On many servers you can have a single physical ethernet port that works for both the service processor (BMC) and host processor. If you want someone to have acc

On many servers you can have a single physical ethernet port that works for both the service processor (BMC) and host processor. If you want someone to have access to only the host system and not the BMC then you place your trust in a bunch of hardware and firmware that does the sharing of the port. Having the port shared can save in cabling, but you trade that off for trusting some firmware to do the right thing. Isolated ports mean that you can have one cable that goes to the BMC and only the BMC, and one that goes to the host and only the host. i.e. you place trust for isolation in the fact that two cables go to two different places, and don't involve another bit of firmware.