In The News
January 21, 2006 - ITPro News
IPMI and SMASH 'Agentless' Standards
By Steve Rokov
Many vendors and industry analysts have noted that the biggest expense for IT is in the ongoing network and systems management. Bottom Line? Using IPMI + SMASH = Lower Server Management Costs.
November 28, 2005 - ServerWatch
Hardware Today: Server Admins SMASH Servers
By Drew Robb
The downside of the heterogeneous server room is management complexity. Using SMASH, in combination with the IPMI-based standard, seeks to remedy this. The standard's benefits include simplifying administration and reducing costs.
November, 2005 - Dell Power Solutions
Dell OpenManage Tools for High-Performance Computing Cluster Management
By Yung-Chin Fang; Arun Rajan; Monica Kashyap; Saeed Iqbal, Ph.D.; and Tong Liu
High-performance computing (HPC) clusters use industry-standard computing, storage,
and interconnect components to aggregate cost-effective supercomputing power. As
the number of nodes in a typical HPC cluster continues to escalate, efficient remote
cluster management is becoming a necessity. Components of the Dell® OpenManage®
software suite can be used to enhance HPC cluster management. This includes IPMISH - an IPMI command line shell - from Avocent.
November, 2005 - Dell Power Solutions
High-Performance Computing and the SMASH Initiative
By Yung-Chin Fang and Jon Hass
To enhance management interoperability and help reduce total cost of ownership across heterogeneous nodes in high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, IT organizations can implement systems that comply with the Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) initiative. The SMASH initiative is a suite of specifications designed to standardize management interfaces for heterogeneous computing environments and to provide an architectural framework that includes unified interfaces, resource discovery, resource addressing, and data model profiles.
September 27, 2005
DMTF's SMASH Could Be a Hit
By Cameron Sturdevant
The DMTF has produced widely accepted cross-vendor standards for management information, and eWEEK Labs thinks IT managers should pay close attention to announcements coming from the server management group regarding the fruits of its labor, SMASH (Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware). We saw a demonstration of an early implementation of SMASH at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco earlier this month. The demonstration, which involved command-line access to Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Intel Corp. servers, also used firmware from OSA Technologies Inc., an Avocent Corp. subsidiary.
September 14, 2005 - Enterprise Networks & Servers
Avocent integrates SMASH into its embedded products to enable IT to manage its heterogeneous server environments
Avocent Corp. (avocent.com) will integrate the Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) new standard Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) Command Line Protocol (CLP) into its embedded product line. Doing this enables administrators to use a consistent command line interface to server monitoring and management tasks in heterogeneous server environments.
August, 2005 - RTC Magazine
Open Standards Reduce Management Costs in New Server Designs
By Steve Rokov
Designing IPMI together with a standard system management architecture like SMASH offers manageability features that are interoperable with existing and future systems while lowering IT operational costs.
August, 2005 - Communications News
Make blades easier to manage
By Steve Rokov
Blade glue is the standardization of silicon, firmware, drivers, providers, utilities and applications that provide blade managers with always-available solutions. Unlike proprietary approaches, blade glue provides standard management capabilities that are common across multiple platforms, making management of blade systems less painful.
July 22, 2005 - Datamation
SMASHing the Server Management Barriers
By Drew Robb
According to a survey by market research firm Novo1 Inc., the average data center has 230 servers. That number is rising 10 percent to 20 percent each year. As a result, managing servers can be a time-consuming activity. Enter SMASH. Some of the benefits of SMASH include reducing the management burden of server hardware, cutting the cost of server administration, improving the reach of system administrators to remotely located servers and standardizing the management of heterogeneous environments. "In a nutshell, SMASH makes it much easier to manage servers regardless of the vendor," says Winston Bumpus, president of DMTF.
June 1, 2005 - Clipper Group
The Benefits of Comprehensive, Extensible Remote Management of Hardware Infrastructure
Analyst: Anne MacFarland
Avocent Corporation (Huntsville, Alabama) makes the firmware for the chips that enable IPMI. It also makes KVM switches that allow and administrator to control and diagnose many computers from a single place using IPMI information. If your technology supports IPMI, turn it on. If it doesn't, consider a KVM switch.
March 7, 2005 - SearchWinSystems
IPMI steps from the shadows of server monitoring tools
By Jennifer Lawinski
The goal of IPMI is to allow administrators to use a single console to check the well being of their servers, regardless of who made the server or the processor that it runs. "In a mission-critical environment, you need to keep your systems running all of the time," said Antonio Julio, senior manager with Dell Inc.'s PowerEdge Server marketing group. "This is a tool for IT managers to understand what is going on every single second to keep that system running. "You cannot afford to have one system down and to create redundancy," he said. "You need to have tools that can predict any kind of failure." Dell's eighth generation of servers support IPMI licensed from Huntsville, Ala.-based Avocent Corp.
March, 2005 - BladeLetter
"Blade Glue" - Using Embedded Standards to Make Blades Easier to Manage
By Steve Rokov and Dave Perry
Embedded management standards, such as IPMI and SMASH, together with KVM can serve as the "Glue" to manage blade systems across the rack. Ultimately, these standards will help reduce operating costs and meet data centers' needs for reliability, availability, serviceability, and interoperability.
February 28, 2005 - eWeek
Avocent Tool Eases Remote Management
By Francis Chu
Avocent's DSI5100 is a useful tool for securely extracting IPMI information that enables distributed out-of-band management. The appliance is a good fit for large heterogeneous server farms with many IPMI systems-especially shops that are already using DSView for KVM management.
February, 2005 - Dell Power Solutions
Efficient BMC Configuration on Dell PowerEdge Servers Using the Dell Deployment Toolkit
By Anusha Ragunathan, Alan Brumley, and Ruoting Huang
The on-board baseboard management controller (BMC) is a powerful and flexible device
that can be used to effectively manage eighth-generation Dell® servers such as the
PowerEdge® 1850, PowerEdge 2800, and PowerEdge 2850. This article provides guidance
on configuring the BMC through the feature set provided by the Dell OpenManage®
Deployment Toolkit. Discussion includes configuration of IPMI firmware features - provided by Avocent.
December 17, 2004 - Electronicstalk
IPMI module aids server management framework
Mountain View Data has begun a beta program for its IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) software module licensed from OSA Technologies, integrated into PowerCockpit, a management framework for large-scale server deployments. 'OSA Technologies is the king of the hill for IPMI firmware and software, and we're delighted to be incorporating their technology into MVD's PowerCockpit management framework', said Cliff Miller, President and CEO of Mountain View Data.
December, 2004 - Enterprise Networks & Servers
Avocent Releases iRAM for Server Management
Avocent Corp. has released a new embedded product and specification for remote server management: the Avocent Integrated Remote Access Module (iRAM), and a common connector specification for server manufacturers. Management represents one of the last truly differentiating product features for many hardware vendors," Aggregating IPMI, virtual media and remote KVM capabilities within a single solution like iRAM reduces development costs and allows for unique, competitive features.
October 2004 - Dell Power Solutions
Managing and Monitoring High-Performance Computing Clusters with IPMI
By Yung-Chin Fang, Garima Kochhar and Randy DeRoeck
This article introduces the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification
in the context of high-performance computing clusters-discussing example implementations
and important IPMI features from a cluster-level management and monitoring
perspective. This includes a brief discussion using the Avocent IPMI utility, IPMISH.
October 1, 2004 - IT Architect (Formerly Network Magazine)
Server Management Systems
New standards, simpler server management, and another Microsoft battle--need we say more?
By David Greenfield
The Promise: A solution for monitoring and controlling remote servers independently of the server or OS manufacturer.
The Players: The IPMI group, led by Dell, HP, Intel, and NEC; the DMTF, which created SMASH; and Microsoft, which introduced WMX.
The Prospects: Basic systems management functionality is already available and is now being enhanced. Whether the final implementation will be through IPMI, SMASH, WMX, or some combination of the three remains to be seen.
June 2004 - Dell Power Solutions
Industry Standards for Managing the HPC Cluster Life Cycle
By Yung-Chin Fang and Rizwan Ali
For organizations deploying high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, reducing total cost
of ownership, maximizing cluster uptime, and expanding remote manageability are among
the baseline IT requirements. This article discusses how LM sensor management, Wired
for Management (WfM), Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI), and other
industry standards can help IT professionals manage the overall HPC cluster life cycle.
August 2, 2004 - Press Release - Dell Launch IPMI Enabled Servers
Dell Raises the Bar For Performance and Management With All-New Line-Up Of
PowerEdge Servers using OSA IPMI Products
Dell has aggressively integrated the latest technologies and standards -
including IPMI - across its line of PowerEdge servers to provide the most
complete products and services for customers' core applications at the best
value in the industry. The dual-processor PowerEdge 1800, 1850, 2800, 2850
servers and Open Manage 4 systems management software are the foundation of
Dell's vision for the scalable enterprise.
July, 2004 - BladeLetter - Q2 Edition
Industry Watch: IPMI - A Smart Choice for Blade Management - Part II
By Steve Rokov and Steffen Hulegaard
The Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) is a technology that increasingly finds itself as the focus
of Blade Management. Today, many
blade vendors offer IPMI integrated within their products; however, many
users are unaware of IPMI’s benefits. This article looks at IPMI’s
background and why it is such an important technology within the blade
market.
June, 2004 - Dell PowerSolutions - June Edition
An Introduction to the Intelligent Platform Management Interface
By Jordan Hargrave
The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is the
standards-based systems management interface used by Dell™ PowerEdge™
servers. This article introduces the base specifications of IPMI technology
and discusses revisions made to IPMI in its 1.5 and 2.0 versions.
April
12, 2004 - Electronic Design - TechView: The Industry
IPMI v2.0 Improves Security, Remote Management
By Dave Bursky
An enhanced version of the Intelligent Platform Management
Interface, IPMI v2.0, provides a more secure environment for the embedded
manageability of servers, server blades, network storage, network systems,
and telecommunications equipment.
April 5, 2004 - Network World - Technology Update
IPMI v2.0 eases blade management, and servers too.
By Steve Rokov
High-performing, reliable systems used to
have one drawback: They were usually built with proprietary hardware,
firmware and software that
offered little or no interoperability. Server management relied on
proprietary tools that made it difficult for IT to manage multi-vendor
server racks and blade servers. A standard was needed to tie things
together, and it arrived in the form of the Intelligent Platform Management
Interface.
March 30, 2004 - Wall Street & Technology - In Depth
Avocent to Buy OSA Technologies
Avocent Corp., a supplier of client terminals for use with
PC blades and other connectivity applications, said Monday that it has
signed an agreement to acquire OSA Technologies Inc., a provider of IPMI software and
IPMI firmware.
March
29, 2004 - Forbes.com - Technology Newswire
Avocent to buy OSA Technologies for $100 million
NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) -
Software maker Avocent Corp. (nasdaq: AVCT
- news
- people)
said on Monday it has agreed to acquire privately-held OSA Technologies Inc.
for $100 million in cash and stock to enhance its software, which allows
network administrators to manage multiple servers.
March, 2004 - BladeLetter - Server Blade Summit Edition Q1
Industry Watch: IPMI - A Smart Choice for Blade Management - Part I
By Steve Rokov and Steffen Hulegaard
The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a technology that increasingly finds itself as the focus
of Blade Management. Today, many
blade vendors offer IPMI integrated within their products; however, many
users are unaware of IPMI’s benefits. This article looks at IPMI’s
background and why it is such an important technology within the blade
market.
February
19, 2004 - Network World
IPMI server management spec moves ahead
By Joris Evers
Dell, HP, NEC and Intel on Wednesday announced version
2.0
of the IPMI specification, technology to help users manage servers. IPMI v2.0
adds several features, including new authentication and encryption
algorithms, serial over LAN for remote interaction with serial-based
applications, a firmware firewall and new user login and configuration
options, the companies behind IPMI said in a statement released at the Intel
Developer Forum.
February
17-18, 2004 - Search Enterprise Linux
Interview - Right time, right spec: Using and Deploying IPMI
By Jan Stafford
IT shops seeking non-proprietary methods for server
management should keep an eye on IPMI. Even with it's rising popularity,
IPMI is an undiscovered world for most IT shops, said Steve Rokov, director
of technical marketing for OSA Technologies, an IPMI firmware and software vendor. In Part
1 of this interview, he explains why it's important to consider IPMI in
any upcoming server request for proposal (RFP) and summarizes the benefits
the standard brings IT staff. Read Part
2 which describes how IPMI is deployed and offers examples of IPMI in
action in the enterprise.
December 1,
2003 - Network World
Server Management Standard Gaining Steam
By Jennifer Mears
The Intelligent Platform Management Interface is a standard that industry
observers say is becoming increasingly useful as organizations look for ways to
streamline management and cut costs in the data center. According to OSA Technologies, 30% of all servers shipped worldwide have IPMI,
and the numbers are predicted to be at 70% by year-end 2004.
October 21,
2003 - EETimes
For Reliable Servers, Embed IPMI Managers
By Phil
Sheu
Server manageability has
traditionally relied on proprietary tools for monitoring server health,
performing preventive maintenance, troubleshooting faults, and recovering
from failures.
The proliferation of IPMI has now standardized the architecture and
implementation of 'Last Mile' management, improving the reliability of servers and
telecom equipment.
September
22, 2003 - ServerWatch
Hardware Today: Understanding IPMI
By Carl Weinschenk
One
of the most important pieces of news to come out of last week's Intel
Developers' Forum was the release of the Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) version 2.0.
September
15, 2003 - ServerWatch
Hardware Today: The Changing Wrapping Paper on the White Box Market
By Carl Weinschenk
Increasingly,
vendors are focusing on providing advanced management capabilities to white
boxes in networked environments, including grids. "Manageability is a
key driver in terms of how IT is able to reduce overall costs", says
Steve Rokov of OSA.
September
8, 2003 - Network World
Server management tools grow up
By Jennifer Mears and Denise Dubie
Analysts say standards such as IPMI, Web-based Enterprise Management, Common
Information Module and SNMP will become more important as vendors recognize
the need to manage heterogeneous platforms and systems, and to do it without
requiring the time-consuming task of updating agents on individual servers.
August 28, 2003 -
Network World Servers Newsletter
Amphus updates blade mgmt. software
By Deni Connor
Blade
server management vendor Amphus unveiled a version of its management
software last week that now supports Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) Version 1.5.
August, 2003 - Aberdeen Group
Executive White Paper on Planning for Emerging Industry-Standard Platforms
In conjunction with other Building Blocks, IPMI is highlighted as the
systems management technology for lowering TCO. "IPMI support should be
a checklist requirement for IT Managers when evaluating server
infrastructure".
August,
2003 - BladeLetter Edition One
Blade Systems Alliance
Hardware Management Standards
One standard that is useful in this area is Intel's Intelligent Platform
Management Interface (IPMI). IPMI defines a common interface to how vendors
monitor their system hardware and sensors (temperature, voltage, fan, etc.),
control system components (power, blades, etc.), log important system events
(chassis intrusion, CPU performance, etc.), and to allow administrators to
remotely manage and recover failed systems.
July,
2003 - Technology@Intel Magazine
IPMI - More Than Just Managing the Server
By Arland Kunz
With nearly half the total cost of ownership of a data center allocated to
the people who keep the operations running, enterprises need all the help
they can get in making their server systems more manageable. The Intelligent
Platform Management Initiative (IPMI) addresses this need by defining a
message-based management infrastructure for monitoring and responding to
server environmentals.
June
2, 2003 - Network World
What users want from servers
By Jennifer Mears
Users say they want to see vendors adopt server management specifications
such as the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI), which lets
users manage the physical components of heterogeneous servers.
June,
2003 - Computer Technology Review
Using Embedded Platform Management with WBEM/CIM
By Steve Rokov and Steffen Hulegaard
For system OEMs and software vendors, standards such as CIM and IPMI help
promote interoperability. Customers do not want to be locked in by
proprietary technologies
that increase their IT capital and operating expenses. Enterprise IT and
data centers
can also accelerate the industry wide standardization by making CIM and IPMI
mandatory in their next vendor/supplier RFP/RFQ.
May
7, 2003 - Staff Writer, CNET News.com
OSA grabs more than $9 million
By Dawn Kawamoto
OSA Technologies on Monday said it raised more than $9 million in a second
round of funding. The company develops IPMI software to create a standards-based,
centralized interface for processors and chipsets; it also sends alerts on
server health. Asiavest, FAT Capital, Foxconn, Sycamore Ventures and
previous investor Intel Capital participated in the latest round. OSA
Technologies, based in San Jose, Calif., has raised a total of $19 million
April,
2003 - the451
OSA bets on IPMI to build up management software infrastructure business
Impact assessment by John Abbott
IPMI could be one of the key low-level technologies needed to implement
self-healing systems and the utility computing model. OSA is an
Intel-related company looking to become the primary source for IPMI firmware
and software.
CompactPCI
Systems
Enabling Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) through standard
building blocks
By Mark Lee
In the embedded world, Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs) and
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are replacing expensive proprietary
