Fujitsu PRIMERGY: Configuring the initial iRMC network using iRMC auto discovery and Redfish

As you probably know, iRMC S5 supports auto discovery. Fujitsu has management software like Infrastructure Manager (ISM) that supports iRMC auto discovery, so when a new iRMC S5 based system like PRIMERGY M4 or M5 is installed in a rack, and power and network cables are attached to the server, management software automatically sees the new server on the network, and you can configure the iRMC network without bringing up BIOS Setup to set the management IP address to iRMC on a crash cart or a KVM.

iRMC S5 auto discovery feature is based on SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol). It's a standard protocol, so you don't have to use proprietary software to use the auto discovery feature in fact.

To show how to use auto discovery feature, I created a sample small script in Python that lists discovered systems on the network using SSDP, and configure iRMC network for a new system. You can get the script on GitHub.

In the 'show' mode, it lists all 'auto discovered' systems on the network. If the address shows '0.0.0.0', it does not have an address yet. It's like the initial state just after it's racked and cabled. In the following example, two RX2540 M5 servers are newly installed in a rack, and both don't have iRMC addresses configured. Others already have iRMC configured, so the IP addresses are shown.

$ python irmc-auto-discovery.py show
Model: PRIMERGY CX2560 M5, S/N: MAAG001111, IPv4: 192.168.71.59
Model: PRIMERGY CX2550 M5, S/N: MAAF002222, IPv4: 192.168.71.63
Model: PRIMERGY RX2540 M5, S/N: MASQ001234, IPv4: 0.0.0.0
Model: PRIMERGY RX2540 M5, S/N: MASQ002345, IPv4: 0.0.0.0
Model: PRIMERGY RX2530 M5, S/N: MALU005432, IPv4: 192.168.71.27
Model: PRIMERGY RX4770 M5, S/N: MATJ006543, IPv4: 192.168.71.37

In the 'configure' mode with the network information specified, the script assigns the supplied address to iRMC. In the example, it assigns 192.168.71.29/24 and gateway 192.168.71.1 to the RX2540 M5 S/N: MASQ001234. After the script completes the configuration, it will take a few minutes for iRMC to update the network settings. Once iRMC completes the update, you can access the iRMC with the IP address you set.

$ python irmc-auto-discovery.py configure -s MASQ001234 -a 192.168.71.29 -m 255.255.255.0 -g 192.168.71.1 
The iRMC network has been configured successfully. Please wait for a few minutes for iRMC to activate the new configuration.