Patent ID: 8560686

Claim:
A method for enabling communication with an in-band management application through an out-of-band communications channel, the method comprising the steps of: configuring a first physical network interface controller, located at an out-of-band controller of a managed host computer, to enable communication between the out-of-band controller and a management client computer through an out-of-band communications channel having the first physical network interface controller; configuring a component of the out-of-band controller to function as a virtual network interface controller in an in-band communications channel, wherein functionality of the virtual network interface controller is provided by the out-of-band controller; and enabling communication between a management client application executing on the management client computer and an in-band management application executing on the managed host computer through a path including an in-band communications path and an out-of-band communications path, wherein the in-band communications path communicatively connects the in-band management application and the virtual network interface controller, wherein a first portion of the out-of-band communications path communicatively connects the virtual network interface controller and the first physical network interface controller, and wherein a second portion of the out-of-band communications path communicatively connects the first physical network interface controller and the management client computer over an out-of-band communications network.