On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 7:20 AM, Devin Reade gdr@gno.org wrote:
Rudi Ahlers Rudi@SoftDux.com wrote:
I want to use a laptop as a KVM console.
[snip]
Other people have pointed out KVM-over-IP devices for your legacy or low end machines (ALOM/iLO/DRAC/whatever is still cheaper for server-grade hardware).
I'd like to bring up the AdderLink IPEPs, which I can say from experience is a very nice device. They are very stable and the over-the-wire protocol is encrypted VNC which means, unlike many of the lower-end competitors, you're not forced to use a Windows box to access the console of your windows machine. The IPEPs has an IP-blocking mechanism if someone tries to brute-force it. (Of course, having it on a non-publicly-available management network is still better.)
http://www.adder.com/uk/products/IPEPS.aspx or http://www.adder.com/uk/products/IPEPS_Dual_access.aspx
While they market them as one-per-server, you can easily amortize the cost by hooking the IPEPs to an electronic KVM switch (the kind that allows you to switch machines based on keyboard strokes rather than flipping a switch), and then hooking the KVM to your servers. Thus the fanout depends on the capability of your KVM switch. Note that using the KVM means that you have a security model that assumes that anyone who logs into the KVM is permitted console access to any attached server. (They'd still have to log into each server.)
I think that AdderLink also has multi-server versions of IP-over-KVM that may be better/cheaper if you need to allow for different people with different security access to get at the servers.
Unlike an ALOM/iLO/DRAC, the IPEPs does not have any power switching capability, so you'd still need to cover that capability off as well if you need it. For power management, there are also many options for PDUs but I'd suggest the APC line, such as the AP7901 or equivalent:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP7901
IMO, this is only suitable for single-power-supply servers (If you're using a redundant power supply in your servers, you should also have an ALOM/iLO/DRAC.)
If you go the IPEPs + KVM route, I'd suggest ensuring that your KVM doesn't draw power from the keyboard/monitor/mouse connectors so that if you need to reset the KVM you can power cycle it remotely via a PDU rather than needing to be on site. (The DLink DKVM-8E is inexpensive, but it has the draw-power-from-multiple-sourcs problem and sometimes after a power outage it needs a reset -- for which we need on-site access. *grumble*)
Devin
Hi Devin,
I have a few spider KVM-over-IP devices but found that if there's no spare power point in the cabinet it becomes a problem. They work well for this purpose though. The USB2KVM device mentioned earlier on in this thread is exactly what I was looking for, but I couldn't find a distributer locally and UPS quoted me $356 just for freight, excluding import duties in our country, so I think I'll stick with the spider KVM over IP's for now. They're about 50% cheaper locally than the KVM2USB before shipment & import duties.