diff --git a/pyghmi/ipmi/command.py b/pyghmi/ipmi/command.py
index 2d12ff6a..8d887075 100644
--- a/pyghmi/ipmi/command.py
+++ b/pyghmi/ipmi/command.py
@@ -1910,8 +1910,8 @@ class Command(object):
         """
         self.oem_init()
         mcinfo = self.xraw_command(netfn=6, command=1)
-        bmcver = '{0}.{1}'.format(
-            ord(mcinfo['data'][2]), hex(ord(mcinfo['data'][3]))[2:])
+        major, minor = struct.unpack('BB', mcinfo['data'][2:4])
+        bmcver = '{0}.{1}'.format(major, hex(minor)[2:])
         return self._oem.get_oem_firmware(bmcver, components)
 
     def get_capping_enabled(self):
diff --git a/pyghmi/ipmi/fru.py b/pyghmi/ipmi/fru.py
index 6a158644..75a073be 100644
--- a/pyghmi/ipmi/fru.py
+++ b/pyghmi/ipmi/fru.py
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ class FRU(object):
             # to fru info, particularly the last values
             # Additionally 0xfe has been observed, which should be a thorn, but
             # again assuming termination of string is more likely than thorn.
-            retinfo = retinfo.rstrip('\xfe\xff\x10\x03\x00 ')
+            retinfo = retinfo.rstrip(b'\xfe\xff\x10\x03\x00 ')
             if lang in (0, 25):
                 try:
                     retinfo = retinfo.decode('iso-8859-1')
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ class FRU(object):
             # removing trailing spaces and nulls like makes sense for text
             # and rely on vendors to workaround deviations in their OEM
             # module
-            retinfo = retinfo.rstrip('\x00 ')
+            #retinfo = retinfo.rstrip(b'\x00 ')
             return retinfo, newoffset
         elif currtype == 1:  # BCD 'plus'
             retdata = ''
diff --git a/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/energy.py b/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/energy.py
index a86d1924..f7af5a7a 100644
--- a/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/energy.py
+++ b/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/energy.py
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ class EnergyManager(object):
         # the Lenovo, then fallback to IBM
         # We start with a 'find firmware instance' to test the water and
         # get the handle (which has always been the same, but just in case
-        self.iana = bytearray('\x66\x4a\x00')
+        self.iana = bytearray(b'\x66\x4a\x00')
         try:
             rsp = ipmicmd.xraw_command(netfn=0x2e, command=0x82,
-                                       data=self.iana + '\x00\x00\x01')
+                                       data=self.iana + b'\x00\x00\x01')
         except pygexc.IpmiException as ie:
             if ie.ipmicode == 193:  # try again with IBM IANA
                 self.iana = bytearray('\x4d\x4f\x00')
diff --git a/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/imm.py b/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/imm.py
index 30031714..e3403640 100644
--- a/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/imm.py
+++ b/pyghmi/ipmi/oem/lenovo/imm.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import base64
+import binascii
 from datetime import datetime
 import errno
 import fnmatch
@@ -77,7 +78,10 @@ def natural_sort(iterable):
 def fixup_uuid(uuidprop):
     baduuid = ''.join(uuidprop.split())
     uuidprefix = (baduuid[:8], baduuid[8:12], baduuid[12:16])
-    a = struct.pack('<IHH', *[int(x, 16) for x in uuidprefix]).encode('hex')
+    a = struct.pack('<IHH', *[int(x, 16) for x in uuidprefix])
+    a = binascii.hexlify(a)
+    if not isinstance(a, str):
+        a = a.decode('utf-8')
     uuid = (a[:8], a[8:12], a[12:16], baduuid[16:20], baduuid[20:])
     return '-'.join(uuid).upper()
 
@@ -129,6 +133,8 @@ class IMMClient(object):
 
     @staticmethod
     def _parse_builddate(strval):
+        if not isinstance(strval, ,str):
+            strval = strval.decode('utf-8')
         try:
             return datetime.strptime(strval, '%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S')
         except ValueError:
@@ -157,8 +163,10 @@ class IMMClient(object):
 
     @classmethod
     def parse_imm_buildinfo(cls, buildinfo):
-        buildid = buildinfo[:9].rstrip(' \x00')
-        bdt = ' '.join(buildinfo[9:].replace('\x00', ' ').split())
+        buildid = bytes(buildinfo[:9]).rstrip(b' \x00')
+        if not isinstance(buildid, str):
+            buildid = buildid.decode('utf-8')
+        bdt = b' '.join(bytes(buildinfo[9:]).replace(b'\x00', b' ').split())
         bdate = cls._parse_builddate(bdt)
         return buildid, bdate
 
@@ -294,7 +302,10 @@ class IMMClient(object):
             return None
         propdata = rsp['data'][3:]  # second two bytes are size, don't need it
         if propdata[0] & 0b10000000:  # string, for now assume length valid
-            return str(propdata[1:]).rstrip(' \x00')
+            ret = bytes(propdata[1:]).rstrip(b' \x00')
+            if not isinstance(ret, str):
+                ret = ret.decode('utf-8')
+            return ret
         else:
             raise Exception('Unknown format for property: ' + repr(propdata))
 
@@ -1455,7 +1466,7 @@ class XCCClient(IMMClient):
             try:
                 fpga = self.ipmicmd.xraw_command(netfn=0x3a, command=0x6b,
                                                  data=(0,))
-                fpga = '{0}.{1}.{2}'.format(*[ord(x) for x in fpga['data']])
+                fpga = '{0}.{1}.{2}'.format(*struct.unpack('BBB', fpga['data']))
                 yield ('FPGA', {'version': fpga})
             except pygexc.IpmiException as ie:
                 if ie.ipmicode != 193:
@@ -1795,7 +1806,7 @@ class XCCClient(IMMClient):
     def get_health(self, summary):
         try:
             wc = self.get_webclient(False)
-        except Exception:
+        except (socket.timeout, socket.error) as e:
             wc = None
         if not wc:
             summary['health'] = pygconst.Health.Critical;
diff --git a/pyghmi/ipmi/sdr.py b/pyghmi/ipmi/sdr.py
index b0e6ac7c..03e84e1d 100644
--- a/pyghmi/ipmi/sdr.py
+++ b/pyghmi/ipmi/sdr.py
@@ -597,9 +597,14 @@ class SDREntry(object):
                 tstr += chr(((data[2] & 0b11) << 4) +
                             (data[1] >> 4) + 0x20)
                 tstr += chr((data[2] >> 2) + 0x20)
+            if not isinstance(tstr, str):
+                tstr = tstr.decode('utf-8')
             return tstr
         elif ipmitype == 3:  # ACSII+LATIN1
-            return struct.pack("%dB" % len(data), *data)
+            ret = struct.pack("%dB" % len(data), *data)
+            if not isinstance(ret, str):
+                ret = ret.decode('utf-8')
+            return ret
 
 
 class SDR(object):
diff --git a/pyghmi/util/webclient.py b/pyghmi/util/webclient.py
index 52c6cdf4..2925b51b 100644
--- a/pyghmi/util/webclient.py
+++ b/pyghmi/util/webclient.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2015-2017 Lenovo
+# Copyright 2015-2019 Lenovo
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -28,11 +28,10 @@ import threading
 try:
     import Cookie
     import httplib
-    import StringIO
 except ImportError:
     import http.client as httplib
     import http.cookies as Cookie
-    import io as StringIO
+import io
 
 __author__ = 'jjohnson2'
 
@@ -140,8 +139,13 @@ class SecureHTTPConnection(httplib.HTTPConnection, object):
         self.stdheaders[key] = value
 
     def set_basic_credentials(self, username, password):
-        self.stdheaders['Authorization'] = 'Basic {0}'.format(
-            base64.b64encode(':'.join((username, password))))
+        authinfo = ':'.join((username, password))
+        if not isinstance(authinfo, bytes):
+            authinfo = authinfo.encode('utf-8')
+        authinfo = base64.b64encode(authinfo)
+        if not isinstance(authinfo, str):
+            authinfo = authinfo.decode('utf-8')
+        self.stdheaders['Authorization'] = 'Basic {0}'.format(authinfo)
 
     def connect(self):
         addrinfo = socket.getaddrinfo(self.host, self.port)[0]
@@ -203,7 +207,7 @@ class SecureHTTPConnection(httplib.HTTPConnection, object):
         rsp = webclient.getresponse()
         body = rsp.read()
         if rsp.getheader('Content-Encoding', None) == 'gzip':
-            body = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=StringIO.StringIO(body)).read()
+            body = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=io.BytesIO(body)).read()
         if rsp.status >= 200 and rsp.status < 300:
             return json.loads(body) if body else {}, rsp.status
         return body, rsp.status
@@ -245,7 +249,7 @@ class SecureHTTPConnection(httplib.HTTPConnection, object):
         """
         if data is None:
             data = open(filename, 'rb')
-        self._upbuffer = StringIO.StringIO(get_upload_form(filename, data,
+        self._upbuffer = io.BytesIO(get_upload_form(filename, data,
                                                            formname,
                                                            otherfields))
         ulheaders = self.stdheaders.copy()
@@ -268,7 +272,7 @@ class SecureHTTPConnection(httplib.HTTPConnection, object):
                             rsp.read())
         body = rsp.read()
         if rsp.getheader('Content-Encoding', None) == 'gzip':
-            body = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=StringIO.StringIO(body)).read()
+            body = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=io.BytesIO(body)).read()
         return body
 
     def get_upload_progress(self):