Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 245221
IPMI Fence Agent does not support IPMIv2.0 protocol (aka "lanplus")
Last modified: 2009-04-16 16:35:36 EDT
Description of problem: When configuring Cluster Suite v3 and using IPMI over LAN as a fence agent, it runs the "ipmitool" program to issue a "chassis power off" command, and later on, "chassis power status" and "chassis power on". The problem is that the ipmitool command is called using the "-I lan" argument, while on hardware that supports IPMIv2.0 only, it should be called with the "-I lanplus" argument instead. There should be a way of specifying to the agent which protocol version to use: v1.5 (-I lan) or v2.0 (-I lanplus). The servers in question are both Dell PE-2950 with the remote controller card installed (DRAC 5). To solve the problem temporarily, I've created a "wrapper script" the intercepts the "-I lan" argument and changes it to "-I lanplus" whenever the ipmitool command is called. But the Red Hat support team states this will not be supported if the customer has an issue. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): Packages used are from RH Cluster Suite v3 Update 8 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Configure a fence device using the "IPMIlan" protocol 2. Either make one node offline so that the other tries to fence it, or use the "clufence" command to force a fencing 3. Issue a "ps axuw" command and check that the "ipmitool" command is being called using the "-I lan" argument, which is incorret for servers supporting only IPMIv2.0 protocol (-I lanplus should be used). Actual results: The server gets never fenced because it does not support IPMIv1.5 (-I lan argument of the ipmitool command). Expected results: There sould be a way to specify the desired IPMI protocol version. Additional info: A post and a response on the linus-cluster mailing list can be seen here: https://www.redhat.com/archives/linux-cluster/2007-May/msg00266.html https://www.redhat.com/archives/linux-cluster/2007-May/msg00279.html
Created attachment 157562 [details] This is my "wrapper script" for the ipmitool command
Created attachment 157944 [details] Untested patch; compiles If applied to a current rhcs3 / clumanager source base, this patch should enable the use of lanplus. With the patch applied, putting a plus sign before the user name (or a plus sign *as* the user name if you were not using a username) enables lan+ operation.
I tested the patch, and it correctly sets lanplus as noted previously. Above patch is mostly a backport of the current ipmi fence agent from Red Hat Cluster Suite 4 (and 5). There are a couple of things to be aware of: * Ipmitool is not shipped by Red Hat for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. The ipmilan.so driver for Red Hat Cluster Suite 3 was intended to support a select few machines where the IHV provided ipmitool as part of their own supplemental software package. * Adding new(er) hardware support to Red Hat Cluster Suite 3 unlikely to happen.
Hello, this is great news that the port from Cluster Suite 4 (and 5) worked as expected. About your notes: * the OpenIPMI, OpenIPMI-libs and OpenIPMI-tools are shipped for RHELv3 through RHN since the end of 2005, if I am not wrong. I believe these were added when the IPMI fence method started to be a supported fencing mechanism for Cluster Suite v3 (I'm not sure about this, though); * I agree that Cluster Suite 3 is being retired as it is a completely different software from Cluster Suite v4 and v5, right? Important question: is there an estimated date for this update in the clumanager package of CS3 to be released through RHN? How could I test this in our environment just to give you a user's perspective feedback of the functionality?
You are correct; we do ship OpenIPMI for RHEL3; the current package is here: https://rhn.redhat.com/network/software/packages/details.pxt?pid=407555 However, given: * a workaround exists (your script), * this is still adding hardware support, and * this is not sufficient to warrant an erratum (because it is new hardware support), ... it is unlikely that this will be released by itself. * You have a support request open, and you may ask them to request this patch to be released as an erratum against Red Hat Cluster Suite 3 on your behalf. * Given that on Red Hat Cluster Suite 3, there is the option of not using any fencing at all (though there is a strong recommendation against this practice, as it is dangerous), your workaround should *not* any present or future problems from a support perspective. * This hardware is supported in Red Hat Cluster Suite 4 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for cluster fencing.