Dell Latitude Keyboard light

The backlit keys interface seems to be broken, so you need to mask the controlling service: systemctl mask systemd-backlight@leds\:dell\:\:kbd_backlight.service
then go to BIOS and and change the keyboard led timeout from 10s to 5s for AC Power and Battery mode - "For some reason if the kbd_backlight service is not masked, it somehow forces the bios led timeout back to 10s, and then the keyboard led always remains lit."

Install HPSUM on an rpm base distro

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

cp /mnt/compaq/psp/linux /tmp/

cd /tmp/linux

./hpsum

- check for the prerequisite, usually you need expect, kernel-headers, rpm-build, gcc, libnl, redhat-rpm-config, openipmi and net-snmp  either form the redhat installation dvd (rpm -Uvh package), or you can use "yum install package" if you have yum repositories configured.

- you need to manually install hp-snmp-agents package from the hp dvd, it is not installed by hpsum (I presume it's a glitch). hp-snmp-agents needs hp-health (you find them both in the /tmp/linux directory that you just copied from the dvd)

- re-run ./hpsum untill you have no conflicts/unresolved dependecies!

- after installation and reboot run /sbin/hpsnmpconfig - you have to provide only the readonly (public) and the read/write (private) comunity for snmp.

- if everything seems ok, edit /opt/hp/hp-snmp-agents/cma.conf lin 22: trapemail . at the end of the line replace root with your email address - REMEMBER: you need a functional sendmail in order to be able to send emails!

HP Important Note:   The server needs to have 'sudo' installed in order to start or stop the snmp daemon and to send test traps.   'sudo' grants controlled root access to groups or users.   If installed after hp-snmp-agents please run a '/sbin/hpsnmpconfig'. In case of VMware ESX 3.x series, please run '/etc/init.d/hpasm reconfigure' after installation of hpasm.   These buttons will NOT work if 'sudo' is configured to only run when the user is logged into a 'real' tty.   To be able to perform the operations of start, stop, restart of the snmpd daemon, the user must comment out the line 'Defaults requiretty' in the /etc/sudoers file.   See man sudoers for details about the 'requiretty' flag.   If present, this flag will need to be removed from the '/etc/sudoers' configuration file.   The 'send trap' button also requires a tool snmptrap to be present on the system.   This tool is often bundled with the snmp stack (Suse) or in a package called 'net-snmp-util' (Red Hat).

Using Intel AMT’s embedded VNC server

Intel Chipsets with vPro/Intel AMT, paired with a Core i5/i7 or Xeon with integrated graphics, have a feature called Remote KVM.

To activate it, press Ctrl-P at the BIOS - this brings you to the MEBx menu, set a password (minimum 8 characters, mixed case, numbers and special characters are enforced - try to avoid #@$% - use star or exclamation), configure the network settings (DHCP, or static - it can even match the OS’s IP address!), enable Remote KVM and disable User Opt-In.

in order to set it up, download the Intel AMT SDK from http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/download-the-latest-intel-amt-software-development-kit-sdk/ extract the ZIP and open ./Windows/Intel_AMT/Bin/KVM/KVMControlApplication.exe. (I had to install .net 2.0 in my wine in order to be able to run it.)
There, you can enable KVM by clicking "Edit Machine Settings" as seen in the following screenshot:

KVM Status can either be set to
-“redirection ports” (meaning it will only be accessible to clients that specifically support Intel AMT, such as RealVNC Viewer Plus or Intel’s KVM Console, the former of which costs $100, the later constantly overlays a RealVNC logo on the screen), or to
-“default port” (meaning it will be accessible on TCP port 5900 with any VNC client), or to
-“all ports” (which is the combination of both).
If you enable VNC access, you will also need to set an RFB Password. Warning, the password gets truncated at 8 characters but     at the same time has the security requirements identical to the general AMT password (Capital, small letter, number and special-character - WARNING: underscore is not special char, @$%&| are NOT allowed, choose star or exclamation to play safe).
If you disabled User Opt-In in the MEBx menu, you can disable it here as well.

Now you can use almost any VNC client you like (KRDC, Real, Ultra, and Tight VNC works fine, while TigerVNC seems to be unable to auth, and Apple Remote Desktop appears to cause the VNC server to freeze - it's Apple crap, what do you expect?).

Two things worth mentioning:
1: the initial BIOS splash screen is not visible during a KVM connection (not even on a directly-attached screen), so to get to the BIOS, you needed to blindly hit the F10.
2: it is not possible to enter the MEBx menu during a KVM connection (probably for security reasons), if you hit the corresponding CTRL+P key, it immediately exits and continues normal boot; if you establish a KVM connection while already in MEBx, you get disconnected immediately.

 If you’re building a home server, you should definitely consider getting system with Intel vPro/AMT 6.0 or later, you get ILO-like remote management capabilities for free.

Oh yeah, http://your_machine:16992 gives you access to logs, power control, network setup, users, exactly the same way ILO does!

And of course the OS has no idea something is running below him, there is no CPU load, on the host netstat shows no other connections except my ssh:
 tcp        0      0 192.168.aaa.xxx:22          192.168.aaa.yyy:49506       ESTABLISHED 2314/sshd

while from my workstation we can see a second connection to the VNC port 5900:
tcp        0      0 192.168.aaa.yyy:49506       192.168.aaa.xxx:22          ESTABLISHED 13362/ssh   
tcp        0      0 192.168.aaa.yyy:43311       192.168.aaa.xxx:5900        ESTABLISHED 29457/krdc

 Note the black blinking monitors in the upper-right corner - that screams "AMT":

Error 512 - rear chassis fan not detected on a Small Form Factor

as per hp site:
"Although the HP Compaq 8200 Elite Small Form Factor PC has no rear chassis fan installed, this error message may arise when the front panel cable assembly was damaged after a system repair attempt.
In a HP Compaq 8200 Elite Small Form Factor PC, Pin10 on the front panel cable connector is used to tell the system BIOS, that the chassis is a Desktop model, not Microtower model. This is necessary because the system board is also used in HP Compaq 8200 Elite Microtower PC, which has a rear chassis fan installed. Pin10 is not connected there.
If the cable on Pin10 of the connector in a HP Compaq 8200 Elite Small Form Factor PC was damaged accidently and therefore has no connection to the system board, the BIOS assumes that it is a Microtower model and therefore checks for a rear chassis fan."

There is a problem with the front panel connector:

Let's remove it and look, the pin 10 is not connected while pin 5 (usually unused) it is:

We just need to remove the plug from pin 5 and move it to pin10:

Finally the ground is moved from pin 5 to pin 10: