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I'm trying to write a script to enable IPMI on a ton of machines without having to hook up a KVM to them one by one. Is it possible to change the BIOS settings from Linux? OS is SL6.

I understand that each machine will likely need to be power cycled, but I can do that programmatically of course.

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    The answer is maybe. It almost certainly depends on your hardware.
    – Zoredache
    Apr 11, 2013 at 20:58
  • What hardware are you using? On HP servers, BIOS settings can be changed.
    – ewwhite
    Jun 7, 2013 at 14:02

4 Answers 4

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On HPE servers you can change settings using utility called conrep. It's part of the hp-scripting-tools RPM. The usage is described here:

h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?sp4ts.oid=5249594&docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c05182235

It's quite simple. With -s (save) parameter you say it to save the configuration, like:

conrep -s -f BL460Gen8.dat

And with -l (load) parameter you say it to load the configuration:

conrep -l -f BL460Gen8.dat

The dat file is actually XML code. So if you want for example enable/disable hyperthreading settings, find respective line and modify the value. See the example for G6 and newer generations:

<Section name="Intel_Hyperthreading" helptext="Toggles hyperthreading on Intel based G6 and greater systems">Enabled</Section>
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In general, no. There is no standard for how settings are stored, or even what settings there are. This information is proprietary to each individual bios.

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    So if you are going to downvote a question ( especially after so much time ) you're really expected to leave a comment explaining why.
    – psusi
    Jan 22, 2015 at 3:43
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Use:

... to Read

  • dmidecode (tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS))

... to write

  • http://flashrom.org (tool for identifying, reading, writing, verifying and erasing flash chips....)

  • http://www.coreboot.org (is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) found in most computers.)

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    The question is about writing settings, not overwriting the BIOS itself.
    – wRAR
    May 21, 2016 at 18:34
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This is an old question, so let me write an update-answer:

Is it possible to change the BIOS settings from Linux? OS is SL6.

It is possible using tool https://github.com/linuxboot/uefisettings or special vendor-specific tool (like SCELNX).

Some context:

A standard way to access BIOS settings is defined by UEFI HII specification. But not all vendors supports that. And usually vendors release theirown tooling to modify BIOS settings using their custom specifics. For example, HPE servers modify settings through iLO (and they have a protocol for internal communication: BlobStore), instead; so they released tool "ilorest".

Another standard way is to use Redfish (the successor of IPMI). Some vendors may (or may not) export some BIOS settings there.

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