An administrator needs to monitor server applications in the company's data center. Which of the following tools would the administrator need to accomplish this objective?

SMS (Short Message Service) is a telecommunications protocol for sending text messages between mobile devices and is not used for server application monitoring.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used for sending and receiving email messages and has no function in server application monitoring.

IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is a standardized interface for out-of-band management of server hardware, allowing administrators to monitor system health (e.g., fan speeds, temperatures, power status) and perform control actions even when the operating system is down or unresponsive. This capability is crucial for maintaining the health of the underlying server infrastructure that supports applications in a data center.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is primarily used for monitoring network devices and services, and while it can monitor some application metrics, IPMI is specifically designed for low-level, out-of-band server hardware management, which is often a more critical monitoring need in data centers for foundational application stability.