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CHAPTER
2
IPMI Server Management
Server manufacturers today have to re-invent how each new server manages itself.
The hardware and software design for one server does not necessarily work with
another. Every server supplier provides basic monitoring and data collection
functions but no two do it exactly the same. These proprietary implementations for
manageability only complicate the problem.
The standardization of server-based management, called Intelligent Platform
Management Interface (IPMI), provides a solution. IPMI allows you to interconnect
the CPU and devices being managed. It allows for:
■ Easy replication of the monitoring functions from server to server
■ Support for a reasonably large number of monitoring devices
■ Common driver-level access to management instrumentation
■ More cost-effective implementations
■ Increased scalability of the server management functions
IPMI is an industry-standard, hardware-manageability interface specification that
provides an architecture defining how unique devices can all communicate with the
CPU in a standard way. It facilitates platform-side server management and remote
server-management frameworks, by providing a standard set of interfaces for
monitoring and managing servers.
With IPMI, the software becomes less dependent on hardware because the
management intelligence resides in the IPMI firmware layer, thereby creating a more
intelligently managed server. The IPMI solution increases server scalability by
distributing the management intelligence closer to the devices that are being
managed.