BMC System Error Log (SEL) Full on Supermicro Server

Description of the problem

You receive the following message during the startup of the server:

ERROR
02A2: BMC System Error Log (SEL) Full.

Press <F1> to resume,  <DEL> to Setup

In the following is a screenshot of how the message looks like on the screen:

Background information

The IPMI BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) stores log information in the System Event Log (SEL). If this message appears, the System Event Log is full and no other entries can be written into the log.

Affected hardware

Supermicro systems with installed IPMI Remote management module (here, for example, a 2HE Intel Dual-CPU SC823 server with X7DBE mainboard)

Solution

To prevent the error message and make room for new entries in the SEL, the contents of the SEL must be deleted. This can be done in the following ways:

under Linux with the ipmitool command
in the server´s BIOS

Emptying SEL under Linux

This can be made, for example, under Linux with the ipmitool command. Before doing so, you can view the contents of SEL and then write them to a file to preserve the old log information:

[root@testserver ~]# ipmitool sel list | less
[root@testserver ~]# ipmitool sel list > /root/sel-list.txt
[root@testserver ~]# ipmitool sel elist > /root/sel-elist.txt
[root@testserver ~]# ipmitool sel clear
Clearing SEL.  Please allow a few seconds to erase.
[root@testserver ~]#

Emptying SEL in BIOS

The contents of the SEL can also be deleted via BIOS. There is no option in the BIOS to write the contents of the SEL to a file beforehand. The contents of the SEL can be deleted in the BIOS under Advanced -> IPMI -> Clear System Event Log -> Enabled:

More information

For information on deleting the SEL on Intel servers, see the article BMC System Event Log Full on Intel Server.

Author: Werner Fischer

Werner Fischer, working in the Knowledge Transfer team at Thomas-Krenn, completed his studies of Computer and Media Security at FH Hagenberg in Austria. He is a regular speaker at many conferences like LinuxTag, OSMC, OSDC, LinuxCon, and author for various IT magazines. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and training for a good result at the annual Linz marathon relay.

Translator: Alina Ranzinger

Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.