Intel® Server Board S2600IP and Intel® Workstation Board W2600CR TPSPlatform Management Overview
Revision 1.1
81
Intel order number G34153-003
4.8 Intel
®
Intelligent Power Node Manager (NM)
4.8.1
Overview
Power management deals with requirements to manage processor power consumption and
manage power at the platform level to meet critical business needs. Node Manager (NM) is a
platform resident technology that enforces power capping and thermal-triggered power capping
policies for the platform. These policies are applied by exploiting subsystem knobs (such as
processor P and T states) that can be used to control power consumption. NM enables data
center power management by exposing an external interface to management software through
which platform policies can be specified. It also implements specific data center power
management usage models such as power limiting, and thermal monitoring.
The NM feature is implemented by a complementary architecture utilizing the ME, BMC, BIOS,
and an ACPI-compliant OS. The ME provides the NM policy engine and power control/limiting
functions (referred to as Node Manager or NM) while the BMC provides the external LAN link by
which external management software can interact with the feature. The BIOS provides system
power information utilized by the NM algorithms and also exports ACPI Source Language (ASL)
code used by OS-Directed Power Management (OSPM) for negotiating processor P and T state
changes for power limiting. PMBus*-compliant power supplies provide the capability to
monitoring input power consumption, which is necessary to support NM.
4.8.1.1
Hardware Requirements
NM is supported only on platforms that have the NM FW functionality loaded and enabled on
the Management Engine (ME) in the SSB and that have a BMC present to support the external
LAN interface to the ME. NM power limiting features requires a means for the ME to monitor
input power consumption for the platform. This capability is generally provided by means of
PMBus*-compliant power supplies although an alternative model using a simpler SMBus* power
monitoring device is possible (there is potential loss in accuracy and responsiveness using non-
PMBus* devices). The NM SmaRT/CLST feature does specifically require PMBus*-compliant
power supplies as well as additional hardware on the baseboard.
4.8.1.2
Features
NM provides feature support for policy management, monitoring and querying, alerts and
notifications, and an external interface protocol. The policy management features implement
specific IT goals that can be specified as policy directives for NM. Monitoring and querying
features enable tracking of power consumption. Alerts and notifications provide the foundation
for automation of power management in the data center management stack. The external
interface specifies the protocols that must be supported in this version of NM.
4.8.1.3
ME Firmware Update
On server platforms, the ME FW uses a single operational image with a limited-functionality
recovery image. In order to upgrade an operational image, a boot to recovery image must be
performed. Unlike last generation platforms, the ME FW does not support an IPMI update
mechanism except for the case that the system is configured with a dual-ME (redundant) image.
In order to conserve flash space, which the ME FW shares with BIOS, EPSD systems only
support a single ME image. For this case, ME update is only supported by means of BIOS
performing a direct update of the flash component. The recovery image only provides the basic
functionality that is required to perform the update; therefore other ME FW features are not
functional therefore when the update is in progress.
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