Accessing IPMI

IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface, often called BMC for Baseboard Management Controller) is an out-of-band management interface that lives on a dedicated network port on your workstation’s motherboard. It lets you manage the machine remotely — including when it’s powered off.

Not every Renderboxes model has IPMI. This page is only relevant if your model includes an IPMI Management LAN port.

Which models have IPMI

Model	IPMI	Notes
Photon	—	Not included
Electron (AMD build)	—	Not included
Electron (Intel build)	✓	1 Gb IPMI Management LAN
Atom	✓	Dedicated IPMI LAN
Atom Rack	✓	Dedicated IPMI LAN
Nano Pro	✓	1 Gb IPMI Management LAN
Molecule Air	✓	1 Gb IPMI Management LAN

If your model isn’t in the “yes” list, you can skip this page — you’ll manage your workstation the same way as any desktop PC.

What you can do with IPMI

• Remote power control — switch the workstation on or off, hard reset, all without physical access
• Remote KVM console — see and interact with the machine’s display and keyboard via a web browser, even during POST or when Windows isn’t running
• Hardware health monitoring — temperatures, fan RPMs, voltages, event log of hardware errors
• Virtual media — mount an ISO from your local machine as if it were plugged into a USB port on the workstation, useful for installing operating systems remotely
• Firmware updates on the motherboard and BMC itself

For enterprise and production deployments, IPMI is usually how you manage the workstation day-to-day once it’s installed. For desktop use, it’s optional — a nice-to-have for the occasional time you’d rather fix something from another room than walk over.

Connecting to IPMI

IPMI has its own network port

IPMI uses its own dedicated Ethernet port on the back of the workstation — separate from your data network ports. Look for a label like “IPMI”, “BMC”, or “MGMT” near the port.

1. Plug an Ethernet cable from the IPMI port into your network or a management network segment. Most deployments put IPMI on a separate VLAN or management network — ask your network team if you’re in a corporate environment.

2. Determine the IPMI IP address. At the Renderboxes workshop, we configure IPMI with either a static IP (if you told us what to use) or DHCP (if you didn’t). Your invoice or shipping paperwork will note which.

   If you’re not sure:

   • DHCP: check your router or DHCP server for a new device named something like ASRockBMC, ASMB, ASPEED, or the motherboard manufacturer
   • Static: the address will be on your shipping paperwork, or visible in the BIOS (under “Server Mgmt” or similar) when you boot the workstation locally

3. Open a web browser and navigate to https://<ipmi-ip-address>. You’ll see a certificate warning the first time — this is normal for self-signed BMC certificates. Proceed through the warning.

4. Log in with the credentials set at the Renderboxes workshop. Default usernames vary by motherboard manufacturer (commonly admin or ADMIN). The initial password is printed on your shipping paperwork.

After first login

Change the default password

The first thing to do after connecting to IPMI for the first time is change the administrator password. Default BMC credentials are well-known and trivially findable online — an unsecured BMC is a serious security risk.

Once you’re in:

1. Change the password from the User Management section
2. Set a static IP if you haven’t already, so the address doesn’t change when DHCP leases expire
3. Configure NTP so the event log has accurate timestamps
4. Configure SNMP or email alerts (optional) if you want to be notified of hardware events

Using the remote console

The remote KVM console is usually the headline feature:

• Click Remote Console (or iKVM, HTML5 KVM) in the web interface
• The console opens in a new browser window
• You’ll see the workstation’s display exactly as if you were standing in front of it — POST screens, BIOS, boot process, Windows login, everything
• Your browser’s keyboard and mouse input is forwarded to the workstation
• You can mount an ISO or IMG file from your local machine as virtual media, making it appear as a USB stick plugged into the workstation

Losing IPMI access

If you can’t reach the BMC web interface:

• Ping the IP first — is the BMC network-reachable at all?
• Check cabling — is the IPMI cable plugged into the correct port? It’s easy to mix up with the data network ports.
• Check DHCP / static assignment — did the address change?
• Factory reset via BIOS — boot the workstation locally, enter BIOS, find the BMC/IPMI settings, and there’s usually a “Reset BMC” or “Restore Defaults” option. This returns credentials to factory defaults, after which you should log in and re-secure the BMC.

If you’re still stuck, open a support ticket — we can walk you through BMC recovery remotely or, if needed, ship you a recovery tool.

Security reminder

An unsecured IPMI interface is a serious security risk. Do NOT:

• Expose IPMI directly to the public internet
• Leave default credentials in place
• Run IPMI on the same flat network as untrusted devices

DO:

• Put IPMI on a dedicated management VLAN if possible
• Use strong passwords (long, unique, not reused)
• Enable firmware updates so BMC security patches are applied
• Monitor the event log for unexpected access attempts

For production deployments, ask your network or security team before connecting IPMI.