PMCI Platform Management Communications Infrastructure

Working Group Chair(s)

  • Hemal Shah, Broadcom Inc.
  • Patrick Caporale, Lenovo

Working Group Description

The Platform Management Communications Infrastructure (PMCI) Working Group defines standards to address “inside the box” communication interfaces between the components of the platform management subsystem. PMCI Working Group Specifications are referenced and used by other industry organizations and specifications.

The group develops the Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI), Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP), and Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) that provide a comprehensive, common architecture for improved communication between management subsystem components. These specifications enable the monitoring and control of systems independent of the OS state, when the OS is running or an OS is not available (for example, when a system is booting, before the OS has loaded, or when the OS is inoperable).
 
The PMCI WG creates intra-platform manageability standards and technologies, which complement DMTF’s other standards such as the Redfish API from the Redfish Forum, Security Protocol and Data Models (SPDM) from the SPDM WG, Common Information Model (CIM) profiles, as well as remote access protocols that are defined in the other DMTF groups.

DMTF has an assigned PCI Vendor ID of 0x1AB4 for usage with the MCTP over PCIe VDM specification.

Get Involved

  • Technical work on the NC-SI, MCTP, and PLDM standards takes place in the Platform Management Communications Infrastructure (PMCI) Working Group.
  • DMTF members are encouraged to contribute and access the work of the PMCI Working Group via its private, members-only workspace. Non-members, learn more and join DMTF to participate. 
  • DMTF welcomes feedback on our standards, but requires that individuals submitting comments first agree to our DMTF Feedback Policy.

 

Upcoming Workgroup Deliverables

DMTF Standard
Publication Identifier
Document TitleTarget VersionTarget Release Date
DSP0236MCTP Base Specification1.3.2Published
DSP0240PLDM Base Specification1.2.02024Q2
DSP0249PLDM State Set Specification1.2.02024Q2
DSP0239MCTP ID's and Codes1.11.02024Q2
DSP0256MCTP Host Interface Specification2.0.02024Q2
DSP0267PLDM for Firmware Update1.3.0Published
DSP0242PLDM for File Transfer Specification 1.0.02024Q1
DSP0290MCTP UCIe™ Transport Binding Specification1.0.02024Q2
DSP0283MCTP over USB Binding Specification1.0.0Published
DSP0236MCTP Base Specification2.0.02024
DSP0238MCTP over PCIe VDM Binding Specification1.2.1Published
DSP0238MCTP over PCIe VDM Binding Specification1.3.02024Q1
DSP0248PLDM for Platform Monitoring and Control1.3.02024Q1
DSP0220DMTF FRU Data Model and Schema Specification1.0.02024Q1
DSP2015PMCI Architecture White Paper2.2.02024Q1
DSP2061PLDM Accelerator Modeling1.0.12024Q1
DSP2067PLDM CXL Memory Modeling1.0.02024Q1
libpttiImplementation of DSP0280 (PMCI Test Tools Interface and Design Specification)1.0.02024

Work in Progress Documents

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0242 0.8.0WIP80 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for File Transfer Specification 9 Feb 2024 Work-in-Progress View
DSP0291 0.6.0WIP50 PCIe Management Interface (PCIe-MI) over MCTP Binding Specification 8 Feb 2024 Work-in-Progress View
DSP2067 0.6.0WIP60 PLDM CXL Memory Modeling White Paper 20 Nov 2023 Work-in-Progress View

PMCI Specifications

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0284 1.0.0 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Memory-Mapped BMC Interface (MMBI) Transport Binding Specification 28 Aug 2023 Standard View
DSP0282 1.0.0 Memory-Mapped BMC Interface (MMBI) Specification 28 Aug 2023 Standard View

The following specifications are part of the MCTP protocol suite.

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0283 1.0.0 MCTP over USB Binding Specification 7 Nov 2023 Standard View
DSP0281 1.0.0 CXL™ Type 3 Device Component Command Interface over MCTP Binding Specification 28 Dec 2021 Standard View
DSP0239 1.10.0 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) IDs and Codes 28 Aug 2023 Standard View
DSP0238 1.2.1 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) PCIe VDM Transport Binding Specification 23 Jan 2024 Standard View
DSP0237 1.2.0 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) SMBus/I2C Transport Binding Specification 6 Apr 2020 Standard View
DSP0236 1.3.2 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Base Specification 2 Jan 2024 Standard View
DSP0235 1.0.1 NVMe™ (NVMe Express™) Management Messages over MCTP Binding Specification 3 Aug 2018 Standard View
DSP0234 1.0.0 CXL™ Fabric Manager API over MCTP Binding Specification 25 May 2021 Standard View
DSP0233 1.0.0 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) I3C Transport Binding Specification 24 Jun 2021 Standard View

The following specifications are part of the NC-SI protocol suite.

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0261 1.3.0 NC-SI over MCTP Binding Specification 28 Aug 2023 Standard View
DSP0222 1.2.0 Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI) Specification 28 Aug 2023 Standard View

The following specifications are part of the PLDM protocol suite.

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0267 1.3.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for Firmware Update Specification 13 Dec 2023 Standard View
DSP0257 1.0.1 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for FRU Data Specification 3 Jan 2022 Standard View
DSP0249 1.1.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) State Set Specification 3 Mar 2020 Standard View
DSP0248 1.2.2 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for Platform Monitoring and Control Specification 2 Nov 2022 Standard View
DSP0247 1.0.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for BIOS Control and Configuration Specification 23 Apr 2009 Standard View
DSP0246 1.0.1 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for SMBIOS Transfer Specification 11 Dec 2009 Standard View
DSP0245 1.3.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) IDs and Codes Specification 28 Nov 2018 Standard View
DSP0241 1.0.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) Over MCTP Binding Specification 23 Apr 2009 Standard View
DSP0240 1.1.0 PLDM Base Specification 11 Feb 2021 Standard View
DSP0218 1.1.2 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for Redfish Device Enablement 2 Nov 2022 Standard View

The following specifications are part of the PMCI Tools suite.

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP0280 1.0.0 PMCI Test Tools Interface and Design Specification 10 Oct 2022 Standard View

White Papers and Technical Notes

DSP # Version Title Date Comments Versions
DSP2061 1.0.0 Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) Accelerator Modeling 13 Jun 2023 Informational View
DSP2054 1.0.0 PLDM NIC Modeling 18 Dec 2019 Informational View
DSP2037 1.0.0 MCTP Packets and NC-SI over MCTP Overview 20 Feb 2014 Informational View
DSP2016 1.0.0 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Overview White Paper 8 Jul 2007 Informational View
DSP2015 2.1.0 Platform Management Communications Infrastructure (PMCI) Architecture White Paper 13 Apr 2022 Informational View

Open Source Projects using DMTF PMCI Technologies

DMTF technologies are leveraged in numerous third-party open source projects. If you are aware of any additional projects using DMTF technologies that are not included below, please contact us so we can add them to the list.
Title Description of Tool PMCI Standard
OpenBMC

The OpenBMC project can be described as a Linux distribution for embedded devices that have a BMC; typically, but not limited to, things like servers, top of rack switches or RAID appliances.

NC-SI