Skip to main content

What the Baseboard Management Controller does

The BMC works similarly to the Service Processor (SP) and uses many of the same commands. The BMC allows you to do the following:

  • Configure the BMC network settings.

  • Access a node remotely and perform node management tasks such as diagnose, shut down, power-cycle, or reboot the node.

There are some differences between the SP and BMC:

  • The BMC completely controls the environmental monitoring of power supply elements, cooling elements, temperature sensors, voltage sensors, and current sensors. The BMC reports sensor information to ONTAP through IPMI.

  • The BMC does not send AutoSupport messages.

Automatic firmware updates are also available when running ONTAP 9.4 or later with the following requirements:

  • BMC automatically reboots after a firmware update is completed.

    Note
    Node operations are not impacted during a BMC reboot.