What is an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)?
SuperMicro’s Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IMPI) is SuperMicro’s version of a ‘Remote Management’ tool. Remote management tools have been developed to enable their users to have greater administrative control over their devices remotely.
SuperMicro’s IPMI is a hardware and software component which exist on most SuperMicro rack-mount servers. If you request to have Remote Management installed on your server, and your server is a SuperMicro server, it will be configured with IPMI.
When IPMI is configured on a SuperMicro, the user can access the IPMI remotely through a web-based GUI portal, through a dedicated IPv4 address configured on the IPMI. Once you have accessed and logged in to a server’s IPMI control panel, you can use the IPMI portal to check the current status of your server and its hardware, to run operations/tasks on your server, and to start a Remote Console.
We encourage our clients to order Remote Management with their server (thus IMPI with a SuperMicro server), as it allows the device’s administrator to check the status of their hardware and as it can be used to identify hardware related issues. SuperMicro’s IPMI also allows the device’s administrator to be able to start a remote console at any time; providing the user greater control over their device, 24/7, and replaces the need for KVMoIP devices.
Please note that the IPMI component is unique to SuperMicro servers, so IPMI is only available on our SuperMicro servers. Servers manufactured by other companies use other forms of remote management, similar to IMPI. Some other examples include iLO for HPE ProLiant servers and iDRAC for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. This means that the form of remote management provided depends on the make and model of the server.
If you have any further questions about IPMI or Remote Management, please look through our FAQ section. If our FAQ page does not have the answer, please feel free to raise a support ticket, and we will be happy to help.