HPE Integrated Lights-Out
| Company type | Proprietary technology |
|---|---|
| Industry | Server management |
| Founder | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
| Products | Embedded server management solution |
| Parent | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) is a proprietary embedded server management solution developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise that facilitates out-of-band management through a dedicated Ethernet interface on the majority of ProLiant servers and microservers from the 300 series onward.
iLO serves as a competitor to comparable technologies such as Sun/Oracle's LOM port, Dell DRAC, IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter, and Cisco CIMC.
Features
iLO allows administrators to manage Compaq, HP, or HPE servers remotely via a separate network interface with an independent IP address, accessible through HTTPS. Its principal functionalities include:
- Power cycling and remote reboot of servers, even if powered off or non-responsive
- Remote access to the system console (certain features may require an 'Advanced license')
- Virtual media capabilities for mounting remote physical CD/DVD drives or image files, dependent on licensing
- Viewing and managing the server’s Integrated Management Log (IML)
- Remote management using XML-based Remote Insight Board Command Language (RIBCL)
- Command-line interface access via a shared RS-232 serial port, albeit with limitations on function keys
- SSH connectivity supporting public key authentication utilizing 1024-bit DSA keys since iLO 3
- iLO Federation for centralized management of multiple devices
- Two-factor authentication to strengthen security measures
- Remote syslog integration, subject to license availability
The platform offers virtual power control and remote console functionality. iLO is either integrated into the motherboard or provided as an optional PCI expansion card.
Availability
iLO is embedded or offered as an option on selected HPE ProLiant and Integrity server models.
Prior to iLO, Compaq introduced several lights-out management products beginning with the Remote Insight Board (RIB), an expansion card available in EISA or PCI formats. This was followed by the PCI-only RILOE (Remote Insight Light-Out Edition), succeeded by RILOE II. Production of RILOE II ceased in 2006.
For G7 and earlier generations of the ProLiant 100 series, the "Lights Out 100" option provided fundamental IPMI-based management, which is distinct from iLO’s hardware and firmware. From Gen9 onward, ProLiant 100 series servers come equipped with iLO.
Additionally, iLO is implemented as iLO Chassis Management (iLO CM) for HP Moonshot platforms, derived from iLO 4 technology. The most recent Chassis Manager Firmware version as of June 2018 is 1.56, released alongside the Moonshot Component Pack 2018.02.0.
While iLO was included in the ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer, it was omitted in Gen10 models; however, Gen10+ and Gen11 MicroServers support iLO functionality through an optional add-in card.
Versions
There are several generations of iLO, each designated by a numeric identifier (e.g., "iLO 2"), with some variants distinguished by licensed feature tiers. HP regularly releases firmware updates to improve performance and add new capabilities.
| Name | Servers | Latest Firmware |
|---|---|---|
| iLO | ProLiant G2, G3, G4, and G6 (models below 300) | 1.96 (30 April 2014) (EOL) |
| iLO 2 | ProLiant G4, G5, and G6 (models 300 and above) | 2.33 (30 March 2018) (EOL) |
| iLO 3 | ProLiant G7 | 1.94 (17 December 2020) (EOL) |
| iLO 4 | ProLiant Gen8 and Gen9 | 2.82 (2 March 2023) (EOL) |
| iLO 5 | ProLiant Gen10 and Gen10 Plus | 3.13 (25 April 2025) |
| iLO 6 | ProLiant Gen11 | 1.68 (25 April 2025) |
| iLO 7 | ProLiant Gen12 | 1.13.00 (5 May 2025) |
Programming Interfaces
Several application programming interfaces (APIs) facilitate communication with HPE iLO, including:
- Ansible: utilizing the hponcfg module
- Perl: through the Net::ILO library
- Python: via python-hpilo
- Ruby: employing ILOrb
- PowerShell: by means of the Scripting Tools for Windows PowerShell iLO cmdlets
With the release of iLO 4, an HTTP-based API for management was introduced, which served as a foundation for the Redfish standard developed by the DMTF. This standard is implemented in iLO 5, enabling management using Redfish-compliant tools. HPE has further enhanced the DMTF framework by incorporating proprietary extensions.
Security issues
In December 2021, researchers from Amnpardaz in Iran identified rootkits embedded within HPE's iLO management modules, exposing possible security weaknesses.
See also
- Intel Active Management Technology (iAMT)
- Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)
- List of Hewlett-Packard products
- Out-of-band management