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Avocent Service Processor Management Technology supports New IBM iDataPlex System
May 2008 by Emmanuelle Lamandé
Avocent Corporation announced that its service processor management technology will be available as part of the new IBM iDataPlex system introduced today by IBM. The new system supports the Avocent MergePoint® 5300 Service Processor Manager.
Designed to help IT administrators reduce costs by streamlining and consolidating remote power control and hardware health monitoring of servers, the Avocent MergePoint 5300 leverages embedded service processors built-in to most servers today. IBM iDataPlex is a customizable rack system that is interoperable and affordable. It supports industry management standards in addition to using open source software to keep costs low and also features design innovations in cooling and efficiency.
The Avocent MergePoint 5300 supports multiple industry management standards that provide a common method for hardware-level server management. Those industry standards include:
– Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) that offers a standardized method ‘inside the server’ to perform tasks such as real-time hardware monitoring and power control;
– Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware / Command Line Protocol (SMASH/CLP) that offers a standard command line interface;
Web Services for Management (WS-MAN) that allows a common method for systems to remotely access devices and to exchange management information; and the
– Common Information Model (CIM) object manager that uses an information model with standardized management information to abstract, organize and communicate details about the managed device consistently between systems.
SMASH, WS-Management and CIM are standards developed by the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. Avocent is a DMTF Leadership-level member and active contributor. Avocent is also the leading supplier of IPMI server firmware.
The Avocent MergePoint 5300 automatically discovers embedded service processors and configures them based on administrator set policies. This allows more efficient access and use of available service processor resources including remote power management, and proactive server health monitoring such as measuring temperature, fan speed, power consumption (where supported by the vendor) and voltage in real time. It also provides a SMASH interface – allowing administrators to take advantage of a consistent CLI regardless of the server manufacturer. SMASH usage can reduce ongoing training, education and support costs of management scripts as the CLI does not change.
Pricing and Availability
The Avocent MergePoint 5300 Service Processor Manager will be available in later this quarter.
iDataPlex will be available in the US and Canada in June and globally by the end of the year.
