Supermicro IPMI - What is it and what can it do for you?

External useful reference:
http://www.boston.co.uk/technical/2012/03/supermicro-ipmi-what-can-it-do-for-you.aspx

Internal ticket reference #27311 for Windows / Java settings.

DVS-SAN 3u MDS 

The 3u MDS has two separate server modules in one chassis, each module uses the Supermicro X8DTS motherboard.

The chassis only has one power on/off button at the front upper right, therefore it is not possible to turn off or on just one server via this button, instead use the IPMI soft control describee below.  

There is a scenario where one can unintentionally turn off a server when attempting to turn on the other.  If one of the two server is already off and the other is on, pressing the button will cause the off server to come on, BUT it also causes the on server to start a soft shutdown process, depending on the OS settings, the on server might prompt the user on the GUI but by default this times out after a short time and shutdown, so if you are not watch the on server will shutoff unintentionally.

A way to work around the one button limitation is to use IPMI to soft control the power on/off and other functions.

Setup IPMI for each server, Boot into BIOS.  Advanced > IPMI Configuration > Set LAN Configuration.  Set the IP address, subnet mask and gateway accordingly.

 IPMI control

Now you can use a web browser to the IPMI address and control the servers.  Default user is ADMIN and password is ADMIN.  Select the Remote Control tab then select Power Control to view the various options.