-Intel MEI
+Intel(R) Management Engine Interface (Intel(R) MEI)
=======================
Introduction
=======================
-The Intel Management Engine (Intel ME) is an isolated and
-protected computing resource (Coprocessor) residing inside
-Intel chipsets. The Intel ME provides support for computer/IT
-management features.
-The Feature set depends on the Intel chipset SKU.
+The Intel Management Engine (Intel ME) is an isolated andprotected computing
+resource (Co-processor) residing inside certain Intel chipsets. The Intel ME
+provides support for computer/IT management features. The feature set
+depends on the Intel chipset SKU.
-The Intel Management Engine Interface (Intel MEI, previously known
-as HECI) is the interface between the Host and Intel ME.
-This interface is exposed to the host as a PCI device.
-The Intel MEI Driver is in charge of the communication channel
-between a host application and the ME feature.
+The Intel Management Engine Interface (Intel MEI, previously known as HECI)
+is the interface between the Host and Intel ME. This interface is exposed
+to the host as a PCI device. The Intel MEI Driver is in charge of the
+communication channel between a host application and the Intel ME feature.
-Each Intel ME feature (Intel ME Client) is addressed by
-GUID/UUID and each feature defines its own protocol.
-The protocol is message-based with a header and payload up to
-512 bytes.
+Each Intel ME feature (Intel ME Client) is addressed by a GUID/UUID and
+each client has its own protocol. The protocol is message-based with a
+header and payload up to 512 bytes.
-[place holder to URL to protocol definitions]
-
-Prominent usage of the Interface is to communicate with
-Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT)
-implemented in firmware running on the Intel ME.
+Prominent usage of the Intel ME Interface is to communicate with Intel(R)
+Active Management Technology (Intel AMT)implemented in firmware running on
+the Intel ME.
Intel AMT provides the ability to manage a host remotely out-of-band (OOB)
-even when the host processor has crashed or is in a sleep state.
+even when the operating system running on the host processor has crashed or
+is in a sleep state.
Some examples of Intel AMT usage are:
- Monitoring hardware state and platform components
- - Remote power off/on (useful for green computing or overnight IT maintenance)
+ - Remote power off/on (useful for green computing or overnight IT
+ maintenance)
- OS updates
- Storage of useful platform information such as software assets
- - built-in hardware KVM
- - selective network isolation of Ethernet and IP protocol flows based on
- policies set by a remote management console
+ - Built-in hardware KVM
+ - Selective network isolation of Ethernet and IP protocol flows based
+ on policies set by a remote management console
- IDE device redirection from remote management console
Intel AMT (OOB) communication is based on SOAP (deprecated
-starting with Release 6.0) over HTTP/HTTPS or WS-Management protocol
-over HTTP and HTTPS that are received from a remote
-management console application.
+starting with Release 6.0) over HTTP/S or WS-Management protocol over
+HTTP/S that are received from a remote management console application.
For more information about Intel AMT:
-http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/aboutintelamt.htm
-
+http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide
-MEI Driver
+Intel MEI Driver
=======================
-The driver exposes a character device called /dev/mei.
+The driver exposes a misc device called /dev/mei.
-An application maintains communication with an ME feature while
-/dev/mei is open. The binding to a specific features is performed
-by calling MEI_CONNECT_CLIENT_IOCTL, which passes the desired UUID.
-The number of instances of an ME feature that can be opened
-at the same time depends on the ME feature, but most of the
+An application maintains communication with an Intel ME feature while
+/dev/mei is open. The binding to a specific features is performed by calling
+MEI_CONNECT_CLIENT_IOCTL, which passes the desired UUID.
+The number of instances of an Intel ME feature that can be opened
+at the same time depends on the Intel ME feature, but most of the
features allow only a single instance.
-
-The Intel AMT Host Interface (AMTHI) feature requires multiple
-simultaneous user applications, therefore the MEI driver handles
+The Intel AMT Host Interface (Intel AMTHI) feature supports multiple
+simultaneous user applications. Therefore, the Intel MEI driver handles
this internally by maintaining request queues for the applications.
-The driver is oblivious to data that are passed between
+The driver is oblivious to data that is passed between firmware feature
+and host application.
-Because some of the ME features can change the system
-configuration, the driver by default allows only privileged
+Because some of the Intel ME features can change the system
+configuration, the driver by default allows only a privileged
user to access it.
-A Code snippet for application communicating with AMTHI client:
+A code snippet for an application communicating with
+Intel AMTHI client:
struct mei_connect_client_data data;
fd = open(MEI_DEVICE);
ioctl(fd, IOCTL_MEI_CONNECT_CLIENT, &data);
- printf(“Ver=%d, MaxLen=%ld\n”,
+ printf("Ver=%d, MaxLen=%ld\n",
data.d.in_client_uuid.protocol_version,
data.d.in_client_uuid.max_msg_length);
[...]
close(fd);
-ME Applications:
+IOCTL:
+======
+The Intel MEI Driver supports the following IOCTL command:
+ IOCTL_MEI_CONNECT_CLIENT Connect to firmware Feature (client).
+
+ usage:
+ struct mei_connect_client_data clientData;
+ ioctl(fd, IOCTL_MEI_CONNECT_CLIENT, &clientData);
+
+ inputs:
+ mei_connect_client_data struct contain the following
+ input field:
+
+ in_client_uuid - UUID of the FW Feature that needs
+ to connect to.
+ outputs:
+ out_client_properties - Client Properties: MTU and Protocol Version.
+
+ error returns:
+ EINVAL Wrong IOCTL Number
+ ENODEV Device or Connection is not initialized or ready.
+ (e.g. Wrong UUID)
+ ENOMEM Unable to allocate memory to client internal data.
+ EFAULT Fatal Error (e.g. Unable to access user input data)
+ EBUSY Connection Already Open
+
+ Notes:
+ max_msg_length (MTU) in client properties describes the maximum
+ data that can be sent or received. (e.g. if MTU=2K, can send
+ requests up to bytes 2k and received responses upto 2k bytes).
+
+Intel ME Applications:
==============
1) Intel Local Management Service (Intel LMS)
- Applications running locally on the platform communicate with
- Intel AMT Release 2.0 and later releases in the same way
- that network applications do via SOAP over HTTP (deprecated
- starting with Release 6.0) or with WS-Management over SOAP over
- HTTP. which means that some Intel AMT feature can be access
- from a local application using same Network interface as for
- remote application.
-
- When a local application sends a message addressed to the local
- Intel AMT host name, the Local Manageability Service (LMS),
- which listens for traffic directed to the host name, intercepts
- the message and routes it to the Intel Management Engine Interface.
+
+ Applications running locally on the platform communicate with Intel AMT Release
+ 2.0 and later releases in the same way that network applications do via SOAP
+ over HTTP (deprecated starting with Release 6.0) or with WS-Management over
+ SOAP over HTTP. This means that some Intel AMT features can be accessed from a
+ local application using the same network interface as a remote application
+ communicating with Intel AMT over the network.
+
+ When a local application sends a message addressed to the local Intel AMT host
+ name, the Intel LMS, which listens for traffic directed to the host name,
+ intercepts the message and routes it to the Intel MEI.
For more information:
- http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_
- Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/localaccess1.htm
-
- The LMS opens a connection using the MEI driver to the LMS
- FW feature using a defined UUID and then communicates with the
- feature using a protocol
- called Intel(R) AMT Port Forwarding Protocol (APF protocol).
- The protocol is used to maintain multiple sessions with
- Intel AMT from a single application.
- See the protocol specification in
- the Intel(R) AMT Implementation and Reference Guide
- http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/HTMLDocuments/MPSDocuments/Intel%20AMT%20Port%20Forwarding%20Protocol%20Reference%20Manual.pdf
-
- 2) Intel AMT Remote configuration using a Local Agent:
+ http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide
+ Under "About Intel AMT" => "Local Access"
+
+ For downloading Intel LMS:
+ http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/download-the-latest-intel-amt-open-source-drivers/
+
+ The Intel LMS opens a connection using the Intel MEI driver to the Intel LMS
+ firmware feature using a defined UUID and then communicates with the feature
+ using a protocol called Intel AMT Port Forwarding Protocol(Intel APF protocol).
+ The protocol is used to maintain multiple sessions with Intel AMT from a
+ single application.
+
+ See the protocol specification in the Intel AMT Software Development Kit(SDK)
+ http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide
+ Under "SDK Resources" => "Intel(R) vPro(TM) Gateway(MPS)"
+ => "Information for Intel(R) vPro(TM) Gateway Developers"
+ => "Description of the Intel AMT Port Forwarding (APF)Protocol"
+
+ 2) Intel AMT Remote configuration using a Local Agent
A Local Agent enables IT personnel to configure Intel AMT out-of-the-box
- without requiring installing additional data to enable setup.
- The remote configuration process may involve an ISV-developed remote
- configuration agent that runs on the host.
+ without requiring installing additional data to enable setup. The remote
+ configuration process may involve an ISV-developed remote configuration
+ agent that runs on the host.
For more information:
- http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/remoteconfigurationwithalocalagent.htm
+ http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide
+ Under "Setup and Configuration of Intel AMT" =>
+ "SDK Tools Supporting Setup and Configuration" =>
+ "Using the Local Agent Sample"
+
+ An open source Intel AMT configuration utility, implementing a local agent
+ that accesses the Intel MEI driver, can be found here:
+ http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/download-the-latest-intel-amt-open-source-drivers/
- How the Local Agent Works (including Command structs):
- http://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/howthelocalagentsampleworks.htm
Intel AMT OS Health Watchdog:
=============================
The Intel AMT Watchdog is an OS Health (Hang/Crash) watchdog.
Whenever the OS hangs or crashes, Intel AMT will send an event
-to whoever subscribed to this event. This mechanism means that
-IT knows when a platform crashes even when there is a hard failure
-on the host.
-The AMT Watchdog is composed of two parts:
- 1) FW Feature - that receives the heartbeats
- and sends an event when the heartbeats stop.
- 2) MEI driver – connects to the watchdog (WD) feature,
- configures the watchdog and sends the heartbeats.
-
-The MEI driver configures the Watchdog to expire by default
-every 120sec unless set by the user using module parameters.
-The Driver then sends heartbeats every 2sec.
+to any subsciber to this event. This mechanism means that
+IT knows when a platform crashes even when there is a hard failureon the host.
-If WD feature does not exist (i.e. the connection failed),
-the MEI driver will disable the sending of heartbeats.
+The Intel AMT Watchdog is composed of two parts:
+ 1) Firmware feature - receives the heartbeats
+ and sends an event when the heartbeats stop.
+ 2) Intel MEI driver - connects to the watchdog feature, configures the
+ watchdog and sends the heartbeats.
-Module Parameters
-=================
-watchdog_timeout - the user can use this module parameter
-to change the watchdog timeout setting.
+The Intel MEI driver uses the kernel watchdog to configure the Intel AMT
+Watchdog and to send heartbeats to it. The default timeout of the
+watchdog is 120 seconds.
-This value sets the Intel AMT watchdog timeout interval in seconds;
-the default value is 120sec.
-in order to disable the watchdog activites set the value to 0.
-Normal values should be between 120 and 65535
+If the Intel AMT Watchdog feature does not exist (i.e. the connection failed),
+the Intel MEI driver will disable the sending of heartbeats.
Supported Chipsets:
==================
projects / karo-tx-linux.git / commitdiff