HP Integrity rx2800 Installation Guide, Windows Server 2008 R2 v7.0 - Page 86

Management processor (MP) menus Management processor menus provide a service interface that provides access to all hardware and nPartitions in the complex. The MP is always available, whether or not nPartitions are configured or booted in the server complex. Management Interface Options You can manage nPartitions remotely using one of two management interfaces: the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) and the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) infrastructure. This section provides a brief overview of these interfaces. IPMI On cell-based HP Integrity servers, the MP supports IPMI. IPMI is an industry-standard interface that defines common, message-based interfaces to platform management hardware and common records for describing devices and their characteristics. The IPMI specification supports extensions such as the nPartition and server complex management features introduced by HP. On cell-based servers, the MP supports two communication paths defined by the IPMI specification: Block Transfer and IPMI over LAN. IPMI Block Transfer (IPMI BT) IPMI Block Transfer (IPMI BT) provides a communication path between the MP and the OS running on an nPartition. IPMI BT uses the MP device driver and a hardware buffer on each cell to establish a private path (using the block transfer hardware on the core cell) from each nPartition to the MP. On Windows, the device driver that provides the IPMI BT interface is called the HP Health Driver. The nPartition Configuration Privilege setting enables you to control the access of a user managing an nPartition on a complex. To set the nPartition Configuration Privilege, run the PARPERM command using the MP. The nPartition Configuration Privilege has two settings: Unrestricted (The default) Enables you to manage other nPartitions in the complex Restricted Restricts use of the IPMI BT interface to the following capabilities: • Retrieving information about the server, including everything displayed by Partition Manager and the parstatus command. • Changing the local nPartition's Partition Configuration Data. • Manipulating attention indicators (LEDs). • Powering cells and I/O chassis belonging to the local nPartition. The nPartition Configuration Privilege does not restrict de-allocation of processors across nPartition boundaries. When the nPartition Configuration Privilege is restricted, some management tasks require IPMI over LAN instead. IPMI over LAN IPMI over LAN enables the management tool to communicate directly (without going through an nPartition) with the MP through its Local Area Network (LAN) port. To enable IPMI LAN access to the MP, use the SA command at the MP Command menu. The MP accepts IPMI requests at its LAN port only if the request is accompanied by the correct password. To set the IPMI password, use the SO command at the MP Command menu. To secure communication between client and server, the IPMI specification uses the MD5 algorithm (RFC1321) to encrypt the IPMI password and to authenticate server and client. Other security mechanisms protect against replay attacks. When the management tool sends a request, the nPartition Provider downloads a large data structure containing static configuration information about the server from the MP. This enables the Provider to request dynamic information about the server. When an nPartition command accesses a complex for the first time using IPMI over LAN, it can take a long time (two minutes or more) to complete, depending on network latency between the PC and the server MP. 86 nPartitioning