Industry Standard; Intelligent Platform Management Interface (Ipmi); Baseboard Management Controller (Bmc) - Intel S1400FP Manual

Introduction System Event Log Troubleshooting Guide for EPSD Platforms Based on Intel
1.2

Industry Standard

1.2.1

Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)

The key characteristic of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is that the
inventory, monitoring, logging, and recovery control functions are available independently of the
main processors, BIOS, and operating system. Platform management functions can also be
made available when the system is in a power-down state.
IPMI works by interfacing with the BMC, which extends management capabilities in the server
system and operates independently of the main processor by monitoring the on-board
instrumentation. Through the BMC, IPMI also allows administrators to control power to the
server, and remotely access BIOS configuration and operating system console information.
IPMI defines a common platform instrumentation interface to enable interoperability between:

The baseboard management controller and chassis

The baseboard management controller and systems management software

Between servers
IPMI enables the following:

Common access to platform management information, consisting of:
Local access from systems management software
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Remote access from LAN
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Inter-chassis access from Intelligent Chassis Management Bus
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Access from LAN, serial/modem, IPMB, PCI SMBus*, or ICMB, available even if the
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processor is down

IPMI interface isolates systems management software from hardware.

Hardware advancements can be made without impacting the systems management
software.

IPMI facilitates cross-platform management software.
You can find more information on IPMI at the following URL:
http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi
1.2.2

Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)

A baseboard management controller (BMC) is a specialized microcontroller embedded on most
®
Intel Server Boards. The BMC is the heart of the IPMI architecture and provides the
intelligence behind intelligent platform management, that is, the autonomous monitoring and
recovery features implemented directly in platform management hardware and firmware.
Different types of sensors built into the computer system report to the BMC on parameters such
as temperature, cooling fan speeds, power mode, operating system status, and so on. The BMC
monitors the system for critical events by communicating with various sensors on the system
2 Intel order number G90620-002
4600/2600/2400/1600/1400 Product Families
Xeon Processor E5
® ®
Revision 1.1