In general, the BMC must be set up from within the OS unless you feel like going through the console on quite a few servers.  Each manufacturer is of course different.

==== Dell ====

Dell is pretty good about using IPMItool for everything.  The iDRAC 6 Express tends to flake out though. Script to set it up is below:

<code bash setup_ipmi_dell.sh>
#!/bin/sh

IPSRC_DEVICE=eth0
IPMITOOL_LAN="ipmitool lan set 1"
IPMITOOL_USER="ipmitool user"
PASSWORD="somepasshere"

/sbin/service ipmi start

bmcip=`/sbin/ifconfig $IPSRC_DEVICE | awk '/inet addr/ {print $2}' | sed s/addr:// | awk -F. '{print $1 "." $2 "." $3+16 "." $4}'`
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipsrc static
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipaddr $bmcip
$IPMITOOL_LAN netmask 255.255.240.0
$IPMITOOL_LAN defgw ipaddr 10.128.16.100
$IPMITOOL_LAN access on
$IPMITOOL_USER set password 2 $PASSWORD

/sbin/service ipmi stop
</code>

==== HP ====

HP's ILO is somewhat non-standard.  You have to set parts of it up with hponcfg from their [[http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=4198402&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_9a9cb07091534f2f940f7a203d%257CswEnvOID%253D4004%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken|Scripting Toolkit for Linux]].  Hponcfg script:

<code bash setup_ilo3_initial.sh>
#!/bin/bash

export PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/mfenn/hp-psp/psp-8.70.rhel5.x86_64.en/hp-health-8.7.0.22-11.rhel5.x86_64/usr/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

cd /home/mfenn/hp-sstools/ss-scripting-toolkit-linux-8.70/utilities
./hponcfg -f hponcfg-setshared.xml 
./hponcfg -f hponcfg-setuser.xml 
</code>


<code xml hponcfg-setshared.xml>
<!-- HPONCFG VERSION = "3.0" -->
<!-- Device: iLO3  Firmware Version : 1.16 -->
<RIBCL VERSION="2.0">
  <LOGIN USER_LOGIN="admin" PASSWORD="password">
<RIB_INFO mode="write"><MOD_NETWORK_SETTINGS>
    <SHARED_NETWORK_PORT VALUE="Y"/>
</MOD_NETWORK_SETTINGS></RIB_INFO>
</LOGIN>
</RIBCL>
</code>

<code xml hponcfg-setshared.xml>
<!-- HPONCFG VERSION = "3.0" -->
<!-- Device: iLO3  Firmware Version : 1.16 -->
<RIBCL VERSION="2.0">
  <LOGIN USER_LOGIN="admin" PASSWORD="password">
<USER_INFO mode="write">
<DELETE_USER USER_LOGIN="Administrator"/>
<ADD_USER USER_NAME="root" USER_LOGIN="root" PASSWORD="somepasshere">
<ADMIN_PRIV value="Y"/><REMOTE_CONS_PRIV value="Y"/>
<RESET_SERVER_PRIV value="Y"/>
<VIRTUAL_MEDIA_PRIV value="Y"/>
<CONFIG_ILO_PRIV value="Y"/>
</ADD_USER>
</USER_INFO>
</LOGIN>
</RIBCL>
</code>

The rest is ipmitool as normal. The ILO seems to not like issuing command too quickly, hence the sleeps:

<code bash setup_ipmi_ilo3.sh>
#!/bin/sh

IPMITOOL_LAN="ipmitool lan set 2"

/sbin/service ipmi start

bmcip=`/sbin/ifconfig eth0 | awk '/inet addr/ {print $2}' | sed s/addr:// | awk -F. '{print $1 "." $2 "." $3+16 "." $4}'`
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipsrc static
sleep 60
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipaddr $bmcip
sleep 60
$IPMITOOL_LAN netmask 255.255.240.0
sleep 60
$IPMITOOL_LAN defgw ipaddr 10.128.16.100
sleep 60
</code>

==== IBM ====

IBM can be standard or nonstandard depending on the server.

=== System x3755 ===
Easy, standard IPMItool:

<code bash setup_ipmi_x3755.sh>
#!/bin/sh

IPMITOOL_LAN="ipmitool lan set 1"
IPMITOOL_USER="ipmitool user"
PASSWORD="somepasshere"

/sbin/service ipmi start

bmcip=`/sbin/ifconfig eth0 | awk '/inet addr/ {print $2}' | sed s/addr:// | awk -F. '{print $1 "." $2 "." $3+16 "." $4}'`
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipsrc static
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipaddr $bmcip
$IPMITOOL_LAN netmask 255.255.240.0
$IPMITOOL_LAN defgw ipaddr 10.128.16.100
$IPMITOOL_LAN access on
$IPMITOOL_USER set name 2 root
$IPMITOOL_USER set password 2 $PASSWORD

/sbin/service ipmi stop
</code>

=== System x3450 794852X ===

Uses IPMItool, but requires some [[http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?brand=5000008&lndocid=MIGR-5078398|magic]].

<code bash setup_ipmi_x3450.sh>
#!/bin/sh

# based on http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?brand=5000008&lndocid=MIGR-5078398

IPMITOOL_LAN="ipmitool lan set 1"
IPMITOOL_USER="ipmitool user"
IPMITOOL_RAW="ipmitool raw"
IPMITOOL_CHANNEL="ipmitool channel"
PASSWORD="somepasshere"

/sbin/service ipmi start

$IPMITOOL_RAW 0x30 0x13 0xff 0x0 0x0 0x0
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipsrc static
$IPMITOOL_USER disable 1
$IPMITOOL_USER disable 3
$IPMITOOL_USER disable 4
$IPMITOOL_USER enable 2
$IPMITOOL_USER priv 2 4 1
$IPMITOOL_CHANNEL setaccess 1 2 callin=on ipmi=on link=off privilege=4

$IPMITOOL_USER set name 2 root
$IPMITOOL_USER set password 2 $PASSWORD
$IPMITOOL_USER list 1
$IPMITOOL_RAW 0x6 0x40 0x1 0x42 0x44
$IPMITOOL_RAW 0x6 0x40 0x1 0x82 0x84
$IPMITOOL_LAN arp respond on
$IPMITOOL_LAN auth admin md5
$IPMITOOL_LAN cipher_privs uaaaXXXXXXXXXXX

bmcip=`/sbin/ifconfig eth0 | awk '/inet addr/ {print $2}' | sed s/addr:// | awk -F. '{print $1 "." $2 "." $3+16 "." $4}'`
$IPMITOOL_LAN ipaddr $bmcip
$IPMITOOL_LAN netmask 255.255.240.0
$IPMITOOL_LAN defgw ipaddr 10.128.16.100

/sbin/service ipmi stop
</code>