Troubleshooting a Sun X4-2 server's power supply units using its iLOM web interface

The iLOM interface

iLOM is an abbreviation for Integrated Lights Out Manager. This is the system management firmware you can use to monitor, manage, and configure a variety of Oracle server platforms. Read here, on Oracle's documentation website for a complete overview of this software.

This iLOM firmware runs on a separate, mini-computer called a service processor (SP) that is built into the server, complete with its own network interface card and IP address for remote access. This mini-computer is used to administer the server remotely through the iLOM firmware.

Accessing your server's iLOM interface

To gain access to the iLOM firmware, there are two options available to you. The first option is through a web interface, and the 2nd option is through a command-line interface.

This article deals with the web interface. You can read my other article on how to perform these very same tasks through the command-line interface, here.

Web interface vs. Command-line Interface

When compared to the web interface, the command-line interface (CLI) is more powerful, in that it enables you to drill down to individual components’ sensors and retrieve more detailed information.

As an example, and as demonstrated in this article, it is possible to query a power supply unit's (PSU) sensors to determine if power is actually flowing into the unit or not. In other words, you could potentially determine whether the reported loss of power is due to a broken PSU, or whether the external power source is at fault. This type of drilling down when troubleshooting is not possible with the web interface.

The iLOM web interface

Simply open a web browser and enter the service processor's IP address, using ip-address. You will need a user account to log in.

You should see a login screen.

The landing page Summary section

After logging in, by default, a system status summary page will be displayed. And any problems will be listed on the bottom half of this page. In this example, a power supply issue is being reported.

Errors are logged in several places

There are several places where you can get more information on the various faults that are reported by the iLOM.

Power log viewer

Since this is a power-related error, the most obvious place to check is the Power item under the Summary menu item, located on the left-hand side of the page.

Open Problems viewer

The Open Problems data viewer is a copy of the System Log data viewer. See the next section.

System Log viewer

Lastly, you can check the system log. This is where all fault types and activities are logged.

Conclusion

From the information obtained from the web interface, it is clear that there is a problem with one of the two power supply units. The Open Problems log stated that a loss of external power has occurred. This implies that the power supply unit itself, PS0, is not defective. But rather the lack of power flowing into the PSU is the cause of the faulty state.

At this point, you should request your remote IT support team to check the external power supply to the unit.

Lastly, you should log in to the iLOM's command-line interface and drill down to the relevant sensors, and gather more detailed evidence of the exact nature of the problem (this is not possible using the iLOM GUI). Read my post here to learn how to perform this task using the command line.

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