BMC and iDRAC

SocFPGA,

1. On servers from 11th gen and older the BMC was the embedded mgmt controller, where the iDrac was an add on card. The BMC does have some of the remote access logic, but the GUI and other features were from the iDrac. 

2. As there is no GUI for BMC, it would be done by CLI using IPMI.

3. You can, the BMC will allow you to power off and on systems, and serial over LAN access, which is why you mainly see BMC discussions around Linux. 

4. If you go to support.dell.com and enter the system model, then select Driver and Downloads, under Embedded Server Mgmt you will find the BMC Firmware, as well as the iDracs. This will only be on 11th generation and older, as the 12th generation and on embedded the iDrac.

If you follow this link it will show you the different features offered from each (BMC, iDrac Express, Idrac Enterprise)

Hope this helps.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the information.

So when you say BMC is embedded into the system Do you mean the Intel Management Engine which is embedded into the Northbridge of the chipset.

If is it different from Intel ME then is it embedded to the southbridge as an I/O? Also from generation 12 onwards where is iDRAC embedded? Because from your previous comment I understand iDRAC is on top of BMC, so is iDRAC directly connected to southbridge or connected to BMC which in turn is connected to southbridge?

Thanks

It is embedded to the board, but isn't associated to the IME, nor the Southbridge and Northbridge. It is its won separate independent entity