What are In-Band and Out-of-Band Management Connections?

Depending on your system configuration, you can use an out-of-band or an in-band management method to manage a RAID controller module from a or .

A maximum of eight can concurrently monitor an out-of-band . This limit does not apply to systems that manage the storage array through the in-band management method.

Out-of-Band Management

You can use the out-of-band management method to manage a storage array directly over the network through an Ethernet connection, from a storage management station to the RAID controller modules. This management method enables you to configure the maximum number of virtual disks supported by your operating system and host adapters.

Important: Storage management stations require the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) software to support the out-of-band management of storage arrays.

In-Band Management

You can use the in-band management method to manage a storage array in which the RAID controller modules are managed through an Ethernet connection from a storage management station to a host that is running host-agent software. The host-agent software receives communication from the storage management client software and passes it to the storage array RAID controller modules along a Fibre Channel I/O path. The RAID controller modules also use the I/O connections to send event information back to the storage management station through the host.

When adding the storage arrays using this management method, you need to specify only the host name or IP address of the host. After you add the specific host name or IP address, the host-agent software automatically detects any storage arrays connected to that host.

Important: Systems running the Windows XP operating system can be used only as storage management stations. You cannot use systems running Windows XP to run the host-agent software.