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2 IPMI
2
IPMI
2.1
Technical Background
The iRMC makes the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) functions available
over the IPMI interface.
Intelligent Platform Management
The "Intelligent Platform Management" initiative is a response to the increasing
complexity of modern server systems. A number of manufacturers have joined this
initiative in order to come up with a new solution for monitoring these server systems.
The term "Intelligent Platform Management" expresses the core aspect of this
approach to the solution: Functions for monitoring and recovery of systems are
implemented directly in the hardware and firmware for platform management.
Objective
The objective was to define a standardized, abstract and message-based interface
between the central system controller (Baseboard Management Controller - BMC)
and intelligent platform management hardware.
The standardization committees combined the central characteristics of various
platform management modules into standardized descriptions.
Definition
The IPMI specification defines:
"IPMI is a hardware level interface specification that is 'management software neutral'
providing monitoring and control functions that can be exposed through standard
management software interfaces such as DMI, WMI, CIM, SNMP, etc. As a hardware
level interface, it sits at the bottom of a typical management software stack".
Advantage
The IPMI specifications ensure the independence of functions for inventory, logging,
recovery and monitoring of a system by the system processor, BIOS or operating
system.
This means that a system can still be involved in platform management when it is shut
down and turned off.
IPMI and other management standards
IPMI is best used in conjunction with system management software running under the
relevant operating system. Integration of the IPMI functionality into the management
functionality offered by a management application and the operating system results in
a powerful platform management environment.
8
Cisco C880 M5 Configuration Guide
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