Page History

Here, the SRCF DRP machines are used as an example.  These machines are from SuperMicro and have one of their versions of screens and interfaces.  Many of our machines have their IMPI interface connected on the network.  Point a browser at https://<node name>-ipmi.pcdsn and a page comes up on which to enter a username and password (contact pcds-it for good values).  After successful login, the IPMI page comes up and shows many capabilities, including:

...

The remote console can be run with either a Java plug-in or HTML5 via selection through the 'settings' link on the System tab.  If the Java method gives trouble, switch to HTML5, which is slower but reliably provides readable screens.  Click on the preview window panel to bring up the console screen.

...

To get to the BIOS screens, the machine must be power cycled.  There are several methods with which this can be achieved, including the Reset button on the Power Control window panel on the System tab.  After the power cycle takes effect, the console window will go blank for a while, then show some stuff, go blank again, etc., before finally showing a screen giving some options to enter.  In the case of these machines, the BIOS parameters are eventually accessible by hitting the Delete key (or fn delete on a Mac) during the short time the options are available.  Wait too long and the machine boots the OS.

Noting BIOS parameters

It may be important to note all the current BIOS parameter states before updating the firmware because some values may not be obvious or intuitive to re-configure after they are reset by the update process.  Here are the screens some screenshots from the v1.0 BIOS (old) and v2.3 (new) BIOSes on the drp-srcf-cmpNNN machines:

...