Presented herein are methodologies for scaling device management over a sideband management bus (SMBUS). A method includes receiving, at a first expander card, from baseboard management controller (BMC), a management message, addressed to a second expander card that is in communication with the first expander card, forwarding the management message to the second expander card, and sending, by the second expander card, the management message, via the sideband management bus, to a device in communication with the second expander card. The device may be, e.g., a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drive. Expander cards can be deployed in a daisy chain, providing scalability. Each expander card can also send commands to connected devices in parallel.