Alerts are generated when a system’s state of interest
changes. There are two basic types of alerting: local alerting to
the current computer user and remote alerting to a management application.
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handles both types of alerting.
The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) has released
the Alert Standard Format (ASF), which defines alerting and remote
control interfaces that enable management of networked systems when
their operating system is absent. This includes a networked computer
that has an inactive or inoperable operating system or that is in
a low-power system sleep state. The ASF specification is available
at
www.dmtf.org. ASF documentation is provided with systems
that support ASF.
ASF handles remote alerting for environmental events,
which are detected by sensors, such as temperature, electrical, and
fan probes, and chassis intrusion sensors. ASF also handles additional
alerting in the operating-system-absent environment. By default,
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handles remote alerting for all events.
ASF 2.0 adds important security measures to the ASF
standard, which defines alerting and remote control interfaces to
proactively manage networked devices when their operating system is
absent. The first industry specification for operating system absent
management, ASF allows a network administrator to be alerted to failures
of specific components within a networked device, thereby minimizing
on-site maintenance while maximizing remote visibility of and access
to local systems. Without ASF, operating system absent problems require
manual intervention to force a reboot of the system.
There are three settings in the system BIOS that
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allows for configuration:
- Off — All ASF 2.0 features are turned off
- Alert Only — ASF 2.0 alert is the only feature that
is turned on
- On — Alerts and remote control are turned on
The system network interface card (NIC) and basic
input/output system (BIOS) support ASF 2.0. If the BIOS allows for
any ASF 2.0 configuration, then the BIOS settings are exposed through
the Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) by
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.