Intel® Active Management Technology: Functionality FAQs

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Last Modified On :   August 20, 2008 4:18 PM PDT
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IAMT Functionality FAQs

 



  • What are allowed network setup modes?
    • Intel AMT supports DHCP and static IP. The Intel AMT network settings must coincide with the system network settings. This means that if the host has been set to work in DHCP, Intel AMT must be set to use DHCP as well. If host was set to use static IP, then Intel AMT must be set to use static IP. If this is not followed, the result will be unpredictable. NOTE: Apart from DHCP/ DHCP and static IP/ Static IP, there are no additional allowed configurations.
      • When using DHCP – Intel AMT hostname must be set to the same hostname as the host.
      • When using static IP – Intel AMT host name AND IP address must differ from the host IP and hostname.

      Difference between AMT 1.0 and AMT 2.0 (vPro): In AMT 1.0 when working in DHCP mode, Intel AMT will automatically capture the hostname that the host OS is using. For vPro systems this is not the case, and the host name has to be configured explicitly.
       
  • Will the flash update utility work remotely?
    • The flash update utility only works remotely. This is a security feature of Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT).
       
  • Can an AMT application be developed using AMT SDK 3.0 on top of AMT 1.0 Firmware?
    •  Yes, as long as the application is aware of the FW version of the end units and does not try to perform AMT 3.0 operations on AMT 1.0. Differences between the different versions are generally called out in the SDK documentation and also, the network interface guide lists APIs supported only by the newer versions of AMT. Additionally, many AMT 1.0 APIs have been deprecated in the EventMgr, NetworkAdmin, and SecruityAdmin realms. There is a section in the current SDK highlighting the list.
       
  • Can an application compiled by AMT SDK 1.0 manage AMT Firmware 2.0 and later versions?
    • Yes. There is one caveat though – setup and configuration changed drastically between 1.0 and 2.0+, so make sure you know how to configure the AMT 2.0+ systems to comply to AMT 1.0 configuration. Additionally, there is an AMT 1.0 Compatibility mode that should be set in the MEBx screen under the Provisioning Model.
       
  • What are the limitations of using Intel® AMT in a wireless environment?
    • Here is a high-level list detailing Wireless Interoperability. For more information please take a look at http://download.intel.com/business/business-pc/technical_white_paper.pdf " this technical whitepaper:
      • There is no host wireless connection in link-sensitive flows (i.e. redirection use-cases); therefore, local agents will not be able to connect unless there is a LAN connection.
      • The wireless management interface is not available in state Sx. If the machine is rebooted during a link sensitive flow, the machine will stay in S0.
      • Static IP is not supported on the wireless management interface.
      • The wireless management interface may not be enabled by default depending on which setup and configuration tool is being used (even if valid wireless profiles are configured in the Management Engine and Intel AMT is enabled.)
      • If there are multiple management interfaces, wired and wireless management interfaces can not be on the same subnet concurrently.
      • 802.1x profiles are applied independently on wired and wireless.
         
  • Does Intel® AMT support Windows* Vista?
    • Intel AMT supports Windows Vista starting with AMT 2.1.
       
  • What features do the various versions of AMT support?
    • Version of Intel® AMT (2.1 – 3.0) at a Glance
      New with AMT 2.1 Intel® AMT 2.2 New with AMT 2.5 New with AMT 3.0
      Intel AMT Wake on LAN
      TLS_PSK_WITH_NULL_SHA cipher support for setup & configuration process      		 Remote Configuration*
      VLAN settings for Intel AMT network interfaces*      		 Wireless Configuration*
      Endpoint Access Control (EAC)*
      802.1x*
      Power Packages*
      Environment Detection*      		 WS-Management interface*
      System Defense Heuristics*
      VLAN settings for Intel AMT network interfaces*
      EventLogReader realm*
      Remote Configuration*
      New in AMT 2.1 * Not Supported in 2.5 * Not supported in 2.1 * Not supported in 2.5

       
  • What is the difference between IDE-R and PXE?
    • IDE-Redirect (IDE-R) is an Intel AMT feature that allows the management console to remotely mount CDROM and Floppy disk drives on an Intel AMT computer and cause a remote boot on the remote drives. PXE (Pre-boot Execution Environment) is a form of remote boot that has been used for a long time before IDE-R. Here are the main differences between the two:
      • PXE is a BIOS technology and has access to the entire Ram and system RAM and loads the entire disk image from a remote TFTP server before booting. IDE-R, being an Intel AMT technology, does not have access to the entire system RAM and can’t pre-load the entire disk image, so it forwards each disk request to the console, the console must then answer back each disk request. Due to this, PXE may be slower at first, but faster later and does not need a permanent connection to the server.
      • IDE-R is console initiated, PXE is client initiated. PXE is generally used for diskless workstations, and IDE-R used by administrators to remotely fixing problems.
      • IDE-R is routable, PXE is not. Because PXE gets it’s instructions from DHCP, each DHCP server on each subnet must support PXE. Whereas no peculiar DHCP infrastructure is required for IDE-R.
      • When Intel AMT is set up in TLS mode, IDE-R is more secure than PXE.
       
  • Is Intel AMT terminal compatible to telnet?
    • Not really. You can use Telnet or Hyperterm as terminals for Intel AMT, but it is not very good. Suggest you use IAmtTerm.exe from the Intel AMT DTK.
  • Does Intel AMT support Linux?
    • Intel AMT is generally OS independent. Please look at www.openamt.org for documents.
       
  • Shall I run Intel Developer Tool Kit (DTK) or especially MC (Management Console) on an AMT enabled PC to control Intel AMT clients? That is can I control Intel AMT clients on a non-Intel AMT computer with Windows or Linux?
    • The computer that runs the Intel AMT Console (Intel AMT Commander) does not have to support AMT. Any computer with .NET 2.0 can run Commander to control other computers. Intel AMT Commander only runs on Microsoft Windows right now, but working on making it work on Linux later this year.
       
  • What KB/MB of memory available in Intel AMT VPRO for user to store Asset Info?
    • Intel AMT 1.0 systems have 96k of NVRAM. All computers with Intel AMT 2.0 and beyond have 192k of NVRAM. This said, vendors can probably change this and it's generally accepted that any single application should not use more than 48k of it so that several applications can share this space.
      You could also try to use some type of compression when placing data into 3PDS so that this space can be most efficiently.
       
  • Intel Centrino Pro processor technology will soon be coming to the Macintosh mobile platforms. Will this include Intel AMT technology?
    • Intel Centrino Pro processor technology  on the Macintosh would be Apple's version of their Mobile platforms with Core 2 Duo processors. There are currently no plans currently to have AMT on Apple systems.
       
  • Does Intel AMT provide API for ISVs that can modify the PRTC timer remotely?
    • You can find it in the Network Interface Guide (in the SDK documentation) under Network Time Interface (see SetHighAccuracyTimeSynch and GetLowAccuracyTimeSynch).