Query Infrastructure Data via Redfish API

Redfish MCP Server

Overview

The Redfish MCP Server is a natural language interface designed for agentic applications to efficiently manage infrastructure that exposes Redfish API for this purpose. It integrates seamlessly with MCP (Model Content Protocol) clients, enabling AI-driven workflows to interact with structured and unstructured data of the infrastructure. Using this MCP Server, you can ask questions like:

• "List the available infrastructure components"
• "Get the data of ethernet interfaces of the infrastructure component X"

Features

• Natural Language Queries: Enables AI agents to query the data of infrastructure components using natural language.
• Seamless MCP Integration: Works with any MCP client for smooth communication.
• Full Redfish Support: It wraps the Python Redfish library

Tools

This MCP Server provides tools to manage the data of infrastructure via the Redfish API.

• list_servers to query the Redfish API endpoints that are configured for the MCP Server.
• list_discovered_servers to review Redfish endpoints discovered via SSDP. Discovered endpoints are candidates only and are not managed until explicitly added to REDFISH_HOSTS.
• get_resource_data to read the data of a specific resource (e.g. System, EthernetInterface, etc.)

Quick Start

# Clone and setup
git clone <repository-url>
cd mcp-redfish
make install  # or 'make dev' for development setup

# Option 1: Run with console script (recommended)
uv run mcp-redfish
# OR use Makefile shortcut:
make run-stdio

# Option 2: Run as module (development/CI)
uv run python -m src.main

Installation

Follow these instructions to install the server.

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd mcp-redfish

# Install dependencies using uv
make install

# Or install with development dependencies
make install-dev

Configuration

The Redfish MCP Server uses environment variables for configuration. The server includes comprehensive validation to ensure all settings are properly configured.

Environment Variables

REDFISH_HOSTS Configuration

The REDFISH_HOSTS environment variable accepts a JSON array of endpoint configurations. Each endpoint can have the following properties:

[
  {
    "address": "192.168.1.100",
    "port": 443,
    "username": "admin",
    "password": "password123",
    "auth_method": "session",
    "tls_server_ca_cert": "/path/to/ca-cert.pem",
    "tls_verify": true
  },
  {
    "address": "192.168.1.101",
    "port": 8443,
    "username": "operator",
    "password": "secret456",
    "auth_method": "basic"
  }
]

Per-host properties:

• address (required): IP address or hostname of the Redfish endpoint
• port (optional): Port number (defaults to global REDFISH_PORT)
• username (optional): Username (defaults to global REDFISH_USERNAME)
• password (optional): Password (defaults to global REDFISH_PASSWORD)
• auth_method (optional): Authentication method (defaults to global REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD)
• tls_server_ca_cert (optional): Path to CA certificate (defaults to global REDFISH_SERVER_CA_CERT)
• tls_verify (optional): Verify the server TLS certificate (defaults to global REDFISH_TLS_VERIFY, which defaults to true)

TLS Certificate Verification

Redfish HTTPS connections verify the server certificate by default. If no custom CA certificate is configured, the server uses its default trusted CA certificate bundle.

For Redfish endpoints that use certificates signed by a private CA, configure the CA bundle globally:

REDFISH_SERVER_CA_CERT=/path/to/ca-bundle.pem

or per host:

[
  {
    "address": "bmc.example.com",
    "tls_server_ca_cert": "/path/to/ca-bundle.pem"
  }
]

When a custom CA file is configured, it is used as the trust bundle for that connection. It replaces the default trusted CA certificate bundle. Ensure the certificate hostname or IP address matches the configured address value.

For lab or troubleshooting environments, TLS certificate verification can be explicitly disabled globally with REDFISH_TLS_VERIFY=false or per host with "tls_verify": false. Disabling verification keeps the HTTPS connection encrypted, but the server identity is not authenticated. Use this only when you explicitly trust the network and endpoint.

Discovery and Trust

SSDP discovery is disabled by default. When enabled, discovered Redfish endpoints are treated as review-only candidates. They are returned by list_discovered_servers with both the SSDP packet source address and the advertised Redfish service-root URI, including parsed host, port, and scheme details.

Discovered candidates are not returned by list_servers and are not used by get_resource_data. To manage a discovered endpoint or send credentials to it, explicitly add the trusted endpoint to REDFISH_HOSTS.

Configuration Methods

There are several ways to set environment variables:

1. Using a .env file (Recommended):

   Place a .env file in your project directory with key-value pairs for each environment variable. This is secure and convenient, keeping sensitive data out of version control.

   # Copy the example configuration
   cp .env.example .env
   
   # Edit the .env file with your settings
   nano .env
   

   Example .env contents:

   # Redfish endpoint configuration
   REDFISH_HOSTS='[{"address": "192.168.1.100", "username": "admin", "password": "secret123"}, {"address": "192.168.1.101", "port": 8443}]'
   REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD=session
   REDFISH_USERNAME=default_user
   REDFISH_PASSWORD=default_pass
   REDFISH_TLS_VERIFY=true
   
   # MCP configuration
   MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio
   MCP_REDFISH_LOG_LEVEL=INFO
   

   HTTP transports require MCP authentication. See the authentication guide for JWT, introspection, Remote OAuth, OAuth Proxy, and OIDC Proxy. See the HTTP deployment guide for bind addresses, Host/Origin protection, TLS, containers, and Kubernetes.

2. Setting variables in the shell:

   Export environment variables directly in your shell before running the application:

   export REDFISH_HOSTS='[{"address": "127.0.0.1"}]'
   export MCP_TRANSPORT="stdio"
   export MCP_REDFISH_LOG_LEVEL="DEBUG"
   

Configuration Validation

The server performs comprehensive validation on startup:

• JSON Syntax: REDFISH_HOSTS must be valid JSON
• Required Fields: Each host must have an address field
• Port Ranges: Ports must be between 1 and 65535
• Authentication Methods: Must be basic or session
• Transport Types: Must be stdio, sse, or streamable-http
• Log Levels: Must be DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, or CRITICAL

If validation fails, the server reports the specific error as a single Configuration error: … line and exits with a non-zero status - no traceback, and no fallback parser: a configuration the validator rejects never starts the server with substituted defaults. A server that fails to start for any other reason also exits non-zero, so a supervisor restarts it instead of treating it as healthy.

A few FastMCP-native settings that would weaken these controls are refused at
startup. See the authentication guide and
HTTP deployment guide.

Breaking change: earlier releases logged a deprecation warning and continued with lenient legacy parsing, which could silently replace a malformed REDFISH_HOSTS with 127.0.0.1, force REDFISH_TLS_VERIFY back to enabled, or pass an unrecognised MCP_TRANSPORT straight through to the server. All of those now abort. Fix the reported variable rather than relying on the old defaults.

Running the Server

The MCP Redfish server supports multiple execution methods:

Console Script (Recommended)

# For end users and production deployments
uv run mcp-redfish

Module Execution

# For development and CI/CD environments
uv run python -m src.main

Makefile Targets

# Development shortcuts
make run-stdio    # Run with stdio transport
make run-sse      # SSE: fails closed unless MCP auth env is set
make run-streamable-http  # Preferred HTTP transport; same auth rule
make inspect      # Run with MCP Inspector

Transports

The transport is how an MCP client connects to this server:

• stdio starts the server as a local child process.
• streamable-http accepts network connections and is the preferred remote
  option.
• sse is an older HTTP option with fewer browser-security protections.

Breaking change: HTTP MCP transports (sse, streamable-http) now require authentication. Set MCP_AUTH_MODE (and the matching MCP_AUTH_* variables), or set MCP_HTTP_AUTH=false to keep unauthenticated HTTP. stdio is unchanged. See README and the release notes.

The authentication operator guide includes a plain-English
setup guide and definitions for terms such as JWT, IdP, JWKS, audience,
introspection, and SSRF.
The HTTP deployment guide expands bind addresses,
Host/Origin protection, TLS, containers, and Kubernetes.

stdio Transport (Default)

The MCP client starts this server and communicates through the process's
standard input and output. It does not open an HTTP port. MCP HTTP
authentication does not apply.

Do not use another tool to expose this local connection over unauthenticated
HTTP.

# Set transport mode
export MCP_TRANSPORT="stdio"

# Console script execution
uv run mcp-redfish

# Module execution (for CI/CD)
uv run python -m src.main

streamable-http Transport (preferred HTTP)

Breaking change: this transport will not start unless MCP_AUTH_MODE is configured or MCP_HTTP_AUTH=false.

export MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
# Production-shaped: JWT (see docs/MCP_AUTH.md)
export MCP_AUTH_MODE=token
export MCP_AUTH_JWT_JWKS_URI=https://idp.example.com/.well-known/jwks.json
export MCP_AUTH_JWT_ISSUER=https://idp.example.com/
export MCP_AUTH_JWT_AUDIENCE=mcp-redfish
make run-streamable-http

Lab only (unauthenticated HTTP):

export MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
export MCP_HTTP_AUTH=false   # logs a warning; any client that can reach this MCP Server can call tools
make run-streamable-http

Clients send Authorization: Bearer <token> when auth is enabled. A request without a token is rejected:

curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized

curl -i -H "Authorization: Bearer <jwt>" http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp

HTTP listener: bind address, TLS, and Host/Origin

These settings are separate from authentication (MCP_AUTH_*). Authentication
decides who may call MCP tools. The listener settings decide where the server
accepts connections, whether the network path is encrypted, and (for Streamable
HTTP) whether the request's Host and Origin headers are trusted.

Notes:

• Configure JWT, introspection, or OAuth/OIDC in docs/MCP_AUTH.md;
  none of the listener variables above replace that.
• sse shares bind-address and TLS rules but has no Host/Origin protection,
  so non-loopback SSE is refused unless you set the warned
  MCP_ALLOW_REMOTE_SSE=true break-glass flag.
• Step-by-step remote deployment: docs/MCP_HTTP_DEPLOYMENT.md.

SSE Transport (Server-Sent Events)

Breaking change: same authentication rule as streamable-http. Same bind-address
and TLS requirements as above. Non-loopback SSE is refused by default because it
has no Host/Origin protection - prefer streamable-http for remote use.

export MCP_TRANSPORT="sse"
export MCP_AUTH_MODE=token
# ... JWT variables as above ...
# Loopback SSE needs no extra setting. A legacy non-loopback deployment also
# needs the warned break-glass setting MCP_ALLOW_REMOTE_SSE=true.
make run-sse

Test the SSE server with a token:

curl -i -H "Authorization: Bearer <jwt>" http://127.0.0.1:8000/sse

Without a token (auth enabled):

curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8000/sse
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized

Integrate with your favorite tool or client. VS Code / GitHub Copilot HTTP (not a naked URL):

"mcp": {
  "servers": {
    "redfish-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:mcp-redfish-token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Lab HTTP without a token is MCP_HTTP_AUTH=false on loopback only. stdio remains the recommended VS Code path.

Integration with Claude Desktop

Manual configuration

You can configure Claude Desktop to use this MCP Server.

1. Retrieve your uv command full path (e.g. which uv)
2. Edit the claude_desktop_config.json configuration file
   • on a MacOS, at ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "redfish": {
            "command": "<full_path_uv_command>",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "<your_mcp_server_directory>",
                "run",
                "mcp-redfish"
            ],
            "env": {
                "REDFISH_HOSTS": "[{\"address\": \"192.168.1.100\", \"username\": \"admin\", \"password\": \"secret123\"}]",
                "REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD": "session",
                "MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio",
                "MCP_REDFISH_LOG_LEVEL": "INFO"
            }
        }
    }
}

Note: You can also use module execution by changing the args to ["run", "python", "-m", "src.main"] if needed for development or troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting

You can troubleshoot problems by tailing the log file.

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-redfish.log

Integration with VS Code

To use the Redfish MCP Server with VS Code, you need:

1. Enable the agent mode tools. Add the following to your settings.json:

{
  "chat.agent.enabled": true
}

2. Add the Redfish MCP Server configuration to your mcp.json or settings.json:

// Example .vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "redfish": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "<full_path_uv_command>",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "<your_mcp_server_directory>",
        "run",
        "mcp-redfish"
      ],
      "env": {
        "REDFISH_HOSTS": "[{\"address\": \"192.168.1.100\", \"username\": \"admin\", \"password\": \"secret123\"}]",
        "REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD": "session",
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio"
      }
    }
  }
}

// Example settings.json
{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "redfish": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "<full_path_uv_command>",
        "args": [
          "--directory",
          "<your_mcp_server_directory>",
          "run",
          "mcp-redfish"
        ],
        "env": {
          "REDFISH_HOSTS": "[{\"address\": \"192.168.1.100\", \"username\": \"admin\", \"password\": \"secret123\"}]",
          "REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD": "session",
          "MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: For development or troubleshooting, you can use module execution by changing the last arg from "mcp-redfish" to "python", "-m", "src.main".

For more information, see the VS Code documentation.

Integration with mcphost

mcphost is a command-line host application that manages connections between language models and MCP servers. It acts as the host in the MCP client-server architecture, enabling LLM applications to access external tools, maintain consistent context, and execute commands safely.

mcphost supports a wide range of language models:

• Anthropic Claude: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Haiku, and other Claude models
• OpenAI: GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-3.5, and compatible models
• Google Gemini: Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and other Gemini models
• Ollama: Any Ollama-compatible model with function calling support
• Custom APIs: Any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint

Example Configuration using locally hosted models

Create a configuration file at ~/.config/mcphost/mcp-redfish.yaml:

mcpServers:
  redfish:
    type: local
    command: ["python3", "-m", "src.main"]
    environment:
      REDFISH_HOSTS: "[{\"address\": \"<host1>\", \"username\": \"<user1>\", \"password\": \"<pass1>\"}, {\"address\": \"<host2>\", \"username\": \"<user2>\", \"password\": \"<pass2>\"}]"
      REDFISH_AUTH_METHOD: "session"
      MCP_TRANSPORT: "stdio"
      MCP_REDFISH_LOG_LEVEL: "INFO"

Replace the placeholder values (<host1>, <user1>, <pass1>, etc.) with actual Redfish endpoint details.

Usage Examples

Local Models with Ollama:

# Using Ollama models
mcphost -m ollama:llama3 --config ~/.config/mcphost/mcp-redfish.yaml
mcphost -m ollama:mistral --config ~/.config/mcphost/mcp-redfish.yaml
mcphost -m ollama:qwen3 --config ~/.config/mcphost/mcp-redfish.yaml

For detailed information and advanced configuration options, visit the mcphost GitHub repository.

Testing

Interactive Testing

You can use the MCP Inspector for visual debugging of this MCP Server.

# Recommended: Makefile shortcut (uses pinned Inspector from e2e/inspector-version.lock)
make inspect

# Using console script
INSPECTOR="$(uv run python -c "from e2e.inspector_version import load_inspector_package_spec; print(load_inspector_package_spec())")"
npx "$INSPECTOR" uv run mcp-redfish

# Using module execution (for development)
npx "$INSPECTOR" uv run python -m src.main

Inspector minor/patch updates are automated weekly; see e2e/inspector-version.toml.

End-to-End Testing

For comprehensive testing, including testing against a real Redfish API, the project includes an e2e testing environment using the DMTF Redfish Interface Emulator:

# Quick start - run all e2e tests
make e2e-test

# Or step by step:
make e2e-emulator-setup    # Set up emulator and certificates
make e2e-emulator-start    # Start Redfish Interface Emulator
make e2e-test-framework    # Run comprehensive tests with Python framework (recommended)
make e2e-emulator-stop     # Stop emulator

Note: The old target names (e.g., make e2e-setup, make e2e-start) are still supported for backward compatibility, but the new emulator-specific names are recommended for clarity.

The e2e tests provide:

• Redfish Interface Emulator: Simulated Redfish API for testing
• SSL/TLS Support: Self-signed certificates for HTTPS testing
• CI/CD Integration: Automated testing on pull requests
• Local Development: Full testing environment on your machine

For detailed e2e testing documentation, see E2E_TESTING.md.

Container Runtime Support

The project supports both Docker and Podman as container runtimes:

• Auto-Detection: Automatically detects and uses available container runtime
• Docker: Uses optimized Dockerfile with BuildKit cache mounts when available
• Podman: Uses compatible Dockerfile without cache mounts for broader compatibility
• Manual Override: Force specific runtime with CONTAINER_RUNTIME environment variable

# Auto-detect (default)
make container-build

# Force Docker
CONTAINER_RUNTIME=docker make container-build

# Force Podman
CONTAINER_RUNTIME=podman make container-build
# Or use convenience target
make podman-build

Unit Testing

Run the standard test suite:

make test        # Run tests
make test-cov    # Run with coverage
make check       # Quick lint + test

Example Use Cases

• AI Assistants: Enable LLMs to fetch infrastructure data via Redfish API.
• Chatbots & Virtual Agents: Retrieve data, and personalize responses.

Development

Prerequisites

• Python 3.14 recommended (3.13 is deprecated and will be removed in a future release)
• uv for package management

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd mcp-redfish

# Install development environment (includes dependencies + pre-commit hooks)
make dev

# Or install components separately:
make install-dev    # Install development dependencies
make pre-commit-install  # Set up pre-commit hooks

Development Workflow

The project includes a comprehensive Makefile with 42+ targets for development:

# Code quality
make lint          # Run ruff linting
make format        # Format code with ruff
make type-check    # Run MyPy type checking
make test          # Run pytest tests
make security      # Run bandit security scan

# Development servers
make run-stdio     # Run with stdio transport
make run-sse       # SSE (will not start without MCP auth env)
make run-streamable-http  # Preferred HTTP transport (same auth rule)
make inspect       # Run with MCP Inspector

# All-in-one commands
make all-checks    # Run full quality suite (lint, format, type-check, security, pre-commit)
make check         # Quick check: linting and tests only
make pre-commit-run # Run all pre-commit checks

Code Organization

src/
├── main.py              # Entry point and console script
├── common/              # Shared utilities
│   ├── __init__.py     # Package exports
│   ├── config.py       # Configuration management
│   └── hosts.py        # Host discovery and validation
└── tools/              # MCP tool implementations
    ├── __init__.py
    ├── redfish_tools.py # Core Redfish operations
    └── tool_registry.py # Tool registration

Execution Patterns

• Console Script: uv run mcp-redfish (recommended for users)
• Module Execution: uv run python -m src.main (for development/CI)
• Direct Python: python src/main.py (basic execution)

Testing

# Run all tests
make test

# Run with coverage
make test-cov

# Run specific test files (manual uv command needed)
uv run pytest tests/test_config.py -v

# Integration testing with MCP Inspector
make inspect

Pre-commit Hooks

The project uses pre-commit hooks for code quality:

• ruff: Linting and formatting
• mypy: Type checking
• Custom checks: Import sorting, trailing whitespace

Type System

• Uses modern Python 3.13+ built-in types (dict, list) instead of typing.Dict, typing.List
• Comprehensive type annotations with MyPy strict mode
• Return type annotations for all functions

For more details, see the Makefile targets: make help