
                        : User     : MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
                        : Operator : MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
                        : Admin    : MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
                        : OEM      : MD2 MD5 PASSWORD 
IP Address Source       : Static Address
IP Address              : 192.168.6.45
Subnet Mask             : 255.255.255.0
MAC Address             : 00:25:90:18:8b:c9
SNMP Community String   : public
IP Header               : TTL=0x00 Flags=0x00 Precedence=0x00 TOS=0x00
BMC ARP Control         : ARP Responses Enabled, Gratuitous ARP Disabled
Default Gateway IP      : 192.168.6.1
Default Gateway MAC     : 00:00:00:00:00:00
Backup Gateway IP       : 0.0.0.0
Backup Gateway MAC      : 00:00:00:00:00:00
802.1q VLAN ID          : Disabled
802.1q VLAN Priority    : 0
RMCP+ Cipher Suites     : 1,2,3,6,7,8,11,12
Cipher Suite Priv Max   : aaaaXXaaaXXaaXX
                        :     X=Cipher Suite Unused
                        :     c=CALLBACK
                        :     u=USER
                        :     o=OPERATOR
                        :     a=ADMIN
                        :     O=OEM
Bad Password Threshold  : Not Available

*Dependencies

Installation of ipmitool:

• CentOS 7

  yum -y install ipmitool
  

• Ubuntu 16+

apt-get install ipmitool

• Gentoo

  emerge -vu sys-apps/ipmitool
  

*Troubleshooting

If you receive errors when you execute ipmitool:

[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 ipaddr 192.168.6.45
Could not open device at /dev/ipmi0 or /dev/ipmi/0 or /dev/ipmidev/0: No such file or directory
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
Could not open device at /dev/ipmi0 or /dev/ipmi/0 or /dev/ipmidev/0: No such file or directory
[root@srv0 ~]# ipmitool -I open lan set 1 defgw ipaddr 192.168.6.1
Could not open device at /dev/ipmi0 or /dev/ipmi/0 or /dev/ipmidev/0: No such file or directory

The kernel module for the IPMI/KVM is not loaded by the system, so just execute:

[root@srv0 ~]# modprobe ipmi_si
[root@srv0 ~]# modprobe ipmi_devintf

And then you could use ipmitool commands above to set the network configuration of the IPMI/KVM add-on module.