Getting Started with IPMI

IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is an important tool for any server administrator. With IPMI, you can access the server as if you were physically sitting in front of it with full KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) access. This is extremely useful in the event of a network misconfiguration, a need to access the system's BIOS, or to (re)install your own operating system. In this article, we will be going over how what IPMI is and how it can be accessed.

Note: IPMI is not available with all servers. Check your server's specs to make sure you have access to IPMI.

Topics

• Understanding IPMI
• Accessing the HTML5 IPMI from the OVHcloud Control Panel
• Accessing IPMI from a Java Applet from the OVHcloud Control Panel
• Accessing IPMI via Serial Over LAN from the OVHcloud Control Panel

Understanding IPMI

IPMI is widely supported among many hardware vendors and is the standard for KVM access to a server. IPMI can be accessed without network connectivity, without SSH connectivity, and without operating system access. It gives you access to the server's BIOS and allows you to make configuration changes and (re)install operating systems.

With IPMI, if we were to lock ourselves out of our server by making an incorrect network configuration change or disabling SSH or RDP access, we would still be able to access our server and troubleshoot our issues.

Let's take a look at how we can access IPMI.

Accessing the HTML5 IPMI from the OVHcloud Control Panel

Start by logging in to the OVHcloud Control Panel. From the left-hand sidebar, click Bare Metal Cloud and then Dedicated and virtual servers. Next, click Dedicated servers and select your server from the following page. Then, click on the IPMI tab. Click the Via your web browser (KVM) button.

Next, click Access the console (KVM).

You will be taken into the IPMI console in your web browser.

Accessing IPMI from a Java Applet from the OVHcloud Control Panel

Note: Although the IPMI Java applet can be accessed from macOS, there are some compatibility issues. As a result, it is recommended to use a system running either Windows or Linux.

Before we begin, please ensure that Java is installed on your local machine. To download and install the latest version of Java, click here.

Start by logging in to the OVHcloud Control Panel. From the left-hand sidebar, choose the Dedicated Server you wish to access. Then, click on the IPMI tab. Click the From a java applet (KVM) button.

Download the kvm.jnlp file when prompted. Then, open the Java applet to see the IPMI console.

Accessing IPMI via Serial Over LAN from the OVHcloud Control Panel

Note: You will need to have an SSH key saved in the OVHcloud Control Panel to use this feature. To learn how to save an SSH key, please check out the following guide.

Although we would recommend that you log in via the Java applet, you can also access the IPMI using Serial over LAN. To do so, navigate to the IPMI tab and select an SSH key. Once you have selected your key, an SSH command will be generated. Copy and paste this into Terminal to access the IPMI.

Conclusion

IPMI is a very useful tool, whether you need to access your server due to a misconfiguration or you simply want to install your own operating system. To learn more about how to install your own operating system using IPMI, consult our article How to Install an OS with IPMI.