IPMI (Go collector)

IPMI (Go collector)

Plugin: ipmi.plugin Module: ipmi

Overview

Monitor hardware sensor readings, sensor health and System Event Log entries through IPMI.

Queries a local Linux OpenIPMI device or a remote BMC over IPMI 1.5 LAN or IPMI 2.0 LAN+ using the configured account. The collector reads sensors and the System Event Log (SEL); it does not change BMC configuration or clear the event log.

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

• Linux

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration.

Installers give the dedicated ipmi.plugin binary root ownership and setuid permission, restricted to the Netdata group, for local device access. Containers must expose the device, for example with --device /dev/ipmi0. Remote collection needs no local device access.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

On standard Linux installations, the stock job attempts to collect the local OpenIPMI device 0 every ten seconds. Containers require ipmi=yes in the plugins section of netdata.conf and an exposed device for local collection. Hosts without an accessible device do not collect local IPMI metrics. Netdata prefers this plugin when both IPMI implementations are installed and enabled. An existing freeipmi=no keeps collection disabled; non-blank legacy command options keep C when FreeIPMI is enabled. Set ipmi=yes explicitly in the plugins section of netdata.conf to migrate either case to Go.

Limits

This plugin requires Linux. Keep FreeIPMI for legacy direct drivers, bridged sensors, OEM interpretation or custom FreeIPMI interpretation files. Unknown or unavailable sensor readings leave gaps. Default FreeIPMI policy treats non-critical threshold assertions as nominal. Netdata starts only one IPMI implementation; switch implementations by changing netdata.conf and restarting the Agent.

Performance Impact

IPMI command latency grows with sensor count. Increase update_every when a complete sensor scan takes longer than the configured interval. With collect_sel enabled, the first collections after a start also read the existing System Event Log, for up to two seconds each (a quarter of update_every when shorter), until all records are read. Later collections read only new records, or the whole log again after the BMC clears or rewrites it.

Setup

Prerequisites

Install the IPMI plugin

Linux source and static builds include the Go IPMI plugin by default. For DEB/RPM installations, install the optional netdata-plugin-ipmi package separately. Source builds can disable it with –disable-plugin-ipmi.

Migrate an existing FreeIPMI configuration

Configure the target in ipmi/ipmi.conf, set ipmi = yes in the [plugins] section of netdata.conf, and restart Netdata. C command options are not translated. To switch back, install netdata-plugin-freeipmi if needed, set ipmi = no and freeipmi = yes, and restart Netdata.

Enable remote BMC access

For LAN/LAN+, enable IPMI over LAN on the BMC, configure an account with User privilege, and allow UDP traffic from the Agent to the BMC port (623 by default). Select a higher privilege only if the BMC access policy requires it.

Configuration

Options

Options apply to each IPMI job. Configure one local device or remote BMC per job.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is ipmi/ipmi.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config ipmi/ipmi.conf

Examples

Local device

Monitor the first kernel IPMI device.

jobs:
  - name: local
    driver: open

Remote BMC

Monitor a remote BMC using IPMI 2.0. Use driver lan for BMCs that require IPMI 1.5.

jobs:
  - name: server-bmc
    driver: lanplus
    hostname: bmc.example
    username: monitor
    password: '${env:IPMI_PASSWORD}'

Attach a remote BMC to a virtual node

Define server-node in vnodes.conf first. Without vnode, metrics belong to the Agent host.

jobs:
  - name: server-bmc
    driver: lanplus
    hostname: bmc.example
    username: monitor
    password: '${env:IPMI_PASSWORD}'
    vnode: server-node

Live Data

Inspect the latest successful collection without issuing more IPMI commands.

IPMI Sensors

Show current readings and default FreeIPMI health states, with sensor counts by component and state.

Prerequisites

No additional configuration is required.

Parameters

Returns

One row per discovered full or compact sensor record, expanded for sharing. Unavailable numeric readings are null.

IPMI System Event Log

Browse the hardware events the BMC recorded, such as threshold crossings, fan, power and memory errors, processor throttling and boots, with default FreeIPMI states. Use it to see when a problem started and how often it recurs; the sensor charts show only the current state.

Prerequisites

No additional configuration is required.

Parameters

Returns

One row per SEL record the BMC retains, newest first in log order. The dashboard time range does not filter the table, because SEL records are often weeks apart. Times are converted to UTC with the BMC’s SEL UTC offset. When the BMC reports none, times are the BMC clock, and the view shows how far that clock is from the Agent clock. Records logged before a daylight saving change can be off by an hour, because the BMC reports only its current offset. Records without a date (OEM records without a timestamp, or records logged before the BMC clock was set) show Time as Unavailable.

Troubleshooting

Known Errors

permission denied

Cause

The plugin account cannot open the local IPMI device for reading and writing.

Fix

Check that the dedicated binary retains the ownership and setuid permissions installed by Netdata. In a container, expose the IPMI device. For a manually built binary, grant device access through the host security policy or run a trusted local test explicitly with sudo.