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Course Outline

Introduction to OpenBMC

  • What is a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)?
  • OpenBMC project history and Linux Foundation governance
  • Supported platforms: x86, ARM, OpenPOWER
  • Overview of the OpenBMC software stack

OpenBMC Architecture

  • Phosphor application framework and D-Bus
  • Systemd integration and service management
  • Entity Manager and inventory management
  • Key repositories and component relationships

Development Environment Setup

  • Installing dependencies on Ubuntu
  • Using Docker containers for reproducible builds
  • Cloning the OpenBMC source tree
  • Setting up Gerrit for code review

Yocto and BitBake Basics

  • OpenEmbedded layer structure: meta-phosphor, meta-aspeed
  • Understanding recipes, bbappend, and configuration files
  • Building a reference image for QEMU
  • Working with local.conf and bblayers.conf

Building Your First BMC Image

  • Selecting a machine target
  • Running bitbake obmc-phosphor-image
  • Understanding the build output layout
  • Flashing the image to real hardware or QEMU

Customization and Configuration

  • Adding new machine layers
  • Customizing D-Bus interfaces with YAML descriptors
  • Entity Manager JSON configuration for new hardware
  • Modifying systemd service files

Debugging and Troubleshooting

  • Build failures and bitbake debugging
  • Using journalctl on the BMC
  • SSH access and console debugging
  • Common porting issues and solutions

Recent Updates and Modern Practices

  • Migration to C++ sdbusplus bindings
  • New web UI (Vue.js) and bmcweb Redfish server
  • Modern testing frameworks and CI integration

Requirements

  • Basic understanding of Linux system administration
  • Familiarity with embedded systems concepts
  • Experience with Git and version control

Target Audience

  • Embedded firmware engineers
  • System administrators working with server hardware
  • DevOps engineers managing data center infrastructure
 14 Hours

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