ipmctl-start-session - Man Page

Starts a recording or playback session.

Synopsis

ipmctl start [OPTIONS] -session -mode (record|playback|playback_manual) [TARGETS]

Description

Starts a recording or playback session.  The recording session records the platform’s ACPI NFIT, PCAT, PMTT tables, SMBIOS tables, and FIS mailbox transactions that occur during the recording session.  The normal use-case would be to start a recording session, execute commands (e.g., create -goal, show -sensors, etc.) to be recorded, dump the recorded session using the [Dump Session] command, followed by stopping the session using the [Stop Session] command. The "dumped" session can then be loaded and "played" back on any platform that can execute the ipmctl tool.

The playback session has two modes: playback and playback_manual.  The playback mode will automatically execute all commands that were previously recorded.  The playback_manual mode allows commands to be executed one at a time in a manual fashion.  If a tag is given, the playback will begin at the command that corresponds with the tagID.  Note, the [Show Session] command displays the order and commands to execute, where the * denotes which command to execute next.

Options

-f,  -force

Do not warn the user that starting a new session terminates an active recording session resulting in deleting recorded content.

-h,  -help

Displays help for the command.

-ddrt

Used to specify DDRT as the desired transport protocol for the current invocation of ipmctl.

-smbus

Used to specify SMBUS as the desired transport protocol for the current invocation of ipmctl.
Note

The -ddrt and -smbus options are mutually exclusive and may not be used together.

Target

-session

Specifies to start a session.

-mode (record|playback|playback_manual)

The session modes supported.  One of:

  • "record" - records data associated with command execution
  • "playback" - automatically executes commands previously recorded
  • "playback_manual" - enables manual execution of commands previously recorded
-tag [tagID]

Specifies the starting command by tagID. Only available with "playback" and "playback_manual" mode.

Examples

Start a recording session.

ipmctl start -session -mode record

Automatically execute commands in a session.

ipmctl start -session -mode playback

Allow for manual execution of commands in playback mode

ipmctl start -session -mode playback_manual

Limitations

Recordings should be played back on the same IPMCTL version that created the recording. Recordings taken in UEFI should be played back in the UEFI environment (simulated or real). Recordings taken in an OS are binary compatible with other OS versions of IPMCTL (i.e., recording taken in Linux* can be played back in Windows*).

Return Data

In playback mode the output will be a concatenation of the output from each played back command.

Referenced By

ipmctl(1).

2024-01-24 ipmctl