Intel Intelligent Power Node Manager (Nm); 13.1 Overview; Hardware Requirements; Features - Intel R2000LT2 Technical Product Specification

Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager (NM)
13. Intel Intelligent Power Node Manager (NM)
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13.1 Overview

Power management deals with requirements to manage processor power consumption and
manage power at the platform level to meet critical business needs. Node Manager (NM) is a
platform resident technology that enforces power capping and thermal-triggered power capping
policies for the platform. These policies are applied by exploiting subsystem knobs (such as
processor P and T states) that can be used to control power consumption. NM enables data
center power management by exposing an external interface to management software through
which platform policies can be specified. It also implements specific data center power
management usage models such as power limiting, and thermal monitoring. Refer to the EPSD
Platforms Based On Intel Xeon
Core Firmware External Product Specification for additional details.
The NM feature is implemented by a complementary architecture utilizing the ME, BMC, BIOS,
and an ACPI-compliant OS. The ME provides the NM policy engine and power control/limiting
functions (referred to as Node Manager or NM) while the BMC provides the external LAN link by
which external management software can interact with the feature. The BIOS provides system
power information utilized by the NM algorithms and also exports ASL code used by OSPM for
negotiating processor P and T state changes for power limiting. PMBus-compliant power
supplies provide the capability to monitoring input power consumption, which is necessary to
support NM.
The NM architecture applicable to this generation of servers is defined by the NPTM
Architecture Specification v2.0. NPTM is an evolving technology that is expected to continue to
add new capabilities that will be defined in subsequent versions of the specification. The ME NM
implements the NPTM policy engine and control/monitoring algorithms defined in the NPTM
specification.
13.1.1

Hardware Requirements

NM is supported only on platforms that have the NM FW functionality loaded and enabled on
the Management Engine (ME) in the SSB and that have a BMC present to support the external
LAN interface to the ME. NM power limiting feature requires a means for the ME to monitor
input power consumption for the platform. This capability is generally provided by means of
PMBus-compliant power supplies although an alternative model using a simpler SMBus power
monitoring device is possible (there is potential loss in accuracy and responsiveness using non-
PMBus devices). The NM SmaRT/CLST feature does specifically require PMBus-compliant
power supplies as well as additional hardware on the baseboard.
13.1.2

Features

NM provides feature support for policy management, monitoring and querying, alerts and
notifications, and an external interface protocol. The policy management features implement
specific IT goals that can be specified as policy directives for NM. Monitoring and querying
features enable tracking of power consumption. Alerts and notifications provide the foundation
for automation of power management in the data center management stack. The external
interface specifies the protocols that must be supported in this version of NM.
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Intel® Server System R2000LH2/T2 Product Family TPS
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Processor E5 4600/2600/2400/1600 Product Families BMC
Revision 1.0