Error: "BMC status: Failed" on S-Series appliances
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Error: "BMC status: Failed" on S-Series appliances

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Article ID: 169282

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Updated On:

Products

Management Center PolicyCenter S-Series PacketShaper S-Series IntelligenceCenter CAS-S200 CAS-S400 CAS-S500 ASG-S200 ASG-S400 ASG-S500 SG-S500 SG-S400 SG-S200

Issue/Introduction

"Your license is temporarily disabled as the appliance is unable to read the environmental sensors"

In rare occurrences, the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) might fail to initialize while booting up.

The BMC status displays during the BIOS POST check output:


 

The Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is a chip on the S500, S400, and S200 series motherboards that supports the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification.
Sensor values are gathered by the BMC and stored in the Sensor Data Register (SDR).
The operating system will then read the SDR and report the values, including if any critical preset thresholds have been exceeded. 


Cause

The following examples show the serial output for a S200, S400 and S500 where the BMC failed to initialize:

S200:

AMIBIOS (C) 2012 American Megatrends, Inc. 
Blue Coat Systems, Inc. [C-UEFI-NS]   
BIOS Ver 1.03, Date: 2015/05/08, CPLD Ver R06   
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4330 CPU @ 3.50GHz Speed: 3500MHz                    
Total Memory: 8192MB (DDR3 1600)                                           
 
USB Devices total: 0 KBDs, 0 MICE, 1 MASS, 1 HUBs
USB MASS #0:ATP ATP IG eUSB 1100
 
Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...
SATA PORT0: ST9500620NS, S.M.A.R.T Supported                       
SATA PORT1: ST9500620NS, S.M.A.R.T Supported                                   
SATA PORT2: TS16GHSD630I, S.M.A.R.T Supported                                

Checking BMC status
BMC status: Failed
BMC Firmware Version N/A

                                     
BMC not running, shutting down system in 10 seconds. Press any key to escape.


S400:

AMIBIOS (C) 2012 American Megatrends, Inc.
Blue Coat Systems, Inc. [C-UEFI-NS]
BIOS Ver 1.01, Date: 2013/11/29, CPLD Ver R03
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2430 0 @ 2.20GHz Speed: 2200MHz
Total Memory: 32768MB (DDR3 1333)
 
USB Devices total: 0 KBDs, 0 MICE, 1 MASS, 2 HUBs 
USB MASS #0:ATP ATP IG eUSB 1100  
 
Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...   
SATA PORT0: ST9500620NS, S.M.A.R.T Supported
SATA PORT1: ST9500620NS, S.M.A.R.T Supported
SATA PORT2: 8GB SATA Flash Drive, S.M.A.R.T Supported
SATA PORT3: 8GB SATA Flash Drive, S.M.A.R.T Supported
 
Checking BMC status
BMC status: Failed 
BMC Firmware Version N/A 


S500:

AMIBIOS (C) 2012 American Megatrends, Inc.                                      
Blue Coat Systems, Inc. [C-UEFI-NS]                                             
BIOS Ver 1.04, Date: 2013/08/23, CPLD Ver R07                                   
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2658 0 @ 2.10GHz Speed: 2100MHz                    
Total Memory: 131072MB (DDR3 1600)  Lockstep Channel Mode: Enabled              
                                                                                
USB Devices total: 0 KBDs, 0 MICE, 1 MASS, 2 HUBs                               
USB MASS #0:ATP ATP IG eUSB 1100                                                
                                                                                
Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...                                                   
SATA PORT0: ATP IG SlimSATA, S.M.A.R.T Supported                                
SATA PORT1: ATP IG SlimSATA, S.M.A.R.T Supported                                
                                                                                
Checking BMC status...
BMC status: Failed
BMC Firmware Version N/A

Resolution

The BMC failing to initialize has been fixed in updated BMC firmware for all the S-Series models (S200, S400 and S500).

The ability to upgrade the BMC firmware has been added to hardware diagnostics version 3.1.2.1 or later for S-Series appliances.

For more information on how to upgrade the hardware diagnostics and BMC firmware on S-Series appliances, see:
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/169399/how-to-upgrade-hardware-diagnostics-and.html - How to upgrade hardware diagnostics and BMC firmware on S-Series appliances

Workaround

To reset the BMC, it is necessary to power down the appliance, disconnect all power cords, and wait 30 seconds.
After waiting 30 seconds, reconnect the cords and restart the unit.

For appliances that have a CLI shutdown command, use this command to gracefully shut down the unit. 
WARNING: Abruptly removing power on these systems can result in irreparable data loss.

 
Model Products with CLI shutdown command
S200
ASG-S200
Advanced Secure Gateway
CAS-S200 Content Analysis
PC-S200 PolicyCenter
PS-S200 PacketShaper
S400 ASG-S400 Advanced Secure Gateway
CAS-S400 Content Analysis
MAA-S400 Malware Analysis
MC-S400 Management Center
MTD-S400 Mail Threat Defense
PS-S400 PacketShaper
S500
ASG-S500 Advanced Secure Gateway
CAS-S500 Content Analysis
MAA-S500 Malware Analysis
PS-S500 PacketShaper
RP-S500 Reporter


NOTE: When a CLI shutdown command is used to power down the appliance, the unit will NOT automatically power on after the power cords are reconnected.
To turn the unit on, press the power switch on the rear of the appliance.

S200:

S400:

S500:


On ProxySG and ASG appliances, if the BMC fails to initialize, licensing will be disabled and the following message will be displayed on the CLI:

The Blue Coat SG appliance license is suspended. Unable to read environmental sensors.
                    
Your license is temporarily disabled as the appliance is unable to read the environmental sensors.
If this is the first time you are seeing this message, power the appliance off for 30 seconds.
If the issue persists, contact Blue Coat customer support for assistance.


The following screenshot shows how this error is reported in the Management Console:


It is also possible to see if the BMC failed to initialize on a S-Series ProxySG or ASG by looking in the SYSINFO at the following:

IPMI Statistics
URL_Path /IPMI/Statistics
Title IPMI Statistics
Version 1.0

IPMI00              % IPMI not available on this model

 



Additional Information

How to upgrade hardware diagnostics and BMC firmware on S-Series appliances

Run or upgrade hardware diagnostics on S-series appliances