I just learned about IPMI and it seems to be a very important feature since it will allow me to remotely control the server. Can TrueNAS be used with IPMI? Would you guys say IPMI is as important to a TrueNAS build as ZFS and ECC RAM are?
IPMI is a matter of convenience for a home user configuration if you have no other means of attaching a monitor. Enterprise server class boards typically with have remote support and ECC. TrueNAS uses zfs as the filesystem so this is not a buyer’s consideration.
You have not specified your use case. Look into SuperMicro or ASRock Rack for more details and specs on server boards.
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If you use your server remotely a lot, i would say so
I have a raspberry pi with tailscale installed that allows me to turn on my server if i ever need to do it manually
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No, but IPMI is still great. I mean, TrueNAS without ZFS is already dead in the water, and I’d rather have ECC than IPMI.
ECC compatibility is hard locked to your cpu & motherboard. IPMI however, can be added on with creative applications of a raspberry pi, or even an addon card. So you can add IPMI as an afterthought, even if it doesn’t come included with your motherboard, but you can’t do that with ECC.
I’d also argue that you have the web gui for remotely controlling the NAS on your local network. You can also set up your own VPN to remotely control the server with the web gui. But, things like powering on & changing settings in bios would need an IPMI.
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I love having an IPMI and my board does have a BMC but I cannot use the remote control features since I added a dedicated GPU as TrueNAS always outputs to it insted of the onboard AST2500 
So: very nice to have, probably not as important as ECC and absolutely not as important the core component ZFS but still something you sorely miss sometimes if you can’t use it.
Any OS can be used with IPMI since IPMI acts under, and independent from, the OS.
ZFS assumes ECC RAM, so ECC is a matter of addtional data safety and, above all, peace of mind.
No assumptions about IPMI. This is just a matter of convenience: Never bother with a monitor and keyboard; a power cable, one or two Ethernet cables, and that’s it.
If I were able to get the OS to output to the BMC VGA - then yes 
IPMI is hardware and has really nothing to do with TrueNAS.
That is correct but if the operating system has mutiple GPUs to use as video output and decides to use the dGPU instead of the BMCs VGA (no matter what I set in UEFI) I can’t properly control it via web KVM.
Not an issue I have come across. I do have one server with an Nvidia card and the IPMI works perfectly.
I don’t think its anything to do with the OS. Its the motherboard that displays the console. What GPU the OS uses is AFAIAA irrelevent.
What can matter is if the IPMI is licensed or not as some will cut off after boot (Dell come to mind, but I have no idea if its all of them)
It worked before I added the dGPU so not a license issue.
I’m sure the bios sets some kind of default output but as the OS sees all attached GPUs it should be able to output to whichever it likes (correct me if I’m wrong)
I first experienced ipmi with my Supermicro Server. from which i run my proxmox. it was a big help when i was in a bind and got locked out of my proxmox. or screwed up the networking. i think of it as the controller on a hardware level. it wont directly benefit your vms but more rather the entirety of your server. you can remote access and treat your hypervisor as if it were a vm
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I don’t know how IPMI works besides what I have read. Do every mobo implement it differently? How do I remotely control the server when I’m on the other side of the planet?
You would have to be able to access the network the IPMI is on remotely from the other side of the planet. Do you use a VPN or something currently for remote network access?
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There are differences, but a lot of commonality. Any implementation (including Dell’s iDRAC and HPE’s iLO) is going to give you a web management interface for the server. It’s going to show a lot of metrics for the server. It’s usually going to give you power control (power on/off, reset, etc.). There’s usually going to be some form of remote console, though some implementations limit this to the pre-boot environment without a license key. There’s often going to be remote media–you can mount a ISO from your (client) computer over the network as though it were a CD in your server. Where all that stuff is is going to vary widely.
And, as Barky says, you’ll need access to the network that the IPMI controller is on, which (if away from your LAN) would generally involve some sort of VPN.
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But do try to stay away from Intel vPro. That is such an archaic ‘IPMI’ type of software compared to what’s currently newer and out there.
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Pedenatry - IPMI is a software interface. IPMI != OOB Management.
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One of my TrueNAS servers has IPMI on the Supermicro motherboard but the other does not. For that other server, I use a Comet GL-RM1 KVM device and it works very well. The Comet is not a substitute for full OOB but it can be made to do remote power on/off duties; I just use it for remote KVM and it’s been invaluable already.
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For me as a home user, IPMI is a real timesaver and I can’t imagine living withoutit. I have my server stuffed away high up on a shelf in an inconvenient location, and with the Supermicro IPMI View app for Android I can power on my Truenas after having turned it off (vacation, days away, etc) without having to access the physical box.
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Yes, I intend to use a VPN.