Overview

IPMI View is management software based on IPMI specification version 1.5 - 2.0. IPMI View sends IPMI messages to and from the BMC (Base Management Card) on a remotely managed system. IPMI messages are encapsulated in RMCP (Remote Management Control Protocol) packets called ¡§datagrams¡¨. This method is also referred to as ¡§IPMI over LAN¡¨.

The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) has defined RMCP for supporting pre-OS and OS-absent management. RMCP is a simple request-response protocol that can be delivered using UDP (User Datagram Protocol) datagrams. IPMI-over-LAN uses version 1 of the RMCP protocol and packet format. An RMCP packet is transmitted via IP (Internet Protocol) networking. Thus, system managers may manage their IPMI-enabled system over the Internet. (Of course, in a private LAN this is a basic feature.) IPMI uses the same UDP port number (623 in decimal) with ASF (Alert Standard Forum) protocol. If the managed system is protected by a firewall, UDP port 623 must be opened.

In Supermicro¡¦s IPMI solution, a BMC shares the LAN1 NIC on the mainboard. (If there are more than one LAN Ports on the mainboard, LAN1 is the one near Keyboard/Mouse Port.) The NIC will re-route the IPMI packet to the BMC instead of forwarding it to the upper layer network protocol stacks (as other protocol packets do).

IPMI View V2.0 covers Supermicro¡¦s BMCs for both IPMI v1.5 and IPMI v2.0. However, according to design changes, some functions added to IPMI v2.0 are not available in IPMI v1.5, and some functions are no longer available in IPMI v2.0 implementation. IPMI View will automatically hide any function that is not available to the BMC version being used
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