82598EB Datasheet, PDF (417/596 Pages) Intel Corporation – Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller Datasheet

Intel^® 82598EB 10 GbE Controller - System Manageability
5. System Manageability
Network management is an increasingly important requirement in today's networked computer
environment. Software-based management applications provide the ability to administer systems while
the operating system is functioning in a normal power state (not in a pre-boot state or powered-down
state). The Intel® System Management Bus (SMBus) Interface and the Network Controller - Sideband
Interface (NC-SI) for the 82598 fills the management void that exists when the operating system is not
running or fully functional.
This is accomplished by providing a mechanism by which manageability network traffic can be routed to
and from a management controller. The 82598 provides two different and mutually exclusive bus
interfaces for manageability traffic. The first is the Intel proprietary SMBus interface; several
generations of Intel® Ethernet controllers have provided this same interface that operates at speeds of
up to 1 MHz.
The second interface is NC-SI, which is a new industry standard interface created by the DMTF
specifically for routing manageability traffic to and from a management controller. The NC-SI interface
operates at 100 Mb/s full-duplex speeds.
5.1
Pass-Through (PT) Functionality
Pass-Through (PT) is the term used when referring to the process of sending and receiving Ethernet
traffic over the sideband interface. The 82598EB has the ability to route Ethernet traffic to the host
operating system as well as the ability to send Ethernet traffic over the sideband interface to an
external BMC.
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