Patent ID: 8509097

Claim:
A method comprising: providing an out-of-band network connection to at least one device coupled to an in-band network, the at least one device including a non-volatile memory; performing network management functions which include enabling an administrator to maintain maintaining the out-of-band network connection to the at least one device, wherein the out-of-band network connection is configured to supply at least 12 watts of power to the at least one device so as to enable the out-of-band network connection to be active during all power on and power off states of the at least one device so as to facilitate monitoring a status of the at least one device, the status determined from information stored in the non-volatile memory; and monitoring the at least one device during at least during a boot process over the out-of-band network connection, wherein the monitoring is performed by utilizing a processor at the at least one device, wherein the processor is dedicated to performing network management functions over the out-of-band network and is configured to execute an operating system stored in the non-volatile memory, and wherein the operating system is configured only to provide the network management functions over the out-of-band network.