WallaBMC

Overview

WallaBMC is a simple, lightweight Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware suitable for STM32 and similar class microcontrollers. Built on the Zephyr RTOS, WallaBMC provides essential BMC functionality including network management, host power control, and web-based administration through a Redfish-compliant interface.

WallaBMC is designed for embedded systems requiring BMC capabilities without the complexity of full-featured BMC solutions. It provides core functionality for monitoring and managing host systems through industry-standard interfaces.

Features

• LED Status Indicators: Visual feedback for system status
• IPv4 Networking: Static IP or DHCP with mDNS hostname resolution
• Redfish Interface: Industry-standard RESTful API for management
• Web Interface: HTTP/HTTPS web UI for administration
• BMC Console: Management console accessible via serial or web interface
• Persistent Configuration: Settings stored across reboots
• Host Power Control: Power on/off management for host systems
• Host Console: Serial console access

Hardware Support

WallaBMC currently supports the following hardware platforms:

Hardware	Zephyr board name	Description
SiFive HiFive Premier P550 MCU	hifive_premier_p550_mcu	RISC-V based platform
STM32 Nucleo F767ZI	nucleo_f767zi	ARM Cortex-M7 development board (standalone, no host CPU)
Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C6	xiao_esp32c6/esp32c6/hpcore	RISC-V, Wi-Fi 6, on a 21×17.5 mm board with USB-C; BMC console over USB Serial/JTAG (see below)
qemu	qemu_cortex_m3	see run_qemu_ci.py

Screenshot

The main page of the web interface is shown below, click to enlarge.

Using

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure you have a proper Zephyr development environment. Follow the official Zephyr Getting Started Guide.

Required tools:

• West (Zephyr's meta-tool)
• CMake (version 3.20.0 or later)
• Python 3
• A toolchain for your target platform (ARM or RISC-V)
• OpenOCD or appropriate flashing tool for your hardware

Installation

Initialize Workspace

The first step is to initialize the workspace folder where WallaBMC and all Zephyr modules will be cloned:

# Initialize workspace for WallaBMC (main branch)
west init -m https://github.com/tenstorrent/wallabmc.git --mr main workspace
# update Zephyr modules
cd workspace
west update

Configuring

WallaBMC and Zephyr have some configuration options. Defaults generally should be used, though there are some particular options for interest.

CONFIG_DEFAULT_ADMIN_PASSWORD - By default a random default admin password is generated by the build. This can be overidden.

CONFIG_DEFAULT_WIFI_SSID - If the board supports WIFI, provide a default SSID. This can be overidden by runtime configuration.

CONFIG_DEFAULT_WIFI_PASSWORD - If the board supports WIFI, provide a default passowrd. This can be overidden by runtime configuration.

Building

Append config options to the end of the build string as such:

`-- -DCONFIG_DEFAULT_ADMIN_PASSWORD='"admin"'`

Or run west build -b <board> -t menuconfig to change these options.

Building

Different boards have different build steps. Refer to the board specific documentation for details.

Nucleo F767ZI P550 MCU XIAO ESP32-C6 QEMU

Running

Each board has different features and capabilities, full details in the board specific documentation. In general though, boards tend to:

• Be either standalone, that must have pins connected to a target to monitor and interact with it as a BMC. Or they are integrated MCU controllers on a system board that includes main CPUs, in the case of the P550 MCU.

• Have a status LED, which blinks slowly to indicate WallaBMC is running.

• Have a UART and power/reset control GPIOs.

• Have some networking link, either ethernet or Wi-Fi. WallaBMC by default uses DHCP with the hostname wallabmc to get an IP address lease.

• Support HTTP (and some HTTPS), and provide Redfish and a Web UI which can control the BMC and host system.

• Support an MCU serial console, JTAG, and flashing interface over a USB connection. See board specific documentation for details about how to use JTAG, console, flash, etc.

BMC shell

Most MCUs provide serial consoles via USB serial and via the Web UI. The Zephyr application shell and logging is connected to this console. The shell includes wallabmc commands.

The websocket BMC shell endpoint URL is /console/bmc and supports ws and wss if CONFIG_APP_HTTPS (e.g., wss://wallabmc.local.net/console/bmc).

Host serial console

The websocket host console endpoint URL is /console/host and supports ws and wss if CONFIG_APP_HTTPS (e.g., wss://wallabmc.local.net/console/host).

BMC shell settings and configuration

• help command listing with hierarchical help (e.g., help config).
• config shell command can be used to configure the BMC.
• power can power the host on and off. On the Nucleo board there is no host CPU so one of the LEDs is a stand-in for a host power GPIO.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for information on how to contribute to this project.

License

This project is licensed under the terms described in:

• LICENSE – code license
• LICENSE_understanding.txt – license summary and clarification
• LICENSE-DOCS – Creative Commons license for all documentation and logos