It is a microcomputer integrated on a server motherboard and has all the attributes inherent in a computer: a processor, its own I/O buses (I2C, IPMB, ICMB), RAM and non-volatile (NVRAM) memory, firmware, etc.
The specialized Nova BMC motherboard control controller is designed to measure the temperature parameters of processors, the motherboard and hard drives, the supply voltage, fan rotation speed, etc. In addition to the main parameters, it is necessary to monitor the state of the sensors for opening the case, installing or removing disks and power supplies (if there is a hot-swap function), the presence of memory errors, the occurrence of errors on the PCI bus, fixing the facts of turning on or off the server and the operating system freezing