Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) BMC MAC addresses issue.

Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) BMC MAC addresses issue.

[Bruce Mitchell]

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On my Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) the original Purley BMC FW gets its MAC addresses properly and consistently,
when reflashing the BMC SPI FLASH the BMC will still get the correct and same MAC addresses.

Then all I change is using OpenBMC (from here https://github.com/Intel-BMC/openbmc) and then the BMC gets
different MAC addresses each time I reflash the BMC SPU FLASH.
Is this the present expected behavior?
If so will it be corrected to behave like the Purley BMC FW for MAC addresses?

Thanks!


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Re: Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) BMC MAC addresses issue.

[Johnathan Mantey]

This is expected behavior.
I believe the MAC address is generated randomly the first time.
I'm not certain if this will remain the status quo.
The MAC addresses are pulled from the
/etc/systemd/network/00-bmc-ethx.network files.
It is necessary to write the information, and then reboot the BMC for
the value to take effect.

On 1/17/20 1:16 PM, Bruce Mitchell wrote:
> On my Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) the original Purley BMC FW gets its MAC
> addresses properly and consistently,
> 
> when reflashing the BMC SPI FLASH the BMC will still get the correct and
> same MAC addresses.
> 
>  
> 
> Then all I change is using OpenBMC (from here
> https://github.com/Intel-BMC/openbmc) and then the BMC gets
> 
> different MAC addresses each time I reflash the BMC SPU FLASH.
> 
> Is this the present expected behavior?
> 
> If so will it be corrected to behave like the Purley BMC FW for MAC
> addresses?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks!
> 
>  
> 

-- 
Johnathan Mantey
Senior Software Engineer
*azad te**chnology partners*
Contributing to Technology Innovation since 1992
Phone: (503) 712-6764
Email: johnathanx.mantey@intel.com <mailto:johnathanx.mantey@intel.com>

RE: Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) BMC MAC addresses issue.

[Milton Miller II]

About 03:29PM 01/17/2020 in some timezone, Johnathan Mantey wrote:
>
>This is expected behavior.
>I believe the MAC address is generated randomly the first time.
>I'm not certain if this will remain the status quo.
>The MAC addresses are pulled from the
>/etc/systemd/network/00-bmc-ethx.network files.
>It is necessary to write the information, and then reboot the BMC for
>the value to take effect.

It's the behavior if the platform is missing some support.

>
>On 1/17/20 1:16 PM, Bruce Mitchell wrote:
>> On my Intel S2600WF (Wolf Pass) the original Purley BMC FW gets its
>MAC
>> addresses properly and consistently,
>> 
>> when reflashing the BMC SPI FLASH the BMC will still get the
>correct and
>> same MAC addresses.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Then all I change is using OpenBMC (from here
>>
>https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_Intel
>-2DBMC_openbmc&d=DwID-g&c=jf_iaSHvJObTbx-siA1ZOg&r=bvv7AJEECoRKBU02rc
>u4F5DWd-EwX8As2xrXeO9ZSo4&m=nAfDq6tUDSiK_KGsv8J_gf4rZRggfe7L3fFnWRBD2
>xQ&s=oiK3NIjr0m1wrqSiymjsJO5bn9SQFCRcKpaOjzAXkss&e= ) and then the
>BMC gets
>> 
>> different MAC addresses each time I reflash the BMC SPU FLASH.
>> 
>> Is this the present expected behavior?
>> 
>> If so will it be corrected to behave like the Purley BMC FW for MAC
>> addresses?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>>  
>> 
>
>-- 
>Johnathan Mantey


Wolf Pass uses the aspeed AST 2500, which does not have space to store
the MAC address inside the SOC.

Das U-boot, the booloader that OpenBMC uses, will write a MAC into the 
hardware if one is configured in the firmware environment ethaddr 
variable.If one is not set, it will generate a random MAC from the 
administratively assigned space.

Likewise, the Linux kernel driver will use a mac programmed into the 
hardware if it is valid, or it too will generate a random MAC from the 
administratively assigned space.

Other OpenBMC systems extract the MAC from a FRU object in the inventory 
and write this to a d-bus variable which then triggers a call to store 
the MAC in the u-boot environment via the fw-setenv utility.

I don't have any specs or hardware for WolfPass so I ccan't comment on 
where the MAC address is stored.  If you have trouble finding the code
to transport the MAC to the U-boot environment I can search for the 
pieces; I know the path exists on romulus and witherspoon platforms in
the meta-openpower and meta-ibm layers.

milton