Where would I find the info required to activate the Supermicro IPMI license in order to check for BMC updates etc?
You have to pay for that license. See this other thread 
Firmware updates for the BMC are available from supermicro.com and you can just install those without activating any licenses – start your search over here for these:
What you get with the OOB License is an easier way to do BIOS updates, but again, you can download those from supermicro.com and do it in more manual ways without paying to activate the license. Something like netboot.xyz is invaluable for quickly booting a live environment for updates.
Some other aspects like emitting syslog messages don’t have a great workaround and that’s where you really are into paying $27, enduring the terrible store, and activating the license.
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Great reply full of really useful information. Thanks!
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Necroposting here as I don’t see many other posts about full build BIOS and Firmware across the forum.
My fully built HL15 shows it’s running BIOS version 3.6 and Firmware version 01.74.02
The latest BIOS and Firmware available from supermicro are BIOS version 4.4 and Firmware version 1.74.14
I can’t seem to find a changelog anywhere about these changes, but 3.6 to 4.4 seems meaningful, no idea what .02 to .14 means in terms of changes/improvements.
The update download page linked above is slightly scary about only doing these upgrades if directed. What sorts of benefits might there be to updating?
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Release Notes are usually included somewhere inside the ZIP file you download from Supermicro. For the latest X11SPH-nCTPF, I found a file two zip’s deep inside the sum_2.14.0... archive. Here’s a snippet:
Version History
===============
V2.14.0 (2024/02/15)
=========================
1. New Feature : Support H13 AST2600 non-RoT SP6 socket systems.
2. New Feature : Add GetMotherboardFpgaInfo, UpdateMotherboardFpga and
FpgaRotManage commands to support motherboard FPGA management
for G1 systems.
3. New Feature : Add GetMiscCpldInfo and UpdateMiscCpld commands to support
miscellaneous CPLD management for G1 systems.
4. New Feature : Add GetAomboardCpldInfo and UpdateAomboardCpld commands to
support AOM CPLD firmware management for G1 systems.
5. New Feature : Add CpuERotManage, GetCpuERotInfo and UpdateCpuERot commands to
support external RoT firmware management for NVIDIA Grace CPU
on G1 systems.
6. New Feature : Add GetMotherboardMcuInfo and UpdateMotherboardMcu commands to
support motherboard MCU firmware management for X13 and later
platforms.
7. New Feature : Support GetPCIeSwitchInfo and UpdatePCIeSwitch commands for
Broadcom Gen5 PCIeSwitch.
8. New Feature : Add SetCmmUserList/GetCmmUserList commands for CMM user
management.
9. New Feature : GetGpuInfo and UpdateGpu commands support on Intel PVC, Intel
Gaudi2, NVIDIA MGX and AMD MI300X systems.
10.New Feature : GetCpldInfo command supports X12 Tatlow platform.
11.New Feature : GetBmcCfg command supports --sample_file option to generate BMC
configuration based on sample file format on X13/H13/B13/A3/B3
platforms.
12.New Feature : Support backward compatibility of BMC configuration for
ChangeBmcCfg command on X13/H13/B13/A3/B3 platforms.
13.New Feature : UpdateCpld command supports MicroBlade B3 systems.
14.New Feature : Support new bus ID of PM bus for Lego architecture.
15.New Feature : Support GetGpuInfo on A100 Redstone.
16.New Feature : Support GetCurrentBiosCfg, ChangeBiosCfg, GetDefaultBiosCfg,
LoadDefaultBiosCfg, GetDmiInfo, EditDmiInfo and ChangeDmiInfo
commands for R12SPD and R13SPD.
17.New Feature : Support batch processing to update a large number of systems.
18.New Feature : Support GetGpuLog command to get log from GPU.
19.New Feature : Support DatetimeLocalOffset information under Redfish Datetime
table in BMC configuration by GetBmcfg command.
20.New Feature : UpdateAocNic command supports CX7 NIC card firmware update.
21.New Feature : Support account type under account table in BMC configuration
for GetBmcCfg and ChangeBmcCfg commands.
22.New Feature : Support BMC event log basing on version 1.37.
23.Enhancement : Provide clear troubleshooting error message for option --post
complete.
24.Enhancement : Add system lockdown check for SecureBoot command.
25.Enhancement : Add platform checking for CpldRotManage command. CpldRotManage
command only supports on X13/H13 and later platforms.
26.Enhancement : Support Attestation dump with the latest Redfish API design for
Attestation command.
27.Enhancement : Correct BMC version format for AST2400 Blade system on
GetBmcInfo command.
28.Enhancement : Add Show/Del/GetVer/SetVer actions for CheckSensorData command
to support sensor data configurations.
29.Enhancement : "order" annotation in BIOS configuration is enhanced to
accurate.
30.Enhancement : GetGpuInfo and UpdateGpu commands support standard Redfish API
for H100 system and H100 FPGA component.
31.Enhancement : Add instruction for ChangeBmcCfg command if BMC fails to enable
NTP due to NTP server is not available.
32.Enhancement : Option --remote_sum for remote in-band usage supports relative
path.
33.Enhancement : BMC configuration commands support the latest BMC specification
for "ShareLan" field under IPMI LAN table.
34.Enhancement : Add dependency rule to DDNS table in BMC/CMM configuration for
GetBmcCfg/ChangeBmcCfg commands.
35.Enhancement : Support version information from X13/H13 Non-RoT motherboard
CPLD firmware unsigned jed file.
36.Enhancement : Support restore Retimer settings automatically on specific GPU
version of HGX H100 system.
37.Enhancement : Set the maximum speed limit to 512 Kbps when uploading H100 FW
package to the multiple systems for UpdateGPU command.
38.Enhancement : Remove --post_complete requirement checking in execOOB for
OOB-mode to be able to decide to reboot and be POST completed
or not.
39.Enhancement : Show BIOS version in GetBiosInfo, UpdateBios and
CheckOobSupport commands.
40.Enhancement : GetBiosInfo and UpdateBios commands can show BIOS build date
parsed from OEMFID from the managed system.
41.Enhancement : Support R12SPD-A/R, R13SPD new API design.
42.Enhancement : Add dependency rule for IPv4UseDNSServers field under Redfish
LAN table in BMC configuration.
43.Enhancement : Add dependency rule for NTPEnable field under Redfish DateTime
table in BMC configuration.
44.Enhancement : Enhance the firmware file upload stability in multiple node
mode.
45.Enhancement : Enhance storage device I/O reading efficiency for firmware
update commands.
46.Enhancement : Support the latest BMC specification for BMC configuration in
GetBmcCfg and ChangeBmcCfg commands.
47.Enhancement : Support write firmware data into SPI flash into region 0/1 for
Gen 5 Broadcom BaseMode PCIeSwitch device.
48.Enhancement : Identifying Siena & Bergamo AMD CPU.
49.Enhancement : Enhance waiting time for updating BMC in R OpenBmc platform.
50.Enhancement : Rewording "System reboot/shutdown command issued." to "System
reboot/shutdown command applied.".
51.Enhancement : SetPowerAction command supports AC cycle on the managed system.
52.Enhancement : Support runtime BIOS recovery for G1 systems.
53.Enhancement : Setting names for the KmsManage command with option --action
GetInfo will follow BIOS configuration definition.
54.Enhancement : Support CTRL+C key combination to force termination of programs
even during configuration or firmware update.
55.Enhancement : Support CTRL+C key combination to generate system full log in
runtime after forced termination of programs is triggered.
56.Enhancement : Enhance Enabled and Account Types fields display for
GetBmcUserList command.
57.Enhancement : SetBmcUserList command supports the following changes:
1. New action EnableAccount
2. New option --manage_account_type for action EnableType
3. New options --user_status and --manage_account_type for
action Add.
58.Enhancement : Support backplane CPLD management with the latest Redfish API
design.
59.Enhancement : BMC/CMM configuration commands support DNS lookup feature for
Redfish AD table.
60.Enhancement : Revise the command help message.
61.Enhancement : Revise warning message for checking POST complete timeout case.
62.Fix : Console configuration could not be restored to the original
setting after running the command with remote in-band usage.
63.Fix : The "Status" field in the output of the GetPsuInfo command
changes to "OK" from the original "ON".
64.Fix : Remote In-Band command with --file option could fail when the
file path is an absolute path.
65.Fix : In-band GetBiosInfo command supports --showall option in ARM64
OS.
66.Fix : GetSystemCfg command with --redfish option could throw
exception with the error message "Invalid command line data".
67.Fix : ChangeSystemCfg command with --skip_bbs and
--skip_duplicate_check options could throw an exception with
the error message "Invalid command line data".
68.Fix : Cannot get "IPv4NameServer1" and "IPv4NameServer2" values
within Redfish LAN table in BMC configuration.
69.Fix : In-band ChangeBmcCfg command with Redfish host interface usage
could fail to change IPv6 LAN setting in BMC configuration.
70.Fix : GetCmmInfo command with the --showall option is unable to
retrieve blade information from a Blade system with MBM-CMM-6.
71.Fix : IPMI VirtualMedia table with action Mount/Unmount in BMC
configuration could fail on X12/H12 AST 2600 and later
platforms.
72.Fix : UpdateAocNIC command could fail on SYS-220BT-HNTR with
AOC-S25GC-i4S.
73.Fix : LoadDefaultCmmCfg command could fail on a Blade system with
MBM-CMM-6.
74.Fix : Cannot configure "IPv4UseDNSServers" or "IPv6UseDNSServers"
field alone in ChangeBmcCfg command.
75.Fix : Fix In-band UpdateGpu command failed on HGX H100 systems.
76.Fix : UpdateBmc failed with B3 older BMC firmware after enhanced
storage device I/O reading efficiency for firmware update
commands.
77.Fix : GetPsuInfo command could fail on G1SMH and X13DEH systems.
78.Fix : GetGpuInfo command could not work on A100 Redstone system with
older BMC firwmware or BIOS firmware.
79.Fix : BMC/CMM configuration could not be updated to some time zones
since some time zones from timezone.txt in ExternalData folder
are wrong formats.
80.Fix : GetBmcInfo command does not support unsigned BMC firmware file
on OpenBmc systems.
81.Fix : UpdateCMM command could not support --backup option on a Blade
system with MBM-CMM-6.
82.Fix : ChangeBmcCfg command could fail on systems for not on-board BMC
LAN.
83.Fix : Skip invalid configuration accessing for HBA storage AOC on
GetRaidCfg command.
84.Fix : BIOS setting option string "Enabled" or "Enable" may not work
for ClearEventLog, SetHttpBoot, KmsManage and MemoryHealthCheck
commands.
85.Fix : Resolve the issue of wrong nvme Located Status.
86.Fix : Remove IKVM and VM settings from ServiceEnabling and
ServicePort tables in CMM configuration.
87.Fix : Fix base index issue of GetBackplaneCPLDInfo and
UpdateBackplaneCPLD.
V2.13.0 (2023/08/25)
=========================
1. New Feature : Add DiagGpuStatus command to get the Power rails status of AMD
MI250 GPU system.
I’m certain I’ll get some rebuttal on this, but I’ve never prescribed to the “don’t update unless you have a problem” mentality. Despite the warnings, updating BIOS and firmware was one of the first things I did when I received my HL15. I’d rather start off with the latest and greatest than troubleshoot something that’s already been addressed.
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Do you mean these notes are inclusive of the BIOS and firmware updates? I believe I found this before, but assumed it was changes specific to the sum package - I don’t know how these three packages interact, obviously 
I’m most interested in what looks like an updated IPMI user interface in some of Supermicro’s documentation for IPMI 2.0, I don’t see anything about that mentioned in these sum notes.
I was thinking it did but looking at the notes more closely they probably are just related to the SUM solution. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Release Notes somewhere before. I’ll keep digging around when I have the chance.
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@fred_lab I gotta apologize. I got my HL15 system confused with another server I have in my rack which uses SuperMicro X9DRD-IF motherboards. That board has BIOS release notes published.
Not sure why but Supermicro seems pretty inconsistent with their release notes for motherboards. You can see that with the link below. I imagine someone will need to open a ticket with support to get the notes published.
No worries at all, I appreciate your help all the same!
I wonder if @Vikram-45HomeLab you might be able to shed light on what’s changed across the last few BIOS and Firmware updates for the motherboard in the fully built systems?
Maybe asked another way - is 45homelab checking/updating bios and firmware for newly built HL15’s, and if so, should I as well?
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Hi @fred_lab,
I have requested for info on this, and I will get back to you with more details as soon as I get them.
Thanks Vikram, I think this is in response to [this -DG] thread on BIOS and firmware upgrades, but somehow got appended [to Mix SAS and SATA on HL15 Backplane? -DG] instead? Any update on the changelog and how you all are managing new builds?
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You’re absolutely right—this may have gotten appended incorrectly! Thanks for catching that.
To answer your question, we currently ship all systems with the standard factory firmware versions. However, we’re actively working on making firmware updates and changelogs available for download on our webstore soon, along with more detailed information on how we manage new builds.
We’ll share an update as soon as this is live! Let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime.
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Hey Vikram, any updates on when these items will be available for download direct from 45homelab?
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