In computer networks, out-of-band management involves the use of a dedicated channel for managing network devices. This allows the network operator to establish trust boundaries in accessing the management function to apply it to network resources.

In general, IT administrators manage network devices through management software (e.g. HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, Nagios...) or terminal emulation protocol (e.g. SSH, Telnet) in production network, called in-band management. However, when the devices cannot be accessed (e.g. OS freezes, network switch failure, BIOS configuration error...), they need another path (management network) to fix the devices (e.g. reboot, powering on, restore switch/router settings...), so called out-of-band management.