Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) for the NI PXIe-8133 Embedded Controller

[Eric_K]

Overview:

The new Intel Core family of processors has a variety of new features, including Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT). With Intel AMT, system administrators can remotely monitor, maintain, and update systems. Intel AMT is part of the Intel Management Engine, which is built into the chipset of a Nehalem-based system. This feature gives administrators the ability to boot systems from a remote media, track hardware and software assets, and perform remote troubleshooting and recovery.

Engineers can use this feature to manage deployed automated test or control systems that need high uptime. Test, measurement, and control applications can use Intel AMT to perform remote data collection and monitor application status. When an application or system failure occurs, Intel AMT gives the user the ability to remotely diagnose the problem and access debug screens. This helps resolve the problem sooner and no longer requires direct physical interaction with the actual system. Intel AMT can provide many remote management benefits for PXI Express systems.

Enabling Intel AMT features on a PXI Express embedded controller from National Instruments currently requires a basic input/output system (BIOS) update. A BIOS update for the NI PXIe-8133 embedded controller is attached to this document.

Hardware Requirements:

NI PXIe-8133 Embedded Controller

Supported Features:

• Out-of-band system access
  • Access PC without power or booting into the OS
  • Power cycle the system – is an abrupt power-down state and does not save data
• Serial-over-LAN
  • View/modify the BIOS settings
  • Add serial port to the remote system
• System access via WebUI Interface – monitor system
  • Capabilities: Basic system information (CPU, RAM), boot event log (BIOS logging), control interface to reboot system

Documentation:

The following are included in the attached zip file:

• BIOS
• BIOS installation instructions
• Getting started guide
• License

Feedback:

As this is on NI Labs, please keep in mind that this is not a fully  released product.  For any feedback regarding this BIOS version, including  request for additional feature support, please post on the NI Labs discussion thread associated with this post.