The IPMI or BMC is the Remote Management Interface, with which the system can be managed remotely. Additionally, useful information about the hardware configuration, temperatures of the components, and serial numbers can be read out via IPMI. The IPMI also has firmware that can require updates like the BIOS, almost all Gigabyte servers have an IPMI/BMC. 


As with the BIOS update, as long as there are no security updates or problems with the IPMI, you do not necessarily have to update. 


You can get the firmware updates directly from the Gigabyte website, simply enter the motherboard or barebone name into the search engine of your choice. 


example barebone from the gigabyte website


On the download page itself, you will find the release notes of the current version, as well as notes about the flash process. 


choose the correct BMC Firmware


In the .zip file, there are several files. Depending on the selected flash process, the correct file has to be selected. If the BMC is flashed via the web interface, you need the "rom.ima_enc" file, in the "fw" folder. Otherwise, there are also additional update scripts in the "utility" folder, which can be used in various operating systems to update via CLI. In the following, the update via IPMI WebGui is described.


First, enter the IPMI IP in a web browser that is located in the same network, then you should reach the WebGUI login interface.


BMC WebGUI login 


The default login name is "admin" the password is generated randomly on new Gigabyte servers. The IPMI password is set to the same value as the mainboard serial number. It has 11 digits, consisting of numbers and letters. It should also be on the outside of the system as a sticker or can be read via tools such as dmidecode in Linux. Otherwise, we also read out the default passwords for all supplied systems in advance, so you can also contact us.


As soon as you are in the WebGUI, you have to switch to the update mode via "Maintenance -> Firmware Update".

 

go to Maintenance -> Firmware Update


Via "Select file" you have to select the "rom.ima_enc" file, which has been unpacked before. Then click on "Start Firmware Update".


pick the rom.ima_enc from the fw folder and upload


The Update Type in the drop-down menu that appears must be set to "BMC", because the BIOS can also be updated via this interface (see article), hence the selection option.


If you want to keep the settings, you can select "Preserve all Configurations". Via "Edit Preserve Configuration", you can adjust even more precisely what should be kept. This is useful, among other things, if network settings have already been made, otherwise, these will be reset to DHCP after the update. If you have edited the "Preserve Configuration", you will first be reset to the initial state and have to upload the file again. It will then be shown in the update summary which settings will be kept and which will be overwritten. 


ASPEED 2600 special features

For new systems (Intel Ice Lake for example) with an Aspeed 2600 BMC, Gigabyte has changed the update procedure once again. There are 2 BMC images, one active and one inactive. 

It is recommended by Gigabyte to flash either "Image 1" or "Both", i.e. both images since the BMC only uses Image2 if Image1 is broken. 



Now, you can now scroll down and start the actual flash process. First, the file is uploaded and the versions are compared with each other. 

Finally, you have to press "Start flash Process" again, now the actual flash process starts. 

This usually takes 5 to 10 minutes, after the flashing process is finished, you have to log in again. If you reset the configuration, the user will be set to "admin" and the password is the randomly generated one from Gigabyte. 


If some sensors in the "Sensors" screen are not read correctly, it may be that you have to perform a cold boot of the server, so that the BMC is completely reinitialized.