IPMI

IPMI

[Rusty Russell]

>From "make oldconfig":

	*
	* IPMI
	*
	IPMI top-level message handler (IPMI_HANDLER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?
	
	This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
	to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to do any other IPMI
	things.  See IPMI.txt for more details.
	
	IPMI top-level message handler (IPMI_HANDLER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 

Telling me what IPMI is, and why I might need it, would be a good
thing...  Please, Corey, I'm feeling generation-gapped by the
acronyms...

Thanks!
Rusty.
--
  Anyone who quotes me in their sig is an idiot. -- Rusty Russell.

Re: IPMI

[Paul Mackerras]

Rusty Russell writes:

> Telling me what IPMI is, and why I might need it, would be a good
> thing...  Please, Corey, I'm feeling generation-gapped by the
> acronyms...

There is a Documentation/IPMI.txt, which would serve as an excellent
example of how _not_ to write a documentation file, should you ever
decide to write a "Rusty's Unreliable Guide to Writing Kernel
Documentation" and need an example to pillory.  I quote:


> 			    The Linux IPMI Driver
> 			    ---------------------
> 				Corey Minyard
> 			    <minyard@mvista.com>
> 			      <minyard@acm.org>
> 
> This document describes how to use the IPMI driver for Linux.  If you
> are not familiar with IPMI itself, see the web site at
> http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi/index.htm.  IPMI is a big
> subject and I can't cover it all here!

Maybe it can't all be covered here, but some basic explanation of what
IPMI is and does is essential, even if just so that people who don't
need IPMI can work that out.

Paul.

Re: IPMI

[Bruce Harada]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003 20:23:07 +1100
Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org> wrote:

> > This document describes how to use the IPMI driver for Linux.  If you
> > are not familiar with IPMI itself, see the web site at
> > http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi/index.htm.  IPMI is a big
> > subject and I can't cover it all here!

I don't want to start a license flamewar, by any means, but while looking
through that page I noticed this:

"Adopters Agreement:

Before implementing the IPMI, IPMB or ICMB specifications, a royalty-free
reciprocal patent license must be signed."

The agreement itself (at http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi/adopterslicense.pdf)
seems benign (where 'seems' means 'I am not a lawyer and I don't even play one on TV'),
 but this bit looks a little iffy:

| Adopter hereby grants to the Promoters and to Fellow Adopters, and the
| Promoters hereby grant to Adopter, a nonexclusive, royalty-free,
| nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, worldwide
| license under its Necessary Claims to make, have made, use, import,
| offer to sell and sell products which comply with the Specification

How does the "nontransferable, nonsublicensable" bit affect Linux? I presume
somebody signed this thing and sent it to Intel, but wouldn't it only apply to
the individual who signed it, as Linux developers aren't exactly a legal
entity? The way I read it, it would mean that everybody who wants to
distribute a kernel containing IPMI would each need to sign the agreement...

Much as I hate to say it, have you had a GPL-aware lawyer look at this?

Sorry for the noise,

Bruce

Re: IPMI

[Arjan van de Ven]

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> Much as I hate to say it, have you had a GPL-aware lawyer look at this?
> 

since intel also seems to ship a GPL ipmi driver I think they give
explicit permission for this ;)

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Re: IPMI

[Bruce Harada]

On 14 Jan 2003 13:36:07 +0100
Arjan van de Ven <arjanv@redhat.com> wrote:

> since intel also seems to ship a GPL ipmi driver I think they give
> explicit permission for this ;)

Ah, OK ;)

Re: IPMI

[Corey Minyard]

I added the following to the top of the document.  Do you have any
other comments on the document or this text?

The Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface, or IPMI, is a
standard for controlling intelligent devices that monitor a system.
It provides for dynamic discovery of sensors in the system and the
ability to monitor the sensors and be informed when the sensor's
values change or go outside certain boundaries.  It also has a
standardized database for field-replacable units (FRUs) and a watchdog
timer.

To use this, you need an interface to an IPMI controller in your
system (called a Baseboard Management Controller, or BMC) and
management software that can use the IPMI system.

-Corey

Paul Mackerras wrote:

>Rusty Russell writes:
>
>  
>
>>Telling me what IPMI is, and why I might need it, would be a good
>>thing...  Please, Corey, I'm feeling generation-gapped by the
>>acronyms...
>>    
>>
>
>There is a Documentation/IPMI.txt, which would serve as an excellent
>example of how _not_ to write a documentation file, should you ever
>decide to write a "Rusty's Unreliable Guide to Writing Kernel
>Documentation" and need an example to pillory.  I quote:
>
>
>  
>
>>			    The Linux IPMI Driver
>>			    ---------------------
>>				Corey Minyard
>>			    <minyard@mvista.com>
>>			      <minyard@acm.org>
>>
>>This document describes how to use the IPMI driver for Linux.  If you
>>are not familiar with IPMI itself, see the web site at
>>http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi/index.htm.  IPMI is a big
>>subject and I can't cover it all here!
>>    
>>
>
>Maybe it can't all be covered here, but some basic explanation of what
>IPMI is and does is essential, even if just so that people who don't
>need IPMI can work that out.
>
>Paul.
>
>
>  
>

Re: IPMI

[Paul Mackerras]

Corey Minyard writes:

> I added the following to the top of the document.  Do you have any
> other comments on the document or this text?

Much better, thank you.  Is IPMI used only on x86, or only x86 and
ia64?  If so that would be worth mentioning too.  Other than that, the
paragraph you propose is exactly the sort of brief background that is
needed.

Thanks,
Paul.

Re: IPMI

[Corey Minyard]

Thanks, I will add that.  It's generic, BTW, not just x86 and ia64.

-Corey

Paul Mackerras wrote:

>Corey Minyard writes:
>
>  
>
>>I added the following to the top of the document.  Do you have any
>>other comments on the document or this text?
>>    
>>
>
>Much better, thank you.  Is IPMI used only on x86, or only x86 and
>ia64?  If so that would be worth mentioning too.  Other than that, the
>paragraph you propose is exactly the sort of brief background that is
>needed.
>
>Thanks,
>Paul.
>
>
>  
>

Re: IPMI

[Corey Minyard]

Does this work, or would you like more detail?

config IPMI_HANDLER
       tristate 'IPMI top-level message handler'
       help
         This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
         to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to enable any
         other IPMI things.  IPMI is a standard for managing sensors
         (temperature, voltage, etc.) in a system.  If you don't know
         what it is, your system probably doesn't have it and you can
         ignore this option.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
         details on the driver.

-Corey

Rusty Russell wrote:

>From "make oldconfig":
>
>	*
>	* IPMI
>	*
>	IPMI top-level message handler (IPMI_HANDLER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?
>	
>	This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
>	to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to do any other IPMI
>	things.  See IPMI.txt for more details.
>	
>	IPMI top-level message handler (IPMI_HANDLER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
>
>Telling me what IPMI is, and why I might need it, would be a good
>thing...  Please, Corey, I'm feeling generation-gapped by the
>acronyms...
>
>Thanks!
>Rusty.
>--
>  Anyone who quotes me in their sig is an idiot. -- Rusty Russell.
>
>
>  
>

Re: IPMI

[Adrian Bunk]

On Tue, Jan 14, 2003 at 08:29:33AM -0600, Corey Minyard wrote:
> Does this work, or would you like more detail?
> 
> config IPMI_HANDLER
>       tristate 'IPMI top-level message handler'
>       help
>         This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
>         to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to enable any
>         other IPMI things.  IPMI is a standard for managing sensors
>         (temperature, voltage, etc.) in a system.  If you don't know
>         what it is, your system probably doesn't have it and you can
>         ignore this option.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
>         details on the driver.


What about the following?


config IPMI_HANDLER
      tristate 'IPMI top-level message handler'
      help
        This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
        to work.

        IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is one standard 
        for managing sensors (temperature, voltage, etc.) in a system.

        See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more details.

        If unsure, say N.


> -Corey

cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

Re: IPMI

[Wichert Akkerman]

Previously Corey Minyard wrote:
> config IPMI_HANDLER
>       tristate 'IPMI top-level message handler'
>       help
>         This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
>         to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to enable any
>         other IPMI things.  IPMI is a standard for managing sensors
>         (temperature, voltage, etc.) in a system.  If you don't know
>         what it is, your system probably doesn't have it and you can
>         ignore this option.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
>         details on the driver.

With modern systems it is quite likely that the system does have IPMI
but the user has no idea wat IPMI is.

Wichert.

-- 
Wichert Akkerman <wichert@wiggy.net>           http://www.wiggy.net/
A random hacker

Re: IPMI

[Rusty Russell]

In message <3E241ECD.6000108@mvista.com> you write:
> Does this work, or would you like more detail?
> 
> config IPMI_HANDLER
>        tristate 'IPMI top-level message handler'
>        help
>          This enables the central IPMI message handler, required for IPMI
>          to work.  Note that you must have this enabled to enable any
>          other IPMI things.  IPMI is a standard for managing sensors
>          (temperature, voltage, etc.) in a system.  If you don't know
>          what it is, your system probably doesn't have it and you can
>          ignore this option.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
>          details on the driver.

I don't mean to nitpick, but I want to know whether I need it or not.

Now, if I read this correctly, CONFIG_IPMI would be a more appropriate
name.  But changing the message at least would make it clearer:

	config IPMI_HANDLER
	       tristate 'IPMI support'

Now, the message.  How about this:
       help
	  Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) is a
	  standard for managing sensors (temperature, voltage, etc.)
	  in a system.  Most IA64 and x86 servers shipped since 2002
	  have support for it.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
	  details.  Say "N" unless configuring for a recent x86 or
	  IA64 machine.

Tweak details to suit: maybe IPMI goes furthur back, maybe it's also
on desktops, maybe it's so widespread that the suggested default
should be "Y" for all IA64 and x86.

But the "what to do if you know nothing" is important: people who know
what IPMI is don't need the help message.

Hope that clarifies?
Rusty.
--
  Anyone who quotes me in their sig is an idiot. -- Rusty Russell.

Re: IPMI

[Horst von Brand]

Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au> said:

[...]

> Now, the message.  How about this:
>        help
> 	  Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) is a
> 	  standard for managing sensors (temperature, voltage, etc.)
> 	  in a system.  Most IA64 and x86 servers shipped since 2002
> 	  have support for it.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
> 	  details.  Say "N" unless configuring for a recent x86 or
> 	  IA64 machine.

Perhaps 'Say "Y" when configuring for a recent...' is clearer?
--
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                   User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513

RE: IPMI

[Perez-Gonzalez, Inaky]

>        help
> 	  Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) is a
> 	  standard for managing sensors (temperature, voltage, etc.)
> 	  in a system.  Most IA64 and x86 servers shipped since 2002
> 	  have support for it.  See Documentation/IPMI.txt for more
> 	  details.  Say "N" unless configuring for a recent x86 or
> 	  IA64 machine.

Last time I checked, IPMI wasn't limited to x86 or ia64 [in fact, I saw an
ARM based machine with it], so I guess that is kind of incorrect.

Inaky Perez-Gonzalez -- Not speaking for Intel - opinions are my own [or my
fault]