2288H V5 iBMC: SSL Certificate Expiry Alert and 2038 Case

Reported symptom

SSL certificate is about to expire or has expired

The alert was present in current iBMC alarms. In the source case, the BMC date was March 19, 2020, while the certificate was valid until April 30, 2038, so it did not appear close to its expiry date.

Case explanation

The source attributes the alert to a 32-bit time representation limited to January 19, 2038, causing a later certificate end date to be interpreted incorrectly. That is the historical case diagnosis, not proof that all 2288H V5 firmware has the same defect or that every expiry alarm is false. Inspect the actual certificate chain/validity, BMC time and firmware before choosing a remedy.

Workarounds recorded by the source

1. Obtain/reissue a suitable certificate with its end date before January 19, 2038, import it and reset the BMC as required by the applicable procedure. Certificate dates are signed data; do not simply edit an existing signed certificate.
2. The source alternatively restores BMC factory defaults, clears previous alarms, changes this minor alarm to an event-log record and resets the BMC. This changes alert handling and may reset management configuration; it does not correct an invalid certificate or the underlying date handling. Preserve required settings and use this only under the matching vendor support procedure.

Recorded resolution

The source says to import the latest appropriate SSL certificate and restart iBMC. It also names iBMC_SSLCert101.hpm, but provides no retrievable package, checksum or exact supported firmware scope. Do not treat this filename as a verified download or assume an HPM package is the same operation as importing a custom signed certificate. Obtain the correct package/instructions from the server vendor and verify the alert and HTTPS certificate after the BMC returns.

Original case/reference: stored source.