ONTAP Baseboard Management Controller: Capabilities and Access

This translates the stored BMC overview. The matching current English vendor KB identifies the special model as AFF A700s; the stored source omitted the final “s.” That model name is corrected below.

For

ONTAP 9
Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)
AFF A50, AFF A30, AFF A20, AFF C60, AFF C30, ASA A50, ASA A30, ASA A20, FAS50
AFF A1K, AFF A90, AFF A70, AFF C80, ASA A1K, ASA A90, ASA A70, FAS90, FAS70
FAS2820
AFF A900, ASA A900, FAS9500
AFF A250, AFF C250, ASA A250, ASA C250, FAS500f
AFF A400, AFF C400, ASA A400, ASA C400, FAS8300, FAS8700
AFF A320
AFF A220, AFF A150, AFF C190, ASA A150, FAS2720, FAS2750
AFF A800, AFF C800, ASA A800, ASA C800
AFF A700s

Answer

The Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is a remote management device that enables you to remotely access, monitor, and troubleshoot nodes.

Key functions of the BMC include:

Remote diagnostics, shutdown, and restart of nodes regardless of the node controller status.
The BMC monitors environmental sensors and logs events to help you take timely and effective service actions.
Extend AutoSupport by sending additional system event alerts to ONTAP.
The BMC is powered by standby voltage, which is available as long as at least one power input is connected to the node.
- It remains available even if the node reboots or shuts down.
- You can still use the console port and press Ctrl+G to collect command output from the BMC.
Console logs are not written to disk but are retained in a memory buffer, even if the storage system is reinitialized.
- Due to limited buffer space, system logs will be overwritten as needed to accommodate the latest events.

Note: For more features, see the documentation pageAbout Baseboard Management Controllers

List of common activities

ViewService Processor (SP) and Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) Troubleshooting Guide
- How to configure
- How to log in
- BMC commands
- ONTAP commands for BMC
- Update process
- Log collection

AFF A400, AFF C400, FAS8700, FAS8300Specific

For AFF A400, AFF C400, FAS8700, and FAS8300 systems, to return to the BMC prompt, you need to use "Esc-T", rather than "Ctrl-D".
To access the BMC prompt from the console port, use "Ctrl-G'

Specific to AFF A700s

The BMC prompt on this platform is:admin@BMC01:~$
For AFF A700s systems, to return to the BMC prompt, you need to use "Esc-T", not "Ctrl-D", as is typical for SP and BMC functionality
To access the BMC prompt from the console port, use "Ctrl-G'

Note: On AFF A700s, AFF A800, and AFF C800, the BMC has its own dedicated Ethernet interface. It does not share the e0M port used by ONTAP "Wrench" port.

Console port connection troubleshooting guide for ONTAP platforms

Partner notes

Other useful information

Plain text logs are stored on the host ONTAP node to collect useful BMC information. They are as follows:

They are automatically collected via AutoSupport. You can also display the file contents directly in a CLI terminal session. The command to display them is: /mroot/etc/log/sp/latest/sp_configuration.txt /mroot/etc/log/sp/latest/sp_system_event.txt

::> system node run -node <node_name> rdfile /etc/log/sp/latest/sp_configuration.txt ::> system node run -node <node_name> rdfile /etc/log/sp/latest/sp_system_event.txt

Additional information

The host-side sp_configuration.txt and sp_system_event.txt paths and rdfile examples above are retained from the stored source; their availability depends on the platform and ONTAP version. BMC sensor/event reporting to ONTAP can contribute to ONTAP AutoSupport content; the BMC itself does not send AutoSupport messages, as the official BMC concept page explains.