Added doc that describes initial BMC support in SONiC by ctikku-nexthop · Pull Request #2043 · sonic-net/SONiC

ctikku-nexthop · 2025-07-18T18:07:51Z

1st draft, describes addition of BMC support to SONiC

linux-foundation-easycla · 2025-07-18T18:07:55Z

The committers listed above are authorized under a signed CLA.

✅ login: chander-nexthop / name: Chandrasekaran Swaminathan (23321f7, 29d2f4f, 2b2e018, fc6f66a)
✅ login: chinmoy-nexthop / name: Chinmoy Dey (0ca3c54)
✅ login: ctikku-nexthop / name: Chaitanya Tikku (7f7fa34)
✅ login: roger-nexthop / name: Roger Liao (5dc8af4, 75e40c5)

mssonicbld · 2025-07-18T18:07:59Z

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…or the implementation

mssonicbld · 2025-09-25T08:43:36Z

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mssonicbld · 2025-09-30T03:48:00Z

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…ents

mssonicbld · 2025-11-14T15:36:58Z

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- Add SONIC-dbus-bridge - Add details about standard sonic-installer support Signed-off-by: Chandrasekaran Swaminathan <[email protected]>

mssonicbld · 2026-02-02T10:52:50Z

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pandurangan-arista · 2026-02-25T14:28:33Z

doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md

+- **BMC-SONiC-OS** will use [obmc-console](https://github.com/openbmc/obmc-console) for console management.
+- A clone of this project will be created and added as a submodule in the sonic-buildimage repository.
+- The switch CPU console will be accessible by invoking the obmc-console-client inside the obmc-console docker.
+- The switch CPU console will also be accessible over the network via ssh to a specific port on the BMC.


During the HLD discussion in the working group meeting on 28th Jan 2026, @yxieca hinted at the possibility of using sonic-console instead. We have a PR (POC at this point, we plan to make it production ready based on community feedback) sonic-net/sonic-buildimage#25674 that uses sonic-console component (already used/available in Sonic) instead of obmc console component.

I have a question on that PR (added as a comment). Please take a look.

mssonicbld · 2026-02-25T19:53:46Z

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mssonicbld · 2026-02-25T20:32:12Z

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Added details about the initial load process and subsequent boots for the SONiC support in OpenBMC.

mssonicbld · 2026-02-26T08:09:25Z

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oleksandrivantsiv · 2026-02-27T01:45:06Z

Can the files be renamed to use generic names? The proposal is vendor‑independent, and the current names are confusing.

oleksandrivantsiv · 2026-02-27T03:01:48Z

doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md

+- **BMC-SONiC-OS** will deploy BMC functionalities as Docker containers.
+- **Kubernetes** will be used for container orchestration.
+
+### 6. Boot Loader Components


The doc describes two initial-load options: (a) U-Boot boots a minimal SONiC kernel/initramfs and a script does TFTP + flash, and (b) “if SPI flash is running OpenBMC, boot into that, download a pre-formatted disk image and flash that to eMMC.” How does the user choose between (a) and (b)? Is (a) the path when eMMC is empty and (b) when replacing/installing from an existing OpenBMC? A short flow diagram or decision table would help.

The two initial load options are stop gap measures till the time we have something like ONIE/SONIE. They are mentioned here to serve as reference. The eval board from aspeed has SPI flash and eMMC. The above lines assume that the SPI flash has one of a) Uboot (OR) Uboot + OpenBMC image. Now, if SPI flash has uboot alone, then one would choose option a), wherein once can tftp the sonic-kernel, minimal initramfs (with tftp/http support) and dtb into RAM (the eval board has 2G RAM). And from the shell spawned by init, download the disk image and write the disk image into eMMC using 'dd'. On the other hand, if the SPI flash has uboot+OpenBMC phosphor image, then one can boot into OpenBMC, mount eMMC, download the disk image and write ('dd') into eMMC. Hope this helps.

oleksandrivantsiv · 2026-02-27T03:22:13Z

doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md

+- **Kubernetes** will be used for container orchestration.
+
+### 6. Boot Loader Components
+- **BMC-SONiC-OS** will use **U-Boot** as the boot loader.


Could you also consider upstreaming the infrastructure for the initial installation?

I shall update the PR with the emmc image creation script. I didn't do that because that script is a standalone script and is not part of the sonic-aspeed-arm64.bin image. I thought having the script as part of this PR may result in confusion.

oleksandrivantsiv · 2026-02-27T03:24:52Z

doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md

+- The image will be installed on an **eMMC partition**.
+- The **OpenBMC image** will continue to serve as the **golden firmware** in the SPI boot flash
+- **Initial Load Process**:
+  - Boot the SONiC kernel with a minimal initramfs from U-Boot to launch a shell, and use the included script to download the image via TFTP and flash it to the eMMC.


For the “boot minimal initramfs from U-Boot then run TFTP script” path: where does that kernel + initramfs come from initially (SPI partition, network, or other)?

tftp. Thats how we did it.

chander-nexthop · 2026-02-27T05:24:25Z

Can the files be renamed to use generic names? The proposal is vendor‑independent, and the current names are confusing.

The current names follow the same semantics adopted for various vendors that make switches using broadcom - please see platform/broadcom.

The vendor directories under platform/speed are for 1. Eval board from aspeed 2. Our card. I added eval board assuming it will help other vendors in their bringup using the eval board from aspeed. Serves as a useful reference platform.

oleksandrivantsiv · 2026-02-27T18:17:56Z

Is it possible to extend this

Can the files be renamed to use generic names? The proposal is vendor‑independent, and the current names are confusing.

The current names follow the same semantics adopted for various vendors that make switches using broadcom - please see platform/broadcom.

The vendor directories under platform/speed are for 1. Eval board from aspeed 2. Our card. I added eval board assuming it will help other vendors in their bringup using the eval board from aspeed. Serves as a useful reference platform.

I'm talking about file names in this PR. Can you rename:

doc/bmc/images/nexthop-multi_dtb_design.png
doc/bmc/nexthop-BMC-SONiC-support.md
doc/bmc/nexthop-multi_dtb_design.md

To something like:

doc/bmc/images/multi_dtb_design.png
doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md
doc/bmc/multi_dtb_design.md

chander-nexthop · 2026-02-27T18:19:51Z

Is it possible to extend this

Can the files be renamed to use generic names? The proposal is vendor‑independent, and the current names are confusing.

The current names follow the same semantics adopted for various vendors that make switches using broadcom - please see platform/broadcom.
The vendor directories under platform/speed are for 1. Eval board from aspeed 2. Our card. I added eval board assuming it will help other vendors in their bringup using the eval board from aspeed. Serves as a useful reference platform.

I'm talking about file names in this PR. Can you rename:
doc/bmc/images/nexthop-multi_dtb_design.png
doc/bmc/nexthop-BMC-SONiC-support.md
doc/bmc/nexthop-multi_dtb_design.md
To something like:
doc/bmc/images/multi_dtb_design.png
doc/bmc/BMC-SONiC-support.md
doc/bmc/multi_dtb_design.md

Ah ok, I got confused.

mssonicbld · 2026-02-27T22:54:22Z

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roger-nexthop · 2026-02-27T22:56:43Z

Can the files be renamed to use generic names? The proposal is vendor‑independent, and the current names are confusing.

Renamed the files as suggested.

Added doc that describes initial BMC support in SONiC

7f7fa34

ctikku-nexthop marked this pull request as ready for review July 18, 2025 18:15

Added a section for implementation details that provides an outline f…

29d2f4f

…or the implementation

Changes after internal review

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v 0.4 :Added Boot Loader Components and incorporated all pending comm…

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…ents

- Add details about sub modules

fc6f66a

- Add SONIC-dbus-bridge - Add details about standard sonic-installer support Signed-off-by: Chandrasekaran Swaminathan <[email protected]>

zhangyanzhao added this to SONiC 202605 Release Feb 2, 2026

github-project-automation bot moved this to Todo in SONiC 202605 Release Feb 2, 2026

zhangyanzhao assigned bhouse-nexthop Feb 2, 2026

pandurangan-arista reviewed Feb 25, 2026

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Single image multi DTB design

5dc8af4

roger-nexthop force-pushed the ctikku-nexthop-BMC-support branch from fd6863b to 5dc8af4 Compare February 25, 2026 20:32

Update nexthop-BMC-SONiC-support documentation

2b2e018

Added details about the initial load process and subsequent boots for the SONiC support in OpenBMC.

oleksandrivantsiv reviewed Feb 27, 2026

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Rename files to be generic

75e40c5

chinmoy-nexthop mentioned this pull request Mar 26, 2026

SONiC BMC Redfish API and D-Bus test plan sonic-net/sonic-mgmt#23346

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