Virtual media via IPMI

Some IPMIs, notably the Supermicro and ASRock IPMIs, let you use a Samba or NFS share to offer an .iso to the server. This is particularly useful when setting up a server or recovering a server that will not boot. Usually, a live CD can be booted into.

Asus IPMIs

NFS is more reliable when within a Linux setup, so backfw itself is designed to act as a NFS server to host ISOs.

1. Go to Settings -> Media Redirection -> General Settings.
2. Check Remote Media Support and Mount CD/DVD.
   1. Server address: 192.168.1.1 (server behind backfw) or 185.113.128.13 (server not behind backfw)
   2. Path in server: /usr/share/images/
   3. Share type for CD/DVD: nfs

Images can then be mounted via Image Redirection in the left panel.

ASRock IPMIs

NFS is more reliable when within a Linux setup, so backfw itself is designed to act as a NFS server to host ISOs.

1. Go to Configuration -> Images Redirection
2. Select Advanced Settings
   1. Enable: Yes
   2. Server address: 192.168.1.1 (server behind backfw) or 185.113.128.13 (server not behind backfw)
   3. Source path: /usr/share/images/
   4. Share type: NFS
3. Click on 2 / CD/DVD and then Add Image. Select one of the images from below.
4. Select 2 / CD/DVD again and then Start Redirection
5. Check it has been successful by going back into Configuration -> Images Redirection

The images currently available are:

• CentOS-5.11-x86_64-bin-1of9.iso
• CentOS-6.10-x86_64-minimal.iso
• CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal.iso
• debian-7.9.0-amd64-CD-1.iso
• debian-8.9.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
• debian-9.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso
• ubuntu-14.04.3-desk-amd64.iso
• ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop.iso

Note, the maximum length of a filename here is 31 characters even though it lets you enter 32 characters in the filename.

To add a new image, go backfw itself and store the image in /usr/share/images Make sure that it is world readable.

Supermicro IPMIs

Samba is set up on psiren.gigatux.com and requires the following information in the IPMI page in order to get running. Note, this might not work for Coventry Supermicro servers now that servers are behind backfw.

• Share host: <the IP address of psiren.gigatux.com>
• Path to image: \SAMBA\ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso
• Share Folder name: SAMBA
• Path to image: ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso
• User (optional): samba
• Password (optional): <the samba password>

The images currently available are:

• ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso
• super-grub2-disk-2.02s6.iso
• KNOPPIX_V7.4.2DVD-2014-09-28-EN.iso

node49001

velia.net has firewalled off the IPMI ports because of potential exploits.

You need to use the velia.net SMB server. Example setup is:

• Share host IP: 85.195.124.157
• Share folder name: ISO
• Path to image: /os/ubuntu/ubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso

Reinstalling Ubuntu

If the Ubuntu install has been wiped (either by the user or by accidently wiping the wrong drive) the latest Ubuntu needs reinstalling to the SSD drive, usually sdb. Once installed, use one of the previous IPs to update it, and install the following packages as well: smartmontools, mdadm, lvm2, emacs-nox