bmc-watchdog(8) System Commands bmc-watchdog(8) NAME bmc-watchdog - BMC watchdog timer daemon and control utility SYNOPSIS bmc-watchdog command [OPTION...] [COMMAND_OPTIONS...] DESCRIPTION Bmc-watchdog controls a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) watchdog timer. The bmc-watchdog tool typically executes as a cronjob or daemon to manage the watchdog timer. A user must be root in order to run bmc-watch- dog. Listed below are bmc-watchdog details, option details, examples, and known issues. For a general introduction to FreeIPMI please see freeipmi(7). BMC WATCHDOG DETAILS A BMC watchdog timer is part of the Intelligent Platform Management Inter- face (IPMI) specification and is only available to BMCs that are compliant with IPMI. When a BMC watchdog timer is started, it begins counting down to zero from some positive number of seconds. When the timer hits zero, the timer will execute a pre-configured pre-timeout interrupt and/or timeout action. In order to stop the pre-timeout interrupt or timeout action from being ex- ecuted, the watchdog timer must be periodically reset back to its initial beginning value. The BMC watchdog timer automatically stops itself when the machine is re- booted. Therefore, when a machine is brought up, the BMC watchdog timer must be setup again before it can be used. Typically, a BMC watchdog timer is used to automatically reset a machine that has crashed. When the operating system first starts up, the BMC timer is set to its initial countdown value. At periodic intervals, when the op- erating system is functioning properly, the watchdog timer can be reset by the OS or a userspace program. Thus, the timer never counts down to zero. When the system crashes, the timer cannot be reset by the OS or userspace program. Eventually, the timer will countdown to zero and reset the ma- chine. See EXAMPLES below for examples of how bmc-watchdog is commonly used. COMMANDS The following commands are available to bmc-watchdog. -s, --set Set BMC Watchdog Configuration. BMC watchdog timer configuration values can be set using the set command options listed below under SET OPTIONS. If a particular configuration parameter is not speci- fied on the command line, the current configuration of that parame- ter will not be changed. -g, --get Get BMC Watchdog Configuration and State. The current configuration and state is printed to standard output. -r, --reset Reset BMC Watchdog Timer. -t, --start Start BMC Watchdog Timer. Does nothing if the timer is currently running. Identical to --reset command when the timer is stopped with the exception of the start command options listed below under START OPTIONS. -y, --stop Stop BMC Watchdog Timer. Stops the current timer. -c, --clear Clear BMC Watchdog Configuration. Clears all configuration values for the watchdog timer, except for timer use, which is kept at its current value. -d, --daemon Run bmc-watchdog as a daemon. Configurable BMC watchdog timer op- tions are listed below under DAEMON OPTIONS. The configuration val- ues are set once, then the daemon will reset the timer at specified periodic intervals. The daemon can be stopped using the --stop com- mand, --clear command, or by setting the stop_timer flag on the --set command. GENERAL OPTIONS The following options are general options for configuring IPMI communica- tion and executing general tool commands. These options are generic and can be used by any command. -D IPMIDRIVER, --driver-type=IPMIDRIVER Specify the driver type to use instead of doing an auto selection. The currently available inband drivers are KCS, SSIF, OPENIPMI, SUNBMC, and INTELDCMI. --disable-auto-probe Do not probe in-band IPMI devices for default settings. --driver-address=DRIVER-ADDRESS Specify the in-band driver address to be used instead of the probed value. DRIVER-ADDRESS should be prefixed with "0x" for a hex value and '0' for an octal value. --driver-device=DEVICE Specify the in-band driver device path to be used instead of the probed path. --register-spacing=REGISTER-SPACING Specify the in-band driver register spacing instead of the probed value. Argument is in bytes (i.e. 32bit register spacing = 4) --target-channel-number=CHANNEL-NUMBER Specify the in-band driver target channel number to send IPMI re- quests to. --target-slave-address=SLAVE-ADDRESS Specify the in-band driver target slave number to send IPMI requests to. -v, --verbose-logging Increase verbosity of logging. -n, --no-logging Turns off all logging done by bmc-watchdog. --config-file=FILE Specify an alternate configuration file. -W WORKAROUNDS, --workaround-flags=WORKAROUNDS Specify workarounds to vendor compliance issues. Multiple workarounds can be specified separated by commas. A special command line flag of "none", will indicate no workarounds (may be useful for overriding configured defaults). See WORKAROUNDS below for a list of available workarounds. --debug Turn on debugging. -?, --help Output a help list and exit. --usage Output a usage message and exit. -V, --version Output the program version and exit. SET OPTIONS The following options can be used by the set command to set or clear vari- ous BMC watchdog configuration parameters. -u INT, --timer-use=INT Set timer use. The timer use value can be set to one of the follow- ing: 1 = BIOS FRB2, 2 = BIOS POST, 3 = OS_LOAD, 4 = SMS OS, 5 = OEM. -m INT, --stop-timer=INT Set Stop Timer Flag. A flag value of 0 stops the current BMC watch- dog timer. A value of 1 doesn't turn off the current watchdog timer. -l INT, --log=INT Set Log Flag. A flag value of 0 turns logging on. A value of 1 turns logging off. -a INT, --timeout-action=INT Set timeout action. The timeout action can be set to one of the fol- lowing: 0 = No action, 1 = Hard Reset, 2 = Power Down, 3 = Power Cy- cle. -p INT, --pre-timeout-interrupt=INT Set pre-timeout interrupt. The pre timeout interrupt can be set to one of the following: 0 = None, 1 = SMI, 2 = NMI, 3 = Messaging In- terrupt. -z SECONDS, --pre-timeout-interval=SECONDS Set pre-timeout interval in seconds. -F, --clear-bios-frb2 Clear BIOS FRB2 Timer Use Flag. -P, --clear-bios-post Clear BIOS POST Timer Use Flag. -L, --clear-os-load Clear OS Load Timer Use Flag. -S, --clear-sms-os Clear SMS/OS Timer Use Flag. -O, --clear-oem Clear OEM Timer Use Flag. -i SECONDS, --initial-countdown=SECONDS Set initial countdown in seconds. -w, --start-after-set Start timer after set command if timer is stopped. This is typically used when bmc-watchdog is used as a cronjob. This can be used to au- tomatically start the timer after it has been set the first time. -x, --reset-after-set Reset timer after set command if timer is running. -j, --start-if-stopped Don't execute set command if timer is stopped, just start timer. -k, --reset-if-running Don't execute set command if timer is running, just reset timer. This is typically used when bmc-watchdog is used as a cronjob. This can be used to reset the timer after it has been initially started. START OPTIONS The following options can be used by the start command. -G INT, --gratuitous-arp=INT Suspend or don't suspend gratuitous ARPs while the BMC timer is run- ning. A flag value of 1 suspends gratuitous ARPs. A value of 0 will not suspend gratuitous ARPs. If this option is not specified, gratu- itous ARPs will not be suspended. -A INT, --arp-response=INT Suspend or don't suspend BMC-generated ARP responses while the BMC timer is running. A flag value of 1 suspends ARP responses. A value of 0 will not suspend ARP responses. If this option is not speci- fied, ARP responses will not be suspended. DAEMON OPTIONS The following options can be used by the daemon command to set the initial BMC watchdog configuration parameters. -u INT, --timer-use=INT Set timer use. The timer use value can be set to one of the follow- ing: 1 = BIOS FRB2, 2 = BIOS POST, 3 = OS_LOAD, 4 = SMS OS, 5 = OEM. -l INT, --log=INT Set Log Flag. A flag value of 0 turns logging on. A value of 1 turns logging off. -a INT, --timeout-action=INT Set timeout action. The timeout action can be set to one of the fol- lowing: 0 = No action, 1 = Hard Reset, 2 = Power Down, 3 = Power Cy- cle. -p INT, --pre-timeout-interrupt=INT Set pre-timeout interrupt. The pre timeout interrupt can be set to one of the following: 0 = None, 1 = SMI, 2 = NMI, 3 = Messaging In- terrupt. -z SECONDS, --pre-timeout-interval=SECONDS Set pre-timeout interval in seconds. -F, --clear-bios-frb2 Clear BIOS FRB2 Timer Use Flag. -P, --clear-bios-post Clear BIOS POST Timer Use Flag. -L, --clear-os-load Clear OS Load Timer Use Flag. -S, --clear-sms-os Clear SMS/OS Timer Use Flag. -O, --clear-oem Clear OEM Timer Use Flag. -i SECONDS, --initial-countdown=SECONDS Set initial countdown in seconds. -G INT, --gratuitous-arp=INT Suspend or don't suspend gratuitous ARPs while the BMC timer is run- ning. A flag value of 1 suspends gratuitous ARPs. A value of 0 will not suspend gratuitous ARPs. If this option is not specified, gratu- itous ARPs will not be suspended. -A INT, --arp-response=INT Suspend or don't suspend BMC-generated ARP responses while the BMC timer is running. A flag value of 1 suspends ARP responses. A value of 0 will not suspend ARP responses. If this option is not speci- fied, ARP responses will not be suspended. -e, --reset-period Time interval to wait before resetting timer. The default is 60 sec- onds. ERRORS Errors are logged to syslog. WORKAROUNDS With so many different vendors implementing their own IPMI solutions, dif- ferent vendors may implement their IPMI protocols incorrectly. The follow- ing describes a number of workarounds currently available to handle discov- ered compliance issues. When possible, workarounds have been implemented so they will be transparent to the user. However, some will require the user to specify a workaround be used via the -W option. The hardware listed below may only indicate the hardware that a problem was discovered on. Newer versions of hardware may fix the problems indicated below. Similar machines from vendors may or may not exhibit the same prob- lems. Different vendors may license their firmware from the same IPMI firmware developer, so it may be worthwhile to try workarounds listed below even if your motherboard is not listed. If you believe your hardware has an additional compliance issue that needs a workaround to be implemented, please contact the FreeIPMI maintainers on <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>. assumeio - This workaround flag will assume inband interfaces communicate with system I/O rather than being memory-mapped. This will work around sys- tems that report invalid base addresses. Those hitting this issue may see "device not supported" or "could not find inband device" errors. Issue ob- served on HP ProLiant DL145 G1. spinpoll - This workaround flag will inform some inband drivers (most no- tably the KCS driver) to spin while polling rather than putting the process to sleep. This may significantly improve the wall clock running time of tools because an operating system scheduler's granularity may be much larger than the time it takes to perform a single IPMI message transaction. However, by spinning, your system may be performing less useful work by not contexting out the tool for a more useful task. ignorestateflag - This workaround option will ignore the BMC timer state flag (indicating if the timer is running or stopped) when running in daemon mode. On some BMCs, the flag is broken and will never report that a BMC timer is running, even if it is. The workaround will take notice of changes in the countdown seconds to determine if a timer is running or stopped. With this type of implementation, the reset-period must be large enough to ensure minor fluctuations in the countdown will not affect the workaround. Due to the implementation of this workaround, if another process stops the watchdog timer, it may be detectable. This option is confirmed to work around compliances issues on Sun x4100, x4200, and x4500. EXAMPLES Setup a bmc-watchdog daemon that resets the machine after 15 minutes (900 seconds) if the OS has crashed: bmc-watchdog -d -u 4 -p 0 -a 1 -i 900 DIAGNOSTICS Upon successful execution, exit status is 0. On error, exit status is 1. KNOWN ISSUES Bmc-watchdog may fail to reset the watchdog timer if it is not scheduled properly. It is always recommended that bmc-watchdog be executed with a high scheduling priority. On some machines, the hardware based SMI Handler may disable a processor after a watchdog timer timeout if the timer use is set to something other than SMS/OS. REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to <freeipmi-users@gnu.org> or <freeipmi-devel@gnu.org>. COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2007-2015 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. Copyright (C) 2004-2007 The Regents of the University of California. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it un- der the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. SEE ALSO freeipmi(7) http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/ bmc-watchdog 1.6.16 2025-09-15 bmc-watchdog(8)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | BMC WATCHDOG DETAILS | COMMANDS | GENERAL OPTIONS | SET OPTIONS | START OPTIONS | DAEMON OPTIONS | ERRORS | WORKAROUNDS | EXAMPLES | DIAGNOSTICS | KNOWN ISSUES | REPORTING BUGS | COPYRIGHT | SEE ALSO
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