Windows nPartition Guide v5.5

Running nPartition commands using IPMI over LAN
To run nPartitions commands remotely using IPMI over LAN, you must include the following
command-line options with each command:
• -g [password]
The password is the IPMI password for the MP.
• -h hostname | IPaddress
The -h option specifies the host name or IP address in the target complex.
When you use the -g... -h... set of options, the command sends appropriate WBEM requests
to the local nPartition Provider, which in turn uses IPMI over LAN to communicate with the MP
in the target complex.
Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM)
Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is an industry initiative that establishes management
infrastructure standards and provides a way to combine data from hardware and software
management systems. WBEM specifies standards that enable access to data from various
technologies and platforms and to present that data in a consistent fashion. Client applications
can then use this information to manage an enterprise computing environment.
Because WBEM supports a distributed management architecture, client applications (nPartition
management tools, for example) can run on a remote system and use the WBEM infrastructure
to send requests to the managed servers.
Partition Manager is one such WBEM client application. Partition Manager uses WBEM when
retrieving information about a server complex. Partition Manager uses the nPartition commands
for all other operations. The nPartition commands are also WBEM client applications.
Several software components support the nPartition commands for Windows. The Windows
operating system provides the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) software, which
is an implementation of the WBEM standards. HP provides a WMI-based nPartition Provider
and WMI mapper to convert CIM/XML WBEM requests from clients (like the nPartition commands
and Partition Manager) into WMI requests.
The nPartition commands and Partition Manager send management messages to the nPartition
Provider. The nPartition Provider handles all communication with the MP using the IPMI protocol,
either locally through an IPMI/BT device driver, or remotely using the MP IPMI/LAN interface.
Securing the WBEM connection
WBEM secures the management connection using an SSL authentication process, which involves
the following files:
• WBEM SSL Certificate (cert.pem file) The WBEM SSL certificate file resides on the system
that is being managed and contains the local WBEM server’s certificate.
On a Windows system, the WBEM SSL certificate file is in the location specified by the
sslCertificateFilePath entry in the %PEGASUS_HOME%\cimserver_current.conf file,
and is usually %SystemDrive%\hp\sslshare\cert.pem.
• WBEM Trusted Certificate Store (known_hosts.pem file) The trusted certificate store file
resides on the system from which you issue WBEM remote management commands. On a
Windows system, the WBEM trusted certificate store file resides in the
%SystemDrive%\hp\sslshare directory.
• Partition Manager Trusted Certificate Store (parmgr.keystore file) The Partition Manager
Certificate Store file resides on the system from which you run Partition Manager. Partition
Manager uses it to validate server certificates. On a Windows system, the Partition Manager
Trusted Certificate Store file resides in the %SystemDrive%\hp\sslshare directory.
18 Introduction