We use Zabbix to monitor MacOS X Server hardware having an integrated IPMI solution provided by Intel. As Intel IPMI controllers have a bug when using RMCP+ for authentication and MacOS X does not seem to support using an alternative algorithm, Zabbix IPMI agent is not able to read values from the chip in its current form.

Provided is a patch, which allows to activate all supported hacks by OpenIPMI for connections. The only problem I could not solve is the non working mass update in the PHP frontend, because of the multiple checkboxes used to activate the hacks. Perhaps you have an idea how to solve this.

One issue I encountered with the patch is, if I change the refresh rate of the IPMI sensors from the default 30 to 60 seconds, I get these messages:

31437:20101105:103732.519 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000c3 while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:103732.525 IPMI Host [dn21-mac-web5]: first network error, wait for 15 seconds
31437:20101105:103826.528 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000ff while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:103826.537 Disabling IPMI host [dn21-mac-web5]
31437:20101105:104029.840 Enabling IPMI host [dn21-mac-web5]
31437:20101105:104232.891 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000c3 while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:104232.896 IPMI Host [dn21-mac-web5]: first network error, wait for 15 seconds
31437:20101105:104326.900 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000ff while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:104326.909 Disabling IPMI host [dn21-mac-web5]
31437:20101105:104530.332 Enabling IPMI host [dn21-mac-web5]
31437:20101105:104732.379 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000c3 while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:104732.384 IPMI Host [dn21-mac-web5]: first network error, wait for 15 seconds
31437:20101105:104826.388 Item [dn21-mac-web5:sensor[temp2]] error: Error 0x10000ff while reading threshold sensor
31437:20101105:104826.397 Disabling IPMI host [dn21-mac-web5]

Changing it back to the default fixes this issue. I don't know if this is due to the patch or if allow IPMI sensors have this problem.

I splitted the patches in three parts, so it is - hopefully - easier to review.