#65 Every configuration change failing with Bus Error (Asus WS C422 Pro/SE)

[Snow White]

At first, I have to note that I have only minimal experience with IPMI tools. So far, I only have used ipmiutil and ipmitool under Windows and Linux on the command line to set fan thresholds, mostly on Supermicro boards. Therefore, the following situation may very well be due to my own faults, in which case I would be grateful for hints. Having said this:

I'd like to configure the BMC LAN on an Asus WS C422 Pro/SE mainboard under Windows 11 Enterprise, using ipmiutil 3.2.x. I have downloaded the ZIP file (not the outdated MSI version) and have unpacked it into a directory.

I have verified that the Microsoft IPMI driver is installed on my system (in contrast to ipmiutil's documentation, it cannot be added or removed via Windows Features on my systems; it seems to be a fixed part of Windows 11).

I can read the BMC LAN configuration without any errors (ipmiutil lan -r). But whenever I try to change any parameter, errors occur, and the action fails. For example, I have tried ipmiutil lan -d (to disable the BMC LAN at all), ipmiutil lan -e -I a.b.c.d as well as several other commands. All of these tests ended with a Bus Error, as shown in the following terminal excerpt.

As noted above, probably I am making a very basic mistake. Or are there chances that ipmiutil is not compatible with the aforementioned mainboard? Can somebody help me out? I think that the problem is not due wrong channel numbers or interfaces, because ipmiutil has no problem figuring the correct channel and interface when reading the BMC LAN configuration.

If necessary, and if somebody is interested to fix this, I am willing to provide a TeamViewer session on one of the machines in question.

Thank you very much in advance!

Here is the full excerpt of an attempt to change the BMC IP address:

C:\Daten\000temp\ipmiutil>ipmiutil lan -e -I 192.168.20.102
ipmiutil lan ver 3.22
-- BMC version 1.14, IPMI version 2.0
PEF Control                             : none

ipmiutil lan, GetLanEntry for channel 8 ...
Lan Param(0) Set in progress: 00
Lan Param(1) Auth type support: 04 : MD5
Lan Param(2) Auth type enables: 04 04 04 04 00 : MD2
Lan Param(3) IP address: 192.168.20.102
Lan Param(4) IP addr src: 01 : Static
Lan Param(5) MAC addr: 0c 9d 92 c5 91 98
Lan Param(6) Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Lan Param(7) IPv4 header: 40 40 10
Lan Param(10) BMC grat ARP: 03 : Grat-ARP enabled, ARP-resp enabled
Lan Param(11) grat ARP interval: 04 : 2.0 sec
Lan Param(12) Def gateway IP: 192.168.20.250
Lan Param(13) Def gateway MAC: 00 15 17 75 b2 04
Lan Param(14) Sec gateway IP: 0.0.0.0
Lan Param(15) Sec gateway MAC: 00 00 00 00 00 00
Lan Param(16) Community string: AMI
Lan Param(17) Num dest: 0f
Lan Param(18) Dest type: 01 00 00 00 00
Lan Param(19) Dest address: 01 00 00 [0.0.0.0] 00 00 00 00 00 00
Lan Param(20) VLAN ID: 00 00
Lan Param(21) VLAN Priority: 00
Lan Param(22) Cipher Suite Support: 0c
Lan Param(23) Cipher Suites    :  0  1  2  3  6  7  8 11 12 15 16 17
Lan Param(24) Cipher Suite Priv:  R  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A     R
Lan Param(25) VLAN Dest Tag: 00 00 00 00
Channel(8=lan) Access Mode: 22 04 : Always Avail, PEF Alerts Disabled
ipmiutil lan, GetSOL for channel 8 ...
SOL Enable: 01 : enabled
SOL Auth: 02 : User
SOL Accum Interval: 04 32 : 20 msec
SOL Retry Interval: 06 14 : 200 msec
SOL nvol Baud Rate: 09 : 57.6k
SOL vol Baud Rate: 09 : 57.6k
SOL Payload Support(8): 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SOL Payload Access(8,1): 02 00 00 00 : enabled
SOL Payload Access(8,2): 02 00 00 00 : enabled
SOL Payload Access(8,3) error 0, ccode = cc
SOL Payload Access(8,4) error 0, ccode = cc
SOL Payload Access(8,5) error 0, ccode = cc
GetSOL error 204, Invalid data field in request
Users:  showing 5 of max 10 users (1 enabled)
User Access(chan8,user1): 0a 81 02 1f : IPMI, No access ()
User Access(chan8,user2): 0a 41 02 54 : IPMI, Admin  (admin)
User Access(chan8,user3): 0a 81 02 0f : No access ()
User Access(chan8,user4): 0a 81 02 0f : No access ()
User Access(chan8,user5): 0a 81 02 0f : No access ()

ipmiutil lan, SetLanEntry for channel 8 ...
SetUser(1), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(2), ret = 0
Using current BMC MAC 0c:9d:92:c5:91:98
LAN8 (Local Area Connection 0)  ip=192.168.20.102 mac=0c:9d:92:c5:91:98
SetLanEntry(4), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(3), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(6), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(7), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(10,3), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(11), ret = 0
gateway         ip=192.168.20.250 mac=00:15:17:75:b2:04
SetLanEntry(12), ret = 0
SetLanEntry(13), ret = 130
SetupSerialOverLan: ret = 0
alert dest      address not specified
Warning: 11 ok, 1 errors occurred, last error = 130
ipmiutil lan, Bus Error

C:\Daten\000temp\ipmiutil>

[Andy Cress]

The key symptom is "SetLanEntry(13), ret = 130"

IPMI Spec says:

23.1 Set LAN Configuration Parameters Command
This command is used for setting parameters such as the network addressing information required for IPMI LAN operation.
Table 23-2, Set LAN Configuration Parameters Command
...
Completion Code
80h = parameter not supported.
81h = attempt to set the ‘set in progress’ value (in parameter #0) when not in
the ‘set complete’ state. (This completion code provides a way to
recognize that another party has already ‘claimed’ the parameters)
82h = attempt to write read-only parameter
83h = attempt to read write-only parameter

From the output:
Lan Param(13) Def gateway MAC: 00 15 17 75 b2 04
SetLanEntry(13), ret = 130
converting 130 = 0x82
so this means that the parameter 'Def gateway MAC' is marked as read-only by the firmware

Lan Param(3) IP address: 192.168.20.102
SetLanEntry(3), ret = 0
But it did set the LAN IP address.

[Snow White]

Thank you very much for your reply! This was really enlightening.

So my report is not correct. I have made the following mistake: I had assumed that the error message at the end of ipmiutil's output means that the command as a whole had failed, and therefore had not properly investigated the situation afterwards.

Plus, I would never have come to the idea that the error message "bus error" (which normally indicates that two components can't communicate at all) could mean that the command actually has been successfully executed, but that there were errors that are not directly related to the command itself.

I still don't understand that there was an error with the read-only gateway MAC address, because I didn't try to change that MAC address at all. The command I issued only contained parameters to change the IP address, not the gateway MAC address.

Third, I originally wanted to disable the BMC LAN at all, and therefore issued ipmiutil lan -d. To check whether it worked, I then issued ipmiutil lan -r. The output of the latter still showed the original network configuration, which (in addition to the bus error) made me assume that the first command had failed.

After your reply, I have investigated the situation again. Obviously, ipmiutil lan -d indeed disables the BMC LAN as expected (I can't ping it any more from another PC), although a following ipmiutil lan -r still shows the original IP address, gateway address, etc.

The last trap I tapped into was the following: At the begin of my tests, I tried to set the BMC IP address to 0.0.0.0 (ipmiutil lan -e -I 0.0.0.0, which (according to some reports on the net) should effect nearly the same as disabling the BMC LAN).

But this was definitely not possible (at least not on my mainboard). A following ipmiutil lan -rshowed the original IP address), which was one more reason to assume that ipmiutil didn't work with my board.

In the meantime, I have verified that my board simply does not accept 0.0.0.0 as a BMC IP address. But 127.0.0.1 and other nonsense IP addresses work (and have a similar effect as disabling the BMC LAN).

Your reply and your explanations have made me conduct further tests, and I now have understood that ipmiutil works as it should. I'm very happy with that.

Best regards, and thanks again for your invaluable help!

[Andy Cress]

Issue has been explained / resolved, but I can see why the status/error message was misleading. The symptoms do seem to be unique to this Asus firmware however, so no change is anticipated.