Change Boot Order Remotely

Using Windows Share, I was able to connect media in order to do an OS reload using IPMI.

However, I also need to change the boot order of the server. My issue is that I cannot seem to get to the BIOS in time using the IPMI. By the time the KVM in the IPMI comes back online, the server is past the Supermicro screen.

Can someone suggest how I can access the boot order screen of my server even though the IPMI KVM feature doesn't appear to allow me access that early on in the server's POST sequence?

If you do have access to IPMI for the box, you may be able to force it to do a one-time boot into the BIOS setup.

With ipmitool for linux:

ipmitool chassis bootdev bios

Options may vary depending on if you access it through the openipmi interface, or over the network, etc.

One thing that's worked for me before is to spam the delete button even when you can't see the screen. Supermicro's IPMI interface is somewhat weird, so just pressing delete over and over again might actually get you in.

Or, do you have another machine in the same datacenter as this one? Try installing the IPMI client there, and working via that. The IPMI tool performs better when it's closer to the server.