# Linux: Get IPMI Mac Address

=====================================================

This article describes how to retrieve the Internet Protocol Media Access (IPMA) or Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) MAC address from a Linux-based server using an Integrated Baseboard Management Controller (IBMC).

## Introduction

The IPMA is a sub-technology of PME, which provides hardware monitoring and management capabilities for servers. It allows administrators to access various system components remotely via the network.

## Prerequisites

--------------

To follow this guide, you must have:

1. A Linux-based server with an IBMC chip integrated into its motherboard.

2. Root privileges on your system (e.g., root or sudo user).

3. The ipmitool package installed (`apt-get install ipmitool` or `yum -y install python-ipython`).

## Retrieving IPMI MAC Address

------------------------------

### Using the ipmitool Command

1. Log in to your Linux server as a superuser (e.g., root) using SSH, Telnet, or an equivalent secure connection method.

2. Open a terminal window on your system and navigate to the directory where you wish to execute the following commands.

```bash

# Replace 'ipmi0' with the actual name of your IPMI interface as displayed by 'ipmitool lan info'

sudo ipmitool -v 4 -p chassisassis | grep MAC | cut -d: -f2-

```

### Using an Alternative Method

If you cannot use `ipmitool` due to security restrictions or other reasons, there is another method available. Please note that this approach might not work on all systems and should be used with caution:

1. Edit the `/sys/class/dmi/ibmc/*//board->uuid` file using a text editor (e.g., `sudo nano /sys/class/dm...`.

```bash

# Look for the line starting with 'UUID:' followed by several characters separated by hyphens (-).

```

### Alternative Method 2

If you are unable to access the `/sys` directory or cannot find the UUID as described above, another method involves using `ipmitool` in conjunction with regular expressions (regex):

1. Open a terminal window on your Linux server.

2. Execute the following command and search for the MAC address within its output:

```bash

sudo ipmitool -v 4 sdr | grep 'Physical Address' | sed 's/.*: \('':alnum:'.-'*\).*/\1/'

```

In this article, we have covered two methods to retrieve IPMA (or equivalent) MAC addresses from a Linux-based server. The first method utilizes the `ipmitool` command-line tool, while an alternative approach using regular expressions is provided as a backup solution in case of compatibility issues.

Remember that these instructions are specific to systems with integrated IBMC chips and may not work on all platforms or architectures without modifications.

Please note that this article only covers retrieving IPMA MAC addresses via the `ipmitool` command. For further information about working with IPMI devices, please refer to your system's documentation or online resources dedicated to BMC management.

Linux get ipmi mac address