What is IPMI? A complete guide to remote power, OS install and console

IPMI and the BMC

IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is a server management standard defined by Intel and other vendors. At its heart is the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) on the motherboard: a small computer with its own power and its own network port.

Because the BMC runs independently of the server’s CPU and operating system, managing a server through it is called out-of-band management. Logging in to the operating system over SSH or remote desktop is, by contrast, in-band management.

What each vendor calls it

Vendor	BMC name
Dell	iDRAC
HPE	iLO
Huawei	iBMC
Lenovo	XClarity Controller (XCC)
Cisco	CIMC / IMC
Supermicro, Inspur, ASRock and others	Mostly based on AMI MegaRAC and similar

The names differ, but all of them support the IPMI standard underneath, so the same tools can manage them all.

What IPMI can do

• Power control: power on, shut down, reboot and force power off;
• Boot device: boot from PXE, optical drive or disk next time;
• Remote console (KVM over IP): see the server’s screen, including POST and BIOS;
• Virtual media: mount an ISO image remotely to install an OS;
• Sensors and logs: read temperatures, fans and voltages, and view the system event log (SEL);
• Serial over LAN (SOL): reach the server’s serial console over the network.

Common ipmitool commands

ipmitool is the most widely used IPMI command-line tool on Linux. Use the lanplus interface for remote operations:

# Check power status
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis power status

# Power on / soft shutdown / reset / power cycle
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis power on
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis power soft
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis power reset
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis power cycle

# Boot from PXE next time (for network installs)
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' chassis bootdev pxe

# Sensors and the event log
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' sensor list
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' sel list

# Open the serial console (SOL)
ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.10 -U admin -P 'password' sol activate

Installing an OS remotely with IPMI

1. Set a network boot with chassis bootdev pxe, or mount an ISO image from the console;
2. Reboot the server;
3. Open the remote console to watch the installation and choose options if needed;
4. Set the boot device back to the disk when installation finishes.

In a data center this flow is usually automated by the management system: pick an image, and the system sets the boot device, pushes the installation config and reboots the server, so engineers only watch the progress.

Security recommendations

The BMC has full control of the server, so exposing it to the internet is very risky:

• Separate management network: put BMC ports on a dedicated management VLAN, never directly on the internet;
• Change default passwords: factory credentials are the most common way in;
• Restrict access: only let the management system or a jump host reach the BMC;
• Update firmware: BMC firmware has vulnerabilities too;
• Audit sessions: record who did what through the console, and when.

From one server to a thousand

Running ipmitool by hand is fine for a few servers. With hundreds or thousands of machines from different vendors, remembering addresses and passwords and installing each vendor’s Java client becomes a burden. Toplink DCIM brings BMC management into a web console: remote power control, boot devices, ISO mounting and browser-based VNC consoles, with every session recorded. Customers can even reboot and reinstall their servers themselves in the self-service portal.