Platform Management
Intel
®
Server Board S5500BC TPS
Intel order number: E42249-003
Revision 1.0
50
4.4.3
External Communications Link
The BMC bridges commands between external software agents and the system’s ME using
standard IPMI
Send Message
commands. See the command bridging section in the
Intelligent
Platform Management Interface Specification Second Generation v2.0
for more information.
All NM-related IPMB transactions utilize the secondary IPMB. This is a private I
2
C bus that is
only accessible by the BMC and ME. Please see the appropriate platform appendix for channel
and bus number information.
4.4.4 Alerting
The ME’s Node Manager may need to send alerts to external software agents. The NM uses
two different methods to send an alert. Each method is outlined in the following sections.
Fault Events
Alerts that signify fault conditions and should be recorded in the system SEL will be sent to
the BMC by the ME using the IPMI
Platform Event Message
command. The BMC deposits
these events into the SEL. The external SW must configure the BMC’s PEF and alerting
features to send that event out as an IPMI LAN alert, directed to the SW application over
the LAN link.
Informational Events
Alerts that provide useful notification to the external SW for NPTM management but do not
represent significant fault conditions and do not need to be entered in the SEL are sent to
the BMC using the IPMI
Alert Immediate
command. This requires the external SW
application provide the NM on the ME with the alert destination and alert string information
needed to properly form and send the alert. The external SW must first properly configure
the alert destination and string in the BMC LAN configuration using standard IPMI
commands, then provide the associated selectors to the BMC using the
Set Node Manager
Alert Destination
OEM command.
4.4.5
System Information Passed to ME and POST Complete Notification
The BIOS sends the BMC the following information during POST:
Number of supported P-states
Number of supported T-states
Platform Info (data from processor MSR 0CEh)
TDP value per CPU
When the BMC detects that POST has completed, the BMC passes on the BIOS-provided
system information to the ME. As part of this command transaction to the ME, the BMC also
provides the total number of installed CPUs, the Icc_TDC value for each CPU (retrieved by the
BMC via PECI), and a notification that POST has completed.
At system startup the ME may query the BMC for the following information using IPMI OEM
commands:
Inlet air temperature reading – This corresponds to the temperature reading from the
Front Panel Ambient Temperature sensor. Some platforms may not support this
feature. Refer to the applicable platform appendix.
