A baseboard management controller (BMC) is a specialized microcontroller embedded on the motherboard of many computers, especially servers. The BMC is the intelligence in the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) architecture. The BMC manages the interface between system management software and platform hardware. A microcontroller is a computer-on-a-chip optimised to control electronic devices. ... ASRock main board - KT400A chipset A motherboard, also known as a main board, mainboard, logic board or system board, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo, is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a computer. ... A computer is a device or machine for processing information from data according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. ... In computing, a server is: A computer software application that carries out some task (i. ... Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a specification to support platform management and monitoring. ... Computer architecture is the theory behind the design of a computer. ...

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 (OS) status, etc. The BMC monitors the sensors and can send alerts to a system administrator via the network if any of the parameters do not stay within preset limits, indicating a potential failure of the system. The administrator can also remotely communicate with the BMC to take some corrective action such as resetting or power cycling the system to get a hung OS running again. These abilities save on the total cost of ownership of a system. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A parameter is a measurement or value on which something else depends. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... Household Electric Fan A fan has two purposes – to move air for creature comfort or for ventilation and to move air or gas from one location to another for industrial purposes. ... Speed (symbol: v) is the rate of motion, or equivalently the rate of change of position, expressed as distance d moved per unit of time t. ... // Mechanical power In physics, power (symbol: P) is the amount of work W done per unit of time t. ... In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ... The term system administrator (abbreviation: sysadmin) designates a job position of engineers involved in computer systems. ... A computer network is a system for communication among two or more computers. ... Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a type of calculation designed to help consumers and enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs as well as benefits related to the purchase of computer software or hardware. ...

Physical interfaces to the BMC include SMBus busses, a RS-232 bus, address and data lines and an Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IMPB), that enables the BMC to accept IPMI request messages from other management controllers in the system. The System Management Bus (abbreviated to SMBus or SMB) is a simple two-wire bus used for communication with low-bandwidth devices on a motherboard, especially power related chips such as a laptops rechargeable battery subsystem (see Smart Battery Data). ... RS-232 (also referred to as EIA RS-232C or V.24) is a standard for serial binary data interchange between a DTE (Data terminal equipment) and a DCE (Data communication equipment). ...

The BMC communicates with a BMC management utility (BMU) on a remote client using IPMI protocols. The BMU is usually a command line interface (CLI) application. The BMU usually requires a password to gain access to the BMC. A direct serial connection to the BMC is not encrypted as the connection itself is secure. Connection to the BMC over LAN may or may not use encryption depending on the security concerns of the user. In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ... In computing, a protocol is a convention or standard that controls or enables the connection, communication, and data transfer between two computing endpoints. ... Screenshot of a sample Bash session, taken on Linux. ... In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. ...

References

• Zhuo, Haihong, Yin, Jianwen, & Rao, Anil V. "Remote Management with the Baseboard Management Controller in Eighth-Generation Dell PowerEdge Servers". Dell. Retrieved Jun. 20, 2005.