Bmc Overview; System Controller Interaction; System Controllers - HP Integrity MC990 X User Manual

Figure 11: RMC functionality

BMC overview

Each system motherboard has a baseboard management controller. The BMC is a built-in specialized
microcontroller hardware component that monitors and reports on the functional health status of the
motherboard. The BMC provides a key functional element in the overall Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) architecture.
The BMC acts as an interface to the higher levels of system control such as the RMC node and the
higher level control system used in the optional system management node. The BMC can report any on-
board sensor information that it has regarding temperatures, power status, operating system condition
and other functional parameters that may be reported by the motherboard. When any of the preset limits
fall out of bounds, the information will be reported by the BMC and an administrator can take some
corrective action. This could entail a chassis shutdown, reset (NMI) or power cycling of the MC990 X
server chassis.
The individual motherboard BMCs do not have information on the status of other motherboards within the
SSI. This function is handled by the RMC and reported to an administrative console/server. Note that
motherboards equipped with an optional BaseIO riser board have a dedicated BMC Ethernet port.

System controller interaction

In all MC990 X server chassis, the RMC and BMC system controllers communicate with each other in the
following ways:
• System control commands and communications are passed between the administration node and the
RMC via LAN or a local USB interface cable.
• The RMC communicates directly with the BMC in each installed MC990 X server chassis via a
dedicated internal Gigabit Ethernet network.
• Each MC990 X server chassis has a dedicated RMC interface connector on the front of the system
chassis.

System controllers

Each Integrity MC990 X system must have at least one RMC installed. RMC functions on page 25
describe the basic features and functions of the BMC controllers.
NOTE:
For additional information on controller commands, see the HPE Integrity MC990 X Server RMC
Software User Guide.
24 BMC overview