Essential Manageability for Client Systems using DMTF DASH - AMD

Out-of Band Client Management
Your organization depends on you to keep
its desktop and mobile client computers up
and running. When systems break down,
getting them back up quickly becomes a
top priority — regardless of where they are
located. While a broad set of tools and
technologies exist to remotely manage client
systems that are powered on (in-band) with
a responsive operating system (in-service),
the list of management options decreases
dramatically when the clients are powered
off (out-of-band) or have a non-responsive
operating system (out-of-service).
In fact, many currently available out-of-
band management options are based on
expensive proprietary technologies, and
are limited to client computer hardware
from particular vendors, thus limiting your
choices. While proprietary solutions may
provide you with out-of-band management
capabilities for some client systems, they
can be costly and inflexible.
What is Out-of-Band Client
Management?
Out-of-band client management technology
allows you to monitor and manage client
systems remotely, regardless of the
computer’s state, relying on a hardwarebased
out-of-band communication channel
that is independent of the operating system.
Out-of-band client management tasks can
usually be performed regardless of the state
Figure 1 – Out-of-band and in-band client management
of the operating system, the PC’s power state,
the presence of a management agent, and
the state of many hardware components
(such as hard disk drives and memory).
Figure 1 below shows how a typical out-ofband
client management system works.
The client platform includes a management
controller that is usually integrated with the
network interface card (NIC). Network traffic
for out-of-band system management tasks
is routed to the management controller,
which operates independent of the client’s
operating system, in-band management
agents, or the system power state. This
allows the management console to manage
a client system remotely when the system
is powered off or when the operating system
is unavailable; you can manage the client
without requiring physical access to the
system to power it on, wake it up, or reboot it.
Effective in-band client management
solutions, which operate through software
running in the operating system, are perhaps
your most important tools for managing
desktop and mobile client systems.
However, using platforms and tools that also
support out-of-band client management
enables you to perform more management
tasks remotely and provide better service
and availability when your system is
powered off or in a state where the
operating system is unavailable.