The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is an open industry-standard interface that was designed primarily for out-of-band management of server systems over a number of different types of networks. The independent monitoring, logging, and access functions available through IPMI provide a certain amount of manageability that is built into the platform hardware. IPMI also supports systems when there is no system management software available for a particular operating system or when you elect not to install or load the system management software.
IPMI defines a specific way for embedded management subsystems to communicate. IPMI information is exchanged through Baseboard Management Controllers (BMCs), which are located on IPMI-compliant hardware components. Using low-level hardware intelligence rather than the operating system has two main benefits: first, this configuration enables out-of-band server management, and second, the operating system is not burdened with transporting system status data.
Additional information, including detailed specifications about IPMI, is available at the following sites: