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IPMI is standard which allows remote server management. IPMI cards, known as Baseboard Management Cards (BMCs) are primitive computers in their own right and are operational all the time, so long as the server has a power source. The server itself does not need to be powered on, or the operating system operational for the BMC to work.

The primary benefits of IPMI are:

• View server chassis and motherboard sensor output remotely, such as chassis status and intrusion detection.
• Ability to remotely power on, power off, reboot the server and flash the identification light.
• Ability to set up a console on a serial port and have the BMC redirect that console over a network port, which in cooperation with BIOS level console redirection, gives you the ability to view the BIOS, bootloader, bootup and shutdown procedures and console output should the machine hang or lock up, just as you would if you were interacting with the machine locally. This is called Serial Over Lan (SOL) and is available in IPMI v2.0 as a standard and using non-standard proprietary methods in v1.5.

There are currently 3 IPMI revisions:

• IPMI v1 is the first revision and is obsolete.
• IPMI v1.5 is the current minimum version and does not feature SOL, though it is available in non-standard implementations.
• IPMI v2 features most of v1.5, minus some obsolete functions, plus some new functions including SOL.

SOL is desirable as it allows you to interact with the server as though it were local in cases where the operating system locks up and SSH or telnet access are not available due to the operating system being inoperable. IPMI v1.5 still allows to you to power the system on and off and view sensor output.