Redfish

Redfish is a standard from the DMTF, the Distributed Management Task Force, for managing servers through a RESTful API. A client sends HTTPS requests to the baseboard management controller (BMC) and gets JSON back, in a schema-defined data model rooted at /redfish/v1/. It works out-of-band, through the BMC's own network port, and a companion DMTF specification, DSP0270, defines a host interface for in-band access. IPMI, the Intelligent Platform Management Interface, is a separate management protocol.

The Redfish specification, DSP0266, started at version 1.0.0 on 2015-08-04. Version 1.25.0 is dated 2026-08-07. Vendors lag it. Lenovo's XClarity Controller 3 documents support for Redfish 1.22.0. Dell serves Redfish from the same iDRAC web server as its GUI, and its security guide recommends disabling IPMI over LAN when it is not needed and disabling Cipher 0 when it is. HPE iLO reads and controls IPMI through the Redfish path /redfish/v1/Managers/1/NetworkProtocol. The spec requires HTTPS for any request that uses HTTP Basic authentication.

Treat Redfish as a requirement on any new server board. Ask which spec version the firmware implements. Keep the BMC on an isolated management network.

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Last verified October 30, 2026.