Difference between Basic IPMI and Generic IPMI Sensor
Learn how NetCunch can make use of data provided by IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) to receive alerts and monitor statuses related to servers in your network.
Pre-Requisites
Both the Basic and Generic IPMI sensors require valid credentials. Various systems like iDrac, ILO, IMM, etc. can be configured differently, but there shouldn't be a problem related to creating and setting "IPMI rights" to a user account. IPMI credential profiles are shared by both sensors and are available in the Credential Manager (MonitoringCredential ManagerSimple)
Basic IPMI
Basic IPMI provides counters and statuses that should be universal to all IPMI capable devices, regardless of manufacturer.
- Voltage
- Fan status
- Temperature
By default, NetCrunch will automatically fetch all Basic counters based on sensors, listed above, via a Collector (trend data/ no alerts), and no additional configuration is needed.
For the majority of cases - Basic IPMI sensor will be sufficient for your needs.
Generic IPMI
The Generic IPMI sensor works by polling for available counters and statuses from the particular device. This way it allows configuring Alerts and Collectors for every possible counter/status.
You will need to set a record selection policy. Selection logic is provided to build the list of possible metrics available to the sensor. These metrics will then be available for Alerts or simple Collector of trend data.
The example below shows how to get information about Power Supply status - not available in Basic IPMI Sensor because all manufacturers do not commonly support it.
Alerting or Collecting all statuses or counters identified in the selection policy is accomplished by a simple click on Add Alert or Add Collector and selecting from the sensor options described by your selection policy.
IPMI response time varies between device and manufacturer, and timeouts are not unusual. When troubleshooting, confirm your credentials, then increase the timeout.
