Intelligent Platform Management Interface:
It would be nice if IT organizations could expect an increase in their budgets commensurate with this combined increase in the extent and criticality of the infrastructure it is charged with managing - but that is not the case.
That is why IT organizations are seeking ways to more effectively and efficiently manage their computing environments.
Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) offers tremendous value in this regard. As a standardized systems management interface, IPMI simplifies the management of todays multi-vendor environments. IPMI is also highly granular, providing vital insight into key aspects of system health such as temperature, voltage fluctuations, and processor function errors. Just as important, the management interface IPMI provides can remain accessible even when the main CPU fails - making it indispensable for high-availability environments.
However, the presence of IPMI on enterprise servers by itself does not deliver the benefits essential to todays IT organizations. To fully leverage IPMI, IT organizations need aggregated access to IPMI data. They need software that lets them take advantage of the variations in each vendors IPMI implementation. They need to ensure the security of IPMI data transmission. Ideally, they may even want to implement out-of-band access to IPMI-enabled servers - so that their ability to manage critical server resources is not contingent upon the health of any individual network connection.
IT organizations must therefore take specific measures to fully leverage the presence of IPMI on their servers. By doing so, they can reap five highly important benefits:
1) Optimized availability and performance of critical business services
2) Reduced cost of IT infrastructure ownership 3) The ability to more easily scale computing capacity
4) The ability to more easily incorporate next-generation server technologies into the enterprise environment
5) More effective power management
The Avocent DSI5100 proxy appliance provides the ideal solution for managing multiple IPMI-enabled systems. It fulfills all the key requirements for effective, efficient systems management: secure, aggregated access; support for multiple IPMI implementations; the ability to implement out-of-band management architectures. In fact, as the leading supplier of IPMI firmware to server OEMs, Avocent is uniquely able to deliver the full potential benefits of IPMI technology to IT departments seeking to better manage more infrastructure with fewer resources.
Understanding Intelligent Platform Management Interface:
Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is an open standard that enables remote monitoring and control of servers, networking equipment and other assets regardless of their operating system or hardware platform. It does this by providing a standardized protocol for interfacing with each managed resources Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) - a separate service processor that sits on the motherboard or chassis of the managed resource. IPMI can also interface with EMCs (enclosure management controllers), and PMCs (peripheral management controllers).
By enabling management teams to aggregate and view BMC data across the environment, IPMI streamlines the monitoring of critical resources - making it easy to pinpoint potential problems before they disrupt critical network services.
In addition, because BMCs operate independently of a resources CPU, IPMI can provide needed management data even in the event of a device failure. This type of out-of-band management is vital for optimizing resource recovery and business continuity.
IPMI is particularly valuable because it facilitates the "under-the-hood" monitoring of key attributes that can cause the performance of servers and other network resources to fail. These attributes include:
- Temperature
- Voltage
- Fan speed
- Processor errors
- Bus errors
- Systems events, such as reboots and chassis open
- Hardware inventory for Field Replaceable Units (FRUs)
Appropriate alarm threshold can be set for any of these attributes, ensuring the ability of management teams to quickly and even proactively respond to infrastructure issues before they impact essential services.
IPMI also allows commands to be issued to the system as required to prevent or remedy problems that threaten service delivery. Again, because the BMC with which IPMI communicates remains available even if other resource components have failed, IPMI management is invaluable for immediately addressing infrastructure issues via remote control that might otherwise require hands-on intervention - which typically results in a delayed response.
intelligent platform management interface allows management data to be sent to a management server via a LAN connection or over a serial interface.
