This tutorial shows you how to load any ISO file in the virtual CD/DVD-ROM of a Supermicro server and boot from it if it is bootable. You could install operating systems from a ISO file or just share a data. Here we use an installation DVD disk of CentOS 7 to boot. This tutorial expect there is a windows (samba) share on the local network if you need to do it you can check here – Configure and mount samba share in Supermicro IPMI Virtual media (CD-ROM) Loading an ISO disk in the (virtual) CD/DVD-ROM device attached to your server could be of a great help to the system administrators, you could use diagnostic disks, update disks (BIOS and firmware of devices), install multiple operating systems including MS Windows, share data and many more! You could use ISO disk right from your computer or from a server next to the server you want to use the ISO to speed up access.
STEP 1) When you are logged in the Supermicro IPMI web interface click on Virtual Media menu and then CD-ROM Image.
Having many Supermicro servers we used multiple times Virtual Media to install, diagnose and rescue Supermicro server. It is really simple to open the Console Redirection – java web start and just mount the ISO file from Virtual Media -> ISO File, but this way if your server is not local to your network and it is located in a colocation as it should be the connection is slow and in many cases bogus! Because it uses UDP it happened many times to remount or just to lose the connection and the media to disappear in the middle of the booting/loading process from the installation media, for example. And probably you have noticed there is additional option in the web interface of mounting ISO file from a windows share. Of course, in linux world it might be samba share as in our case and the share could be easily configured on a server in your colocation.
And we noticed was several times we have no problems using it, but some time the share could not be even saved and respectively could not be mounted. No error reported, just the edit boxes resets to blank and apparently everything was the same as the previous box, which it worked as a charm!
Here are the steps to enable one of your CentOS 7 servers to share a resource and to use it in your Supermicro IPMI KVM. The server is selinux enabled and the policy is Enforcing.
STEP 1) Install samba server in CentOS 7
[root@srv0 ~]# yum -y install samba samba-client samba-common policycoreutils-python
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Determining fastest mirrors
epel/x86_64/metalink | 30 kB 00:00:00
* base: mirrors.neterra.net
* epel: mirrors.neterra.net
* extras: mirrors.neterra.net
* updates: mirrors.neterra.net
base | 3.6 kB 00:00:00
epel | 3.2 kB 00:00:00
extras | 3.4 kB 00:00:00
updates | 3.4 kB 00:00:00
(1/7): base/7/x86_64/group_gz | 166 kB 00:00:00
(2/7): epel/x86_64/group_gz | 88 kB 00:00:00
(3/7): base/7/x86_64/primary_db | 5.9 MB 00:00:00
(4/7): extras/7/x86_64/primary_db | 147 kB 00:00:00
(5/7): updates/7/x86_64/primary_db | 2.0 MB 00:00:00
(6/7): epel/x86_64/updateinfo | 932 kB 00:00:00
(7/7): epel/x86_64/primary | 3.5 MB 00:00:00
epel 12584/12584
Package samba-client-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package samba-common-4.7.1-6.el7.noarch already installed and latest version
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package samba.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: samba-libs = 4.7.1-6.el7 for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: samba-common-tools = 4.7.1-6.el7 for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libxattr-tdb-samba4.so(SAMBA_4.7.1)(64bit) for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libaio.so.1(LIBAIO_0.4)(64bit) for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libaio.so.1(LIBAIO_0.1)(64bit) for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libxattr-tdb-samba4.so()(64bit) for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libaio.so.1()(64bit) for package: samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package libaio.x86_64 0:0.3.109-13.el7 will be installed
---> Package samba-common-tools.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7 will be installed
---> Package samba-libs.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libpytalloc-util.so.2(PYTALLOC_UTIL_2.1.9)(64bit) for package: samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libpytalloc-util.so.2(PYTALLOC_UTIL_2.1.6)(64bit) for package: samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libpytalloc-util.so.2(PYTALLOC_UTIL_2.0.6)(64bit) for package: samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libpytalloc-util.so.2()(64bit) for package: samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package pytalloc.x86_64 0:2.1.10-1.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
======================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
======================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
samba x86_64 4.7.1-6.el7 base 661 k
Installing for dependencies:
libaio x86_64 0.3.109-13.el7 base 24 k
pytalloc x86_64 2.1.10-1.el7 base 17 k
samba-common-tools x86_64 4.7.1-6.el7 base 463 k
samba-libs x86_64 4.7.1-6.el7 base 275 k
Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package (+4 Dependent packages)
Total download size: 1.4 M
Installed size: 3.8 M
Downloading packages:
(1/5): libaio-0.3.109-13.el7.x86_64.rpm | 24 kB 00:00:00
(2/5): pytalloc-2.1.10-1.el7.x86_64.rpm | 17 kB 00:00:00
(3/5): samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64.rpm | 661 kB 00:00:00
(4/5): samba-common-tools-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64.rpm | 463 kB 00:00:00
(5/5): samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64.rpm | 275 kB 00:00:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 4.5 MB/s | 1.4 MB 00:00:00
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
Installing : pytalloc-2.1.10-1.el7.x86_64 1/5
Installing : samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 2/5
Installing : samba-common-tools-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 3/5
Installing : libaio-0.3.109-13.el7.x86_64 4/5
Installing : samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 5/5
Verifying : libaio-0.3.109-13.el7.x86_64 1/5
Verifying : samba-libs-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 2/5
Verifying : samba-common-tools-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 3/5
Verifying : samba-4.7.1-6.el7.x86_64 4/5
Verifying : pytalloc-2.1.10-1.el7.x86_64 5/5
Installed:
samba.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7
Dependency Installed:
libaio.x86_64 0:0.3.109-13.el7 pytalloc.x86_64 0:2.1.10-1.el7 samba-common-tools.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7 samba-libs.x86_64 0:4.7.1-6.el7
Complete!
[root@srv0 ~]#
STEP 2) Configure samba server CentOS 7 for the purpose of using it in IPMI Virtual share.
We are going to use a share without login credentials, because our KVM IP are always local ones and accessed via a vpn network and in addition only the network of the IPMI IPs could access the share (the samba server has a firewall configured).
Set the configuration file of the samba server – one directory storing the files shared with no login credentials (no username/password means anonymous login).
The configuration file is:
/etc/samba/smb.conf
[global]
workgroup = WINSHARE
server string = Samba Server %v
netbios name = centossrv
security = user
map to guest = bad user
dns proxy = no
#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[share]
path = /mnt/storage1/samba
browsable =yes
writable = no
guest ok = yes
read only = yes
As you can see we use “/mnt/storage1/samba” for our directory where the ISO files will be located. Change this path if you want to put your ISO files somewhere else.
Set the right permissions for the directory and selinux (if you server is not selinux enabled, you could skip the selinux part) and run the samba daemon:
[root@srv0 ~]# mkdir /mnt/storage1/samba
[root@srv0 ~]# chown -R nobody:nobody /mnt/storage1/samba/
[root@srv0 ~]# semanage fcontext -a -t samba_share_t '/mnt/storage1/samba(/.*)?'
[root@srv0 ~]# restorecon -Rv /mnt/storage1/samba/
restorecon reset /mnt/storage1/samba context unconfined_u:object_r:unlabeled_t:s0->unconfined_u:object_r:samba_share_t:s0
[root@srv0 ~]# cd /mnt/storage1/samba/
[root@srv0 samba]# wget http://mirror.leaseweb.com/centos/7.5.1804/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1804.iso
--2018-06-01 14:15:42-- http://mirror.leaseweb.com/centos/7.5.1804/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1804.iso
Resolving mirror.leaseweb.com (mirror.leaseweb.com)... 37.58.58.140, 2a00:c98:2030:a034::21
Connecting to mirror.leaseweb.com (mirror.leaseweb.com)|37.58.58.140|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 950009856 (906M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1804.iso’
100%[============================================================================================================================>] 950,009,856 40.1MB/s in 33s
2018-06-01 14:16:15 (27.3 MB/s) - ‘CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1804.iso’ saved [950009856/950009856]
[root@srv0 samba]# chown nobody:nobody CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1804.iso
[root@srv0 samba]# systemctl start smb
[root@srv0 samba]# systemctl status smb
● smb.service - Samba SMB Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/smb.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2018-06-01 14:17:57 UTC; 20s ago
Main PID: 31961 (smbd)
Status: "smbd: ready to serve connections..."
Tasks: 4
Memory: 19.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/smb.service
├─31961 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
├─31964 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
├─31965 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
└─31966 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
Jun 01 14:17:56 srv0@local systemd[1]: Starting Samba SMB Daemon...
Jun 01 14:17:57 srv0@local smbd[31961]: [2018/06/01 14:17:57.761913, 0] ../lib/util/become_daemon.c:124(daemon_ready)
Jun 01 14:17:57 srv0@local smbd[31961]: STATUS=daemon 'smbd' finished starting up and ready to serve connections
Jun 01 14:17:57 srv0@local systemd[1]: Started Samba SMB Daemon.
Configure the firewall to allow only connections from the IPMI KVM IP networks (or a single IP if you need to expose it in the Internet). You can work with build in zone “trusted”, but here we prefer more generic approach, which could be used not only for local IP networks but for real IPs:
STEP 3) Mount a disk in IPMI Virutal Media and boot from it
You could check our additional tutorial for it here –
STEP 3.1) Fill “Share host” and “Path image” only, because we configured our samba share without a password
Image on Windows Share
STEP 3.2) Upon a successful configuration saving you’ll get a confirmation dialog.
If no confirmation is shown you would not be able to mount the share, check out our Troubleshooting below! Save configuration of Image on Windows Share
STEP 3.3) After saving the configuration click on “Mount” to load your ISO file in the virtual CD-ROM.
Mount Image on Windows Share
STEP 3.4) This dialog is always shown no matter there is such share or not: “Please check the device status to confirm whether the image is mounted/unmounted.”
Check device status
STEP 3.5) If the Supermicro IPMI accessed successfully the share resource it would mount it (load the ISO file as s CD in the virtual CD-ROM).
If not the three Device 1,2,3 will show the same: “No disk emulation set.”, which means the samba share is not accessible, check the permissions for the file and the firewall first (and the logs files, too). There is an iso file mounted
* Troubleshooting
– if you click on button “Save” and just nothing happen – no dialog for successful saving and no dialog at all, probably there is a Javascript error, try to open the web interface from a different browser with clean history or click ctrl+F5 when loading the Virtual Media page! More in Cannot save and mount a Supermicro IPMI Virtual media mount – javascript error?
If you have multiple Supermicro servers with many different versions of IPMI KVM software installed it could happen your browser to cache some of the JavaScript and other static content to reuse them, but it could very unpleasant when you have different version of IPMI software on different servers and you might notice strange behavior of the web interface! Especially if you use ssh tunneling to access your multiple Supermicro IPMI KVMs from local IP on your computer – Tunneling the IPMI/KVM ports over ssh (supermicro ipmi ports)
One of the big problems we have when we wanted to mount a Virtual Media
from a windows share (samba share in our case) in IPMI KVM web interface -> Virtual Media -> CD-ROM image -> Save and when the Save is clicked just nothing happen (sometimes it triggers a reload of the iframe) – no error nothing and no confirmation for successful save! At first it seems the web interface accepted the “Share Host” and “Path to Image”: Fill “Share Host” and “Path to Image”
but when you click “Mount” it does not mount the media: no disk emulation set
and when you reload the CD-ROM image page you get again blank edit boxes or (the old values): Old values
Probably a refresh will get the values blank: Blank edit boxes
And if you check your browser console you’ll see there is a JavaScript error:
Uncaught ReferenceError: FocusOnErrorSpecificCharSet3 is not defined
The error might be different, this was in our case. the problem was
the browser cached “https://192.168.0.170/js/utils.js”
from one of the previous servers and there the version of the IPMI KVM software was different and apparently the
/js/utils.js
was throwing an error and not working (this function did not exist in some older Supermicro IPMI KVM versions, the file is there but it is slightly different). The solution is so simple!
Just refresh the page with CTRL+F5 or delete the history or use another browser.
Such a simple problem, but could lead to big problems if you try to use the mount virtual media. In fact look for problems in the JavaScript if you cannot save the configuration in the “Share Host” and “Path to Image”, because when saving the IPMI do not check if there is a live “Share Host” with a windows/samba share and an image there, the software just check for special in “Shared” characters like:
var SpeficCharFilter = /[,; &'"<>\\=$|^?*~`()\[\]\{\}#%]/;
And for the password:
var SpeficCharFilter = /[,; &'"<>\\=$|^?~`()\[\]\{\}#%]/;
But in both cases you’ll get an alert with an error.
So to summer it up if you put IP and a path to the windows share of Virtual Media and click “Save” and nothing happen – no confirmation for successful saving you got a JavaScript error and probably your browser cached one of the JavaScript files, the solution is simple just refresh with CTRL+F5 or load from different browser! We often use ssh tunneling for IPMI KVM access – Tunneling the IPMI/KVM ports over ssh (supermicro ipmi ports) and different version of the static files of the supermicro IPMI web interface are cached locally, which as you can see could have really bad consequences!
Working Save button
click Save button
Fill “Share Host” and “Path to Image”
Confirmation when everything is OK
The confirmation of image on windows share has been successfully set.
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